Erica Ford, Beanie Sigel & Gregory Jackson On Gun Violence, Trauma, & Gaming for Peace + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's it's way up with Angela Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Angela Yee, And you know, first off, let me
introduce my girl. Erica Ford is here and you're a
life camp for life. What she says that, but I'm like, well,
I don't believe is well, Eric.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And Beanie Siegel is here.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
This is like I sitting down now on way up
because I wasn't there when you were on the break
when you came to the Breakfast club. So it's a
pleasure to have you in the building, all right. And
then we have Gregory Jackson Junior by the way, can't
forget the Junior Party, and you are the Deputy Director
of the White House Office of Gun Prevention, of Gun
Prevention and Special Assistant to the President. So and this
(00:49):
is something that Joe Biden actually implemented last year.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Right, yeah, yeah, we about six months in right at
this point, so excited to be here. Also, you know,
this is my this is my big mentee right here
tour excuse me, Erica Ford, so excited to be here
with her.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Right, I'll take that.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We should be learning.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
From the mentees, right And Beanie Seagulls So now you
are also working on this gun prevention campaign, and so
tell me how this all happened, because I want to
see what the synergy is.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
How this all started.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
So beans was trying to shoot me one day.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Camera, Yeah, with a camp. I think it just was destiny.
I can't really pinpoint exactly how it happened. We got
both got a mutual friend, mister Marvin Bang. I'm an express.
I've been working with Marv for like the last couple
of years this, you know, trying to figure out what
(01:49):
I'm gonna do.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I know, I didn't want to just be.
Speaker 6 (01:54):
An artist and that was just the end of my
legacy rapper. I think I had a lot to give
to share, you know, beyond just music. And you know,
he introduced me to Erica and we've been locked on
(02:15):
a hit very since. It was just like, yes, this
is what I need to do.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
If there's somebody I'm gonna listen to when it comes
to this, it's Beanie Segull.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, you know, because I think it's also important to
meet people where they're at and for them to understand
why gun prevention is such an important topic for us
to be discussing, because it has gotten very political, and
that's what I'm gonna throw it to you, Gregory Jackson Junior.
You know, because you are working with the White House
and this is a new position. Like you said, it's
only a six month old position. So tell me how
(02:45):
you ended up getting involved in while you were tapped
to be part of this initiative.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, I wish it was an exciting story, but for me,
it started when I was shot in April twenty thirteen.
The bullet that hit me hit two arteries and nearly
cost me my life. But when I was in the hospital,
I'll never forget turned on a TV and watching leaders
in Washington saying they couldn't take action because I was
shot three days after the Senate failed to pass the
background check book. And so you know, I went through
(03:12):
six different surgery, six months of recovery, but was committed
that if I got back on my feet, I would
literally do all I can in this work. And so
I started local, doing mentorship work, supporting the youth in
my community. And then my family friend Tray was shot
and killed in Greensboro, North Carolina, and I realized that
it's not about one city, It's about what can we
do for every community, And so that's why I pivoted
(03:34):
started working at the congressional level to push forward bills.
We passed the first bill on gun violence in twenty
nine years. And when President Biden was elected day one,
I was on the horn with his team, Erica and
I did a big call with a bunch of other
activists that first week and said, here's what we need
to see done. Here's the change we want to see.
And of those requests, nearly all of them have been advanced,
(03:57):
but the biggest one was that you needed that. We
needed them have a team to work on this every
day because gun violence happens every day. It's not just
about mass shootings. It's about our folks did the impact
it every day. And so that team was assembled and
they turned around and said, well, Greg, we want you
to serve on it. Uh and Erica advice on it.
So uh so we're here. And that's how I got started, right.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And the Beanie Seagull you had this story. I remember
when you got shot and that was in the news
and people were not sure you know what was There
was all kinds of rumors at that time about what happened.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah, I heard I died and all that, well, uh yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You could have died at that, you know, in that instance.
Speaker 6 (04:37):
Yeah, they said I caught it once or twice and
doing surgery but came back.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
And that was just that incident.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
So yeah, I just I just I'm at I'm at
a point right now where you know, I had to
back up from the industry, the so called industry that's
out there, and just you know that that that space
that I was in in my life with the music
that I was bringing out and putting out. And you know,
(05:10):
a lot of us, when we don't have information, we
tend to run with whatever narrative that's going on in
society and in our world as entertainments. It's like, uh,
we don't got we don't got there those positive, positive
messages through.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
The music no more. Everything is just straight aggression and toxic.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
You don't have that happy medium where you could talk
about those things and then you can also get a
flip side, right, you know what I mean, This is
what happens if you do this, because you know, one
don't exist without the other. Right, how do you know
evil without good? You know good without evil? I think
I always did a good job in my music and
portraying both sides, but I'm here to be on the
(05:59):
ground with Erica. You know this is this is my mentor,
I'm her mentee. Now you know how they say when
the student is willing to learn, the teacher will come.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Sometimes things happen for a reason and you get put
into a position that could feel like why is this
happening to me?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
But then there's a bigger purpose.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
I always knew that if you listen to the music
when I told you and fill it in the air, Yeah,
I go through it, so you wouldn't do it after me,
but ask for me.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Twenty five years since the Tooth came out too. By
the way, congratulations. That concert looked like it was. Everybody
was talking about it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, because you know my girl Gigi, who's from Philly,
she's on lip service. She was like, yeah, now we
all going to c Beanie seagoing.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
She told you you missed it, right.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah she did.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I didn't even know because she told us after she Yeah,
she told us after that she went and she was
talking about how crazy that was for the city. And
that has to feel great that twenty five years ago
you put out a project that you could put out today.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, and it still would hit the same.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
That's why I think my music is. I think I
like it.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
I get that a lot from people like YO, you's
before your time. It's things that you know on certain
records and songs that I do, and it's like people
like YO, that's going on right now. So I think
that's just honest music. When your music is honest, like
you can always say, I ain't gonna make music forever,
(07:26):
but I'm gonna try to make for other music.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Right, Yeah, okay, I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And then you know, and obviously we know that you've
had some infamous like right now, there's some some hip
hop beef going on and yeah, stop it, you know,
and I'm.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
In a whole other space.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I don't know what's going with Drake, Kendrake, Rick Ross,
all of these different things happening. I know you've said that,
you said that you're gonna do AI, yes and use
that to help with your voice. But then what's been
weird is that there's all these like tracks that have
been out that people feel like this is AI.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I don't know if this is real or not some
of it was AI. Well, I'm gonna use AI for
myself beneficially.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
Right, I'm gonna go in and record everything, and I'm
gonna use the AI just to bring back that that
sound that when you listen to my music, you'll get
to hear that voice that you grew up one that
you all doing too.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You can't do it without doing this either like that.
Speaker 6 (08:23):
But but I'm embracing my voice now.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah you should.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I still want to do both.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
It's because the reason why I want to do it's
gonna be a lot of music that I'm gonna do it,
and storm can I tell them? I don't even know
I could. It's gonna be myself now talking to my
younger soul.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Okay, that's a lot of knowledge. I feel like that's good.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
In that right there.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I can't that's a lot of knowledge I can see.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I'm not some sort did I give them too much?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh man?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I feel like there's gonna be a little AI beanie
seagull running around and I feel like, but that's an
important conversation even with what we're talking about here, but
light camp, you know, with gun violence, like talking to
if you could go back and talk to your younger self,
you know, I remember you even talking about how you
were disappointed with jay Z when he was saying, you know,
(09:16):
in court or whatever, and he said that you know,
you were a little he couldn't produce a liability.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, well that's what, yeah, liability.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
But when you look back at your younger self and
talk to your younger self, you can see why when
we would think that.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
In the industry right now, was it all not a liability? Right?
When you look at what is happening in the industry.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Right I feel like it's worse now with social media
and people amping up beefs and saying this person's talking
about you and they may not be.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Well, my liability thing. I'm just was a man that
just held everybody accountable.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I've seen it, yeah, I mean, I mean if.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
We do that, like look at an in a sense,
all right, they said it's a liability for holding people accountable.
But if it was more of us that held people
accountable than the people that we're holding accountable, they would
know to be a certain way, act a certain way.
I just was on man time.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You know, the music industry. Though I think it's hard
for people who are on man time. The music industry
is not. It's not being able to move in that space.
I feel like people who are very like, hold you
accountable people. It's harder for them to maneuver around that
because they're used to people having like morals and it's
not really like that in the music everything and.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
That music business is a facade. That's my peel over.
It's a facade.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And sometimes if you don't know that at first, you
have anticipation, you have expectations.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
Well, that's where I was at. I'm thinking everything is that.
I'm like, well, what's going on? I grew up listening
to this and I'm thinking this person this way and
there are nothing like that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Right, and it's like wow, yeah, we have to learn.
Well no, but it's an experience. It's a learning curve. Yeah,
you know, you come in thinking things in one way
and then it's another way. Like Erica, how hard has
it been for you to get into this position where
even the work that you've been doing for so long,
that you've been doing with no money at first, for
people to I feel like things have been changing and
(11:22):
it's a slow process.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Policy is a slow process to get things done.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Change is slow, and you know, for you to be
putting in the work early on knowing that that's not
an easy thing to do because a lot of times
it's no financial nothing comes with it, no support comes
with it. You're doing work basically for free and also
not getting any type of like appreciation for the work
that you're trying to do. And now it feels like
change is slow, but it is happening, right, Yes.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
And just to sit here and listen to the two
Greg and Beans both say that I'm their mentor. Right.
We have beings who is an artistic genius. Right. We
have Greg who is a political beast working in the
White House. And so it's the diversity of where you
(12:09):
put your energy, right, who you're holding accountable, right, and
how that impacts the next generation because both of you
know when you talk about the industry, the industry destroys souls.
They try to take a piece of you out in
order for what they want, the business of what they
(12:31):
want to grow, right. And so most of the music
that gets pushed into the ears and minds and hearts
of our kids is music that destroys them. Right. A
lot of times there's no balance, right, And so you'll
see n La Chopper talk about why we can't just
have fun, right, Why is it I gotta be less
(12:54):
than a man to have fun, like why? Right? And
then also when you look at what is happening with
a lot of artists, right, these cases, right, these raids
and so on and so forth. Right, none of these
people ended up that way on their own, right, Like
(13:15):
we can sit here and you know, I'm a black woman,
and so I'm not condoning any any attack on another
black woman or anybody, right, But what happened to these
people's when they were kids? Right? When you look at
shootings that happen in communities, these people are getting shot.
(13:38):
And when Beans got shot and almost died, what help
did he get? What therapeutic help did he get? What
support did he get? And on the other side, Gregg
and the White House when he got shot, what help
did he get? None? They didn't get none.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
And so then when those trauma and pain that they
have grows in them and it impacts their decisions, we
blame their decision, not the system that created where the
decision came from. Right. And so you know, and I
hope this is not going over people's head, right, because
(14:15):
there's some who we're trying to put in jail. We're
quick to just cast away folks. And I'm never the
person to cast away folks. I work with everybody, and
I work because I know that people like my father
was killed in the Vietnam War, and I know the
impact that had on me and my brother, right, And
I know that all of these little kids who go
(14:36):
into this industry as innocent individuals trying to make a living,
but then they realize they got to do something else
to make this money or for their music to get played. Right,
And those things are real, right, those things are real.
And so when we see on our TV screens and
our news screams what's happening now, like, it shouldn't be
(14:59):
a surprise, right, and we shouldn't condemn people so fast.
We have to look at what creates those individuals, right.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Right, No, I agree with you.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I've had an opportunity to sit down with a lot
of the younger artists and have conversations with them, even
off camera, about things that happen in their life that
they may never want to share publicly, about what goes on,
and then to see the decisions that they keep on
continuing to make. But it's like who's around you, you know,
and what help are you being given? Are you being
cut off from people are you being told you can't
(15:30):
do this, you can't do that, and you know, even
family that's around. And then there's people that work in
the business that want to benefit and profit off of you.
And sometimes it is more profitable when people have be
for their you know, writing certain making and creating certain
kinds of music that they now have to live up.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
To, you know, But we're the ones paying the costs,
you know. And to some people it's music, but for me,
it's looking at my mentors, like Beanie. I listen to
Beanie on the school bus, like looked.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Up to him.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Never thought I would ever meet beans right, and he
almost was shot and killed. And I think about all
the people I looked up to as a young man.
You know, my mentors are now my ancestors. You know,
we lost bank Roll, Fresh, Young Dolph, Takeoff, Little Snoop, Tupac, Biggie,
the list goes on and on and on, Nipsey, And
(16:21):
it's like these are people that we as young black
men and black folks in general, we look up too.
We celebrate and we watch this this crisis of gun violence,
just literally chew them up and spit them out. And
if they make it and This is huge. I mean,
this has been the number one cause of death for
black youth since two thousand and six, gun violence. But
yet we haven't seen the policy. We haven't seen the action,
(16:42):
we haven't seen the resources, the dollars. And I think
we're turning the corner now because so many survivors are
standing up like beans, like myself, like Erica, and that's
where the change is happening. But for too long we've
been looking at this as entertainment and not realizing that
it's wiping us out.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, and I want to talk things that have been
done because I always feel like it's important to make
sure that we discuss how can we help and how
can we help find solutions instead of saying this is
what it is, you know, because people will say, well,
nothing's being done. Well, the White House hasn't done anything.
This administration doesn't care about our black youth. So what
are some things that are being done and how can
we support that?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Ready, so go back to the first executive order?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah, the wait the first executive order on April eighth,
which was Eric's birthday, So happy birthday of the year
twenty twenty one, we moved forward the first series of
Executive Actions on gun violence. It focused on programs for
community violence intervention programs like Life Camp. How do we
get more dollars? Opened up ten billion dollars for programs
like life Camp before that executive action across the nation.
(17:47):
Before that, there were zero dollars federally. So we went
from zero to ten billion dollars in the first few months.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
That also included resources for youth that have been impacted
by violence, for folks coming home from prison. But thinking
about how do we provide resources for those who are
most at risk was the first step. Knowing that those
who are most vulnerable or who at risk frankly, or
who we got to start with, how do we help
get them out of that cycle of violence and make
sure they have the treatment to support the interventions they need.
(18:15):
But since then, we passed the first bill on gun
violence in twenty nine years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,
and that created the nine eight eight suicide Lifeline. If
you look at a ride Wave concert, you see it
in the background. This bill created that. It included investments
for fourteen thousand school based mental health professionals. That's a
thirty five percent increase. We turned gun trafficking into a
(18:37):
federal offense. We've already prosecuted over three hundred traffickers. We
shut down one hundred and fifty two gun stores that
were breaking laws and violating the law in order to
sell guns to youth and other folks who frankly were prohibited.
But we also looked at how do we get upstream
and make sure that we're not just cracking down on
our youth and that young brother who maybe has a
(18:57):
gun to protect themselves. But how do we hold the
dealers accountable, the traffickers accountable, the manufacturers accountable. We put
two ghost gun companies out of business, right so we're
thinking about how do we hold the whole industry accountable
while moving literally billions of resources into life saving programs.
And the one big thing we did just two weeks
ago is we looked at, okay, how are legal guns
(19:19):
getting into the hands of our youth, how are they
getting into the hands of domestic abusers that are prohibited?
And so we tracked the gun trafficking. We looked at
twelve thousand cases from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one,
and we found that the main source was unlicensed private sellers,
people who are selling online on online marketplaces, at gun shows,
and these are people that without fe felonies right that
(19:41):
are doing buying these guns illegally giving them the traffickers,
and those are moving into places like New York. And
so what we did is we looked at that source
and we changed the policy to make sure that twenty
thousand of those unlicensed private sellers now have to be licensed,
they have to do background checks, recognizing that that's the
source of where the guns are coming from. And that's
what this administration is doing. We're not just looking at,
(20:04):
you know, the brother who's struggling on the street. We're
looking at who's profiting off of this, Like who's sitting
on a yacht right and putting weapons from the battlefields
into our backyards, you know what I mean? Like that's
that's who really needs to start to pay the costs
because we're already paying the calls. We're paying it with
our bodies, We're paying it with our dollars, We're paying
it with our family, our kids, our futures. Frankly, and
(20:25):
so I always push back. You know, we might not
have been on the you know, on this show talking
about it.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
The way we should.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
But we've been had our head down doing this work.
And above all of that, you know, the president, you know,
had the vision to not just hire political activists and academics.
He hired survivors like me, you know, to lead that charge.
And people always joke like, Greg, you got locks, how
to heck you get in there?
Speaker 4 (20:48):
You know?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
But but I'm like, look, you know, I represent the
people that we're fighting for, and the President saw that.
And so not only did we pass the law, he
entrusted people who have been impacted to make sure those
laws help save lives. And last thing I'll say is
last year we saw a thirteen percent reduction in homicide
and we can't quite celebrate that because if you lose somebody,
it hurts. I lost my mentee de Marcos this past fall,
(21:09):
So I can't celebrate, you know, that percentage when I
know DeMarco family hurts.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Yeah, but we're.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Getting there, and so we're gonna keep building on that.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Yeah. And also we have Eddie Buccanero who's in the
Department of Justice, right, and that's a when because Eddie
Buccanero did sixteen years, if I'm not mistaken, worked on
the front line in Chicago, and now he's in the
Department of Justice, deciding the language where money goes, changing policies,
and you know, connecting the Department of Justice to real
(21:39):
groups on the ground and real understanding. And it's a process.
And one of the reasons why we're here together is
because it takes all of us, right, the different worlds,
to come together to impact that mindset that a lot
of people talk about, Like I ain't really about voting,
but you are concerned about getting arrested and going to jail.
(22:02):
And that's a da that gets voted in, that's a
judge that gets voted in, right, And so we have
to be in the process. And although Clean Slate Act
pass and people have the right to vote, they're not registered.
And so we want to get people registered. We want
to get people to understand the importance of coming out
(22:23):
to vote, not only in this next election, but all elections,
so that we can begin Because when I first started
a politicians said to me, like, why should I work
with that audience Because they don't vote, they don't donate
to our campaigns. I have no reason to be interested
in those volks, right, And so we have to build
up our political net worth right, so that we can
(22:45):
impact the decisions of what is being made and also
just be a body that really can begin to not
only just break the cycles, but build new cycles. Right,
because we can't talk about we could sell two million records,
but we can't influence two million people to make a
right decision. Right. We can't change the way our young
people are acting in these streets to not go to jail,
(23:07):
but really be productive and owned businesses, like how you
own several businesses right, and do things with their name
and their personalities, like like Beans is doing. Or work
in a white house like Greg is doing right, or
just use your voice to advocate for people like I
did right, And so there's other things that folks could do.
The idea of death and going to jail should not
(23:29):
be a thought process for our young people. It shouldn't
be an option. It shouldn't be a thought process, and
it's our responsibility to make sure that that happens. I
don't accept the thing of OG's saying that I can't
tell these young people what to do. I can't tell
them nothing. Or if they get into a certain somebody
gets killed and they set I can't talk them off
that ledge. We can't. You know we can. And if
you're a real man, if you're a real woman, you
(23:51):
have a moral responsibility to help save these young people's lives.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Right.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
You can't turn your back and close your eyes and
think that you don't have nothing to do with it.
And that's why I want to continue to challenge artists.
I want to continue to challenge people who are influenced
because if you can't influence real change and the way
and let us step in andto what we're supposed to do,
because like, it don't make no sense, right, it don't
make no sense. And there's a lot of people in
(24:16):
this industry that you know, you're taking up a lot
of airspace, but you're not pushing people in the right
direction to do something. And you know, we have to,
we have to save our children.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Because it don't because listen, people will paint a narrative
of us in our community when we could be letting
people know who we are ourselves and using our voice
to let you know what it is that we demand,
what it is that we need, and who we really are.
Because I think sometimes you know, people who are not
in this space, they have a view of who we
are why we do what we do and what's happening,
(24:47):
and we need to be the ones that are like
making decisions and painting that narrative of ourselves that's a
true and real one. Yes, you know, I think that's
really important. And you know, a lot of things that
you said when we talk about I mean, I can
never understand why people don't want to do things as
simple as a background check, Like people would be against
that when it comes to gun violence or semi automatic weapons.
(25:10):
Some people feel like why would the average person need
to have a semi automatic weapon, you know, And it's
even things like that that people are like, no, we
want to have our rights, our right to bear arms
and have not have those types of restrictions when these
things are really important to be able to implement and
make sure that people can also have guns safely, be
able to train in how to use their guns, making sure,
(25:32):
like you said, you know, a background check is done.
I don't see why that is even an issue in
some places.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Well it's law now, you know. Right now, Almot, nearly
everybody's selling guns has to be licensed and use a
background check unless they're a personal collector. So whether people
support it or not as law. And so now we've
got to follow through on that law, hold people accountable
to it, and then also think about the behavior and
like what leads to someone even picking up the gun
in the first place. You know, Fortunately, there's there's more
(26:01):
guns in this country than there are people, with four
hundred million guns already in our communities. So the sales,
you know, we're doing our best to crack down the sales,
but the guns are here. So how do we start
to change things to make sure that our young folks
don't think that, hey, I gotta shoot first and fight later.
You know, that's that's not the that's not gonna save anybody.
That's not gonna you know, get us anywhere. And I'm
(26:25):
proud that there's so many people speaking up, you know,
like Beans is out here pushing this.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Quavo came to the.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Vice President's house and literally talked about this and brought
take Off's mom. You know, we're seeing so many voices
step up and say, look, this is not cool, Like
this isn't it's beyond that, Like living should be cool,
and then how you live is what we should be
excited about. And so this White House is investing in
those strategies, like, we're putting the resources down recognizing that
(26:53):
that's what was missing before. We didn't invest in the communities.
We expected the justice system to handle all those problems
and those challenges, and that's not going to work.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
We got to change behavior by investing in ourselves as
the community.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
No.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Erica had said something earlier about getting shot and then
not getting help after that, right, so, you know, Gregory,
for you and for you Beannie.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Did you guys since then?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Have you gotten any help or spoken to anybody or
done anything to say okay? Because that's a traumatic experience
and no matter what, that's something you'll never be able
to forget. But how do you deal with that and
move forward and cope with that? Have you ever been like, Okay,
I need to talk to somebody about this.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
I'm actually the work that I'm doing with Erica and
greg is is part of my therapy now, just being
able to share the experiences that I went through and
telling people like this is not where you want to go.
You don't want to go. You can lose I don't
like just okay. The ultimate thing is you can lose
(27:52):
your life, right right, And that's it. But if you survive,
life is altered forever. And to some people who don't
have the will power to like go on and push
forward through life itself, they in for a rude awakening.
(28:14):
When you can't do the simple things is put your
put put your pants on correctly. You need help even
dress yourself, to wash yourself, to feed yourself. You know
you you're in a position where you can't go out
and work and be productive.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
That's that's part of the mental thing.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
You know that that it's going to impact you and
weigh down on you. Well, ultimately you can be alive,
but at the same time you're dead. You don't want
to go through that. So that's what I'm here to do.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
I want to be able to be the eyes for
people who can't say, be the lags for the people
who can't walk, you know what I mean, and let
them know I'm listen this me, Beanie Seguel. I'm telling
you this. This is not somebody who's just you know
what I mean. I've been through it and every aspect
(29:14):
is nothing you can tell me.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I've been through it.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
And man Erica had a discussion one day and we
were talking, you know, uh, the closest to the problem
and closer to the solution. I've been on both sides.
I've been on both sides of it. I've been here
and I've been on the other side. So that's those
two conversations that we were talking about earlier and me
(29:42):
now talking to the younger version and.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
The forgiveness that you've talked about too.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Oh yeah, yeah, most definitely you got to you got
to what you gotta be able to forgive. Not only that,
you gotta be I mean the person that shot me,
I ain't bitter about it. I was y'all wanted to
(30:10):
go out and it was easy for me to do that.
But it's just I'm just glad that the space that
I was in in my life then wasn't this space
that I was in in.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
My earlier years.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
So it allowed me to fall back and process because
that's a I was being tested. I was being tested
to a lot like Okay, you say you want to change,
you want to do this, Well, let me see. Then
this happened. Then I fight through that, and then I
wake up on this side of the pillow like I
(30:47):
can't do that, Like you know, I got to handle
this situation. I'm Beanie Seagull, I'm a broad Street bully character.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Man.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
Then I get through that and then something else. All right,
you went through that one because you never gonna stop.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Getting tested over and they.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Keep coming and keep coming. I'm just I'm glad I
can see it now when it comes. You ain't getting me,
and I don't have no audience. I changed my whole
audience in life because a lot of people out, like
I said, character, they performing for people, not only on
the stage, they performing for people in life period. My
(31:30):
audience is when I turn the key, when I come
to the house, and how my children perceive me. How
my wife perceived her husband as a man. They my
children perceived my mother perceived her son. How she can,
you know, hold their head up like that's my son
and know her son is not a character, you know.
(31:51):
And when I'm going how my children to celebrate me.
My father taught me this, you know, my husband taught
me this. I watched my son go through this. That's
what it's about. You starting the household. That's my audience.
And I just bring the things that I prayed I
(32:12):
could bring, the things that I go through in my
household that I teach my children that I teach my daughters,
you know, bring it to the.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
World, right use those same people that are happy to
do something stupid will be.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
And I learned never take advice from people who's not
going to suffer the outcome of that decision. I learned
I don't never got to be nowhere. I don't want
to be So when you do that, I see how
you looking at me, like, wow, is this didn't see
what talks? No?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
But this is real though, you know, because it was
a journey.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Beings a lot of people. I know this is it's
a show. But you spalked the question inside of me
because a lot of people be like yo, I can't
tell them what to do Erica, Yo, you can't tell
them like yo, when when their friend gets shot or
they people get shot, you can't tell them what to do? Like,
So what inside of you like made you do all
(33:10):
of that? Like what what's like? What is it that
a young person needs to look at or another street
cat need to look at to to to allow them
to say it's okay to to do what you did.
Speaker 6 (33:24):
I mean, just like I said, just change your audience.
Change change your audience. You man, just learning that right now?
We're in a society where whereas they say toxic, the toxic,
(33:45):
that that's the new thing.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
Toxic.
Speaker 6 (33:47):
You got women out here that's saying the savages, you know,
and just learning that. Uh, you know, sometimes it's hip.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
To be square and it's great to have something to lose.
That's how you know.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It's when you have something to lose and you don't
want to lose that you have to think a lot
harder and a lot longer before.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
You make I see a lot of artists they got
a lot to lose doing dumb ship.
Speaker 6 (34:17):
Dumb stuff, but they willing to do that. They willing
to do that because they don't they they don't see
nothing else.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
And you will say celebrities, are they under attack or
they got to watch out? Or like is it really
celebrities or is it black men? Or is it you know,
people of a certain income, Like you know, we're quick
to say, like we're under attack, But what is it
that you're doing? Like what what are you doing? Why?
(34:46):
Why is.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You know?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
It's like I think that we really need to revaluate
who we're who's the audience and who are performing for? What?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Give what energy you're allowing to control you.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
Yeah, I believe under attack. Now I think the veils
is just getting lift up off of people. That's what
I truly think. Yeah, it's time for cleansing.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I mean, look for real though.
Speaker 5 (35:19):
We having a lot of subliminal conversation.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
He said that just now. I had ten questions, but
I was move on.
Speaker 6 (35:26):
But people don't want to talk about those things up.
I ain't going there.
Speaker 5 (35:31):
Yeah, because that's that's what I was talking about earlier.
But you know that's why I said, I know this
is going to go over people heads.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I can't be afraid.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
Man.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Take that.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
Take that.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Reality is reality is though. You know when I got shot,
like I was bleeding to death and went in and
out a few times.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
And when you.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
Dying, you dying alone. You know, when you go in
that surgery room, you go alone. When they give you
that oxygen or anesthesia, you alone, and it's just you
and God trying.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
To fight through those moments.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
No big homies, nothing, ain't no fun.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
There's no nothing, there's no fame likes, it's nothing. It's
just you and your will to survive and God's God's grace.
And that's a big wake up call. And unfortunately, too
many people get that wake up call too late, and
they come out of it with emotional trauma. They come
out of with physical trauma. I mean, gun violence is
(36:28):
the number is the number one reason why people are
newly handicapped, so they come out in wheelchairs with you know,
canes bags. I mean, for me, I couldn't walk for
six months. You know how crazy it is to have
somebody pick you up and carry you to the bathroom.
It's a grown man for three months, you know, to
not even be able to eat your food by yourself.
(36:50):
You know, That's that's the reality of what happens, you know,
and it may look cool on TV or sound good,
but it's a whole different world when you got to
deal with that on.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Your own, taken for you.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
For me, the the first the main person I needed
to forgive was myself facts.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
I was so angry that I was in that situation
and similar beings. I wanted to go get this guy,
But then I also realized, like, hey, I put myself there,
you know, and did I did I start it that?
Speaker 4 (37:18):
You know?
Speaker 3 (37:18):
It wasn't my fault, no, But I could have avoided
that situation. I could have made this decision different that
decision different. I mean, six months of being stuck in
a bed, you go through every emotion, but the biggest
thing you go through is frustration and guilt and you
beat up on yourself. And so for me, forgiveness was
recognizing that, look, I was giving another chance. Maybe I
(37:39):
made a mistake, but maybe this is a blessing and
this trauma can be power and not just pain, not
just hurt.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
And so what am I gonna do with this? Am
I gonna dwell in it and spiral into a darker place?
Or am I gonna own it and try to make
things better for other people? But that forgiveness was key,
And then for me that took three and a half
months to even get to that point. Wow, you know,
And that's what unfortunately, a lot of our folks are
going through. I mean, every year one hundred and forty
(38:07):
thousand people are shot or killed the Saint. This ain't
just beans and greg this is these are hundreds of
thousands of people, now millions of people since I was shot.
So this is a lot of folks going through this trauma.
But again, it's by time you're there, the damage is done,
and a lot of folks can't come back from that.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
Right and just to go to your point of success
that from that point to now. There's also millions of
people whose lives we saved. There's hundreds of thousands of
people who you know, are not incarcerated, who have gone
on with their lives and doing successful things. Will put
their gun down, picked up cameras shooting cameras now, or
(38:46):
picked up yoga mats, picked up you know, books and
wrote books and plays and directed movies and stuff like that.
And so there is that ability to have that success
across the nation, you know, And so we want people
to humble themselves, right and if you need help, like
you know, it's not easy doing it by yourself, and
(39:07):
so allow us to be part of your team and
help you make the decision that's going to help you
save your life and your children's lives. You know, we
have a national platform, it's called the Black and Brown
Peace Coalition, and so folks can text fund peace Peace
fund fund to five to one five five five five
(39:28):
to one five five five and just be part of
our national team. You know, if they have an organization
in a different city. We bring people together in the
ecosystem to help get part of this money that Greg
was talking about in the different cities or just get
access to you know, we just did Gaming for Peace.
A young kid in Georgia won fifteen thousand dollars right
(39:50):
just playing video games. Because we want to meet them
where they're at right and so we're going to be
doing doing Gun Violence and Awareness Month in June. We're
going to be doing a Gaming for Peace again. We're
looking to have a festival at Shay Stadium, Shae Stadium.
You don't notice yet, but we're looking to have a
festival at Shaye Stadium. So you know, let's get together
(40:11):
make this happen, you know, because we want to get
to that population that feels that they don't have hope.
There's no reason to vote, there's no reason to do
the right thing because everything points to negative. They don't
know how to talk their friends off the ledge or
their girlfriend or they son, you know, and they're having problems.
Like we want to bring folks together to show them
(40:32):
that there is access to hope and it is a
way to change your life. And one of the things
that I'm going to be doing now that I stepped
away from the day to day work at Life Camp
is sharing the wisdom that I've learned over the last
thirty six years, and teaching and working with people and
mentoring people on how to succeed in this field and
how to grow whatever it is you're trying to do,
(40:53):
and connect the people to the right things and bring
people like you and other folks to the the ground
so that we can prosper off of our collective reach,
you know, and really change your conditions of our people
from Detroit to Memphis, to Atlanta, Georgia to Philly, who's
getting ready to get beat by the New York Knicks
(41:15):
in this playoff season.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
I don't want to talk football, you know what.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
I do want to go back to something you said
though earlier. I know the veils being lifted about, but
I know for you haven't been in the business. You've
been around a lot, You've seen a lot. So is
any of this like shocking to you seeing everything that's
been coming to light in the music business and different
(41:47):
people haven't been, you know, charged with things or stories
coming out.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
I'm gonna say this right, I don't really want to
speak on nobody personal issue. I don't wish nothing to ill,
but I will say this to the people who are listening,
and learn a lesson from behind. Whatever it is, guilty,
(42:17):
not guilty, it's a lesson. Look for the lesson when
you're choosing a certain lifestyle. Whatever it is, fine, fine,
what you're asking me. For the people that's watching, you know,
it's a lesson behind all this, it's a lesson behind it.
(42:40):
Watch what you actually chasing. Be careful, don't get caught
up and go down a rabbit hole of chasing success.
That's it, man, Be careful in a nutshell for everybody.
Be careful who you idolize, what you idolize, because it
(43:02):
can get very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
As we see, as you say, as we see you know,
and I think a lot of times the information is there,
like there's people who have said things and like look,
we just were looking.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
At Shine and how he's like, look, guys.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
And I ain't talking about them little sound bites we
ain't talking about to InformATE themselves. Learn a real lesson
behind this because a lot of us, especially the youth,
we glorify the wrong things. Of course, we need money
to survive and to eat and all that. But after
you acquire so much, then what's next. And that's where
(43:39):
people get trapped off in they're looking at everybody next
you know what?
Speaker 5 (43:44):
Also what what? What I was trying to say earlier,
also is that regardless, I'm not gonna say regardless, And
the fact that I got to like sit here and think,
oh this, you know, this society is so sick. It's sick, right,
(44:07):
And so at what point in people's life did they
become a problem. Most of the people's life became a
problem when they changed their lives or not right, but
when they started to talk about empowering black folks, right,
(44:31):
And what made that person right? We could look at
the act, but we never look at the puppet master
behind the puppet that made the act right. These people
didn't just fall out the sky and end up like this.
And we keep going after and I'm not, you know,
(44:56):
condoning any negative behavior in any field, but what made
that person like that? Because in all fields there's something
bigger creating that monster, and we never deal with that,
and so we always keep allowing it. And it happens
(45:17):
only to us because it's a business. Is a business
on incarcerating us, killing us, allowing us to run this
labor like you know, we were slaves at one point
and if it's up to them. When they were talking
about make America great again, right, then they're talking about
(45:37):
going back to a point where we were labor like
we were the conic, like we we don't count with
three fiars of a man with everything that doesn't count, right,
And so understand as Beans was just saying, what you're
looking and they can't decipher it. They don't have the
(45:58):
intellectual power to do that at this point because they've
been fed so much garbage. They don't know how to
filter through the garbage. Right, They don't know how to
do that. Grown men and women don't know how to
do it, much less kids. And so we could look
at the headlines about shine right and look at how
(46:21):
and what created a shine right? What and think created
a diddy? What created an art Kelly? What created these
brothers and sisters who pick up these guns at twelve
and thirteen year old and shoot at the d right,
There's so many situations in our community, but what created them?
(46:42):
Let's talk about that, and let's deal with that, because
those are just if so far, those are like every
twenty years is another one, right, right, And so you
know it's deeper, it's deeper than our eyes can see.
And we need to go deep. We need to at
some point, let's go deep. And let's not that's not
(47:05):
what do they do, like cancel, like stoff, canceling like really,
sit down, sit down, We ain't babies. Stop canceling people
because you don't agree with them.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I don't think that canceled thing really well.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
There's a lot of people that temporarily get canceled, you know.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Yeah, I mean I do. I think I don't think
that's a real thing.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
It would be like a little temporary uproar and then
it goes away, you know, or more times than not,
there's very few people, very very very few, So they
get yeah, they get permanently canceled.
Speaker 6 (47:39):
You know.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
It's there's some people we need to cancel, and it's
not I know, but cancel the people that need to
be canceled. We cancel each other, the victims of a
bigger picture.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
Right all right, Well listen, Erica, like I said, life,
cancel life, say what you want. But you know, gaming
for Peace, let's talk about that coming back up.
Speaker 5 (48:04):
Yes, So this June, we're gonna online this year. For
two weeks ago, we had five hundred and twelve people
register and the final four came to York College, young
man from Georgia. Like I said, one fifteen thousand dollars.
We're going to do it again, doing Gun Violence Awareness Month.
It'll all be online so people all over the United
States can register. We really need those young kids in
(48:26):
the communities who really are hopeless to join, and so
it's gonna be virtual. So fun piece to five one
five five five. You'll get the information, join them. What
we're gonna be doing the gaming for peace.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Both.
Speaker 5 (48:44):
We got a lot of stuff going on. We got
music bars, can we get some bars? Got some new bars?
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Okay? Oh, g Beanie talking to young Beanie.
Speaker 5 (48:57):
We like that Greg might have some boss from the
White House. We go into the White House. We're doing
a meeting at the White House. Hopefully Angelia, you'll come
with artists, entertainers, influencers or just around how we can
continue to have these conversations and impact communities in their
local areas because all politics are local. But we want
to get our community, our peers involved in this political process.
Speaker 6 (49:22):
And so to the artists that's out there, if y'all listening,
tuning in, we definitely need y'all support. If y'all real
and and really want to help this cause, contact Erica
so we can get this thing going.
Speaker 5 (49:40):
Fun piece to fund, yes.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Right, fun piece to all right, Well, thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
I appreciate y'all so much. We'll keep it going and
I make sure we keep us updated, you know, before June.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Yes, all right, thank you you
Speaker 6 (49:57):
W
What's it's way up with Angela Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Angela Yee, And you know, first off, let me
introduce my girl. Erica Ford is here and you're a
life camp for life. What she says that, but I'm like, well,
I don't believe is well, Eric.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And Beanie Siegel is here.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
This is like I sitting down now on way up
because I wasn't there when you were on the break
when you came to the Breakfast club. So it's a
pleasure to have you in the building, all right. And
then we have Gregory Jackson Junior by the way, can't
forget the Junior Party, and you are the Deputy Director
of the White House Office of Gun Prevention, of Gun
Prevention and Special Assistant to the President. So and this
(00:49):
is something that Joe Biden actually implemented last year.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Right, yeah, yeah, we about six months in right at
this point, so excited to be here. Also, you know,
this is my this is my big mentee right here
tour excuse me, Erica Ford, so excited to be here
with her.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Right, I'll take that.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We should be learning.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
From the mentees, right And Beanie Seagulls So now you
are also working on this gun prevention campaign, and so
tell me how this all happened, because I want to
see what the synergy is.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
How this all started.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
So beans was trying to shoot me one day.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
Camera, Yeah, with a camp. I think it just was destiny.
I can't really pinpoint exactly how it happened. We got
both got a mutual friend, mister Marvin Bang. I'm an express.
I've been working with Marv for like the last couple
of years this, you know, trying to figure out what
(01:49):
I'm gonna do.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I know, I didn't want to just be.
Speaker 6 (01:54):
An artist and that was just the end of my
legacy rapper. I think I had a lot to give
to share, you know, beyond just music. And you know,
he introduced me to Erica and we've been locked on
(02:15):
a hit very since. It was just like, yes, this
is what I need to do.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
If there's somebody I'm gonna listen to when it comes
to this, it's Beanie Segull.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, you know, because I think it's also important to
meet people where they're at and for them to understand
why gun prevention is such an important topic for us
to be discussing, because it has gotten very political, and
that's what I'm gonna throw it to you, Gregory Jackson Junior.
You know, because you are working with the White House
and this is a new position. Like you said, it's
only a six month old position. So tell me how
(02:45):
you ended up getting involved in while you were tapped
to be part of this initiative.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, I wish it was an exciting story, but for me,
it started when I was shot in April twenty thirteen.
The bullet that hit me hit two arteries and nearly
cost me my life. But when I was in the hospital,
I'll never forget turned on a TV and watching leaders
in Washington saying they couldn't take action because I was
shot three days after the Senate failed to pass the
background check book. And so you know, I went through
(03:12):
six different surgery, six months of recovery, but was committed
that if I got back on my feet, I would
literally do all I can in this work. And so
I started local, doing mentorship work, supporting the youth in
my community. And then my family friend Tray was shot
and killed in Greensboro, North Carolina, and I realized that
it's not about one city, It's about what can we
do for every community, And so that's why I pivoted
(03:34):
started working at the congressional level to push forward bills.
We passed the first bill on gun violence in twenty
nine years. And when President Biden was elected day one,
I was on the horn with his team, Erica and
I did a big call with a bunch of other
activists that first week and said, here's what we need
to see done. Here's the change we want to see.
And of those requests, nearly all of them have been advanced,
(03:57):
but the biggest one was that you needed that. We
needed them have a team to work on this every
day because gun violence happens every day. It's not just
about mass shootings. It's about our folks did the impact
it every day. And so that team was assembled and
they turned around and said, well, Greg, we want you
to serve on it. Uh and Erica advice on it.
So uh so we're here. And that's how I got started, right.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And the Beanie Seagull you had this story. I remember
when you got shot and that was in the news
and people were not sure you know what was There
was all kinds of rumors at that time about what happened.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Yeah, I heard I died and all that, well, uh yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You could have died at that, you know, in that instance.
Speaker 6 (04:37):
Yeah, they said I caught it once or twice and
doing surgery but came back.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
And that was just that incident.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
So yeah, I just I just I'm at I'm at
a point right now where you know, I had to
back up from the industry, the so called industry that's
out there, and just you know that that that space
that I was in in my life with the music
that I was bringing out and putting out. And you know,
(05:10):
a lot of us, when we don't have information, we
tend to run with whatever narrative that's going on in
society and in our world as entertainments. It's like, uh,
we don't got we don't got there those positive, positive
messages through.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
The music no more. Everything is just straight aggression and toxic.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
You don't have that happy medium where you could talk
about those things and then you can also get a
flip side, right, you know what I mean, This is
what happens if you do this, because you know, one
don't exist without the other. Right, how do you know
evil without good? You know good without evil? I think
I always did a good job in my music and
portraying both sides, but I'm here to be on the
(05:59):
ground with Erica. You know this is this is my mentor,
I'm her mentee. Now you know how they say when
the student is willing to learn, the teacher will come.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Sometimes things happen for a reason and you get put
into a position that could feel like why is this
happening to me?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
But then there's a bigger purpose.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
I always knew that if you listen to the music
when I told you and fill it in the air, Yeah,
I go through it, so you wouldn't do it after me,
but ask for me.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Twenty five years since the Tooth came out too. By
the way, congratulations. That concert looked like it was. Everybody
was talking about it.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, because you know my girl Gigi, who's from Philly,
she's on lip service. She was like, yeah, now we
all going to c Beanie seagoing.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
She told you you missed it, right.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah she did.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I didn't even know because she told us after she Yeah,
she told us after that she went and she was
talking about how crazy that was for the city. And
that has to feel great that twenty five years ago
you put out a project that you could put out today.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, and it still would hit the same.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
That's why I think my music is. I think I
like it.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
I get that a lot from people like YO, you's
before your time. It's things that you know on certain
records and songs that I do, and it's like people
like YO, that's going on right now. So I think
that's just honest music. When your music is honest, like
you can always say, I ain't gonna make music forever,
(07:26):
but I'm gonna try to make for other music.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Right, Yeah, okay, I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
And then you know, and obviously we know that you've
had some infamous like right now, there's some some hip
hop beef going on and yeah, stop it, you know,
and I'm.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
In a whole other space.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I don't know what's going with Drake, Kendrake, Rick Ross,
all of these different things happening. I know you've said that,
you said that you're gonna do AI, yes and use
that to help with your voice. But then what's been
weird is that there's all these like tracks that have
been out that people feel like this is AI.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I don't know if this is real or not some
of it was AI. Well, I'm gonna use AI for
myself beneficially.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
Right, I'm gonna go in and record everything, and I'm
gonna use the AI just to bring back that that
sound that when you listen to my music, you'll get
to hear that voice that you grew up one that
you all doing too.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You can't do it without doing this either like that.
Speaker 6 (08:23):
But but I'm embracing my voice now.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah you should.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I still want to do both.
Speaker 6 (08:31):
It's because the reason why I want to do it's
gonna be a lot of music that I'm gonna do it,
and storm can I tell them? I don't even know
I could. It's gonna be myself now talking to my
younger soul.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Okay, that's a lot of knowledge. I feel like that's good.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
In that right there.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I can't that's a lot of knowledge I can see.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
I'm not some sort did I give them too much?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh man?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I feel like there's gonna be a little AI beanie
seagull running around and I feel like, but that's an
important conversation even with what we're talking about here, but
light camp, you know, with gun violence, like talking to
if you could go back and talk to your younger self,
you know, I remember you even talking about how you
were disappointed with jay Z when he was saying, you know,
(09:16):
in court or whatever, and he said that you know,
you were a little he couldn't produce a liability.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, well that's what, yeah, liability.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
But when you look back at your younger self and
talk to your younger self, you can see why when
we would think that.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
In the industry right now, was it all not a liability? Right?
When you look at what is happening in the industry.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Right I feel like it's worse now with social media
and people amping up beefs and saying this person's talking
about you and they may not be.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Well, my liability thing. I'm just was a man that
just held everybody accountable.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I've seen it, yeah, I mean, I mean if.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
We do that, like look at an in a sense,
all right, they said it's a liability for holding people accountable.
But if it was more of us that held people
accountable than the people that we're holding accountable, they would
know to be a certain way, act a certain way.
I just was on man time.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You know, the music industry. Though I think it's hard
for people who are on man time. The music industry
is not. It's not being able to move in that space.
I feel like people who are very like, hold you
accountable people. It's harder for them to maneuver around that
because they're used to people having like morals and it's
not really like that in the music everything and.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
That music business is a facade. That's my peel over.
It's a facade.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And sometimes if you don't know that at first, you
have anticipation, you have expectations.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
Well, that's where I was at. I'm thinking everything is that.
I'm like, well, what's going on? I grew up listening
to this and I'm thinking this person this way and
there are nothing like that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Right, and it's like wow, yeah, we have to learn.
Well no, but it's an experience. It's a learning curve. Yeah,
you know, you come in thinking things in one way
and then it's another way. Like Erica, how hard has
it been for you to get into this position where
even the work that you've been doing for so long,
that you've been doing with no money at first, for
people to I feel like things have been changing and
(11:22):
it's a slow process.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Policy is a slow process to get things done.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Change is slow, and you know, for you to be
putting in the work early on knowing that that's not
an easy thing to do because a lot of times
it's no financial nothing comes with it, no support comes
with it. You're doing work basically for free and also
not getting any type of like appreciation for the work
that you're trying to do. And now it feels like
change is slow, but it is happening, right, Yes.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
And just to sit here and listen to the two
Greg and Beans both say that I'm their mentor. Right.
We have beings who is an artistic genius. Right. We
have Greg who is a political beast working in the
White House. And so it's the diversity of where you
(12:09):
put your energy, right, who you're holding accountable, right, and
how that impacts the next generation because both of you
know when you talk about the industry, the industry destroys souls.
They try to take a piece of you out in
order for what they want, the business of what they
(12:31):
want to grow, right. And so most of the music
that gets pushed into the ears and minds and hearts
of our kids is music that destroys them. Right. A
lot of times there's no balance, right, And so you'll
see n La Chopper talk about why we can't just
have fun, right, Why is it I gotta be less
(12:54):
than a man to have fun, like why? Right? And
then also when you look at what is happening with
a lot of artists, right, these cases, right, these raids
and so on and so forth. Right, none of these
people ended up that way on their own, right, Like
(13:15):
we can sit here and you know, I'm a black woman,
and so I'm not condoning any any attack on another
black woman or anybody, right, But what happened to these
people's when they were kids? Right? When you look at
shootings that happen in communities, these people are getting shot.
(13:38):
And when Beans got shot and almost died, what help
did he get? What therapeutic help did he get? What
support did he get? And on the other side, Gregg
and the White House when he got shot, what help
did he get? None? They didn't get none.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
And so then when those trauma and pain that they
have grows in them and it impacts their decisions, we
blame their decision, not the system that created where the
decision came from. Right. And so you know, and I
hope this is not going over people's head, right, because
(14:15):
there's some who we're trying to put in jail. We're
quick to just cast away folks. And I'm never the
person to cast away folks. I work with everybody, and
I work because I know that people like my father
was killed in the Vietnam War, and I know the
impact that had on me and my brother, right, And
I know that all of these little kids who go
(14:36):
into this industry as innocent individuals trying to make a living,
but then they realize they got to do something else
to make this money or for their music to get played. Right,
And those things are real, right, those things are real.
And so when we see on our TV screens and
our news screams what's happening now, like, it shouldn't be
(14:59):
a surprise, right, and we shouldn't condemn people so fast.
We have to look at what creates those individuals, right.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Right, No, I agree with you.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I've had an opportunity to sit down with a lot
of the younger artists and have conversations with them, even
off camera, about things that happen in their life that
they may never want to share publicly, about what goes on,
and then to see the decisions that they keep on
continuing to make. But it's like who's around you, you know,
and what help are you being given? Are you being
cut off from people are you being told you can't
(15:30):
do this, you can't do that, and you know, even
family that's around. And then there's people that work in
the business that want to benefit and profit off of you.
And sometimes it is more profitable when people have be
for their you know, writing certain making and creating certain
kinds of music that they now have to live up.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
To, you know, But we're the ones paying the costs,
you know. And to some people it's music, but for me,
it's looking at my mentors, like Beanie. I listen to
Beanie on the school bus, like looked.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Up to him.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Never thought I would ever meet beans right, and he
almost was shot and killed. And I think about all
the people I looked up to as a young man.
You know, my mentors are now my ancestors. You know,
we lost bank Roll, Fresh, Young Dolph, Takeoff, Little Snoop, Tupac, Biggie,
the list goes on and on and on, Nipsey, And
(16:21):
it's like these are people that we as young black
men and black folks in general, we look up too.
We celebrate and we watch this this crisis of gun violence,
just literally chew them up and spit them out. And
if they make it and This is huge. I mean,
this has been the number one cause of death for
black youth since two thousand and six, gun violence. But
yet we haven't seen the policy. We haven't seen the action,
(16:42):
we haven't seen the resources, the dollars. And I think
we're turning the corner now because so many survivors are
standing up like beans, like myself, like Erica, and that's
where the change is happening. But for too long we've
been looking at this as entertainment and not realizing that
it's wiping us out.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, and I want to talk things that have been
done because I always feel like it's important to make
sure that we discuss how can we help and how
can we help find solutions instead of saying this is
what it is, you know, because people will say, well,
nothing's being done. Well, the White House hasn't done anything.
This administration doesn't care about our black youth. So what
are some things that are being done and how can
we support that?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Ready, so go back to the first executive order?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Yeah, the wait the first executive order on April eighth,
which was Eric's birthday, So happy birthday of the year
twenty twenty one, we moved forward the first series of
Executive Actions on gun violence. It focused on programs for
community violence intervention programs like Life Camp. How do we
get more dollars? Opened up ten billion dollars for programs
like life Camp before that executive action across the nation.
(17:47):
Before that, there were zero dollars federally. So we went
from zero to ten billion dollars in the first few months.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
That also included resources for youth that have been impacted
by violence, for folks coming home from prison. But thinking
about how do we provide resources for those who are
most at risk was the first step. Knowing that those
who are most vulnerable or who at risk frankly, or
who we got to start with, how do we help
get them out of that cycle of violence and make
sure they have the treatment to support the interventions they need.
(18:15):
But since then, we passed the first bill on gun
violence in twenty nine years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,
and that created the nine eight eight suicide Lifeline. If
you look at a ride Wave concert, you see it
in the background. This bill created that. It included investments
for fourteen thousand school based mental health professionals. That's a
thirty five percent increase. We turned gun trafficking into a
(18:37):
federal offense. We've already prosecuted over three hundred traffickers. We
shut down one hundred and fifty two gun stores that
were breaking laws and violating the law in order to
sell guns to youth and other folks who frankly were prohibited.
But we also looked at how do we get upstream
and make sure that we're not just cracking down on
our youth and that young brother who maybe has a
(18:57):
gun to protect themselves. But how do we hold the
dealers accountable, the traffickers accountable, the manufacturers accountable. We put
two ghost gun companies out of business, right so we're
thinking about how do we hold the whole industry accountable
while moving literally billions of resources into life saving programs.
And the one big thing we did just two weeks
ago is we looked at, okay, how are legal guns
(19:19):
getting into the hands of our youth, how are they
getting into the hands of domestic abusers that are prohibited?
And so we tracked the gun trafficking. We looked at
twelve thousand cases from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one,
and we found that the main source was unlicensed private sellers,
people who are selling online on online marketplaces, at gun shows,
and these are people that without fe felonies right that
(19:41):
are doing buying these guns illegally giving them the traffickers,
and those are moving into places like New York. And
so what we did is we looked at that source
and we changed the policy to make sure that twenty
thousand of those unlicensed private sellers now have to be licensed,
they have to do background checks, recognizing that that's the
source of where the guns are coming from. And that's
what this administration is doing. We're not just looking at,
(20:04):
you know, the brother who's struggling on the street. We're
looking at who's profiting off of this, Like who's sitting
on a yacht right and putting weapons from the battlefields
into our backyards, you know what I mean? Like that's
that's who really needs to start to pay the costs
because we're already paying the calls. We're paying it with
our bodies, We're paying it with our dollars, We're paying
it with our family, our kids, our futures. Frankly, and
(20:25):
so I always push back. You know, we might not
have been on the you know, on this show talking
about it.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
The way we should.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
But we've been had our head down doing this work.
And above all of that, you know, the president, you know,
had the vision to not just hire political activists and academics.
He hired survivors like me, you know, to lead that charge.
And people always joke like, Greg, you got locks, how
to heck you get in there?
Speaker 4 (20:48):
You know?
Speaker 3 (20:48):
But but I'm like, look, you know, I represent the
people that we're fighting for, and the President saw that.
And so not only did we pass the law, he
entrusted people who have been impacted to make sure those
laws help save lives. And last thing I'll say is
last year we saw a thirteen percent reduction in homicide
and we can't quite celebrate that because if you lose somebody,
it hurts. I lost my mentee de Marcos this past fall,
(21:09):
So I can't celebrate, you know, that percentage when I
know DeMarco family hurts.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
Yeah, but we're.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Getting there, and so we're gonna keep building on that.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
Yes.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Yeah. And also we have Eddie Buccanero who's in the
Department of Justice, right, and that's a when because Eddie
Buccanero did sixteen years, if I'm not mistaken, worked on
the front line in Chicago, and now he's in the
Department of Justice, deciding the language where money goes, changing policies,
and you know, connecting the Department of Justice to real
(21:39):
groups on the ground and real understanding. And it's a process.
And one of the reasons why we're here together is
because it takes all of us, right, the different worlds,
to come together to impact that mindset that a lot
of people talk about, Like I ain't really about voting,
but you are concerned about getting arrested and going to jail.
(22:02):
And that's a da that gets voted in, that's a
judge that gets voted in, right, And so we have
to be in the process. And although Clean Slate Act
pass and people have the right to vote, they're not registered.
And so we want to get people registered. We want
to get people to understand the importance of coming out
(22:23):
to vote, not only in this next election, but all elections,
so that we can begin Because when I first started
a politicians said to me, like, why should I work
with that audience Because they don't vote, they don't donate
to our campaigns. I have no reason to be interested
in those volks, right, And so we have to build
up our political net worth right, so that we can
(22:45):
impact the decisions of what is being made and also
just be a body that really can begin to not
only just break the cycles, but build new cycles. Right,
because we can't talk about we could sell two million records,
but we can't influence two million people to make a
right decision. Right. We can't change the way our young
people are acting in these streets to not go to jail,
(23:07):
but really be productive and owned businesses, like how you
own several businesses right, and do things with their name
and their personalities, like like Beans is doing. Or work
in a white house like Greg is doing right, or
just use your voice to advocate for people like I
did right, And so there's other things that folks could do.
The idea of death and going to jail should not
(23:29):
be a thought process for our young people. It shouldn't
be an option. It shouldn't be a thought process, and
it's our responsibility to make sure that that happens. I
don't accept the thing of OG's saying that I can't
tell these young people what to do. I can't tell
them nothing. Or if they get into a certain somebody
gets killed and they set I can't talk them off
that ledge. We can't. You know we can. And if
you're a real man, if you're a real woman, you
(23:51):
have a moral responsibility to help save these young people's lives.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Right.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
You can't turn your back and close your eyes and
think that you don't have nothing to do with it.
And that's why I want to continue to challenge artists.
I want to continue to challenge people who are influenced
because if you can't influence real change and the way
and let us step in andto what we're supposed to do,
because like, it don't make no sense, right, it don't
make no sense. And there's a lot of people in
(24:16):
this industry that you know, you're taking up a lot
of airspace, but you're not pushing people in the right
direction to do something. And you know, we have to,
we have to save our children.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Because it don't because listen, people will paint a narrative
of us in our community when we could be letting
people know who we are ourselves and using our voice
to let you know what it is that we demand,
what it is that we need, and who we really are.
Because I think sometimes you know, people who are not
in this space, they have a view of who we
are why we do what we do and what's happening,
(24:47):
and we need to be the ones that are like
making decisions and painting that narrative of ourselves that's a
true and real one. Yes, you know, I think that's
really important. And you know, a lot of things that
you said when we talk about I mean, I can
never understand why people don't want to do things as
simple as a background check, Like people would be against
that when it comes to gun violence or semi automatic weapons.
(25:10):
Some people feel like why would the average person need
to have a semi automatic weapon, you know, And it's
even things like that that people are like, no, we
want to have our rights, our right to bear arms
and have not have those types of restrictions when these
things are really important to be able to implement and
make sure that people can also have guns safely, be
able to train in how to use their guns, making sure,
(25:32):
like you said, you know, a background check is done.
I don't see why that is even an issue in
some places.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Well it's law now, you know. Right now, Almot, nearly
everybody's selling guns has to be licensed and use a
background check unless they're a personal collector. So whether people
support it or not as law. And so now we've
got to follow through on that law, hold people accountable
to it, and then also think about the behavior and
like what leads to someone even picking up the gun
in the first place. You know, Fortunately, there's there's more
(26:01):
guns in this country than there are people, with four
hundred million guns already in our communities. So the sales,
you know, we're doing our best to crack down the sales,
but the guns are here. So how do we start
to change things to make sure that our young folks
don't think that, hey, I gotta shoot first and fight later.
You know, that's that's not the that's not gonna save anybody.
That's not gonna you know, get us anywhere. And I'm
(26:25):
proud that there's so many people speaking up, you know,
like Beans is out here pushing this.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Quavo came to the.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
Vice President's house and literally talked about this and brought
take Off's mom. You know, we're seeing so many voices
step up and say, look, this is not cool, Like
this isn't it's beyond that, Like living should be cool,
and then how you live is what we should be
excited about. And so this White House is investing in
those strategies, like, we're putting the resources down recognizing that
(26:53):
that's what was missing before. We didn't invest in the communities.
We expected the justice system to handle all those problems
and those challenges, and that's not going to work.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
You know.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
We got to change behavior by investing in ourselves as
the community.
Speaker 6 (27:04):
No.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Erica had said something earlier about getting shot and then
not getting help after that, right, so, you know, Gregory,
for you and for you Beannie.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Did you guys since then?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Have you gotten any help or spoken to anybody or
done anything to say okay? Because that's a traumatic experience
and no matter what, that's something you'll never be able
to forget. But how do you deal with that and
move forward and cope with that? Have you ever been like, Okay,
I need to talk to somebody about this.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
I'm actually the work that I'm doing with Erica and
greg is is part of my therapy now, just being
able to share the experiences that I went through and
telling people like this is not where you want to go.
You don't want to go. You can lose I don't
like just okay. The ultimate thing is you can lose
(27:52):
your life, right right, And that's it. But if you survive,
life is altered forever. And to some people who don't
have the will power to like go on and push
forward through life itself, they in for a rude awakening.
(28:14):
When you can't do the simple things is put your
put put your pants on correctly. You need help even
dress yourself, to wash yourself, to feed yourself. You know
you you're in a position where you can't go out
and work and be productive.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
That's that's part of the mental thing.
Speaker 6 (28:34):
You know that that it's going to impact you and
weigh down on you. Well, ultimately you can be alive,
but at the same time you're dead. You don't want
to go through that. So that's what I'm here to do.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
You know.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
I want to be able to be the eyes for
people who can't say, be the lags for the people
who can't walk, you know what I mean, and let
them know I'm listen this me, Beanie Seguel. I'm telling
you this. This is not somebody who's just you know
what I mean. I've been through it and every aspect
(29:14):
is nothing you can tell me.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
I've been through it.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
And man Erica had a discussion one day and we
were talking, you know, uh, the closest to the problem
and closer to the solution. I've been on both sides.
I've been on both sides of it. I've been here
and I've been on the other side. So that's those
two conversations that we were talking about earlier and me
(29:42):
now talking to the younger version and.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
The forgiveness that you've talked about too.
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Oh yeah, yeah, most definitely you got to you got
to what you gotta be able to forgive. Not only that,
you gotta be I mean the person that shot me,
I ain't bitter about it. I was y'all wanted to
(30:10):
go out and it was easy for me to do that.
But it's just I'm just glad that the space that
I was in in my life then wasn't this space
that I was in in.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
My earlier years.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
So it allowed me to fall back and process because
that's a I was being tested. I was being tested
to a lot like Okay, you say you want to change,
you want to do this, Well, let me see. Then
this happened. Then I fight through that, and then I
wake up on this side of the pillow like I
(30:47):
can't do that, Like you know, I got to handle
this situation. I'm Beanie Seagull, I'm a broad Street bully character.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Man.
Speaker 6 (31:02):
Then I get through that and then something else. All right,
you went through that one because you never gonna stop.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Getting tested over and they.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Keep coming and keep coming. I'm just I'm glad I
can see it now when it comes. You ain't getting me,
and I don't have no audience. I changed my whole
audience in life because a lot of people out, like
I said, character, they performing for people, not only on
the stage, they performing for people in life period. My
(31:30):
audience is when I turn the key, when I come
to the house, and how my children perceive me. How
my wife perceived her husband as a man. They my
children perceived my mother perceived her son. How she can,
you know, hold their head up like that's my son
and know her son is not a character, you know.
(31:51):
And when I'm going how my children to celebrate me.
My father taught me this, you know, my husband taught
me this. I watched my son go through this. That's
what it's about. You starting the household. That's my audience.
And I just bring the things that I prayed I
(32:12):
could bring, the things that I go through in my
household that I teach my children that I teach my daughters,
you know, bring it to the.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
World, right use those same people that are happy to
do something stupid will be.
Speaker 6 (32:26):
And I learned never take advice from people who's not
going to suffer the outcome of that decision. I learned
I don't never got to be nowhere. I don't want
to be So when you do that, I see how
you looking at me, like, wow, is this didn't see
what talks? No?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
But this is real though, you know, because it was
a journey.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
Beings a lot of people. I know this is it's
a show. But you spalked the question inside of me
because a lot of people be like yo, I can't
tell them what to do Erica, Yo, you can't tell
them like yo, when when their friend gets shot or
they people get shot, you can't tell them what to do? Like,
So what inside of you like made you do all
(33:10):
of that? Like what what's like? What is it that
a young person needs to look at or another street
cat need to look at to to to allow them
to say it's okay to to do what you did.
Speaker 6 (33:24):
I mean, just like I said, just change your audience.
Change change your audience. You man, just learning that right now?
We're in a society where whereas they say toxic, the toxic,
(33:45):
that that's the new thing.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
Toxic.
Speaker 6 (33:47):
You got women out here that's saying the savages, you know,
and just learning that. Uh, you know, sometimes it's hip.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
To be square and it's great to have something to lose.
That's how you know.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
It's when you have something to lose and you don't
want to lose that you have to think a lot
harder and a lot longer before.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
You make I see a lot of artists they got
a lot to lose doing dumb ship.
Speaker 6 (34:17):
Dumb stuff, but they willing to do that. They willing
to do that because they don't they they don't see
nothing else.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
And you will say celebrities, are they under attack or
they got to watch out? Or like is it really
celebrities or is it black men? Or is it you know,
people of a certain income, Like you know, we're quick
to say, like we're under attack, But what is it
that you're doing? Like what what are you doing? Why?
(34:46):
Why is.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You know?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
It's like I think that we really need to revaluate
who we're who's the audience and who are performing for? What?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Give what energy you're allowing to control you.
Speaker 6 (34:59):
Yeah, I believe under attack. Now I think the veils
is just getting lift up off of people. That's what
I truly think. Yeah, it's time for cleansing.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I mean, look for real though.
Speaker 5 (35:19):
We having a lot of subliminal conversation.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
He said that just now. I had ten questions, but
I was move on.
Speaker 6 (35:26):
But people don't want to talk about those things up.
I ain't going there.
Speaker 5 (35:31):
Yeah, because that's that's what I was talking about earlier.
But you know that's why I said, I know this
is going to go over people heads.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
I can't be afraid.
Speaker 5 (35:39):
Man.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Take that.
Speaker 5 (35:40):
Take that.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Reality is reality is though. You know when I got shot,
like I was bleeding to death and went in and
out a few times.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
And when you.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
Dying, you dying alone. You know, when you go in
that surgery room, you go alone. When they give you
that oxygen or anesthesia, you alone, and it's just you
and God trying.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
To fight through those moments.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
No big homies, nothing, ain't no fun.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
There's no nothing, there's no fame likes, it's nothing. It's
just you and your will to survive and God's God's grace.
And that's a big wake up call. And unfortunately, too
many people get that wake up call too late, and
they come out of it with emotional trauma. They come
out of with physical trauma. I mean, gun violence is
(36:28):
the number is the number one reason why people are
newly handicapped, so they come out in wheelchairs with you know,
canes bags. I mean, for me, I couldn't walk for
six months. You know how crazy it is to have
somebody pick you up and carry you to the bathroom.
It's a grown man for three months, you know, to
not even be able to eat your food by yourself.
(36:50):
You know, That's that's the reality of what happens, you know,
and it may look cool on TV or sound good,
but it's a whole different world when you got to
deal with that on.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Your own, taken for you.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
For me, the the first the main person I needed
to forgive was myself facts.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
I was so angry that I was in that situation
and similar beings. I wanted to go get this guy,
But then I also realized, like, hey, I put myself there,
you know, and did I did I start it that?
Speaker 4 (37:18):
You know?
Speaker 3 (37:18):
It wasn't my fault, no, But I could have avoided
that situation. I could have made this decision different that
decision different. I mean, six months of being stuck in
a bed, you go through every emotion, but the biggest
thing you go through is frustration and guilt and you
beat up on yourself. And so for me, forgiveness was
recognizing that, look, I was giving another chance. Maybe I
(37:39):
made a mistake, but maybe this is a blessing and
this trauma can be power and not just pain, not
just hurt.
Speaker 5 (37:46):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
And so what am I gonna do with this? Am
I gonna dwell in it and spiral into a darker place?
Or am I gonna own it and try to make
things better for other people? But that forgiveness was key,
And then for me that took three and a half
months to even get to that point. Wow, you know,
And that's what unfortunately, a lot of our folks are
going through. I mean, every year one hundred and forty
(38:07):
thousand people are shot or killed the Saint. This ain't
just beans and greg this is these are hundreds of
thousands of people, now millions of people since I was shot.
So this is a lot of folks going through this trauma.
But again, it's by time you're there, the damage is done,
and a lot of folks can't come back from that.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
Right and just to go to your point of success
that from that point to now. There's also millions of
people whose lives we saved. There's hundreds of thousands of
people who you know, are not incarcerated, who have gone
on with their lives and doing successful things. Will put
their gun down, picked up cameras shooting cameras now, or
(38:46):
picked up yoga mats, picked up you know, books and
wrote books and plays and directed movies and stuff like that.
And so there is that ability to have that success
across the nation, you know, And so we want people
to humble themselves, right and if you need help, like
you know, it's not easy doing it by yourself, and
(39:07):
so allow us to be part of your team and
help you make the decision that's going to help you
save your life and your children's lives. You know, we
have a national platform, it's called the Black and Brown
Peace Coalition, and so folks can text fund peace Peace
fund fund to five to one five five five five
(39:28):
to one five five five and just be part of
our national team. You know, if they have an organization
in a different city. We bring people together in the
ecosystem to help get part of this money that Greg
was talking about in the different cities or just get
access to you know, we just did Gaming for Peace.
A young kid in Georgia won fifteen thousand dollars right
(39:50):
just playing video games. Because we want to meet them
where they're at right and so we're going to be
doing doing Gun Violence and Awareness Month in June. We're
going to be doing a Gaming for Peace again. We're
looking to have a festival at Shay Stadium, Shae Stadium.
You don't notice yet, but we're looking to have a
festival at Shaye Stadium. So you know, let's get together
(40:11):
make this happen, you know, because we want to get
to that population that feels that they don't have hope.
There's no reason to vote, there's no reason to do
the right thing because everything points to negative. They don't
know how to talk their friends off the ledge or
their girlfriend or they son, you know, and they're having problems.
Like we want to bring folks together to show them
(40:32):
that there is access to hope and it is a
way to change your life. And one of the things
that I'm going to be doing now that I stepped
away from the day to day work at Life Camp
is sharing the wisdom that I've learned over the last
thirty six years, and teaching and working with people and
mentoring people on how to succeed in this field and
how to grow whatever it is you're trying to do,
(40:53):
and connect the people to the right things and bring
people like you and other folks to the the ground
so that we can prosper off of our collective reach,
you know, and really change your conditions of our people
from Detroit to Memphis, to Atlanta, Georgia to Philly, who's
getting ready to get beat by the New York Knicks
(41:15):
in this playoff season.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
I don't want to talk football, you know what.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
I do want to go back to something you said
though earlier. I know the veils being lifted about, but
I know for you haven't been in the business. You've
been around a lot, You've seen a lot. So is
any of this like shocking to you seeing everything that's
been coming to light in the music business and different
(41:47):
people haven't been, you know, charged with things or stories
coming out.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
I'm gonna say this right, I don't really want to
speak on nobody personal issue. I don't wish nothing to ill,
but I will say this to the people who are listening,
and learn a lesson from behind. Whatever it is, guilty,
(42:17):
not guilty, it's a lesson. Look for the lesson when
you're choosing a certain lifestyle. Whatever it is, fine, fine,
what you're asking me. For the people that's watching, you know,
it's a lesson behind all this, it's a lesson behind it.
(42:40):
Watch what you actually chasing. Be careful, don't get caught
up and go down a rabbit hole of chasing success.
That's it, man, Be careful in a nutshell for everybody.
Be careful who you idolize, what you idolize, because it
(43:02):
can get very dangerous.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
As we see, as you say, as we see you know,
and I think a lot of times the information is there,
like there's people who have said things and like look,
we just were looking.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
At Shine and how he's like, look, guys.
Speaker 6 (43:16):
And I ain't talking about them little sound bites we
ain't talking about to InformATE themselves. Learn a real lesson
behind this because a lot of us, especially the youth,
we glorify the wrong things. Of course, we need money
to survive and to eat and all that. But after
you acquire so much, then what's next. And that's where
(43:39):
people get trapped off in they're looking at everybody next
you know what?
Speaker 5 (43:44):
Also what what? What I was trying to say earlier,
also is that regardless, I'm not gonna say regardless, And
the fact that I got to like sit here and think,
oh this, you know, this society is so sick. It's sick, right,
(44:07):
And so at what point in people's life did they
become a problem. Most of the people's life became a
problem when they changed their lives or not right, but
when they started to talk about empowering black folks, right,
(44:31):
And what made that person right? We could look at
the act, but we never look at the puppet master
behind the puppet that made the act right. These people
didn't just fall out the sky and end up like this.
And we keep going after and I'm not, you know,
(44:56):
condoning any negative behavior in any field, but what made
that person like that? Because in all fields there's something
bigger creating that monster, and we never deal with that,
and so we always keep allowing it. And it happens
(45:17):
only to us because it's a business. Is a business
on incarcerating us, killing us, allowing us to run this
labor like you know, we were slaves at one point
and if it's up to them. When they were talking
about make America great again, right, then they're talking about
(45:37):
going back to a point where we were labor like
we were the conic, like we we don't count with
three fiars of a man with everything that doesn't count, right,
And so understand as Beans was just saying, what you're
looking and they can't decipher it. They don't have the
(45:58):
intellectual power to do that at this point because they've
been fed so much garbage. They don't know how to
filter through the garbage. Right, They don't know how to
do that. Grown men and women don't know how to
do it, much less kids. And so we could look
at the headlines about shine right and look at how
(46:21):
and what created a shine right? What and think created
a diddy? What created an art Kelly? What created these
brothers and sisters who pick up these guns at twelve
and thirteen year old and shoot at the d right,
There's so many situations in our community, but what created them?
(46:42):
Let's talk about that, and let's deal with that, because
those are just if so far, those are like every
twenty years is another one, right, right, And so you
know it's deeper, it's deeper than our eyes can see.
And we need to go deep. We need to at
some point, let's go deep. And let's not that's not
(47:05):
what do they do, like cancel, like stoff, canceling like really,
sit down, sit down, We ain't babies. Stop canceling people
because you don't agree with them.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I don't think that canceled thing really well.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
There's a lot of people that temporarily get canceled, you know.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Yeah, I mean I do. I think I don't think
that's a real thing.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
It would be like a little temporary uproar and then
it goes away, you know, or more times than not,
there's very few people, very very very few, So they
get yeah, they get permanently canceled.
Speaker 6 (47:39):
You know.
Speaker 5 (47:40):
It's there's some people we need to cancel, and it's
not I know, but cancel the people that need to
be canceled. We cancel each other, the victims of a
bigger picture.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
Right all right, Well listen, Erica, like I said, life,
cancel life, say what you want. But you know, gaming
for Peace, let's talk about that coming back up.
Speaker 5 (48:04):
Yes, So this June, we're gonna online this year. For
two weeks ago, we had five hundred and twelve people
register and the final four came to York College, young
man from Georgia. Like I said, one fifteen thousand dollars.
We're going to do it again, doing Gun Violence Awareness Month.
It'll all be online so people all over the United
States can register. We really need those young kids in
(48:26):
the communities who really are hopeless to join, and so
it's gonna be virtual. So fun piece to five one
five five five. You'll get the information, join them. What
we're gonna be doing the gaming for peace.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Both.
Speaker 5 (48:44):
We got a lot of stuff going on. We got
music bars, can we get some bars? Got some new bars?
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Okay? Oh, g Beanie talking to young Beanie.
Speaker 5 (48:57):
We like that Greg might have some boss from the
White House. We go into the White House. We're doing
a meeting at the White House. Hopefully Angelia, you'll come
with artists, entertainers, influencers or just around how we can
continue to have these conversations and impact communities in their
local areas because all politics are local. But we want
to get our community, our peers involved in this political process.
Speaker 6 (49:22):
And so to the artists that's out there, if y'all listening,
tuning in, we definitely need y'all support. If y'all real
and and really want to help this cause, contact Erica
so we can get this thing going.
Speaker 5 (49:40):
Fun piece to fund, yes.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Right, fun piece to all right, Well, thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
I appreciate y'all so much. We'll keep it going and
I make sure we keep us updated, you know, before June.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Yes, all right, thank you you
Speaker 6 (49:57):
W
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