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I didn't think wild and out would be the billion dollar conglomerate I was just creating a show because Kevin Hart needed money to pay his rent please welcome [Music] Mr host comedian true Superstar who's in Nick Cannon I'm me Nick you've been a Pioneer I read that one of your companies has generated more than a hundred million dollars that was just in our headphones sale we have a tour that makes millions a cruise line restaurants as a kid I learned that I may not be the most talented person in the room but I'll be the hardest worker in the world that's how you get it some people play basketball and that's a basketball players don't try it if you try it it's not gonna do it as if there's no other option so by the time I was 17 I started writing for Keenan and kale the youngest staff writer in TV history yeah I was like Harry Potter with the pig and then Will Smith signed to me I was living my dream life but I always felt like I had a ticking clock the latest on the health scare from Nick Cannon Nick Cannon has lupus if you don't catch it and control it it you can lose your life pretty quickly you said that you wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for Mariah Carey yeah it makes you question what are you going to do with the time that you you have on this planet what impact are you going to make when you're not afraid of dying you focus on living and then you dealt with the loss of your son at just five months old due to brain cancer you never know how strong you are to the only option [Music] Nick what do I have to understand about your earliest years to understand the man that you are today I'm gonna steal that question uh I'd have to say that uh optimism youthful optimism you know some call it imagination but I the world was just so big but yet so tangible for me you know uh I felt even as you I felt like I had this magic that I could just manifest anything uh good or bad you know what I mean it was a I I lived this life to where as small as
the community was disenfranchised and maybe not as upwardly mobile as as uh one would see from the household I had this big imagination and in my mind is superpower that I could be do or whatever whatever I wanted I it was all in my grasp and I could I don't know where I got it from but I was just as a kid as a teenager I always felt like I had this ability to to walk in a room and get whatever I wanted but the environment that you were raised in wasn't one of yeah great abundance yeah that's what was so crazy about it like I would you know even growing up in the projects growing up in scenarios that we didn't have a lot but I felt like I had a lot I felt like I was always destined for to and it wasn't even like about Fame it wasn't about um money it was just about I like my life I'm gonna have fun I'm gonna have a good time I was always that you know you know let's let's smile about it you know what I mean uh even in some difficult and he had tumultuous times I would still find you know a silver lining I would still find a way to smile through pain and uh it's it's worked you know it's always kept me level-headed you know um even in the midst of having a a a abnormal and extraordinary life it's like even the thing that humbles me is the fact that I'll just enter spaces with gratitude and optimism even in pain what was your family home like see that's the thing like probably looking back at it one would be like it definitely wasn't Orthodox you know and we didn't come from much but it was joyous it was filled with love you know my parents had me you know as teenagers they were young I went to my dad's High School graduation like uh but you know his parents helped raise me my mom was constantly working you know school work my dad went off to college uh and then you know I kind of felt like I grew up with my parents uh and their
parents assisted in raising us all so but it was households filled with love um but you know wasn't traditional by any means so there there were the obstacles of you know trying to figure it out and parents and grandparents putting food on the table uh but that I think that also gave me a different type of drive to say all right we're gonna we're gonna have to make something out of nothing your parents separated when you were very young obviously I feel like my parents had sex once just one time and then I showed up uh because they were kids man you know like I don't really know the intricate details of the relationship but I definitely knew they weren't together um it was a but not not enemies by any means you know what I mean they were they were just teenagers they were kids so uh after you know I was born they kind of went their separate ways but my dad's parents kind of kept kept everyone together and it was a close-knit thing and you know when when my mother needed assistance and uh my grandmother would would be there to help her out my father's mother and even though my father necessarily wasn't physically present for you know he was you know actually doing good things for himself where you know getting a college degree and trying to figure it out and have a family infrastructure elsewhere uh his mom would help my mom kind of keep me afloat he turned his life around quite significantly didn't he yeah yeah yeah my dad was definitely headed down a path uh of Destruction early on and then it clicked for him you know through some experiences of you know incarceration you know being able to kind of leave some of those substances out there that were you know kind of the downfall of you know the community in the 80s he was he was able to escape and get put his life on the right path and you know dedicated his life to his ministry and helping others it worked when you were you were a young man you nearly went down the wrong path yeah I went down there figured like it made a
u-turn went back you know what I mean like uh I I think human nature we all kind of gravitate towards the unknowing sometimes and that usually is the past header are sometimes the darkest sometimes like you just want to you don't want to do the responsible thing you don't want to do what your parents may suggest so I I definitely have a rebellious nature I'm definitely an anti-authoritarian I'm definitely the kid that has to feel that the pot is hot you know they're like okay I'm not gonna I know what getting burned feels like so um I think it's probably just my you know nature of exploring and wanting to understand things it's cool it's cool to be a bad boy when you're young uh and especially when for me the mold wasn't necessarily presented that way so I I definitely went through a stage of I want to prove to people that you know I'm I'm not a Goody Two Shoe all the time and I would that took so much touring to do um but then it's also a lot of it is environment when you grow up in especially Southern California you know there's times where uh the life of gang violence was glorified and you know whether it's through music through entertainment through our culture you know uh when you come from the trenches you get a certain level of respect you get a certain level of uh reverence so I I grew up admiring a lot of that and therefore kind of took that path a few times but you know luckily I didn't get caught up you know like some of my my other friends and Associates did what saved you from that puff creativity like I said that optimism which then obviously was transmuted into entertainment when you're a young man say you're like between the age of 10 and 14. if I'd asked you what you wanted to be and what you thought you'd be when you were 42. yeah yeah what would you have told me uh same thing a rapper you know probably that if it was just as simple as like at 10 years old what I was focused on I loved hip-hop I loved I knew I was in my mind I was famous in the hood like I just wanted to
eat because I was already doing stuff there you know what I mean I always had demo tapes and I was already connected to our to our streets and our blocks just as being in the community somebody with a voice not always a positive voice I was you know I was considered a uh [Music] I try to think I wasn't a bad kid but I was a kid that everybody knew about you know but luckily my art my creativity allowed people to appreciate me um even at 10 years old like within my family within my community what did your art and creativity look like at that stage rap music yeah it was loud it was adhd-ish it was the kid who could do it all you know kind of also had a church background so I was you know I was always I was a Class Clown at school trying to be funny starting to just figure out oh there's careers in that space so I started to look up to a lot of people like the Eddie Murphy's uh even the you know at the time The Fresh Prince as we know is Will Smith but he was just he was just charismatic funny rapper at the time so those were you know but at the same time I was looking up to the ice cubes and two shorts and you know which was a whole different energy um so that was kind of like my makeup of like well I want to be like these guys and you start doing stand-up comedy at 11 years old I had 11. that's TV officially doing it at 11. I have been you know doing stuff in church and stuff you know trying to make people laugh but like first stand-up stage I got home was I was 11 years old strikes me as someone that grew up very quickly yeah because I I was always caught an old soul uh and I think it was because I grew up around older people with uh my grandparents kind of being you know Patriarchs for me um their children were my siblings my father who was you know a teenager was somewhat more of like a big brother type of uh thing so like even the way he dealt with me and even the people that I dealt with in my community I just I kind of had mannerisms and a jargon that was a little little wise beyond my years
you're a big brother as well right yeah and then you know ultimately my dad had a my mother's only child but my dad had five five boys in total so you know I was the and I was the oldest and he and I's connection was different than you know the connection with my younger brothers because I was almost someone you know I was closer to my father then you know his parenting style was different with me than it was with you know his younger children it boggles my mind that someone at 11 years old starts doing stand-up comedy yeah because it takes takes some guts and some confidence to do that but I guess that speaks to who you were at 11 years old yeah by 15 years old you're at The Comedy Store yeah I mean I met so many comedians but Jamie was definitely one of the ones that kind of just because it's such a giving and loving individual kind of saw this kid and and was like I love it like come hang out like and because you know Hollywood was miles away from my neighborhood so uh figuratively and literally like it was just like I needed a place to stay a lot of times so you know catching catching car rides or even once I got my own vehicle I had nowhere to sleep so people would know that I was sleeping in my car or wouldn't have a place to sleep so people like Jamie Foxx would let me sleep on that couch Brothers like guy Tori if you've seen the Fat Tuesday documentary about you know the the black Side Of The Comedy Store he had a night that you know he would let me open up and as people were coming in I'd be entertaining the audience at like as a teenager you know and the guys like Chris Tucker and Damon Wayans and Eddie Griffin all these guys will be going on later on in the night but I was the guy I was the kid that was welcoming you know everybody into their seats and it'd be like Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and Snoop Dogg and like all of these people in the audience and there's this 15 year old on stage you know rapping and telling jokes and you know everybody else saw something that I was just I was just having a blast I was I didn't think about what the future was going to uh to offer up I was just like
yo this is this is a dream come true right now people might hear that and go oh he got lucky 15 years old whatever you know what was then talk to me about the intentionality behind that like if there's a 15 year old listen to listening to this right now yeah what did you do to put yourself there in hindsight it's not always easy to know in the moment yeah I was definitely a hustler like it what I don't think you know I don't believe in luck I believe in alignment you know what I mean like and you got to put yourself in those positions it's like you know some people say luck is preparation meets opportunity um I was always speaking myself into existence I would put myself in those environments like I I met Jamie Foxx because I walked up to him like yo what's up Jamie Foxx I'm Nick Cannon like ever since I was four years old I introduced myself as my full name like everybody used to think it was so funny like as a four-year-old I'm Nick Cannon like I just thought my name was cool I thought you everybody else you know you teach a kid to say their first name and it's funny I teach my children the same way like nah you got your full name your your your Monroe Cannon you're you know your powerful Canon you know what I mean like and I think maybe I got that from such a cool last name like I think my dad probably did that his dad probably did that like it's just like they called you know my grandfather they called him Cannon or daddy Cannon it was just like it's such a cool name so and that's why I was like I believe it's so much in the name but so even as I think those steps kind of ordered the personality so then when I would find myself in scenarios that I would take advantage of them I wasn't a shy kid wasn't overly outgoing kid either I wasn't like I I kind of my 80d kind of maybe shifted like made me always seeking attention or like I don't say I was seeking it I got attention because I was always doing something I was always in some because I was just trying to figure it out therefore I got a lot of attention and a lot of it probably wasn't positive attention but it was just attention
um and then from there you know that shifted you know I grew up around Hustler so I was like all right we're gonna try to we're going to figure it out if it was a door over there I'm gonna figure out how to get in that door uh and that's how I was able to rub shoulders and you know I I studied rooms and I'm like all right I if I'm a if I'm a maneuver in here I gotta do it in a way that not just based off of instinct I gotta I gotta put a plan together and I I move like that you know since since again I think this is fascinating I looked at the back end of our YouTube channel and it says that since this channel started 69.9 percent of you that watch it frequently haven't yet hit the Subscribe button so I have a favor to ask you if you've ever watched this Channel and enjoyed the content if you're enjoying this episode right now please can I ask a small favor please hit the Subscribe button helps this channel more than I can explain and I promise if you do that to return the favor we will make the show better and better and better and better and better that's the promise I'm willing to make you if you hit the Subscribe button do we have a deal what did you learn from Jamie Foxx What What In lasting influence has he had on you the way you are your career your perspective it's so interesting man I have so many great mentors coming up um I feel like a lot of my first part of my career I always acknowledge and bigged up Will Smith yeah because he was so influential to me uh you met him from Jake by through Jamie not well yeah yeah I guess yeah yeah but it wasn't directly like Jamie didn't introduce me to will but Jamie had a Comedy Festival called laughapalooza that uh Will Smith's company Overbrook saw me at that Comedy Festival and gave me a holding deal at the time what they were called and kind of signed me to Will's company which then I got to meet will you know a few months later after getting that opportunity in Atlanta at La for palooza um and then that's when will and I's relationship uh began when I was about 16 years old so it's like I met Jamie when I was 15 and then I met will when I
was 16. it's hard to think of many more greater multifaceted entertainers than Will Smith and Jamie Foxx man that's what I'm saying like they they trained me like and it's it's so crazy because two of the nicest human beings you would ever want to meet like never seen like it's what you see on camera is that's who they are you know what I mean like like walking a room everyone gravitates towards them they they're they're loud they they know how to have a good time like that's just who those guys are so I don't think I'm naturally like that like I I I talked to Kevin about that a lot like when I come in a room I'm quiet Kevin Hart like like uh he's one of those guys that like they they're loud they're like everyone loves them like I'm more like I'm in the corner I'm watching I'm observing I know how to be that I can you know I can joke with the best of them and get as much attention and stuff but I'm I'm a little more reserved uh and that's like to finally answer your question in a very long-winded way like the things I probably learned from Jamie is I observed him so much that he's such a great Storyteller I've stolen all of the tricks of when he can get everybody around the table and tell the story he's he's such a great impromptu type of guy I could sit down at a piano and you know sing a song and get everybody like I know all of those tricks and I'll probably learn that from him you know what I mean just watching how to you know Captivate a room in a very jovial manner uh no matter what's going on but uh man yeah he's and just his his his thespian muscle is so strong you know what I mean and I think from whether he's being a silly character he's being something that's so tuned in uh and understanding the subtleties and really embodying you know all of his characters I learned a lot of that from him as well too and will so you describe Willis you're mentoring you from 16 years old yeah the thing I learned from him is hard work and and really like obviously I've heard he said this quote so many times like I may not be the most talented person in the room but I guarantee you I work the most challenges in the room or or have also heard him say I'm you know I may not be the most talented person in the room but I'll be the hardest worker in the room uh and he
just if you want something he's not gonna stop until he figures it out you know and he dedicates himself in that manner you know when this job is done he's gonna stop where everybody else is going to go to sleep he's gonna go work 10 more hours to either perfect that craft or on to the next thing and I saw that at you know as a teenager I'm like okay that's how you get it that's what I'm gonna do I'm if you're not sleeping I'm not sleeping you know and it'd be times like up in the studio all night and then being on set early in the morning and you just you're so grateful and appreciative of the opportunity that you want to be the best you could possibly be correct any of the errors in your ways when you're a young man you're 16 years old you've got a perspective yeah he thought I mean every I mean before I met will I didn't know how to even musically I know how to rap 16 bars I didn't know what that was like I knew I knew music counting you know what I mean but I didn't know a verse specifically a rap verse was supposed to be 16 bars and I think that culture might have had just started to happen because everybody wasn't writing 16 bars and 80s you know what I mean sometimes a song would be seven verses or sometimes you know like people would just but I feel like they were there in the 90s they're beginning this uh infrastructure of songwriting uh obviously most choruses and hooks are about eight bars uh and then therefore you had to have a hot 16 double that was your verse and will taught me how to write because I was just writing he would give me a beat or I get a track and I would just write and just memorize it and then be like oh well let me spit this for you and he's like you need some infrastructure around that he's like you got some good stuff there so even as you know simple as something like that is but then he also just life ways man I learned a lot about Integrity character um obviously perseverance from him and then stuff that he went through as a teenager he passed on to me and even I didn't listen but I learned you know he went broke you know at 19.
um after winning a Grammy and having a platinum album just spending it all on cars and living fast he did I think my first check was somewhere from him like 150 200 000 and I went and bought uh the exact same Range Rover he had and he's like I'm the biggest movie star in the world like I'm he's got millions I got a hundred and fifty thousand dollars and I went and bought a Ranger he told me don't do it he's like man he's like I don't do that like you gotta there's other things to do with that money and this is from the person who gave it to me um and he was right I totaled that Range Rover six months within having it and ended up having to move back to my mom's house probably a year later because thinking that you know all I'm signed to Will Smith the opportunities but you don't like that's money that you're supposed to survive on those everything that you know uh that was a time I I wrote uh and created a television sitcom three wheels company called Loose Cannon and it was like me in a military school a teenager in a military school thinking they was going to get picked up we got a six episode commitment Will Smith the executive producer Quincy Jones is on set like everything Stan Lathan is the director of the pilot like everything I'm like oh I'm set the entire network of the WB makes a shift and they don't pick up the show so it's like I thought I was I was and it's so funny I didn't ever even think about these correlations the one of the executive producers and writers was Bentley Kyle Evans who's a writer and creator of Jamie Foxx at our my time slot was scheduled to come on my show was gonna air right after the Jamie Foxx Show so I was like it was all together and it didn't happen and you howled at that point 19. same age will was when he had to refigure it out I think we shot it when I was 18. uh but 19 is when they let me know that it wasn't it wasn't gonna move forward probably one of the biggest heartbreaks in my life I probably I cried for days uh because I didn't you know that's the thing when you you think you're you've arrived uh and then it snaps from under you and there's no plan I had nobody there even the people that
is going to be all right I didn't believe them like I was like I was just on the Warner Brothers lot but you know in my Range Rover and you know like I I saw the millions I saw me being the biggest young star in the world everybody was rocking with me into everybody's gone like that and it was just uh and it wasn't like they abandoned me it was more like everybody had to move on to their next thing I had to be the one to figure it out so that was uh that was probably one of my greatest life lessons that will even taught me in directly I mean because he was warning me the whole time uh and he held me down you know time and time again since then you know I mean it was uh it you know I wouldn't have got Drumline if it wasn't for him it was wasn't it like I said it wouldn't have my first record deal if it wasn't for him so it was I I truly it's funny I can get a little esoteric real quick but I I have this when it comes to like akashic records and and you know energy I feel like you're placed in certain it's it's the the law of synchronicity like I feel like certain things just happen uh because they are constantly happening there's certain energies that just are attracted to each other and I for whatever reason people like Will Smith Jamie Foxx like they're throughout my career they're always there they're always even when they're not like we may not speak every day we make but they we always connected like even the same thing like you know I call Kevin Hart my best friend of me like it's just like we've all since day one even when we're not trying to be connected we're connected like we're doing projects together we're we're thinking of like he might he might create a car show and I would create a car show he has a restaurant I have a restaurant like it's not like it looks like competition but it's like oh no like we just we're on the same frequency like we're just we just operate the same and those people kind of attract each other they attract each other like and I think that's like when people talk about like secret societies and I think it's like it's not it's not like this formed meeting it's just like like-minded
individuals like people who operate on the same frequency they they there doesn't have to be this written rule book it's just like oh no we intuitively this is we we move like this we gravitate towards certain things and it's it's unfortunate because people who operate in low frequency that it's the same way and it's like you know you you I was like damn that person not can't can't catch a break it's like Ah that's because they're living in that frequency that well does that frequency look and feel like it's slow it's thick it's heavy blame yeah yeah victimization is anger it's it's it's you know what I mean it's like one of those things where jealousy yeah all of that said like it and it's unfortunate because of people who operate in it they don't know that they're in it and it's almost like they they almost desire that and they feel like they have to have angst and anger to to get their point across like man you know you're doing so much more damage to yourself uh and you're digging yourself Deeper by pointing fingers at people who were on a completely different frequency and they don't even hear you and you're you're clouding up your existence instead of just like stepping out of that frequency you were the youngest ever staff writer right 17 years old yeah I think I mean unless somebody's beat it before like I think TV history yeah I think because working on Keenan and kelbridge by the way was massive in the UK yeah yeah I mean again two of the most beautiful people I've ever experienced uh specifically Keenan Keenan is like my brother like my our mothers are like best friends yeah like um he they they gave me the opportunity because they were kids too and I started off doing warm-up in the you know kind of entertaining the the studio audience when you know they're moving the cameras around and stuff and people are like yo that kid is something more entertaining than what's going on on stage so they're like he has a voice so do my management you know Michael Goldman is still my manager to this day he's still Keenan's manager like Keenan actually I feel like I don't know if Keenan introduced me to because Keenan would hang out in the comedy clubs
and I was in awe of him because he's Keenan from Kenan and kale and we're in some he's a few years older than me but I'm like he's doing what I want to do so we were kind of you know catch each other and I would you know I wouldn't jock him too much but I'd be like ask him questions and stuff so one night his manager came to um to The Improv on Melrose with and I was doing stand-up and you know they produced Keenan and Kel and all that and all that stuff so they gave they allowed me to do the warm-up job and then from there I'm in so I'm like you know I was like yo we should write something so I went to Keenan wrote a couple episodes and he you know he was like yeah let's do it I remember we wrote one episode with uh Keenan had a crush on Tamiya at the time like like he was like well if we all had a crush on Tamia but he really liked you know the singer to me and I was like yo let's write an episode about your crush out to me and when you get to me on the episode and it worked you're like like we got to Mia she was in the show I was like this is amazing like you mean I can write something that actually happens like I was literally like I was like Harry Potter with the pin like like I couldn't um I couldn't believe that I could write something in my mind and it would actually come into fruition uh in that beginning so I just began writing everything and I figured it out and they hired me as a staff writer for a bunch of different Nickelodeon shows uh 17 18 years after 17 yeah Jesus because I think I wrote we wrote the Tamia thing probably when I was like 16. and then so by the time I was 17 I had like an official job and then I started writing my own stuff and then hence I wrote my own television show that I would later then pitch to Will Smith you know in that same time when you're 22 years old which is the the Nick Cannon show right well no remember I said the the Loose Cannon shows that didn't get the big lesson I learned that I was still a teenager then so but it's the way I got back on my feet after Loose Cannon didn't get picked up I then wrote my own show for Nickelodeon which is interesting because I was so I did that out of to be honest I wasn't even proud or even I kind of did that out of
just like I don't have nothing else to do so let me create and produce my own show because I felt I was at a low point I was 19 and you know how this game sometimes if it doesn't work they'll spit you out like that was my shot like I was like oh I had I was signed to Will Smith I had it was the Protege of all of these big comedians I had you know hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of holding deals with Networks usually that you only get that shot once so I was like damn I blew my wad at 19. like I gotta go get a regular job now like that's like that's what I was thinking like I was gonna go back to hustling in the streets and but it was I was like all right well maybe it's nickel I I was doing Nickelodeon so I still got the relationships maybe I'll just ride a kids show you know but I was thinking I was about to be the next Will Smith the next Jamie Foxx all right I gotta go do children's television and through that I exercise these muscles as a writer as an executive producer and even like now like I didn't I didn't have you know the foresight to know how powerful you know Children's Entertainment is how it's one of the most dominating forces to be able to entertain families that you know I utilize in every aspect of my business now I used to look at Nickelodeon as like preschool you know what I mean but I didn't know that they were the billion dollar conglomerate of you know Nickelodeon Disney like I didn't understand that then because I was in it um so yeah I created the Nick Cannon show for Nickelodeon you know garnered a massive youth fan base through through that when I look at you being 22 years old writing this then it Cannon show you being 17 writing for Keenan and Kel I go like where did you get the repetitions like where did you get the skill from and if I was to if you if I had like a a baby Nick Cannon here yeah and I had to do something to give him the skills that you had at 17 where you're writing hilarious things where did where does that skill come from I think stand up to be honest stand up
because writing my own jokes from 11 years old and then by the time I'm 12 13 I'm seeing deaf Comedy Jam Comic View I'm seeing all of these things happen and I'm watching these individuals become their own intellectual properties becoming their own business becoming their own producers one thing about stand up you have to write direct perform promote Market all by yourself it's a one-man show so I think by the time I had whole no skills at like 15 16. I knew how to do it I knew how to write a script I knew how to write a great joke I knew how to you know hours of sitting in libraries and figuring out words hearing stories like all of that stuff was starting to pay off uh and I knew like I just zoned in like you kind of like again like when you know this is my space this is my flow you operate in your gift so I think just you know trial and error as well too but like I just figured it out you know what I mean like this is what is a gift that I have so I'm gonna continue to operate in it they say you're gonna put in 10 000 hours to become a master or something yeah and actually when I run the numbers I go listen you started at 11 yeah and then you wrote your own show at 22. that's more than a decade yeah of repetitions in the gym yep and then even and to me then even then I was still just getting started you know what I mean like again the beauty of like even Nickelodeon like even I I mean it was because I think the Nick Cannon show was I was from I did it from like age I started 19 and it ended right when I turned 22. um I was a baby I looked like I was 15 like everybody thought I was much younger than how I even was so you know that's when everything else from like Drumline and my music career began and I was a baby then too and then so it just like I said I lived so many lives and learned so many lessons early on that even as I said here before you today I'm like I'm still just getting started like I still got still got so many more movies that I got to do I still got so much more music I got to produce I still got so many more television shows I gotta write so like uh a few kids come to you there and they
say Dad how do I become the master of my craft how do I become the top of my industry not only have you become the top of your industry in many facets but you've been around people that have got to the top of the industry so the things you point out and the similarities and the people that get there what are those similarities if I'm your kid and I come to you and say Dad I wanna I wanna get to the top of the industry what's the advice you give to them do it I think especially now it's as simple as that sounds that's what it is today like do it and stick to it like don't give up like do it efficiently do it because this is don't try it if you try it it's not gonna work if you do it like that's even like even when people always talk to me about acting like how do you know or become a great actor do it like it's not like it's not believe it it's not uh acted you gotta actually every embody every aspect of it like do it as if there's no other option like if you try something that's you sticking your foot in uh if you believe it you're kind of like I think I yeah like okay but when you do it when you live it when you operate in it where there's no other option of like like you know it's like it's some people who like you know they play basketball and then somebody's like oh no they they're a basketball player you know what I mean like there's some people who who train or tried a box you're like no that's a boxer you know what I mean like they embody it they live it you gotta and that's what my and even with my own kids I'm like all right what do you just naturally do we're just swag naturally at why naturally because it's like some of my kids are just natural athletes they're physical build their what they gravitate towards and then all right I'm gonna water that I must I'm a I'm gonna cultivate that seed and that's what because they have fun at it then there's something on my kids that are just like natural musicians that just gravitate towards the piano like they just they have fun on it yeah and then it's like okay I'm gonna I'm gonna help you with that what is the fun Mata well I mean that's that's the that's the battery like that's and
that's what if they ever lose the fun at least for me like when it's no longer be fun becomes fun and why are we doing it you know are you doing it for money are you doing it for like no you got to do it because you enjoy it I find that fun part so important but a lot of the time people don't appreciate it and I love your your reference of the battery because a lot of people will be orientated because they come from tough upbringings to go what's going to make the most money yeah and what I love about what you said about the fun thing is ultimately well it's my belief that the thing that'll actually make you the most money is the thing that you can Master anything that you can Master is the thing that you can do for 11 years exactly which is the fun thing exactly it's like I always say uh money doesn't make you happy happy makes you money and then it goes to the concept of happy money or good money because there's definitely the opposite of there's bad money in their sad money be and I've seen so many people live in that frequency sad money like like stingy fear that people only want you for your money loneliness loneliness in this big Glass Castle by yourself you got all the money in the world like we we know those entertainers you know what I mean like man they they put themselves in this this Glass Tower and everybody could see him and they hate that everybody could see them and they're so lonely and it's like they got more money than they know what to do with and then everything becomes about a transaction hmm like and you can see they have the biggest yacht in the world most Diamond studded watch ever and they're miserable and it's like that's sad money that's and it becomes bad money you know what I mean like they're making and it's it's vindictive they're they're not honest they get it in a way they're like man how do you sleep at night like the music industry is filled with bad money and I've I've seen people they take
advantage like it's literally designed in these contracts that's why I never really wanted to be I didn't want to thrive in it once I saw it I'm like oh it's so manipulative it's about is one person robbing another Robin another Robin another and it's like that's not a fun industry to be in like clearly there's some people who figure it out but even as a as a music executive I'm like I don't I don't want to operate in dishonesty I don't want to operate in manipulation and it's just like that entire industry is designed off of that and but it's it's ways to you know Farm few between but you can operate with happy money and good money because the crazy thing specifically about music it brings so much joy to the world that the industry shouldn't be in a low frequency place like everybody should be able to thrive and win and provide for their families but there's a lot of people who aren't musically inclined who aren't musically talented who don't know how to have happy uhness with music that latch on and control the artists and then therefore they run the industry and they operate on a lower frequency of like you know I'm going to control your your intellectual property and I'll make more money off of it than you did even though you made it from such a pure and happy place there's a balance it was a balance act or or a I don't know a conflict between being selfish enough that you you get on and you get what you deserve but being generous and kind enough so that you can stick around and yeah do you think about that the beauty of narcissism I I am uh that balance I am a narcissist I I believe there's the balance of narcissism um because you can go to you can go to an extreme of narcissism and becomes dangerous it becomes uh maniacal becomes uh uh where you can be a psychopath way or you're an a sociopath where you have no empathy that level of narcissism is unhealthy that's to the extreme of these the Spectrum but uh the balance of confidence of self-love of there's no other option but me I am the I'm him you know like LeBron James is him you know Kobe Bryant
him Michael Jordan him Michael Jackson him you know Mike Tyson him you know like all the mics you know the uh Will Smith is him Chris Rock is him Jamie Foxx is him you know and he uh Mariah Carey is her Mary J Blige is her Beyonce is her you know like all of those people know that there is there will never be another them on the planet and that is worth its weight in gold so you have to have a level of self-love self-promotion self-dedication all the self is the key word the common word and all of these things you have to love self you have to know self not so much that you hurt others or you think less of others it's not because that's people like oh you think you're better than everybody else I don't care about everybody else like it's not I don't think I'm better than y'all I'm me like in that to to a point it's it's a fine line because you don't want to disrespect anyone you still want to have compassion you still want to have empathy you still want to enter the space of gratitude but this is my show this is my party this is my this is my block that you you have to that's where that success lies because without these narcissists we wouldn't have you know electricity we wouldn't have iPhones we wouldn't have great music we wouldn't have great like the director of the movie is the director for the reason he's the boss he knows he's the he knows his vision is the one that everyone else has to align with to make a great film was there a point in your career where you realized that you needed to change in some way to get what you deserved and to get what you're worth ah nah I don't think so really I had to learn lessons because you're 15 I see you coming up I go He's Got Talent yeah I could you know get him to sign a bad contract yeah I can take his money yeah that's like I've learned I've learned all of those lessons um and people have tried to forewarn me and stuff like that but uh the thing I think the beauty that you know the the aura that everybody's seen is that's been consistent it's what you do with it you know I've never let no one put out my Flame you know it's it's constantly burned for
the type of individual that I want to be that I you know the my purpose um so you know we all have trials and tribulations uh I you know you got to learn how to Bob and weave but you're still the the fighter in which you're supposed to be you know like the whatever made you jump in the ring from that day one you're going to cultivate those skills you know I mean you may be a defensive fighter and that's how you win your fight sometimes then you know uh you but early on in your career you know you are a puncher you know then you had to be more of a thinker you know but at the end of the day you're still a fighter so I think guys whatever I I am I still have this desire in me to to be a winner I have this desire in me to to beat the odds to some there's something about like when someone tells me I can't do something or tells me no I'm that fuels me and it's been that way since day one since you know my my 80d since my anti-authoritarian behavior like it's just like I'm gonna push through I'm gonna persevere I'm gonna do what I want and I'm not gonna let Society or individuals tell me I can't 22 years old you start writing well done out yeah you start writing at that point I think it you you then self-fund the pilot yeah at 25 years old yeah probably before that because I self-funded in 2004. so that might have been I might have been 23 uh and again I had just seen some success with film and music and um I just started I was kind of one of those guys that Drumline was out and I had you know my album and stuff so people but I was still doing stand-up and I was like everybody's like oh he does so many things and he hosts it and I had a a deal with you know Viacom at the time obviously they had Nickelodeon and then you kind of like graduated from Nickelodeon go to MTV so I was in that stage of developing things for MTV uh and they didn't understand what I wanted to do when I was saying that I want to get all my comedian friends together and all my rapper friends together and we just like do improv and play games and they're like we don't get it so I was like all right so I rented out one of the comedy
clubs that me and my guys would normally frequent uh got some cameras together uh I think I man I want to say it was somewhere around like a hundred thousand dollars that I put into like that night uh promoted it had everybody come out you know got some beautiful people to stand around and look beautiful and you put a hundred thousand dollars of your own money into the pilot yeah to show MTV yeah and then uh once we put it all together you know edited creating logos showed it to them and they're like oh we get it now but you know I had by then I created the intellectual property had you know copyright and patented the name of wilding out uh the logo so when it was time to negotiate when I knew that they wanted the show we we had the you know the the strong side of the table because we knew they wanted it and we had already created it and that instantly was like oh this is the business model that I want to continue to operate under most people don't figure that out until much later in life if at all by owning their IP is key to getting the value that they deserve for their work yeah well now I feel like everybody knows the Secret's out you know I mean when you look at YouTube and yeah you know the ability of that we could create great content you know for a very cost effective amount like you know wilding out that probably wouldn't cost me a hundred thousand today yeah you know because everything back then to get a cameraman yeah that was a couple thousand dollars you know what I mean and you know doing my own thing now yeah like exactly um yeah everybody knows now to if they create it and they'll come and then you build your fan base on your own and then you can sell it to a larger corporate so I feel like that model is being you know kind of a little bit look at Mr Beast you know I mean like I'm so I'm so jealous so all like everything that he's doing at 24 25 like I was trying to do back there but there was no there was no YouTube I got I was doing this you know on VHS you know yeah but uh I love it you know what I mean I love watching what even I mean the beauty of my brand now is what I started in 2004 is still going strong and probably more popular today going into 2024. it's crazy you know what I mean you're about to film series 21. we just filmed 21 so
we're going into 22 and 23. I figured out a model now how to do two seasons in one so um most shows don't last for a season let alone 21 Seasons yeah I think my goal is 25. so what happens at 25 it'll be the 20th year 25. do I gracefully bow out is 25 25 Seasons like do I hand it off to somebody else to like I'll probably be getting close to 50 by then like I can't while out forever no no I gotta stop at some point I think I'm probably too long in the tooth now I mean that's why I even created the old school new school it's funny everybody when I first created it all little while and out girls all of the cast members all of the crew were older than me and it was weird that everybody was listening to this kid tell them what to do and like even the my OG's like you know Katt Williams and you know a lot of the guys who are on the show and right Chris Spencer and Daryl Heath like these guys were guys that I looked up to uh that were on my show uh and now I'm the overhead and I got all of these other young kids like the DC Young flies and everyone I'm like it's so crazy to have the same brand and I literally grow up on you know like I remember being a kid trying to get these comedians to listen to me and like what do you know and now I'm the guy telling with the platform yeah so give me a few into into that platform that you have and that you've built the entertainment company that sits behind it the talent that you have because it's not so obvious to people yeah you know people kind of probably think okay while they're now he's he does this whatever he's the host whatever but when I did the research on the company that you've built behind it it's a pretty it's a huge business behind all of that and you're involved in a lot of things yeah I mean there's so many aspects of it I mean I I truly look at it as a blessing I'm so grateful for it because it was on a job job training I didn't say I didn't think wild and out would be the billion dollar conglomerate that it is because I was just creating a show to give my friends jobs because Kevin Hart needed money to pay his rent
like because he's being like it's just real you know like we were trying to create something because I was the only one that was you know seeing some success out of our you know our generation at the time and I was like oh let's Let Me Shine a Light on these dudes that are way funnier than me that are way more talented than me you know like uh and then I built a business out of it of incubating of uh cultivating young Talent so much so that when they're ready we we see Pete Davidson go on to become one of the biggest stars in SNL in a movie star we we see same thing with like Mikey day and Tara and kill him and you know uh the Katt Williams and Kevin's to become some of the biggest stand-up comedians to ever tour the world like they they got they you know they they feet wet they they skills honed on one of the toughest stages like if you look at what wild and out is if you if you Excel and survive there you're going to be a star yeah because you're in a this is The Godly this is the combine this is the best of the best in the grimiest of of this we're going to test your insecurities we're gonna test your anxiety and then you succeed and you get the love from people that you respect and then once the industry sees that do whatever you want so I I didn't I couldn't have designed that but it happened and I was like wow I didn't know I was literally right I did we were just in the trenches but it's like it's so much so like we create an environment that most entertainers are scared to come to they're like man I don't want to go a while now they're going to talk about my mama are they going to talk about my last Scandal or I don't know how to rap her I'm not that funny off the top of the head and it's like it's intimidating so when you throw a kid in there or whoever is in it and they Excel they they've earned their stripes so now they can walk into any room and like yeah I was the man on wild and out and now because it is a platform to propel now you can go become a movie star now you can go become a rapper or a singer like so so that was really if I could I'd be lying if I say I designed that but yeah it became that and that's like the blessing of God but then the business behind it
you used to use the b word billion yeah yeah I mean if you and it's I it's funny I didn't even that was told to me after they did all of the research and of you know obviously what the IP is worth because one I mean we're looking at 500 episodes of Television that alone when you just do the math charge however much you want to charge per episode what that what you know and then the the careers that it's launched and you know then go to where the money really is in the actual intellectual property so we have a tour that makes millions every year um now even turning into a cruise line you know the wild and wet like we have restaurants that are being franchised you know all over the country you know we just expanded our our South Beach location and on on Ocean Drive in Miami um the the logo in itself the amount of t-shirts where then we're probably uh Paramount's number one uh selling yeah Merchant uh t-shirt merchandise is that everybody knows that wild and out logo and it's it's on everything from t-shirts to bikinis to underwears to coffee mugs uh to toys uh it's things like that that I was just trying to make a cool t-shirt like I didn't think you know for 20 something years people would be buying wild and out t-shirts so stuff like that that when and then even stuff I never even thought of you know we created wild and out before there was a YouTube it's probably uh one of Viacom if not V I think maybe The Daily Show is probably right there but the biggest digital brand that Paramount has through Tick Tock YouTube you know I feel like I think we might we're somewhere north of 12 million YouTube subscribers on the Wild and out page uh 12 million something subscribers on Tick Tock seven million on Instagram and that's just that's a TV show you know what I mean when you think about it like not the individuals who are on the TV show yeah have even more followers this is just the shows page so what you think the brand is worth I've heard different things I I mean like I said when I initially when the research back there was like a 1.3 billion but then that was years ago so like I'm pretty sure it's grown because now it's even more popular now so it's a
it's you know I try not to get caught up in that because then I'm two things happen like one I get in I start gloating I'm like built this billion dollar business and then the second thing I was like Hey where's my billion dollars like somebody owes me some money like so I try not to get caught up in that so like I I know I just know it's very successful and I'm grateful that it's still going I mean I can't wait to find the next comedic Superstar can't wait to find the next big rapper that Grace is The Wild on stage what are the other businesses or the business ventures that aren't obvious that people might not know about so you talked about restaurants you sign Talent yeah obviously wild and out brand is there anything else going on that from the business side of things that are isn't obvious specifically and wild out of everything else everything well I mean I've created incredible entertainment uh in 2009 it was more of a conglomerate where because I had always had a record label but it was separate from my television company uh film a film I would produce the films that I was in and stuff so I was like I want everything in-house I read that incredible entertainment generated over 100 million dollars in Revenue in 2009 and that was I think that was just in our headphone sales like because we did I had you I did a headphone brand very similar to Beats by Dre monster was the parent company they did Beats for 300 and they did Incredibles for a hundred dollars so we were the more cost effective headphones while Beats by Dre was making all the noise we were quietly making noise in Walmarts and the Radio Shacks for selling an affordable product that was pretty much the same product except for we made ours uh affordable so yeah just so that alone that was just in consumer electronics that I would never thought I was going to be uh you know selling Electronics um so but yeah incredible and ultimately I created a One-Stop shop that could be everything from consumer products to entertainment to so and it's been thriving man it's been uh and it's kind of I I guess my brand is somewhat known of giving people opportunities uh and
finding that next big things of where we're cultivators we're curators we're uh incubators uh and so a lot of the the content that I've created I found my niche I was going to say you have a Simon kind of the entertainment world but you're in fact just the Nick Cannon of them yeah it's funny man keilani is a um me and Simon talk about that often because I found her on America's Got Talent on his show my show our show but he wasn't paying attention you know what I mean and it was like you know he was focused on One Direction or whatever on one of his other shows and I was like you know kehlani came in um and it was she was an amazing talent she was and like I hate to say found because she was already talented once you get to America's Got Talent you're already proven you know uh and she was the the lead singer for a group called Pop Life which was put together I Believe by Dwayne Wiggins from Tony Tony his sons were in there too but she was clearly the the star of this group and I remember Piers Morgan uh was being an as he does so very well and he was he was telling a 15 year old little chubby keilani uh to that she should leave the group and the only way that he would put her through and not Buzz her off is if she left her band because she was the talent clearly he was right but like how do you put a 15 year old in that scenario and she stuck to her guns and she said I'm not leaving my brothers and everybody else on the panel was like we're gonna you know we we love that you stuck to your gun so even though Piers was being an ass they put through they went all the way through to uh to the finale I think they performed with Stevie Wonder on the finale as Pop Life and then unfortunately you know when you don't win life goes on she had to go back home to Oakland and probably met some hard times and I remember it's funny uh the father of her you know as we know I knew as Gabby uh who also grew up in that same music over and he called me and said hey man you know that girl that was on America's Got Talent she's homeless now she's not doing so well I
was like what it's like yeah she's you know not doing she's being a teenager but like she needs help like I didn't really know her background of you know her father you know being murdered when she was a child and a mother you know uh dealing with substance abuse and a lot of she has a very compelling story of just the resilience of her and her family and he they were explaining all that and I was like yo give me your information find who's our guardian and kind of went and talked to the family and say yo I'll move you to LA but first we got to finish High School like the one promise finish school I'll take care of everything else a year later her mixtape was nominated for a Grammy so it's just like just and you know so it's stuff like that to where you know I was like I put in the work to you know help her out or tell Simon yeah you missed that one you got a lot of other ones right but you missed you you know you missed that one and uh did you sign her uh see that's the thing how I feel about signing I don't I'm weird about that I don't like signing people uh and people everybody in my life is like that's what you have to do I I would say I didn't ask for anything I I I was the uh impresario you know what I mean I I funded scenarios because I could so she didn't have to worry about anything you know what I mean she had uh roof overhead food on the table anything she wanted studio time you know we we figured it out I I introduced her to you know the good people over at Atlantic Records uh and the rest is history so hindsight's a wonderful thing yeah yeah I didn't want no money from it you know what I mean I do I do that for a lot of people uh and it's created you know me and Craig Coleman over at Atlantic that's my man you know uh but where a lot of people would be you know kehlani would be signed to them forever I don't want that you know I mean I want her to be able to provide and do like I always tell everybody I work with from the beginning whether you make it or you don't make it my life is still going to be the same so I don't want anything from you but to see you win I just want to see like I don't but you could have I could there's
a lot of people and that that is their business so where like I need my percentage of every song that you write from here on out because I found you I discovered you I signed you my spirit I don't sit well with my spirit I uh and that's this future Superstar show my inner struggle when you watch it because I'm on the show as well I struggle with signing these kids it's funny because we go from City to City and I give a local artist anywhere from five to ten thousand dollars a city and a lot of times that's what these record labels are signing these kids up for someone signed my publishing away when I was a teenager for ten thousand dollars one of the biggest mistakes one of the biggest lessons I've ever learned so now I'm giving that ten thousand dollars away to these kids and I don't want nothing from you but to see you win and that's me paying it forward that's me correcting what this industry has done to people so for so long so I don't want if you want to sign with Incredible that's your choice that's I get you I you can sign to me if you want to but I'm good like I almost still be rich so I don't need anything from you if you want to join the gang let's go like you know there's benefits and parts to be an incredible but um I don't I I it's a lot of people even you know from my attorneys and people in my my circle like man you gotta sign these people how are you going How You Gonna function how you going allow your business to thrive if you don't sign well it's been working thus far so I don't I don't wanna I don't like signing people I don't like having ownership in someone else's brand now we could be collaborative we can write a song together and we just split the publishing we can you know yeah it costs money to keep the lights on you can use my studio yeah like and you I get reimbursed you know down the line when it's time but I'm not gonna take something from you I'm not gonna charge the artist like I said that's a up concept that we just been
operating in and no one's ever corrected it like why should we this is this is an artist who's making brilliant art and someone who had nothing to do with it gets to own it forever in perpetuity the this perpetuity like like there's these terms and these words that we just signed up for that is just it's wrong but it's made a lot of people a lot of money so they don't want it to change but it has to change like technology is making a change these next Generations of people who have more empathy and giving Spirits are gonna allow it to change because I don't p i don't believe people are are as animalistic or are they're not they don't have a Savage mentality like and what's used to require I believe we're more empathetic we're more compassionate and it's starting to show even in business I think you're right though I think because of platforms that middle man has less power than ever so you say like oh maybe they're becoming more empathetic maybe they have no choice yeah because a Kalani or a you or whatever now has all these platforms where if you've got art and You've Got Talent that's just gonna go viral yeah and you're gonna have the followers yeah on your account with and you own the password exactly so they're going to come with a different value proposition is like oh I can introduce you to that person I was telling people like networking is stupid like like if you're like focused on being the best you they'll come find you like but there are some people who made a lot of money by networking that concept is like oh this I know this person I can introduce you to this God bless you you know what I mean like if that's how you like connecting I'll get it but if we're really trying to get the artist or the IP or the the genius to the people now technology is doing it for us I have this debate with my assistant all the time because she tells me to network more and I say to I say like my networking is doing my thing yeah and then you become a peacock or a magnet versus me having to small talk in a room for three hours exactly which I can't do that I hate small talk in that maybe we're just different type of individuals yeah yeah yeah because there are other
people to be like your network is your network yeah yeah I don't care who who I know it's more about who knows me it's it's I'm I'm gonna go over here and figure it out and you're welcome to the party like but I don't want to go to your party like I don't want to hang out with everybody dressed in white and got on billion dollar watches I don't that's not fun to me yeah like to each his own but some people can do that yeah and I and like I maybe because I've been in it so long I've been to the white parties before and wanted to show off and and they were fun but like I'm at this point like I don't I don't want to do that that feels that feels like work to me I'd rather be in a studio I'd rather be with my children I'd rather be riding somewhere uh and not to say that those people don't do that as well I just like that world is I I don't have a place in it that's not where I could be my best self I low-key though do Envy the people that can do it and enjoy it and that can be that Network and connect this person to that one and just because it's an energy that I just don't have I think as an introvert I don't have that muscle to like show up small talk my way to a lunch with someone and yeah yeah I'll tell everybody I'm an outgoing introvert like like I am and that's what me and Kevin Hart go back and forth about all the time because he has that gift he walks in a room and lights it up you know what I mean he know he knows this person and this person and I'm like yo that looks exhausting and this um that's coming from a person who like my my personal bandwidth is overloaded constantly but my spiritual bandwidth I keep like I don't I don't give everybody my energy like and that's probably why I am a little bit more subdued in rooms that's why I may not go to every event and most of the time if somebody asked me to come something it's like nah I'm good and it's not because I just like my piece I just like being with where I can be my authentic self where I can be my best so I don't like having to turn it on but I understand when it's time to like I and it it's award season you got you got to go do this so you gotta like all right and I I know how to do it with the best of them but that's not who I naturally am as you guys may know we are a sponsor of
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if you're looking to try heal for the first time and to get into it to join the hooligan family I'd highly recommend you try this out he is old Nick and at 32 years old you got a diagnosis that changed your life yeah tell me for a super Loop like literally pardon the plan with lupus yeah man lupus nephritis specifically uh in 2012 and here live in my dream life you know married to the most gorgeous beautiful super talented person to ever step on the planet literally my dream girl we got two kids we're in Aspen I never like I'm from from the hood I'm from the projects you don't go to Aspen who are you married to Mariah Carey but it's like I'm in Aspen with my with my wife uh and thinking I mean probably some of the best shape of my life go to boxing three times a week you know what I mean got my own home gym in Aspen yeah I mean like uh and I had the weirdest pain in my uh in my right side I'm like I'm thinking like a muscle cramp or like like I'm gonna just jog through it here I'm in high out uh you know altitude jogging in the snow thinking I'm gonna do like it's my Rocky moment I don't know what I was thinking uh and by the time I got back to the house passed out like and I didn't know like like literally Mariah came in and found me uh they called her you know rushed me to the ER in Aspen how did she find you I was I don't know I was laid out like and I I think everybody because you know I think it was that bad because I had just came from jogging in Aspen after like oh he probably got altitude sickness you know what I mean like I was just dehydrated so that's what the narrative we were going with so once I got to the hospital like I just need some fluid IV I'll be all right you know because that happens because it happens on the ski slopes people like my dumb ass was jogging and up a mountain I'm probably gonna pass out um and I was only doing it to try to rid this crap that I had I thought I could like work it off uh and then the longer I was in the hospital they were like oh well maybe you have a kidney stone because there's something going on back
there and I was like no it wasn't a kidney stone and you got the fluid you're no longer dehydrated all right well you know maybe we got a kidney infection and then they wanted to do a biopsy and then through the biopsy I think at the time it's kind of like acute kidney failure like it wasn't full like I was I had caught it early enough to where my kidneys didn't completely fail and then they were and they found out the reason why is that my immune system was attacking my kidneys therefore the my autoimmune condition Lupus and lupus nephritis to where you know where your immune system can get out of whack based off of whether it's levels of stress uh things that you're putting into your body you know a lot of times it's not hereditary they don't really know what the cause of it is uh it's definitely related to stress which I didn't think I was stressed out but it's like obviously there's various types of stress or physical stress emotional stress but this just can send your immune system uh out of whack and therefore your immune system then starts to you know self-destroy you know it starts to attack the whatever organs different people's lupus attack different things mind uh specifically where my kidneys uh which then created a bunch of other stuff like pulmonary embolisms and so like the lupus started I started having these flare-ups and it was doing a bunch of stuff to my body and that if you don't catch it you know in in control you could lose your life pretty quickly so it was a scary time I didn't understand it uh but we got it in order you know and even I feel like I got a good hold on it now but every once in a while it's a great reminder that health is wealth health is currency health is the most important thing uh next to time that we possess and we we don't we can't control the time we can control our health we can control what you put in your body you can control what you how well you take care of yourself so um my little pissed is my alarm clock every morning letting me know
you better do the right thing you better drink your gallon of water you better take your supplements you better you know not eat too much sodium or process they're like just a a constant measuring stick to keep me alive how did that diagnosis change your your life so if I was if I was in your life at that moment yeah before that moment and then during that moment you're married you're you're still contending with work and it changes it so much I became a different person both you know um certain things didn't matter anymore other things matter too much you know uh I started to overly value relationships in time but then I that made me get rid of relationships that were taking up time and wasting my time um but it all became I always felt like I had a ticking clock but the ticking clock became more apparent in 2012. uh that I gotta make the most out of today because tomorrow isn't promised my relationship with my children all of my children you know what I mean like a lot of that all comes into play to where like what are you going to do with the time that you have on this planet what impact are you gonna make so that's kind of that that's where in a nutshell what it did emotionally if I'm if I'm Mariah at that time and I'm dealing with a Nick that's contending with this new diagnosis and an uncertain future yeah yeah she was my rock man she was um she went hard you know probably probably wouldn't even be honest probably wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for how hard she went you know with the doctors with me my stubbornness you know um she was the the perfect help mate the perfect matriarch the perfect mom the perfect wife in those scenarios because granted she's who she is in dealing with all the pressures of being Mariah Carey but then uh being loving enough to take on all of my stuff uh and you know we it probably took a toll
on us just because of the person I was in my head and the struggles that I was dealing with uh so I probably took a toll on our relationship but it definitely brought us closer together the struggles you were dealing with man just like was I gonna live uh what was life all about had I wasted my time up until this point and if I get another shot what am I gonna do what type of am I going to be able to be here for my children am I not going to be able to be here for my children so therefore what am I leaving them uh what am I leaving the world when I when I exit you know staring up at that hospital bed or from the hospital bed standing at the ceiling all alone when everybody else is kicked out and you gotta you gotta just you know be be face to face with your higher power asking all those tough questions am I done you know uh a lot of people we we don't do that because we get caught up in the constant race of just living day to day but it slowed down for me on many occasions of like it's just a rap he's almost out of here um and I wasn't scared that's the crazy thing when you get to that point where you're like oh okay I had a good run were you happy I was in that moment when you're looking up at the ceiling I was content I wasn't scared and it happened you know more than once and even you know it continues to like I'm probably reminded of my physical mortality all the time uh and when you're when you're not afraid of dying you focus on living you know it's a it's a anyone who's ever had a near-death experience or anyone who've been in those quiet places of dealing with thoughts of afterlife and what this current life was for you uh you live the rest of your days differently and at least for you know a certain amount of time until you're reminded again um but yeah man I I would say I want that life
I've had I've lived several lives and I won them all you know so it's like I'm not a I'm not afraid to go like and even all of the things that I I study uh and have prepared myself for it's you know one thing it's inevitable we all got it's gonna happen to all of us at some point and I think others just deal with it better and it makes you appreciate this life like I'm wanna when it's all said and done I guarantee you they're gonna be like yo he wrote that to the wheels fell off like like he got he got the most out of life um and you know I'll be known for smiling big uh loving hard you know and you know what more can you ask for you said you don't think you'd be here if it wasn't for Mariah going hard do you really believe she saved your life oh absolutely absolutely but I think that's what you do uh when you when you find a help mate when you find uh someone that you're in matrimony with you know you you go hard for him I feel like I went hard for her and we'll still go hard I lay down my life for her today you know it's just that's what you do it's just it's family it wasn't and I just want to make it clear it wasn't just that moment where you had to contend with health and mortality it's an ongoing conversation I was in and out of the hospital I mean I was in the hospital this past December you know uh is not as frequent you know but and it's just because I have the right doctors and I'm hopefully doing the right things now that it doesn't find me but you they lupus you have what they call flare-ups and it happens when certain times of the year Seasons stress uh and some can be worse than others uh so early on when I was trying to understand it between like 2012 and 2016. I was in the hospital like a couple of times a year for instance of like three weeks to a month just trying to figure it out so those and like I said the flare-ups would cause things from everywhere from like blood clots pulmonary embolisms inflammation and not have the ability to walk to kidney failure organs not doing what you know they're supposed to do so you know I had blood clots in my lungs and my
heart like things that would have normally killed other people you know the doctors would be like man I don't understand how you didn't get affected by that you know having to do you know infusions that are you know similar to chemotherapy and you know my hair falling out stuff like that like uh it's been quite the journey but you know you gotta you gotta you never know how strong you are just being strong is the only option you just got to push through crazy how that changes perspective and you as you say all of that having not been through that myself yeah I'm so hungry to understand the perspective that it's given you because I don't want to have to go through that to get the person I don't wish it on anyone yeah yeah I mean it's funny you say that sitting there 30 years old yeah and this is why it's ah but man you know what I used to do even before I was diagnosed with lupus it's funny um and I don't even just put on my heart but I I knew it helped my perspective every month uh started off every month and it started to be like once a quarter but I would go to Saint Mary's Children's Hospital and read books give toys uh and really just hang out um and I wouldn't do it for publicity or it was just it was a reset button for me to put everything in perspective because you would see these children who were dealing with life altering sometimes just chronic and detrimental disease and they would have these Smiles on their faces and they would just be so happy and like hooked up the tubes and I'm like man if they're having a good day I have no complaints I can I'm gonna walk out of here in good health and this I would I you know I was still on the board of St Mary's children's hospital and I did a lot of work with like the Children's Miracle Network and stuff I probably started that in like I was in my mid-20s um and it just I almost want to say help prepare me for
the mindset of when I have my own diagnosis I mean ultimately ended up losing my own child you know even a decade later after that it was like you got to enter these spaces with empathy with compassion because then that reminds you that we're all human that and make the most out of this day because you might not be able to walk tomorrow you might not you might take a loss of someone that you thought was going to be there forever that you thought was going to outlive you and you're talking you're talking about Zen yeah yeah and it's like and moving so fast if you you start to regret like man I didn't I didn't do what I should have done in that moment so it's a constant reminder you know what I mean and I think perspective perception a lot of those things help us daily you dealt with the loss of your your son at just five months old due to brain cancer yeah something that no parent ever conceives yeah as a possibility and so I it's it's a it's an awful Club to be a member of uh but I I can understand where it's um it's hard to relate it's I've learned a lesson in that to where when other people are going through stuff never use the word I understand because you don't you know um it's it's just it's so many things that go through your mind of you know even in even in a short period of time of five months the the level of pain the level of guilt the level you know like that one struggles with because you know you think like oh well that child would have got to Crow this see five years or 25 years or you know you start asking all of these questions that of Concepts you just you struggle to understand so when you go through it you kind of have to just create this
fog that protects you but at the end of time like again you just got to keep pushing through and then you know they do say Time Heals all wounds I think you know you feel it's just something that you you'll never completely heal from but you live in in your you learn to operate and you you learn to smile you learn to be appreciative if you're a jovial and optimistic person like I am you know you push through but you know that pain never leaves you did you have space and time to grieve his his loss grieving is forever it's not a time period like that's what I was talking about like it's not about times like that's something you're going to grieve daily and grieve it daily oh absolutely and I think we all and then any loss you know what I mean and it's learning how to turn your grief into purpose learning how to turn your grief into a badge of honor in your character um because we all experience it we all it's instead of because sometimes grief can turn into anger and sadness I don't think that's what it's meant for uh I think that may be the innate feeling but when you can turn oh man I lost my grandmother I lost my mother so therefore it makes me more compassionate to women uh I lost my child so that makes me appreciate other children um I lost my father I never knew my father so that makes me want to be a greater father you know like when you learn that that pain or that grief can actually turn and make you uh fulfill you in in with strength in those spaces that once were empty I think that then allows you to figure out why we're here in the first place if I was to fly on the wall in your household during that period what would I have seen a lot of Silence from me at least uh when I'm dealing with stuff I get real quiet I don't talk I keep to myself therefore that makes the whole room uncomfortable because everybody else has to be quiet especially someone like me who is loud you know especially in my
own home when it becomes Eerie silence so and you know it's internalizing it's thinking it's taking the time it's being appreciative of of the time of the of the energy but uh you see a lot of love a lot of compassion but a lot of Silence we have a closing tradition on this podcast where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest not knowing who they're going to leave the question for and they write it into the diary I don't get to read it beforehand Jack does he just checks it's not completely crazy so okay here we go okay I'm gonna have a guess okay so I've got this thing then what's the next word okay this thing you're upset about you're hanging on to that you've been ruminating about resenting what would happen if you just let it go if you just never thought about it again and let it go did you did you interview my therapist as much as I may like internalize things and like over analyze because I I would say I'm a perfectionist on one and I'm also fly by the seat of my pants Carefree whatever happens happens type of person so in therapy I have to figure out which box I'm gonna put my issues in because there are the ones like over analyze about and you know those usually have to deal with like my children and you know relationships based off of like wanting to be the best me in that space uh and then there's the stuff that was like I can't control that like whatever like and those are the things that keep people up at night and you just lost how many millions of dollars or like I don't care like like uh so to answer that very uh insightful question um nothing would happen like like I I it would be very similar to and that's what I've learned like the the things that I over analyze stress about uh usually the same result happens when I'm carefree and
don't really put too much emphasis on the issue but is there anything that you could let go of that you think would have a positive impact on your life just let it go hmm not really I mean because I'm kind of that type of person like I don't let things there's not an idea or a resentment or a grudge or a maybe maybe before you know I think I've I'm kind of doing the work so I kind of know that about myself but I'm also I've never been one to take life seriously like that and it's almost to my detriment you know sometimes or like I need to take something seriously like my health or you know even some certain relationships but um I used to care what people think thought about me you know because we're in an industry of that we'd be lying if like I still pay attention to what people say about me but I don't I don't allow it to you know make decisions for me so I don't deal with that anymore um and that's why I said now I'm probably at this space to where even if it's the small things you know I kind of know how to compartmentalize even for the moment like I spent enough time on that you know we got to move off it as a father I mean I'm pretty sure I'm gonna learn so many more lessons uh with all of my children having to they're all gonna deal with things in a completely different fashion so hopefully whatever their Hang-Ups are don't necessarily become my Hang-Ups because I know as a parent we do that you know that's that's the compassion of parenting uh you got any kids no yeah yeah that's the thing they don't tell you that their problems become your problems how'd you mean immediate whatever they have an issue is now your issue from the spot if they got diarrhea you got diarrhea like like if they're crying you're crying if they can't sleep you can't sleep and it happens forever if they have a problem getting in if they're stressing about school you're stressing about their school I'm right there and I'm about to have kids yeah I imagine I've got a partner we're settle down we've got a place together we're talking about it what advice have you got for me do it
yeah I mean but that it's because it's what life is all about like it's like um you're gonna do it the way you want to do it like I said the one other thing I never and me having so many kids I'm like man so many 12 12 kids yeah yeah so I'm the artist is 12. yeah the oldest 12 year old twins yeah and every all of their problems they come they're my problem that's a lot of problems yeah like it's not and they're not they don't care about their siblings problems you got to deal with this one right now dad my chameleon has an eye infection we have to rush to the vet now like what it's a lizard all right like other things and it's life or death the chameleon can't die like or to you know you know that's is that one's fun and silly but you know taking us back to Zen and what we were talking about like those were my issues those are my problems those brought out things that I never thought I would ever have to deal with because as I watch my five-month-old sit here and deal with life so it's like their problems become your and what you think about um for me and I was thinking about this this morning you're just grateful for always like wow it's quiet everybody's good let's Embrace this moment uh and then you know when problems are issues challenges obstacles arise we all deal with it as a family and that you know so that's you you you appreciate life for you become a problem solver you become an individual who every day wakes up and overcomes whatever challenges in front of them sounds like a lot of a big weight to carry it's but it's life it's fun it's have fun with it whatever that challenge is whatever issue that that child brings have fun with it find the story in it find the lesson what's this what's the happily ever after to this because it's the happily ever after every day you just gotta focus on it don't don't you know eat even the villains have happy ever afterwards like it's like you just got to figure out at the end of the day how am I going to say I learned this or I
got this out of this even though I went through the fire to get there I'm go or I'm still going through it it's you gotta find the enjoyment and the journey do you care about Legacy I thought I did I had to Define what it was I'm still defining what it is I I've realized that my children aren't my legacy um my children are my children my children aren't necessarily mine they're their own uh I've been giving the stewardship and uh the privilege for a certain amount of time to be able to guide them to the best of my ability for 18 to 25 years but they're their own people uh so I've learned that that's not my legacy um what we can build together as a family can become a legacy so what's your legacy my compassion my uh my gratitude which then probably then turns into my humility that's then turns into my humor which then turns into my comedy which attaches to my art form I mean that's built into the compassion and stuff as well too so to be able people say man he made the world a better place by making people smile and if I could do that through my humor my music my art my movies my finances I want to make people smile so hopefully even when I'm gone the things that I left behind make people smile I certainly believe that's the case um you've made me smile over the years I started watching uh wilding out on MTV and then on YouTube throughout my entire life I mean MTV was the only felt like the only show on in my household growing up in Plymouth and seeing it was kind of my window into hip-hop culture and commenting all those things and in every respect of the word not only have you put countless people on that you'll never get credit for nor do you really care about the credit clear but um you've been a Pioneer um in so many different art forms and created this wonderful platform to put other people on and that's something
that I look at and I really aspire to do with my life as well like if I if I'm able to help people reach their full potential in the way you have for so many people that people have no idea about across comedy and entertainment and music then I think that's a life worth living and a life worthwhile yeah that's exactly what you have yeah so thank you thank you for doing that that's another title um life worthwhile sounds like a book let's get that trading let's keep that open thank you appreciate it man this has been beautiful thank you for the experience pleasure to meet you thank you Nick [Music] Zoe you're a sponsor of this podcast and I'm a big investor in the company you guys know I'm really sitting still because that's just the nature of my life so whether I'm in a business meeting with my investments or I'm recording this podcast I'm always running from A to B but the one promise that I made to myself is to fuel my body sufficiently and Zoe has been really the key part of me succeeding in that mission for those of you that don't know I've been a Zoe member for about a few months now ever since I had Zoe's scientific co-founder Professor Tim Spector on this podcast Zoe helps me to understand how to make better food choices for my long-term health and it's all personalized to me eating the right food is essential for me to keep me going because some of my meetings are often later in the day and so I need to ensure that I keep my energy levels up and Zoe allows me to understand which foods work for me and which foods don't eating the Zoe way I don't get that dreaded afternoon crash and I feel great so to get started with Zoe go to zoe.com Steven and use my exclusive code ceo10 for 10 off so many of you've been asking me for a discount code here it is CE 010 go to zoe.com Steven and use my exclusive code ceo10 for 10 off and if you already use Zoe send me a DM and let me know how you're getting on [Music] foreign [Music]