Jeezy's 'Adversity for Sale' Book Reveals Difficult Rise to Fame & Fortune
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays. We have a very, very special edition because we have an author here. You guys might know him as a best-selling musician who sold millions and millions and millions of copies over the years. I grew up listening to him. I can rap every one of his songs. Literally, we were listening to it all day long. So...

Tarzan's here, our co-host. He gets over 200 million views a month making animal content. Yeah, I knew he looked familiar. I just see him wrestling with alligators. Literally. By the way, we have one right here.

so on the money mondays we talk about three topics how to make money how to invest money how to give it away to charity we're also gonna be talking about young jay-z's new book he's gonna get into that in a moment but please give a warm round of applause to young jay-z what up doe what up doe what's happening man what's happening so if you could give us the quick two minute bio how did it all get started how do you get to here and how did you get to become an author oh man well it got started um grew up had humble beginnings i had to figure a lot of things out got into the streets early

I always loved music so I ended up pursuing it in the middle of what I was doing. But I also knew that music was something that I felt like I was talented in, but business was my passion. So I was trying to figure out how do I get from the streets into a boardroom and music happened to be the vessel for that. And that's how I got here. And being an author is just wrapping that all up into some pages. I wrote a lot of amazing songs, but I wanted to write something a little different.

that could be like a guide, if you will, for a lot of guys who's coming from where I'm coming from, trying to figure out how to get into the business world. What's the name of the book? When does it come out? Tell us everything. So the book is called Adversity for Sale. You got to believe. That should be self-explanatory. And it comes out August 8th. However, you can pre-order right now anywhere books are sold, anywhere you get your books. That's Audible. That's

Amazon everywhere you get your books and I am I did do the Audio version. Oh, so yeah, so it's me you hear your boy on it. Yeah I need to interview here. I was like, what would you hold an alligator for? I know you hear it all the time. Oh

You know what I'm saying? But like growing up on your music, my pops and my family, to this day, you know, when your song comes on, we get hype. That's what's up. The radio version, I turned that shit off. You know, we want to hear the real, all the bars, you know. There's a meme. It's like someone hold a gun to your head and you got to rap bar for bar. And if you miss a word, you get shot. Right.

I'm always picking one of your songs. Oh, that's what's up. That's what's up. That's what's up. All right, so during the three topics, we like to talk about making money, investing money, and giving away to charity. On the making money side, walk us through the transition from going from the streets into going to getting a record deal. When someone's first trying to get in, like they're first trying to break in, they're going to go perform at nightclubs for free. They're going to perform at parties for free. And then they start charging 500 bucks, 1,000 bucks, 2 grand. Walk us through the beginning times. I'm going to take you a little farther back then. So for me,

I understood early on. Well, first of all, I wasn't going to be an artist myself. I was funding it. And I was funding it. And the guys that we were funding, one of them ended up getting almost a life sentence. The other one...

Got a 10-year sentence and the other one just went, you know, just straight and basically I was stuck with the studio equipment and all this money we tied up in it and we just like well you might Yeah, because it was like I was living the life, you know I'm saying I was the one that was living in life. That's how I was funding it and It went from there to like, you know, of course I had to figure out and I always loved music even when I grew up and

I listened to, you know, the Master P's, the Tupac, I love Tupac, and all those guys in the beginning. But I was getting a lot of my knowledge from the music, right? And that's the only place I had, because that was my podcast back then. Right, exactly. Just so you know. And so once I got in and I went in full force, the thing was that I had to get my name out there. So what I would do is...

at any given time I would do these mixtapes. Shout out to DJ Drama. Me and DJ Drama would do these mixtapes and I would go press up like two, three, 400,000 mixtapes and just go give them away. - Back then? - Yeah, 'cause that was marketing. That's why I say even like now-- - That's a huge number. - And that wasn't one time. I was doing that like every couple of months. - You guys can do the math on the Monday Mondays. Even if it's two, three, four, five bucks, times that by 200,000. That adds up quick.

And this is the thing though. I was pressing them up and giving them away. Oh really? Yeah, so you're giving your music away and to me it was like that was the groundwork because at first what I would do was go to this club on the east side and

And I think it was called Prime or something like that. And I would just be out there outside just giving the CDs out, putting them on people's cars. Right in the parking lot. Right. And about six months into it, they called me from the club because we had a number on the back of the CD. It was like, you want to come do a show? Come do a show. And it was like for $200. And I was just like, I couldn't even put gas in my car with $200. You know what I'm saying? But that was a start. Right. And it went from that.

That was the first mixtape. That was called Streets is Watchin'. Then I came back and I did Trap or Die. I doubled the number, so this is like 500,000. And now I started taking it. - How many people realize what that means? - Now I started taking it around the world. So it would be like Labor Day in Miami. I'd just go down there with all my people and everybody just pass out CDs. We'd just be like 100 deep passing out CDs. And that's where it really popped off from. And there was a strip club DJ,

there was a good friend of mine being a good friend of mine that worked at magic city

And the other part of that is we used to go in Magic City where he DJed. And then, like St. Francis, he would play my music. Now, the only way the girls are going to dance is if money is flying. So then now. You got a bag of ones? Yeah, not just a bag. It's like 50,000 ones. Right, right. It's like 50,000. Like two, three times that night. That's like 150. But the thing about it, what I understood early on there was marketing.

For sure. You know I'm saying that it was this is how I was gonna because I was looking for the deal I was like, okay if I can get it people to take interest in me I can go get a deal which is gonna enable me to Legitimize myself and then I can start working towards business So that was my that was my plan and it worked out just that way it took it took a while Took a lot of money. I'll tell you that took a lot of money But it was it was worth everything and by the way, I'll tell anybody like I

I don't even regret giving those projects away for free because right now to this day, I can go anywhere on God's Korean earth and still do those projects on stage. Right. Right? Because that was my connection. And everybody sings a lot. Yeah. That was my connection because it was like, you know, my grandma used to tell me, like, don't ask nobody...

don't ask nobody for something in return if you haven't given them something first. So I felt like that was my first, you know, hey, look, this is me. Check it out. Let me know what you think. I mean, it did help that I was riding in the type of cars I was riding and living the life I was living. But that's how we did it. We did it hand-in-hand. So, you know, when I look at this generation, I just kind of like...

It's hard but it's fair meaning like it is saturated because you can just push one button, right? If you had to get out there and spend millions of dollars to do it. I don't think everybody could So shout out to Greg Street, which is a big DJ in Atlanta and

Had the snowman shirt that we came up with a Def Jam shout out to Shana Ayers because I had a snowman chain And we was trying to find something to symbolize the album. He was like, let's do the snowman is like yeah So we did a snowman and the thing was to get like a hundred shirts and pass them out to the DJs So we did that and everybody kept calling acts of a search and I'm like, alright, so we press up 100 more and

So next thing you know, people start pressing up searches themselves. And then it goes on and it just explodes. I'm in New York one day. We're in Harlem. We're riding past these stores. And I'm like, yo. And I saw like stop. They got snowmans with Uzi, snowmans with machetes, snowmans. I'm just like, yo, this is crazy. So that was my first indication. The second indication, so I didn't make no money there. But Greg Street told me, man.

You need to sell these shirts. And I was like, no, I want to sell music. He's like, no, you need to sell the shirts too. Trust me. And I was just like, nobody gonna buy shirts. So fast forward, Jay-Z called me. He's like, yo, I'm going to the Magic Show, which is in Vegas. It's like a clothing convention. And it's huge. And he's like, yo, you should come with me. I was like, all right, cool. So we go out to Magic. And I'm over in the Rock and Wear booth with him. And he's like, yo, let's just walk around. So we start walking.

And people were running out everywhere. Yo, Jeezy, thank you so much. And he looking at me. I'm looking at him. This went on for like seven times. I'm like, yo, what's going on? And then he goes, he's like, yo, what's going on? So this guy said, I said, yo, come here. I said, thank me for what? He's like, the snowman shirts, man. Everybody's selling them. We got bulks in them. We're selling them here. We're selling them there. So all those guys that started making bulk in the snowman shirts, and they were selling them.

And I was like, so now it's too far gone. What am I gonna do? I can't put a cease and desist out of it. So later on that night, me and Jay-Z's talking at dinner. He's like, yo, man, he's like, you ever thought about doing a clothing line? I was like, yes. And I was going to talk to you about it. He's like, let's do it. So me and Jay ended up doing my first clothing line, which was 87, well, it was USDA. It was named the clothing line. And then, but then the government came back about,

A year later and put a cyst in the cyst on it. So I had to change the name and so when they call me panicking Jay and the Russian guys from Rock and Wear, they was like, "What are we gonna do? They want us to change the name." I was like, "Okay, no problem. We're gonna go." I said, "You remember when you had a beeper back in the day that you didn't want nobody to know what you were saying and then you used the codes on it?" And so I just switched it to USDA 'cause it was 8732 and it was switched to the USDA. Boom, that was it. - Sick, bro. - Yeah.

So, fun fact, I was there at Magic when this happened. What? So I started my clothing line in 1999. And my very first booth, I owned the name Who's Your Daddy? Okay. So I trademarked the catchphrase Who's Your Daddy for everything. That's how I got started. And I went there and got a 20-foot booth. And I thought it was big time. Right? Instead of a 10-foot booth, I'm going to get a 20-foot booth. I'm 17 years old. Oh.

Next to me is a little company called FUBU, who has the whole walkway. They spent a million dollars. On the other side of me is a brand new brand, just started, the exact same convention as me, called Shot John. The whole walkway. And I'm the little engine that could, right between, right? We're like 20 feet. We wrote $1.2 million in orders out of our little tiny booth.

Being next to FUBU and Shonja. And then year after year, I started meeting with the guys from Rock-A-Wear. We started working with their underwear designers, their robe designers. There's so many different licensing things that you can do in the apparel business, which is really interesting. If you come up with, guys, listen. If you guys come up with either a brand name or something unique like this, which is rare. It's rare. You can't buy cool. It's really rare for people to want to go out there and knock you off. In those moments...

You can license out your sweatshirts. You can license out shoes. You can license out jeans. A lot of things that you guys see in the clothing stores, the manufacturer, the owner, doesn't actually make them. Someone makes their jewelry. Someone makes their cologne. Someone else makes their hats. Those are called licensing deals. And brands like this, brands like Sean John, Ruckwear, et cetera, they have different licensees for different products. I did $9.5 million when I was 19 years old in the UK, and I never saw the clothing. Wow.

Wow. Starter Apparel paid us $9.5 million to make our clothing over there. Never saw it. Wow. So you guys can make things. If you come up with something good or make a clothing line or make it brand big, the unique products within it can actually become bigger than the main thing. Wow. Okay. Next question. Now that social media exists, people can go out there and get hundreds of thousands of views, tens of thousands of views, millions of views with a few clicks of a button. But there wasn't.

Before there wasn't thousands and thousands of thousand artists now anybody can be an artist What do you think people can do now to stand out to actually get an actual record deal not just go viral on social? I think you gotta have you gotta have You gotta have that Savoir Faire like you gotta have that it because a lot of these cats aren't bigger than their songs You know, you don't you don't buy into the person and what they're about and how they live their lives You like the music

But you can like another song tomorrow. Right. And people do because they're fair weather. Yeah. And it's fast. I just think that, you know, you got to know in order to have staying power, there has to be something about you that that quality is not in anybody else. Like when you looked at Death Row back then, you knew Tupac was special.

You know I'm saying you know he was different from everything else they had on the roster, you know Even though Snoop was dope. He's like, who's this guy? He stands for a lot and he talks a lot too, you know I'm saying so it was that you got to have that you got to have that factor that make people buy into more than just the music and I think Do you think that's the story? Like what do you think it is? Did buy into the story the person? Hmm

The person, you could just see how they move. It's almost like a president. You know, we have presidents we like, we have presidents we hate. You know what I'm saying? They're all trying to be the president. You know what I mean? But it's just how do they carry it? Like, Barack Obama was a totally different president than George Bush. You know what I'm saying? Just the way he articulated himself, the way he talked to people. He's like, you know, I like that guy.

You know I'm saying and then you know we get into the Trump since we're watching what he's some people like them because he didn't he didn't care So it was just like, you know, you pick who you actually like because you're not picking Trump based on his business sense you picking he got a I don't give a fuck attitude or you picking Brock like that's how a real black man should act right, you know I mean so I think what your artists you picked that too because it's just like I

It's like an athlete. You can love the way they play the game, but they might be an asshole off the field. He's great, but he's always into something. He's always, you know what I mean? So I just think it's that.

Because again, you know anybody can make music anybody could play football anybody could play basketball But like what about them? They're special and I go on to say one of the guys I really like it's like Shaq Sure, you know I'm saying like he just has that thing. It's just is this who he is. He's he's his business is crazy, right and

And you don't get to even know that. You learn that with every other conversation about him. You go, oh, he does that too? But the whole time you just think he's acting silly all the time. But that's just who, he's just a good dude. Right. Right. But his business is solid. Like he's not playing around out here. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right. And his brand is still just as relevant as it was when he was playing ball. Right. So he's no longer playing ball. And you got to look at that and you got to go out. And then you can go to vice versa. Like Magic Johnson is more of a...

He's a great businessman, but he's a little more reserved business mogul, right? He's a little more reserved. So you don't really know magic. Sure You know, I mean you you can see his moves, right? So you base it off of if it was about the business, okay I can see that but you take somebody like Shaq and you can have a conversation with Shaggy you probably die laughing But he just closed another billion dollar deal Before that conversation. So yeah

Yeah, it's personality. And also just, even personality, like, what's your moral compass like? Yes. You know what I'm saying? Like, what are your values? What do you stand for? Yeah, what you stand for, you know what I'm saying? Because a lot of people don't, you know, I mean, especially when I was coming up, like, nobody stood for nothing. They didn't know how to. And then in these days, it's like, it's too much to stand for. Seriously? You're like, whoa. You feel me? It's actually one of the questions we ask a lot here is,

Over 85% of athletes go bankrupt within five years of leaving the league. And that like, it hurts to watch and see like so many times someone make 5 million, 10 million, $20 million and they're broke. - What? - Five, 10 years later. - What? - That's kind of the concept of why we created this podcast is to have these hard discussions about money, why they should be investing, why they should be considering it. So let's say you were talking to an artist or an athlete and they just made a bunch of money. They made a million dollars, $2 million.

What were the things you would tell them when they're trying to buy their third watch or their fourth car? I always tell people, you're going to get numb to it. Yeah, I mean, I think you got to let people get it out of their system because that's just what comes with it. But there's a point, I mean, even myself, there's certain things I would never buy again. I just know better. It doesn't even mean the same thing to me. But I would tell anybody that's coming into some money, the name of the game is just cash flow and assets.

It's just it. It's safe. It's solid. I mean, I'm not a stock market type of guy. I hated the Bitcoin when it came out. I don't need nothing that's going to flash on my phone and make me lose my mind at the dinner table. Because I just lost $300,000. But I always, I grew up, and by the way, this is comfortable for me because I grew up in a trailer about this big. I grew up in a two-bedroom trailer with me and my mom and my sister about this big. So my whole thing was how can I own money?

How can I own dirt? Like, how can I own something that if I'm in the room and I tell somebody, hey, you know, I own all this and that. And they're like, really? You know what I'm saying? Because these are cash flowing assets. But at the same time, like my, my, my passion is going out. And by the way, to me, I can't speak for anybody else. Like I had a,

Couple things I did in my background that this really reminds me of like you sell out or something you buy some more you flip it You do it again. So like to me it was just like it was like oh I can do this, you know, and then you start to see it appreciate and I'm just like wow So for me, I'll tell somebody man like you want to get to the point where your assets pay for your lifestyle Yes, you know I mean and you don't have to really like whatever you work and you get is

is is is you get it right you got it and you can invest that as well but you want your assets to pay for how you live in and you want your asset space for your dinners and your vacations and and and in your in your second home and all these things it's just like because the money is there i don't think people understand that the first thing when you get money think about how fast can you spend it right right or what it's going to look like when you spend it like soon as somebody gets some money you see it you know they they

On Instagram, they go straight to Louis Vuitton and all that. And then when you give away clothes as many times as I have, you know, I went through spells where I was giving away millions of dollars in clothes. Because I'm just like, I don't want all this. And I'm like, damn, I bought these jeans ten times. Bought these shoes seven times. And then I just changed it to a minimalist. I'm like, you know what? I need...

Five shirts, five tees, I need five pair of jeans, I need that. Because now, it's junk at this point, right? So I just want what I need and I just keep it clean like that. And it also helps me to know what I got.

And I don't need 10 watches. I just got the right three. Right. You know what I'm saying? And therefore what I need them for. Right. And that's it. So I'm not going to get up tomorrow and see somebody wearing something else and go, I got to have one. All that shit till time. By the way, my phone tells time, too. So it's all good, you know. But I would just. But the bigger thing I would say is like to make sure you get around people.

Who can show you what because you might not like real estate you might like something else but just get around people who can show you what to do with your money because you're not gonna always Get that many chances and that's the thing. I think about a lot of athletes they get that one shot and It's not hard you saying you was 19 years old you made nine point something million dollars Just think about that. You know I'm saying like, you know, that's that's life-changing if it's if it's handled, right and

You never have to look back with that type of money. You know what I'm saying? But a lot of times, you know, you get that type of money. You're like, I got to get that new Lambo to drive. In your mind, you think you need all these things. And it's the craziest thing. You're really getting all that for other people to see because it really, like, it's not even for you. You know what I'm saying? Because I drove everything. I've driven everything besides the hearse, man. And I'll tell you, I got cars in my garage. I just walk past and be like, ugh.

you know what i mean it's just like you know it's just like it's just right you know what i mean that's not even the brag he's saying like i wish that i could just go sell it right you know what i mean because i'm not i'm not going anywhere i need right you know i'm giving a driver to take me where i got to go but in my mind i'm like it was a point in time i really wanted this but look i don't even want it anymore that says a lot yes

It says a lot. So I think one of the biggest reasons and one of the hardest discussions to have with an athlete, an artist, an influencer, et cetera, is their entourage. They're surrounded by people and their cousins, nephews, uncles, friend that asked them to borrow money six times in a row. How do you have those hard discussions and really evaluate the people that are around you and the people that are trying to just pull at you? Well, I'm going to say this, and this is in the book as well. That was probably one of the hardest decisions I had to make. It didn't come...

It came after, let me see if I can make this short, but sweet. So basically my message started changing in my music. And I talk about this in the book, I forget what chapter. And Farrakhan called me, and out of the blue he was like, Jeezy, brother Jeezy, what's going on? He was like, you know, the enemy's coming, your message is changing. I'm like, oh my, the enemy's in my neighborhood. What are they going to do to me? He's like, I'm just telling you. So mind you, you know, I got...

you know, 30, 40 people staying in my house from the neighborhood. And then I had gotten into some issues where I had to go get the rest of the people from the neighborhood and buy some houses to put them in so I can, like, so... Reorganize. Because there was a lot of stuff going on. And loved them. You know what I'm saying? Still do. And I got locked up because something happened in the Bay. Somebody got killed by my tour bus while I was on tour with Wiz Khalifa. And they end up

Catching us from there at the at the LA stop and they locked my whole team up there because they found some firearms or whatever on the bus Everybody they locked up ten ten people and we all had a million dollar bill. So that's ten million dollars You know I'm saying so now I'm sitting in jail and

And then everybody who's out is supposed to be taking care of my peoples and my family and all that. Nobody was calling to check on my kids and all that. So it was just like a real moment where I was just like, you know what? I think, and then my middle daughter was born then. And I was just like, man, like, I got to, I just got to cut all this and just do what I need to do because, you know, it's one thing to be in here. But it's another thing to depend on somebody that you can't depend on.

and it was the hardest decision I ever made. I remember getting out, of course, that was $10 million in bail, and then I was in L.A. at the time, so I hadn't went back to the South yet to get myself in order, so I'll never forget I was doing a video shoot for this song, I forget what it's called, Holy Ghost, and I was shooting in L.A. like the day I got out, and we was down by Skid Row, and there was this kid on a bike that pulled up,

And he was like, you can tell, like he probably took a shower in a week and he had the dirtiest shoes on, right? And normally, I'm a big dog. I can go in my pocket and be like, yo, man, you know, I go in my pocket, I ain't got no money. Ain't nobody I can call to get no money until I get back, right? The feds got my bank account seized. So it was just like a real pivotal time because I kind of felt like,

You know, like, damn, I'm always been there for everybody. Ain't nobody here for me. So when I got back to Atlanta, I just cut everything short. It was hard because this is my support system. Like, these are the people that made me feel like I was great. You know, everything I did was amazing to them. Like, oh, yeah, right. You know, you're in the studio. Oh, that's the one. You know what I mean? Now there ain't nobody in the studio. It was just you. And it was the hardest decision I had to make. But what I learned, and it wasn't right away. It took a long time for me to start understanding that.

Only quality people is the way to go.

And I just started branching out and I would like do things that I was there was outside my comfort zone I'll go take a lunch with somebody sit down and build with them a little bit You know, I really like the next thing, you know it'll be an event then invite you to and you go and you meet somebody else and then you start meeting these people in a whole nother world that you've never been in because you've only been between the streets and the music industry and These people are not music people. These are like regular people to have you know fortune 500 companies or

or these different types of businesses, or one sells crude oil, this one does this, this one does real estate. Now you're sitting around tables with guys that got a real genuine love for you and they don't need anything from you. They're actually trying to help. - Exactly. - They're trying to help you with your situation, like what you got going on? I'm like, well, you know, actually I'm really trying to get into this real estate. You talk to this guy. - Oh, you need this guy, yeah. - And now you start talking to this guy and that's how I got into real estate. I started buying properties.

doing all these things and now I'm like, oh, okay, well, I got a real estate guy now. Like, won't you help me build this and you focus on that while I go on tour, right? Then I come back and he's like, yo, you remember all those properties you bought? Look, look at this line right here and then you go look on the line and they're like worth three times more than you paid for. I'm like, what happened? That's what I'm trying to tell you. I was like, look, buy up everything you can. Yeah, exactly. And that was a thing and I just had to learn that and then over time, but I'm going to be honest too because I talk about that in the book, like my beginnings was

Rough around the edge, so I didn't really trust people, you know up until my You know my late 30s because I started to meet people that I felt like I could trust, you know I'm saying before that it's just like you don't know if you're gonna go to sleep, right? No, say, you know, I'm gonna stab you in the back of the front, right? You know, I mean so I dealt with that for so long and when I finally um

When I finally started to just interact with people that had their own moral compass and their own values, I started to realize why I needed to step my own up at, you know what I'm saying?

They just made me a better person overall because I thought this was it, but it was really about this, right? And then you go on for years and years and you met different people and you celebrated holidays and birthdays and you're like, wow, I got a whole community of people that are doing very well for themselves that want to see me do better, right? And any resources I got, like, so back then it would be like, you know, I'd be the guy to pull up to the party with all the weed, you know what I'm saying? But now it's like,

You come to my house or a party, I'm giving books out. Yo, I just read this book. You got to read this. It's crazy. You know what I'm saying? And all my homies just be sitting there like, yo, you know what I'm saying? They'll get home, they'll text me. Yo, I just got a chapter three. This is crazy. And they're all self-help books because I love self-help books. That's my thing. So I'm really in that. But my point of case is my quality of life changed with the quality of people that I started associating with. Even my quality of business, by the way. Because my business was cool at first.

And then it just turned into something else. And I was just like, okay. And then, you know, because you got to have people that...

can tell you what lawyers to go to now. Because if you don't know, you'll go to the wrong lawyers or the accountants. You know what I mean? Because now they can tell you about the problem they had and how they fixed it. So you can have these conversations where, you know, as a black man, it's hard to, like, go to your friend and be like, yo, I got to figure this out. You know, they're talking about some tax stuff. I don't know what to do. Like, oh, you know what I mean? Like, rather than that, they're like, oh, I got a tax guy for you. You should go over there and take a meeting with him and you sit down. Everything's cool, by the way, but

He's going to show you what you was slipping on and what you need to tighten up at or who you should deal with because maybe this tax person is not suitable for you because they never done that type of activity in business, right? That's out of their pay grade.

So now you need somebody else, next level. - Right. - Yeah. - This is what's important. Getting the right attorney will save you six figures later. Getting the right accountant will save you six figures later. People are like, "Oh yeah, I'm just gonna use H&R Block "and pay them 1200 bucks." You go get an accountant that you pay five, 10 grand to when you're making six figures, pfft, 'cause what happens is the IRS waits three years, four years, five years,

And so it's like a big check. - It is real. - That's when they come to you. They're not coming after you for 11 grand. They want you for 11 million. They want you for two million. They want to come in and really sink their teeth into you. So getting the right accountants and lawyers early. Also keep in mind, if a good accountant can help you save four or 5%, like, oh, four or 5%, who cares? That's four or 5% you're gonna learn about forever.

So you're like, I make 120 grand a year. It's only six grand. It's not six grand once. It's six grand for the next 60 years of your life every year. And what they say, the famous quote is, it ain't what you make, it's what you save. For sure. It's what you keep. You know, that's why people are going to move all to Miami or Dominican Republic. Them tax breaks is real. Puerto Rico. You feel me? Them tax breaks are real. I have so many friends that moved to Puerto Rico. It's insane. It's insane. Like, why not? Why not?

I'm with my Puerto Rico side with me too. We always talk about investing too. I really think people don't understand how rare it is for someone like you to come from where you come from and what you've done to get to where you're at. But it was all through self-investment. Can you explain that? Because there's people out there today that are still in the streets, that ain't on social media, that ain't doing these brand deals, that are still thinking it's cool to trap and do all this stuff. I got family and friends that think that.

but they're not going to listen to me. But someone like yourself that's been there, done that time and time again, what advice would you give them? Well, I just say never stop learning. And that's the new fly. That's the new cool. And when you say invest in yourself, it's crazy because I still do to this day. Like I got emotional therapists I'm investing in. I got...

High-level strategy people that I invest in like all these different groups and pockets of people that I can go and talk to about different things That I want to do but that's investing in myself right because now I got these outlets where I can have these conversations and in a safe place and Get Intel and stuff that I need to know because I can't just go get that from anybody, right? so that's the way of vesting yourself then also like always like I

um investing in your team and making sure that the right people are working you know with them for you and just like magic johnson said you want you want to be the best you got to go get the best right and you can't cut corners there and that's investing in yourself right and if anybody who's out there in the streets is just like for me you know i invested in myself early on

with the hopes that it would pay off and it did but i did the work also you know what i'm saying because a lot of times it ain't just money if it was just money everybody would be good it's the relationships and it is you putting in the work and um building your brand and and i think that if you have nothing to invest in like say friends if you don't have any

you're not inspiring to buy no buildings or to do no stocks or to get no Bitcoin or to open up this type of business just continue to invest in yourself like to invest in in you right and that may be in you learning that might be going to some type of conventions that might be going to some type of um retreats whatever it is it's investing you right and see what that takes you because for me

Think having the courage to invest in myself early and I didn't even know that's what I was doing by the way I didn't call it investing back then but invest in myself that early it changed the whole trajectory of my life Like I probably been in prison right now if not somewhere worse, you know I'm saying but I but I took that chance and it wasn't easy like I kind of I

It was some nights I was like, man, shit, I want another Ferrari too. You know what I'm saying? Because everybody was living and it was like I had to cut back, you know. And I lived in a penthouse and

had to fall back and i was staying in the one bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles you know what i'm saying for a while because i was sleeping on the air mattress because i believed in it that much i had to dumb it down so because i needed you know more bread than investing myself so i'm like you know what why am i spending this much for this place you know i'm saying nobody sees it anyway because i don't have anybody on my house so i'm just dumb it down you know what i mean and and figure that part out and i've done that several times in my life and so for me

I'm never scared to get my hands dirty. You know what I'm saying? But I'm also going to make sure that I put, I'm investing myself and I'm going to always try to learn something new every day. Every day. I don't care. Sometimes five, six times a day. If I get too much time on my hands, I'm sitting there waiting. Like I was waiting on you guys. I was in the car listening to podcasts. I'm just sitting there like,

I'd rather do that. You know what I'm saying? I don't know why it's always been that way for me. Even when I was younger, I used to sit around the older guys and you know when people would be like, yo, they old. I'm like, they know stuff. You know what I'm saying? Right. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I just listened how they communicated with each other, what they talked about. And I was like, oh, okay, okay, okay. I get that. I get that. And that's how I was getting my information.

So one of the biggest reasons we started this podcast is we all grew up thinking it's rude to talk about money Right couldn't talk about money with your parents can talk about money with your friends, but you know why though, right? You didn't talk about money with your parents because it was it was scarce So they don't want to talk about something that has control over them It's like you know how that you don't pay the bills next month. You don't hear that You know I'm saying it's like being in a marriage and you don't got your end of the rent more it's you know means it's like it's pressure and and and I think that

you guys are doing exactly what you're supposed to do because there's somebody somewhere in some small rural town that's sitting there listening to you guys' podcast, figuring his life out because there's nobody that he can go talk to about it or she. And I think, you know, that's the way you got to go about it. And I think that the reason why finances has been such a big issue is because we never had none. And when we got it, like, you know,

what's the first thing we do with it? You know what I'm saying? Spend it. Spend it, yeah. My mom used to, I don't know if you, back then in the day we called it the number. So it was like the lottery before the lottery, but a lottery in the hood. So like my grandmother, both of my grandmothers was number ladies. So like people come to their house and they play a number and then at the end of the week the number comes out and they have to pay up.

And that's how they would, that's how you came up in the hood. And I remember my grandmother, my mother used to hit the number or something. The first thing you wanted to do was go shopping and take you everywhere, take you to McDonald's and all that. But all the money's gone by the time you get home, right? Because nobody's thinking about saving because why you saving? You're not going to get anything else. It was their mentality. And a lot of the people that I came up with had factory jobs. And I'm just like, and I talk about that in the book because a lot of, I don't think a lot of people know, my father was in the military. So at

At a young age, I was already living in Hawaii, living in Japan. So I saw a lot of stuff. My palate was different. I was eating sushi. So when my parents got divorced and I had to go back to the hood, I'm trying to convince everybody in the neighborhood, like, man, it's beaches and palm. They're like, what the fuck? Come on, man. You bugger. Raw fish. No, but you're trying to explain to them, like, there's things out here. Yeah, and they're like, man, come on, man. And so my whole mission was to get back to that.

Which is one of the reasons why I love traveling so much is to get back to that world because I had seen it. So that made it easier for me to understand that

that you should and want to save your money, right? You should and want to invest because the people that live like that only live like that because they made sacrifices in the beginning. Now they can travel the world and now they can do all these things because they set up that way. And nobody where I'm from was set up that way. Like I never heard of a vacation before that. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, vacation was going to your aunt's house for the weekend. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Last question.

On the charity side, why do you think it's important for people to either do charity from themselves personally or in their business or brands? Well, for me, it's important because I started Street Dreams Foundation back in like 2001. It might have been 2000. And where it came from is...

Basically, we was in the neighborhood. We was keeping up all the ruckus. The kids was trying to go to school. We got them keeping them up because we loud. It's all type of things happening in the neighborhood, cars creaking, whatever. One Christmas, I noticed that a lot of the kids in the neighborhood didn't have any toys. I went and got with some guys I knew, got $500 from this guy, $1,000 from this guy, $1,000 from this guy, $1,000 from that guy, put $5,000 with it.

Went and rented out the local gymnasium, got some U-Hauls, and went and bought all these toys, lined them up, and just told the whole hood, y'all guys come get toys. And I saw that in their faces. I'm like, wow. And I love kids, by the way. And I kept doing that for years and years and years, and I was spending my own money. Then I got into different aspects of inner city kids.

And, you know, just curriculums. But this is me trying to do it. So I had to eventually start bringing in people here and there, here and there, and trying to figure out how to do the nonprofit because I didn't know. I just wanted to have something for my cause. And I'll never forget, it wasn't until a couple years ago, maybe like two years ago,

I'm doing a podcast with Tony Robbins and we're just talking. And he asked me the same thing about charity. And I told him that, you know, we have to give back. That's our purpose. That's who we are. That's what we're supposed to do. If we're more fortunate and as a leader, you should always want to give back to the community. And he said, well, when the next time you give back to the community? I was like, in a couple of weeks, I'm going to do this bike giveaway that I normally do. He said, really? I was like, yeah. He said, how many bikes are you going to get? And I told him.

He said, "Well, consider a double 'cause I'm gonna match you." Shout out to Tony Robbins. He sent it over and we doubled it up and there was so many happy kids out there. And then we went on. Everything I've done, I wanna shout out to Tony Robbins Foundation because everything I've done, they've either matched me or gave me their resources since then. - Amazing. - Like everything I do that has anything to do with philanthropy, they always there. And you know, he has the infrastructure for that. So we're learning.

as we go, how to expand and move on. And shout out to the Urban League in Atlanta. Same thing. They're doing amazing things. They just gave me an award there for being one of the great philanthropists there. But I just think any... I mean, fulfillment, like... So just so we clear, so I can... Like...

You're going to get money, cars, jets, all these things. But it's going to come to a place and a point in time where that's not going to fulfill you because it's all on the outside. It's all materialistic. And the only thing that's going to fulfill you is looking out for other people. And that's what fulfills me the most when I'm able to give back on a level or

that you're able to touch hundreds, if not thousands of lives at one time. You know what I mean? And that's when I go home happy. It's not when I go home and I got a big check and I go, oh, I did it today. You know what I'm saying? Check is a check. You can put it with the rest of them. You know what I'm saying? But yeah, I would encourage anybody that's in a position to give back to give back for sure.

Alright guys, you were watching a very special edition of Money Mondays. We have a big request. He's putting out a book. Yes sir. August 8th at Varsity for Sale will be anywhere books are sold. JGZ Jenkins is the author. If you don't know, make sure you go get it and you can get it anywhere right now where books are sold. You can pre-order it and I'm doing the audible version by the way. Your boy is doing it himself. It's already done. Yours truly.

So we're going to buy a bunch of books for the money Mondays. Cause we have a big event coming up right after that. We're, we have a whole arena. We're throwing a big arena event. Like,

like a business event in Salt Lake City. So we're going to buy a bunch of copies to give out copies there. But you guys got to go there, buy copies, buy copies for your friends, give it out to your staff, friends, family, and followers. Now remember, the reason we do the Money Mondays is so you have hard discussions with your friends, family, your staff, et cetera, about money so we can help change our society and have people make more money. So follow Young Jeezy, follow The Real Tarzan. Make sure to check out the book. We'll see you guys next Monday. There it is. Yes, sir.