I Was a Pup

For today's episode, join Skrizz and Adam as they talk about their early twenties versus their late twenties - as they both enter the big 3-0 - and what they want to define their 30's. They discuss a variety of topics, including how the music industry has changed with technology. Bonus if you want to know Skrizz's unique birthday tradition...

Transcript

Adam   0:02
Talking music, building businesses, and their crit in the journey. We're Skrizz and Adam and welcome to The Rise.

Skrizz   0:20
And we are rolling. This is Skrizzly with Skrizz and Adam, The Rise. Adam, how are you doing?

Adam   0:25
I am doing good as always. How are you doing today?

Skrizz   0:27
Doing good. Can't complain. So on the drive in today, I thought something we could talk about you, um, turned 30 a month ago and I am turning 30 in one month. So I think, um, there's two ways to look at this. Um, we could talk about, I want to talk about twenties. I think twenties is like a really interesting age to talk about obviously like being a, being a human being, but more so just from the filter of this podcast is being an entrepreneur, being a business owner in your twenties. Um, so if we divide it into two sections, um, early twenties and late twenties for you, what would you say is the biggest difference between early twenties, Adam, the entrepreneur and business owner, and late twenties, uh, Adam, the business owner and entrepreneur.

Adam   01:11
The biggest thing from the early twenties is I was like the ultimate dreamer, just the dreamer. The biggest negativity with that though it wasn't being a dreamer backed by practicality. And that's the biggest thing that's taken me from the beginning part of my twenties to the end of my twenties and now into my thirties is I'm still a dreamer. I'll always be a dreamer. I think that's where a lot of my passion and emotion comes from, but now it's much more bait or bat, I should say by practicality.

Skrizz   01:41
So my question for that is. And it could be both. Does that affect your ceiling and the output of what you're going for or does that affect the starting point and input of it? Definitely, the starting point cause if you're saying you're applying more logic in your late twenties to your dreams, you're obviously approaching it differently more logically, like the, the analogy of like, you're not just throwing a million darts, you are aiming and being a little more intelligent, but have you noticed that your ceilings have lowered or are you still billionaire bust, as you say?

Adam   02:10
Yeah. Ceiling is still as high as it's ever been. That still has not changed, but like you just said how I start and how I go along the journey, especially in the beginning is very different where I know, Hey, here's where I want to go, but there's gonna be 57 different milestones that I got to get to in order to get there.

Skrizz   02:26
For sure. Okay. So I'll say it with me. Um, I think that might be the biggest thing where it's like understanding that if you're at A, and you're trying to get to Z, there's an entire alphabet in between that you're trying to get to, and then realizing that getting to be is fucking impossible and getting to C is also fucking possible, getting to D is also impossible, but you get to Z.

It's amazing. So it's like, it's like you are alive and say you were alive for 50 years. You might as well, might as well, uh, kind of go for it. I think it's like I was thinking about it, it's like, in my late twenties, I don't wanna say I've, I've, I've dealt better with patience because I still feel like I'm impatient as fuck all the time.

I have like terrible patience and I'm just like, what can we do? You know, like what can we do all the time? It's like neurotic as hell. Um, but I think it's understanding like it's coming to terms with that everything that's like profoundly rewarding is an extreme process. Um, I was talking with someone, uh, on my management team and they're, they're giving me a compliment.

I'm not trying to, but they were saying like, you're easy to deal with because like everything that someone brings to me. It's not good news or bad news. It's just news and news is always going to be progress. Whereas my early twenties, that was definitely not the case because I was getting bad news every day.

And every time I got bad news, I'm like, well, this isn't like, this sucks. Like this is a failure. I'm five steps back. Whereas now it's like, okay, we, we have a deal or there's some type of collaboration that's going to be in the works, whether it's professional or creative, and then maybe someone doesn't work.

Think of it, like, like, like a, like a romantic relationship if I want to be with her And she wants to be with me. Then let's be together. If I want to be with her, she doesn't wanna be with me. She's a fucking idiot and I don't want to work with a fucking idiot. So that's kind of the mentality I have with everything.

So, um, with that being said, like you're weeding out, you're weeding out situations that weren't even going to work, you know? Um, I'm definitely that person that's gonna like beat on someone's door and be like, you have to do this, you have to do this, this has to happen. Um, because that's just, that's not gonna work well.

Adam   04:25
What do you, so you, you said patience and I'm like in that same way where like, I want it, I want it now. I've been trying to tone down my patience and look more about like the steps that need to go along that journey. I think we all get confused where we see these major success stories and we think it's an overnight success.

There's no such thing as a true overnight success, but what would you say for you, music-wise has been the biggest difference between how you approached early twenties versus late twenties with patience in mind.

Skrizz   04:50
All right. So. I think obviously there's like a personal growth element to this, but, um, it has more to do, more to do with just circumstance. The circumstances of being a, an artist who owns their business. I think we were talking about earlier where it's like, there's something about being a new business that has like a phenomenon factor to it, where it's like, you can be the new kid in town and you can get really lucky. And so when people will bet on that horse, just cause you are the new kid in town.

Um, and like the analogy I made for that was that like, there is a moment in the morning on seventh avenue, New York city with all the lights go green, you can just do all that. Or you're gonna hit a red light and then a red light and then a red light. So like there is a window that kind of happens to beginners.

And, um, I think there were a lot of businesses I made that tried to capitalize off that, but it never really panned out. You know what I mean? So once you, once you kind of accept that in the business, you realize, I mean, all law has have to do with like the changing of the streaming industry in a lot of things like that.

If you, if you kind of just chip away at what you're doing, I mean, it just, it, it can just keep expanding. It's, it's a, it's a thing like that.

Adam   05:53
Well, when I hear you saying that, one of my biggest constant focuses around don't cut corners and it's something that I, I used to do a lot more of and now I try to stay away from.

Skrizz   06:04
Give me an example of where you cut corners earlier.

Adam   06:05
Yeah. So like an example, when we built our first technology, we'd said let's just hire a consultant to build it in a really simple cheap way. Just kind of hack it together.

Skrizz   06:14
And gonna have mad problems in the back.

Adam   06:16
Exactly, so you haven't hacked together, but then it's like bug after bug after bug and you just constantly clean up the mess.

Skrizz   06:21
Well, you should've just paid a top-notch guy.

Adam   06:24
Exactly.

Skrizz   06:25
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Adam   06:27
So like cutting cornerwise, do you feel like you cut more corners in the be, in the beginning, trying to like hack your way to success? And, and I don't, I guess I don't really know. Maybe you can hack it in the music industry where you're like I was going to.

Skrizz   06:38
So this is definitely not that.

Adam   06.39
Okay.

Skrizz   06:40
Good, good, good, definitely a good thought, but I definitely never cut any corners, but it was more that, like, if I had, uh, let's see if I had like 10 eggs in the basket, I wanted all of them to hatch. You know what I mean? And then I realized, I mean, I would write a song. I'm like, well, this is, this is going to win song of the year at the Grammys, obviously.

So that has, I was like, this has to happen when, and then I'm realizing like, no, you can write a hundred songs and the universe is going to play out. Like the universe is going to play out or it's like, it's almost actually, I'm just realizing now that it's like, I was trying to control everything. I was trying.

Because I made the, the first, like I created it, I thought I could control the outcome and I was wrong 100% of the time, like 100% of the time. And then like, as I got older, I was like, well, I can create, I can, I can control the creation process. And I'm already way ahead of everyone else because they can't do that. So why don't we just get really, really, really pretty good at doing that. You know what I mean? I saw the Jordan. Did we talk about the Jordan doc before? If you could talk about that a lot. The problem is.

Adam   07:48
I know that we've mentioned it but go ahead.

Skrizz   07:52
The Jordan doc. I mean, it's such a simple philosophy and he just said, it's so simple. He's like, obviously he's the best basketball player ever. So he has that going for him, but it's like, it's like.

Adam   08:03
That's a pretty controversial thing you just said.

Skrizz   08:04
Okay, we're not going there. We're definitely not going there. But he said.

Adam   08:07
I'm team Jordan, by the way, but keep going.

Skrizz   08:09
Okay. Greatness. It has nothing to do with ability. Greatness, you know? Um, so he was saying that his business like he wasn't micromanaging business, he wasn't doing.  Actually not that much different than, like a, than like a Warren buffet. He's not micromanaging business at all. He's just like, everything that comes from me financially is derived from me, kicking ass on the fucking basketball court. Like everything, everything stems from that. So while I am in, in my prime, I'm going to be the absolute best at that.

And with that, obviously, we saw the Jordans become a billion-dollar multi-billion dollar co, like just so much happen. And I think he still is like, number one financially, because of all of that. And that's kind of what came, came to me is like, I'm able, sometimes you think, like, I think a lot of people probably think this about me.

It's like, I'm like, oh, I can write songs. I can sing. I can play a show. And then it's like, oh, we're going to on autopilot. And then like, go on autopilot and just do it a bunch and make really smart business moves. And it's actually very much the opposite where it's like, it's like, no, Like, I mean, I am an athlete.

Like I'm trying to be the absolute best singer I can be. I'm trying to be the absolute best, like songwriter, the absolute best producer every, like every, um, like every like everything. I touch, I want it to be the best that can be. And then from there it's like, you're actually more on the reaction.

You're like, Um, this comes my way. This opportunity comes my way. Like, how am I going to handle it? That best suits me being the athlete. You know what I mean?

Adam   09:47
Right. Yeah. The biggest takeaway from what you're saying is that as entrepreneurs, as musicians, probably I don't have that assurance, but I can imagine, like we take everything so personally, where we put something out into the world, if it's not accepted and people don't love it, we take it more personally than we probably should.

Skrizz   10:05
For sure, but I think, I think that's the start in pumping me, look at like all the, this might be a terrible analogy actually, but like, I'm like Will Smith talking about like all the movies that flopped, I mean, but he's still the highest-paid actor at the end of the day. Like Kevin Hart, like taking L after L after L like, it takes a lot of L, but he gets a lot of W at the same time. You know what I mean?

Like, I mean, you got to just put it. That's actually a really interesting dichotomy and that is very much like a sports philosophy too. It's like when you're on the court like you take it like your fucking life's on the line, but once the game is over, You have to like wipe your fucking.

Adam   10:35
Right. And you got to keep moving. It's tough. And most people don't like music is actually a pretty tangible, like metric-driven, uh,  job, like where you can see sales, you can see downloads, you can see how many people are running your shows, all that stuff. You can more tangibly see just like in sports. Like, are you scoring more points per game this year than last year? You know?

Skrizz   10:55
People never really talk about that, like, like definitely. I mean, I mean, I'm just so numbers-oriented that, like, I always think of music as like a metrics thing. I always think of music as like, um, uh, I always think of music as like, I mean, this is the, I remember I actually had some fans taking out to dinner after and like a private concert.

And, um, this might be perceived the wrong way, but I do stand by it where it's like, you can go to the store and buy two CDs at once. You can support two artists at once, but with streaming, you can not, you can not stream two artists at the exact same time. So we are fighting each other like I am in competition with my artists now.

Adam   11:29
So I'm clear. So what you're saying is basically like I'm either listening to your song or I'm listening to someone else's song.

Skrizz   11:34
Exactly, exactly.

Adam   11:35
Interesting.

Skrizz   11:36
So like there is, I think there's a more competitive factor than there's ever been, and I love that.

Adam   11:40
Right. And, and there's, there's more competition out there. Well, maybe the competition has stayed the same.

Skrizz   11:46
There's more competition because the cost of entry has gone down, has gone to zero.

Adam   11:51
Like anyone could get it.

Skrizz   11:52
It's like, I mean back, I mean, I'm just talking right now. Like I'm pursuing, I'm pursuing aggressively breaking my music in Russia and I'm pursuing aggressively breaking my music in Germany.

And like, there are obviously costs to all that, but I'm thinking about it, like back in the day you had to be on universal records. Okay. So you have to be on say universal records or whatever. And they had a roster of every 200 people. You had to be in the top 30 for them to allocate their resources, to have a salesperson go out and put your CD in every store in Hamburg and every store in Russia.

Then you had someone who had to speak both. Like you had a huge team of people making all this happen. It was very expensive. Like, I mean, like you had to be Michael Jackson to be in every country. You had to be Garth Brooks to be in every country. Like now it's like.

Adam   12:37
It could be anybody.

Skrizz   12:38
Anybody, it just happens like.

Adam   12:39
Anybody,  if you, it's like, if you can drive a great Instagram profile and you can get a lot of followers and drive people to your music, even if you're the shittiest artists in the world.

I mean, look at a lot of these like TikTok stars. They become huge on TikTok then all of a sudden they become a, you know, a top 40 artists where they're probably aren't quite that talented, but they have all the money, and the resource, and the fame.

Skrizz   12:57
They have the resources. They break it really fast. I mean, everything. But that doesn't really work as often as you think it does.

Adam   13:04
Sure. But.

Skrizz   13:05
I think for every single one that does work, there's probably, like 6,000 that don't work.

Adam   13:09
At the end of the game, talent always wins. Like you can have a short.

Skrizz   13:12
In that case, talent doesn't win. In that case, the hit song wins. It's like they have the platform to launch it.

Adam   13:16
They will be forgotten though.

Skrizz   13:18
Oh yeah.

Adam   13:19
Right? You know, you're a one-hit wonder.

Skrizz   13:20
I mean all we know, TikTok might be taken down and they lost like 30 million. Did they have their email addresses? Probably not. I don't know. I don't fuck it up. Let's let's uh, let's go back. The initial question was early twenties versus late twenties. Um, for me, I'm definitely very proud of this and definitely ashamed of my lack of ability in the early years is like my ability to collaborate.

And then I think this goes back to me, trying to, wanting to control so much, that like, I felt like if you collaborated and you made a wrong move, I was so neurotic in the sense that like, if we made a wrong version of a song, it was ruined, it was done, it was like, no, like it's not true at all. Like, like, like it's like, you want to try to rewrite the first. Sure. I'll rewrite the first. Is it better?

Adam   14:05
Talk me through that? Like, so what part of the song would be off?

Skrizz   14:08
No. Nothing's wrong,  it's in my head, it's literally all in my head. So it's like. Even down to like, if I didn't like a certain mix or I didn't like a certain drum sound, I would hear it. I'm like, oh, I don't like that. And it's ruined, like how the fuck is that wrong.

Adam   14:23
The average person has no idea.

Skrizz   14:24
Yeah. I'm like, you just go back and fix it. Like, it's like, it's not done until you say it's done. I always had such a hard time. Like I'm like, it was chess. And it was like every chess move had to be making pro, like, I think this goes back to the other thing I'm saying with business in general, like I kept thinking every move had to be moving forward, whereas like some time now is my mentality is like a move where it didn't work, is moving forward too, cause you now know it doesn't work.

Adam   14:49
Well, that's why they say done is better than perfect. Like you at least gotta put shit out to see how people react to it.

Skrizz   14:55
I'm not even talking about them. How about the creation process. I'm not talking about making, like, I don't, I don't have regrets on a single record of mine. I'm talking about like.

Adam   15:02
Even as you're creating it.

Skrizz   15:03
I'm thinking as I'm making it.

Adam   15:03
So as you're making it, there's a note, there's a instrumental, there's a something that.

Skrizz   15:08
Something just ruins the vibe of the song for me. And this is really like definitely a creative person. If you're not a business person where it's like, it's like, I hear, I hear a song in a certain way and I don't like it, or I don't like the way my voice sounds. And I'm just like, It ruins my week, ruins my week. And now I'm just like, And now I'm just like, no, you can just rewrite it. You just keep doing it over and over.

Like, I'm really, really big on this. And I'm really big now on just like you want to try this. Do I agree? I absolutely do not agree, but if you want to try it, go for it. And if I don't like it and like majority of the times I end up being like, oh, you brought this new thing to the table that I didn't even think about.

You know what I mean? Does that make sense? I think it's interesting that you really don't know what the fuck you're doing. And then I think you met the highest level you don't know what you're doing. So it's like being able to curate a, it's a dance, it's like a fucking dance of like trying things and flowing and it's like, oh, we've arrived, you know, and you're gonna move forward.

You're gonna move back. But, um, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at now. That's like my forte, It's like I know how to, just get it down the fucking river, you know?

Adam   16:11
So are you more prone to put something? Cause you're what you, one of the things you do, that's very unique from what I've seen is like your constant putting shit out.

Skrizz   16:19
And then like in the rock alternative world, no one does that. So it's like a very much.

Adam   16:22
You know you're waiting, I dunno, the last J. Cole album he put out.

Skrizz   16:25
Yeah. I mean that is J. Cole, it's a very different situation.

Adam   16:27
But like when was the last album he put? When was the last?

Skrizz   16:29
Three years. Yeah.

Adam   16:30
And did he put out any songs in those three years, since this new album?

Skrizz   16:34
I mean, whatever, he dropped a single before the album, like one week or whatever.

Adam   16:36
Right. Like most people do that. They do the two or three years and they throw this perfect album where it's like, incredible. But then you take the approach of like, let's just constantly put stuff out there. Do you feel like. When you put a song out, do you feel like it's perfect? Are you like, you know what, this is 95% there, but it's better It'd be 95% and out versus a hundred percent and not out for another three months.

Skrizz   16:56
So I don't know if it's perfect. I mean, it's never perfect. That's a no-brainer. It's definitely never perfect, but I know it's done. Like that's the thing. I definitely know it's done. I've never, I've gone back whenever it's been, you know, in the Spotify system and like changed it.

But I, I always know it's done. I never go back and say, I wish I didn't, you know, um, put it appreciating Benny Blanco's teach producer and he has a quote. How do you know when a song is done? He says, it's like, when you hate the song, you hate yourself and you absolutely can't listen to it ever again. And like, that's such a universal feeling when you're just like, this is done. You know what I mean? So I'm very, I mean, I think, I think the fact that I was forced to put out so much music taught you that, you know?

Adam   17:41
Let me, uh, let me kind of ask you a little bit of an off-topic question that I want to ask you an on-topic question.

Skrizz   17:45
Sure, sure.

Adam   17:46
So off-topic question, I was thinking about this today on my car ride over.

Skrizz   17:50
Hit me.

Adam   17:51
99% of the time when I listened to a new song and the first two seconds, I know if I'm going to like it or not. Is that a normal thing? And with that in mind, if most people do feel that way, does that change how you produce music? Like literally, almost always in the first two to five seconds. I know if I'm going to like it or not.

Skrizz   18:10
Yeah. I mean, I think about that too. I think I skipped a song on the first five seconds usually.

Adam   18:14
Like I just know, I could tell by the beat, the feeling, the flow, whatever that might be. I, in it's almost bulletproof. Where I know right away if I'm gonna like it or not.

Skrizz   18:23
Yeah. Um, well definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely. Um, for me that matters in terms of like what I do. I mean, I almost always never have intros. If you listen to my music, my music always goes.

Adam   18:40
Like right into it.

Skrizz   18:42
I start singing, and like I'm a really, really, really firm believer writing-wise that the first line is the most important line of the entire song. Like it's a Tom Petty philosophy. And, um, so yeah.

Adam   18:52
So break that down a little bit for me. So the different philosophies are one kind of like a light intro to the song or.

Skrizz   19:01
Songs are becoming shorter than three minutes. I think people are getting right to the point.

Adam   19:04
Yeah. So people right away now more than ever is like, you're, you're getting right to.

Skrizz   19:08
I mean. my thing is like, if you're a fan of mine, you have to like my voice. If you don't like my voice, you shouldn't listen to my music. Number two, you have to like my lyrics. And if my first line is my most provocative lyric, then that's going to either yes or no.

I mean, I guess the counterargument for that is like sometimes, I mean, big eighties records, the chorus sells the whole thing. You know what I mean? Sometimes it takes 50 seconds to get there so.

Adam   19:33
Like good or bad there. And has that changed since the eighties to today where we, it takes a spin of a goldfish.

Skrizz   19:36
Well, I think it takes two minutes and 30, they get what's it called? Elton John's tiny dancer. The chorus doesn't come for like two minutes.

Adam   19:43
Right. They build-up.

Skrizz   19:44
It builds forever. But I think he goes to, to test them and like, like tiny dancer, like the second that song comes in Elton sounds awesome. You're just hooked. I mean, There's um, there's a guy at Spotify who runs urban. I don't even know why I'm quoting this guy. Um, he always talks about like, like I just need one taste of the soup to know whether I'm going to like the soup or not. And that's the way a lot of people feel.

Adam   20:08
So for them, it's the same type of way where they know almost everyone.

Skrizz   20:11
I think everyone. I think everyone feels that way.

Adam   20:14
Right. So I'm sure artists like you have in mind right away like I got to hook this person in the first five seconds. Especially when you're not like a J. Cole.

Skrizz   20:23
I'm not as mindful as you think I am, but I'm thinking about it now. It's like, I, I always write the verse first, which is backwards, while people write the chorus first. I always write the verse first and like, I'm really, really big on like picking up a guitar and improvising. And just like, I just know when it feels like a Skrizzly record, I just like instantly know. And I think that, that me doing that as my starting point to creating the song is the. Answers your question.

It's like, if it, if it lights the bulb up, okay. This is, this actually goes, I definitely said this before. It's like my, because my music is authentic and it's consistent. Um, I have, uh, like me and my fans are like-minded, you know what I mean? So it's one of those, I mean, a lot, I'm sure so many big artists are like that where they, they know if it works for them, it's going to work for their audience. You know what I mean? So it's funny. I, I am definitely catering to everything you're saying, but because I'm doing it mindlessly, it's almost more authentic

Adam   21:26
Subconsciously. You're not trying to be, you're not trying to create a science behind the hook and the first five seconds.

Skrizz   21:32
Your response is subconscious as well. You're not being like piano. It has to be mindless. Like it has to be mindless. I'm just, I think I've said that before, like, like, the music has to satisfy you mindlessly. And like, there's a big difference between like, simple and simple-minded. Like something should be simple. It shouldn't be simple minded, like, um, and it's just, it's just, just like mindlessly satisfying then it like, if it takes no effort for me to, to do it and create it or mindless, whatever, like the audience will understand it that much easier. You know? So, uh, so that's that. So you want to go back to the other topic? What was it?

Adam   22:10
Yeah. I, I now have another thing I want to go back to before we get into one of my other questions to me. But now with that songwriting piece in particular, how was your songwriting changed from your early twenties to late twenties? Has it changed?

Skrizz   22:25
Awesome question.

Adam   22:26
Other than just new life experiences.

Skrizz   22:28
Yeah. You know, the content obviously change. Um, and then like the, the, the, the point of view of the narrative will change as you get older. And I'm like, literally like writing music as an aging person, like I age with my audience, but repeat that one more time. Cause I have the answer. Just say one more time.

Adam   22:45
How was your songwriting changed from your early twenties to late twenties?

Skrizz   22:50
I think this is a stupid cause like, I feel like the craft of songwriting hasn't changed at all. Like I still have my, I do a lot of improvisation. I'm really heavy on improvisation. Like I'm really big on improvisation. Um, I mean, I still use a lot of the same structures I was using in 2014. So I'd say the craft is whatever.

And I would like to say the muscle got stronger, but I don't think it got stronger. I think songwriting is one of those things where I kind of got lucky. Um, I'm not naturally good at music by any means, but that was something I was a little naturally good at. Um, but I think the thing I learned was like, it's almost funny.

It's like, in my mind, there is this Skrizzly songwriting factory and there's a guy who runs the factory and there's a bunch of little people that do the actual manual labor and what I think.

Adam   23:34
You just painted a great visual, by the way.

Skrizz   23:36
It's a weird visual.

Adam   23:37
Keep going.

Skrizz   23:38
And what I, what I kind of learned was like, like the guy who was running the factory, he was kind of a pussy back in the day. And like, he just didn't know. He's just, or he was just like a stoner. He just showed up when he showed up or he didn't show up when he didn't show up. And it just like, he had no control over the factory. And I hate to say factory, it's an awful word, but like.

Adam   23:55
No, I liked the way, I have a really good visual in my head.

Skrizz   23:57
But like nowadays, like, I just say it's confidence like it's definitely a confident thing and I don't mean a cocky thing. It's funny. I think it was probably cocky or back in the day, but I actually had less control.

Adam   24:06
That's usually the case. You're typically cockier when you're more insecure and don't know what you're doing.

Skrizz   24:10
Exactly. Like I just kept getting lucky over and over again back in the day. Back in the day, I'd write about two or three songs a year now I write about 25. So it was like, back then I thought it was awesome, but now I'm like, okay, I know. I know how to show up to work and get the factory fucking running. You know?

Adam   24:25
So timeout, you just totally contradict yourself. You're not better since 2014. Yeah. You went from pumping out two to three songs a year to 20.

Skrizz   24:32
I'm saying the craft. I don't think the craft got better.

Adam   24:35
So was it, you were just lazier then?

Skrizz   24:37
No, I was less in control. The factory runner just won't' show up.

Adam   24:40
So like now, you're just more efficient basically.

Skrizz   24:42
Yes, I'd say more efficient.

Adam   24:43
Gotcha.

Skrizz   24:44
Definitely, definitely more efficient. Like I don't let, um, I don't like good ideas slip away at my systems. I'm in my car, writing down lyrics.

Adam   24:50
You're more of a pro before you were like, uh, you know, you're were young. You were like a rookie.

Skrizz   24:52
I had no idea what I was doing and I was capable of writing good songs. I was like the winner of the grand prize or whatever. This huge son ran top where everyone went platinum mixed at me. So like the idea was I knew what I was doing, but I just didn't know what I was doing.

It was really funny. The songs wrote me. I didn't write the songs. Now, I feel like I write the songs. Great ideas pass through me. I get inspired. I mean, a lot of it, like I hear a song on the radio or I hear a song. I'm just like they're doing something really interesting there, let me pull over, get the guitar out and flush this idea out. You know what I mean?

Adam   25:23
Oh, that's interesting. So you'll be driving, let's say to Tennessee, right? You're going to Tennessee. You hear this new song. You have this thought that pops in your head. You'll just pull over on the highway. You'll take your guitar and you start recording.

Skrizz   25:33
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. All the time.

Adam   25:34
Oh, that's cool. Do you have any of those, like, I would love to see like, listen, one of those voice memos for one of your like hit songs now. I mean, everyone knows.

Skrizz   25:42
Sometimes the vibes and the voice sound like that they're literally improvised and like they're identical.

Adam   25:46
That's cool,

Skrizz   25:49
Actually, that's a good idea.

Adam   25:50
Yeah. I just think that's such an interesting piece. Like, cause everyone always sees the finished product.

Skrizz   25:53
Oh, yeah, but I think actually this goes back to the other thing I'm saying, the reason I was inefficient was because I was afraid to mess up. Like I would be afraid to record. Yeah. I was afraid to record vocals that were going to be bad.

Adam   26:03
Right. You're afraid to take your shots.

Skrizz   26:04
I was afraid to take the shot. Exactly. Now, I was like, we're going to shoot 8 million shots and we're going to refine the best ones.

Adam   26:09
And the truth is, is when you're in your world or entrepreneur and really any world for the most part, I, I'd want to say that with big caveat. You get so used to failure, like when you're an entrepreneur, when you're still in the business, you get so used to failure. When you're a musician, an athlete.

Skrizz   26:23
I think about like, I think about like, like there are life-changing phone calls you get that you dream of in your early twenties. And then if they fall through, it's like.

Adam   26:32
The end of the world.

Skrizz   26:33
End of the world, I get that like once a month, you know what I mean? Like, like, honestly, like once a month, like, like once a month, like or even like now I'm just like, It was 98% there, but it wasn't the two, so I can't do it. You know what I mean? But that's, that's definitely a big difference between the two.

Adam   26:50
That's such a good thing. The more that we can put ourselves out there, the more we can fuck up and have these failures, it shows you're, you're taking your shots. But, so that, that's interesting now with all that. So you're, you know, from early twenties to late twenties, now you becoming an old man about to 30.

Skrizz   27:05
Yeah, very old.

Adam   27:06
What would you say is, um, and it's funny too, like 30 is such a pop, like I I'm 30. Honestly, we just talked about it. I feel younger and stronger than ever in a lot of ways.

Skrizz   27:14
I'm glad I've dealt with so much failure in my twenties. I'm very very happy about that.

Adam   27:18
But what are you, what are you hoping will define your thirties? Like what, which one of those learnings are you hoping that will help define your thirties?

Skrizz   27:30
I want to say, like teamwork, you know what I mean? Like being able to, like, I work with a lot of people in a given day, like a lot. I think a lot of my fans want to see that. So all the people I work with, shout out to you guys. I work with a lot of people on a lot of progress that people, people don't even know I'm like involved in.

And like, I think like my ability, I don't want to say manage in the sense that I'm above you, but my ability to manage people around me, like I would love. I would love for there to be a hundred people. It sounds ambitious. Like, you know, just keep the fucking wheels turning all the time. And then, you know, the one job I have is making music and performing music, you know?

Adam   28:10
Well, keep going on that. So like teamwork wise, like, are you hoping to just collaborate on more projects focused on music.

Skrizz   28:17
I mean more outside of music. I mean more outside of music. Um, in terms of making music, I actually worked with very few people and like, I don't plan on adding many more. I'm just more like other like business ventures I have, like, I really would love, like I am, I am the CEO of a new company that I'm working on and that has like a massively high ceiling and I just have one partner and then one silent partner.

Um, so I'm the center of it and I would love. I would love to have 25 people working at it and maybe a good person in charge. You know what I mean? Like, I would love that the things I've learned in collaboration in my twenties too, I think that's where most people fail, honestly. Like I really think it's where most people fail.

It's like, you might have money coming in, but you can't manage the people around me. Like how do you keep them fucking motivated? Like, it's really fucking difficult.

Adam   29:11
Well, that's also because we tend to micromanage as entrepreneurs. We think we can always do it better than somebody else. So we just try to do everything. And when you're trying to do everything, you can, you just, you, it limits you from doing what you should be focused on. And that's why whenever I'm advising like startups and small business, I was talking about, you got to figure out ways to delegate. You got to figure out ways.

Skrizz   29:30
Delegating is the exact word I was looking to use. Like, I want to be great at delegating.

Adam   29:34
Which is a, they're hell of a difficult thing to do.

Skrizz   29:36
Very difficult. Yeah.

Adam   29:38
So your thirties, you want to be focused more on you being the leader, you focused on your creativity and ability to just lead and inspire a great group of people that where you can all win together.

Skrizz   29:47
Exactly. That's like exactly where I'm at. Because I don't think like what's like the business philosophy of just focusing on your strengths. You know what I mean? Like I don't, if my strength is the music side of it, like I need to just focus on that. You know what I mean? So it's about finding people that have their strengths and then applying that to everything else, you know?

Adam   30:10
So what do you got for your birthday?

Skrizz   30:11
Birthday? Wow. I haven't thought that through yet.

Adam   30:14
It's coming up.

Skrizz   30:15
I know. I haven't thought about it. I thought if I go into Atlantic City.

Adam   30:18
I feel like that's probably where we should be spending it.

Skrizz   30:19
Yeah, I'm probably gonna stay there for two days. I actually go to Jenkinson's Aquarium in Point Pleasant every, every birthday. I think last year because of COVID. So I'll probably go there. I'll ask you to see some penguins and shit. I don't know. I haven't done that since I was like four.

Adam   30:33
That's great.

Skrizz   30:34
Keep it simple.

Adam   30:35
That's a good little annual tradition

Skrizz   30:37
I'll go take a walk on the board, dude. I don't even fucking know. It's like, I won't be, uh, I won't be drinking myself into absolute oblivion, so I won't be doing that.

Adam   30:45
It's funny from first podcast to whatever number this is now.

Skrizz   30:49
We've already made progress.

Adam   30:51
The first podcast was like too many shots in Saratoga and now it's no more drinking, no more drinking.

Skrizz   30:56
I'm trying to think. Yeah. I don't have any plans.

Adam   31:00
I'm the same way. Like, I, I, I'm not a big birthday. I don't like to make plans. Um, like I don't like to make a big deal of it, but John who, we both know one of my good buddies in Boston had this huge, rent this massive mansion in California for his 30th and invited anyone and everyone, and just had a big blowout for it. Where do you want to go to an aquarium? See some penguins?

Skrizz   31:23
To see some penguins.

Adam   31:25
Cool.