Speaker 2 0:10

Elevator Talks. You got your boy Standout in the fucking building. We got a special guest here. We got Rico Banz. Man Tell them who you are where you from, let's go.

Speaker 1 0:18

I'm Rico Banz. I'm from Kansas City, missouri. Me and Wes moved out here a little bit ago. You know, I'm an artist ceo, lost in vegas. I got a couple partners, um, yeah, we just out here doing it. Okay, what made you move to vegas? Vegas, uh, I moved out here on family missions but, um, it ain't a big entertainment. You know, I'm saying industry where I'm from, and I was doing events, I was doing music and I realized, like you know, big fish, small pond. Yeah, I was like, why not try vegas?

Speaker 2 0:49

yeah, okay, uh, so the biggest. Let's see kansas city. You got um. Who was the biggest artist like tech nine you got uh well, the saint lunatics, obviously at the time in that region uh, yeah, so uh yeah, I get what you're saying yeah, I worked with tech nine.

Speaker 1 1:10

Uh, I interned with strange music for a little bit okay, okay on the video side, like doing their commercials, type stuff uh tech nine.

Speaker 2 1:16

A lot of people don't know like uh, like that motherfucker be moving like yeah like I seen. I seen tech nine. Like I want to say, like 10, 15 years ago, this motherfucker pulled up in a tour bus and shit like you wouldn't think because like he's not like mainstream. You know I'm saying so, uh, independent, yeah, and he's independent. He has like no label backing and shit.

Speaker 1 1:37

So I'm like damn he said he do. He said he do 100 shows a year.

Speaker 2 1:41

I mean I could see that at 50. Yeah, that's crazy, I could see that. So what made you start doing music and stuff?

Speaker 1 1:48

uh, well, I started with my, my homie. We was like probably like nine, like a talent show. We was doing a talent show. We like what should we do? And then so I was like let's rap. He did a little beatbox, okay. We wrote a rap, me and a couple other people's, we all did the rap all together. It was like some group stuff way back then. But then I just always wrote. And then probably like three years ago I was out here. I dropped a project when I was in Kansas City, but I just dropped it to see how I feel, whatever, and it was doing good. But then I moved out here and like three years ago I'm like, shit, I might as well just hop in the game.

Speaker 2 2:25

You get it vegas is a um, it's a make it or break it city. I tell a lot of people that, like it's either you made it and you up here or like you were like down here, there's nothing in the middle.

Speaker 2 2:38

You know what I'm saying so you know, you got a lot of transplants from you know california, obviously, and uh, you know the surrounding states and shit like that.

Speaker 2 2:46

But like it's a, to me it's like an untapped market because it's like, for sure, you got a lot of talent out here but you don't have a lot of push out here.

Speaker 2 2:55

So it's like it's still kind of untapped.

Speaker 2 2:57

And you know, I mean and um, yeah, like I feel like if you're a rapper or a singer and if you really like insisting to stay rapper or a singer, and like if you really like consistent and stay dedicated to this, and like you know, you make a little bit of noise like they'll, they'll find you in vegas, yeah sure, and then, like everybody comes to vegas, so you gotta, you gotta, come through and yeah, it's not a big music industry here, but it's close enough to the industry where, if you make a big enough buzz, yep, because I remember when, uh like dizzy right, like landlord and all them like they had it, like they had a, like a buzz, you know, uh, um, and dizzy right, I think the biggest thing that messed him up was going to uh, well, it kind of helped him, but it it kind of messed him up because he already had his own wave and it was like he went to Funk Volume and it was like a whole bunch of people over there and then like, and then he had to figure out his wave again or whatever.

Transitioning from Kansas City to Vegas

Speaker 2 3:52

He's still dope. He still make dope music and shit. But like, sometimes, like especially out here, you got to have your own wave and push, push set you apart, like you know. Ok, so let's, let's go to the growing up in Missouri. Man, like, tell us how that was. Man, like I'm from the West Coast. So yeah, I'm from California.

Speaker 1 4:14

It's different. It's way different from here. Like you know, we get all weather, you know cold half the year, rain, everything but it's slow. It's way slower than this, but it's cool, like if you know everybody. You know what to do. You know what I'm saying. I know promoters, djs and stuff. They got enough to do, but it ain't no big industry. Like there's not a lot of people shooting movies. There's not a lot of people shooting, uh, it ain't a lot of engineers, a lot of videographers, none of that.

Speaker 2 4:42

So there's a lot of talent out there, though so what would be the the closest city or state that you would say?

Speaker 1 4:48

that really popped st louis was right there. Yeah, because you know I'm from the missouri side, um, but I'm from kansas city, so we probably about five hours from st louis, okay, and then, uh, chicago, right there, you know they got okc not too far, so you can drive somewhere and it'd be okay because you're in the middle of everything so it's kind of funny because, um, like, when I listened to some of your yeah, like, when I looked at some of your videos and listened to some of your music, I couldn't get the feel that you were from like midwest, you know you would kind of think that you're from, if anything, maybe Atlanta or something like that, but then I get a vibe from you kind of remind me of you're like a hybrid artist, I would say, because you give me some feels of West Coast, like the Bay, a little bit of Vegas, a little bit of la and shit, but then like I could hear nuances of like atlanta you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 5:49

So if I didn't know, I wouldn't know you, I would have not known that you were from kansas city okay, maybe he's from, if anything, atlanta, but like you got a versatile style. You know some people, they just sound like their region, right you?

Speaker 1 6:01

know what I'm saying, because I think that's a midwest thing. Because, like I grew up, when I first started rapping I was listening to mostly east coast you know, I'm listening to jay-z, biggie stuff like that. And then the older I got I started listening to west coast. Okay, because it's more talking about real, like you know, saying that was all metaphors at first. So I went through those transitions, like let me get my metaphors battle rapping right. Then I'm like you know, I want to be Jay-Z. Then I'm like, damn, I want to be Pac, let me talk about my real life. And I went through that. And then when I got serious, I had a piece of all that you know. Then Atlanta OutKast you know people like that. So I try to mix it in and I try to like make it where it's straight enough, but it got everything. I do got a meaning. Like every song I drop it's really a meaning behind it, right, like it don't matter if it's a club song, it means something. Like I go in with that mindset. So who is your?

Speaker 2 6:52

top five. Who would you say at the top of your head is no particular order. You know, we don't got to be pc, this shit ain't. Who is your top five artists? That? Did you ever say that you, yeah, that you would say that you fuck with that, that you kind of, I would say, craft your your sound from or whatever, okay, and the people that you listen to the most so I listen to certain people and I craft.

Speaker 1 7:19

I'll say I like right now because I changed. Like I was working with my boy gonzo. I had a managing shout out to gonzo, my boy from germany. We got lost in vegas together and he helped me craft because he was like you, gotta, you got kind of like a selling, like you kind of sound country. He's like you put that on the west coast beats, I like when you do the west coast beats. So I started doing it and people started saying the same thing that he was saying like I like you on the west coast beat. So I was like this kind of like some Nelly shit or like some Ja Rule shit you know.

Musical Influences and Artist Development

Speaker 1 7:50

So I kind of go that way, but I still like would do like fabulous, I guess, like with the metaphors, and it ain't all singing and all that, but listening wise like Jay-Z, uh nipsey, I listen to money man, not too many people up on him man, yeah uh, people that got value, like I can't listen to a lot of bullshit, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh. I mean everybody listens to pocket biggie. So you know that's five pocket biggie, jay-z, money man, nipsey. It's crazy little.

Speaker 2 8:27

Nip. I met him a few times and shit, he went hard and he definitely is one of my favorite artists, Not because I wouldn't say for bars and shit, but what he's talking about.

Speaker 1 8:42

Yeah, and the feel of it you get in your mode.

Speaker 2 8:45

yeah, it makes you want to hustle yeah and make you want to uh it, make you want to start a couple businesses and shit. And then on the same time and like so I remember uh this quick story real quick. I remember when, uh like nipsey really first started getting like popular and shit like well, he was already popular.

Speaker 2 9:02

But like when he first, like really started making noise and shit, that was the time, like around the time that like yg dropped his uh it was actually the second album, my crazy life, or whatever, and so like, at the time music was like, uh, it was like what, 2012, 2013 or whatever and uh um yg, he made you feel like you was a blood in compton, and then kindred came out and he made you feel like the other side of Compton. I grew up in Compton and Carson, so it's like you know, I kind of it kind of brought me back home. And so then you had Nipsey, and Nipsey was making music that was like totally opposite of what they were, but he was still banging the shit, like he was banging the 60's shit, but he was on some different shit. So he made you feel like he was in a different part of LA and shit. You know what I'm saying. So that was a great time to be alive, great time to be alive and shit.

Speaker 1 9:50

It was a point. Nipsey was the only person I listened to. I'm like shit. I'm trying to manifest. Yeah, yeah, get my brain right. It's like spells, words and spells. So I feel like the more you listen to that type of shit, the more you're going to do what it say, even when I say certain songs, like I listen to my songs later and I'll be going through something that I wasn't even necessarily going through at the time I made it. But you know, I'm listening to myself in third person Like damn, this is really me talking about how I feel right now.

Speaker 2 10:25

But it's a song I already made. Yeah, definitely, like I could definitely get that because, um, I think you, since music is such an art, you know, like some people I mean I guess nowadays, like they make it for, like just to get popular and shit, but then you got the other side, where people make it like with substance, like you're saying, and shit like that. So, yeah, I definitely get that. Um, I don't know, man, like I used to try to be a rapper, um, you know, I still could, I still could spit. I'm not gonna spit on, I'm not gonna spit right now, but you know, uh, I used to, you know, do my thing or whatever, and um, and like, yeah, like I would say I was more the art side of you know music and shit.

Speaker 2 11:07

Like I write, you know what I'm saying. So when I write, I'm writing like with the shit that either I've seen or I'm going through, or the shit like so I don't really write about women and shit like heartbreak and shit like that.

Speaker 1 11:19

You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 11:20

Shit like getting money and shit like that, because that's all I know, you know. Shit like getting money and shit like that, because that's all I know. You know what?

Speaker 1 11:31

I'm saying but uh like, what is your goals? What is your goals like, let's say, your next three year goals, and what do you have coming up? Uh so, uh, like I was saying, we got a company called lost in vegas. I got a couple partners, guys, ohio or whatever, but um, it's a brand. So the music is to support the brand. Like going back to nelly, like I feel like he rapped to promote, like Air Force One Look at the grills, boom, boom and he made a way behind it. So I'm trying to make a way behind the Las Vegas stuff or whatever, and eventually turn it to an app. You know where it's. Like you lost in Vegas, we tell you where to go. That's hard, that type of feel. So I feel like get a partnership deal with that. That definitely will come in the next three years.

Building the Lost in Vegas Brand

Speaker 1 12:07

And the music, like I'm doing acting, shout out to my boy, johnny Lunt, john Lavelle, we just wrapped up this movie Pre-Lessons. It's a series, okay, so I'm doing the acting and all that too. Doing the acting and all that too, but it's all to promote the brand, because when you go to a label, I don't want to just go with music and be like that's all I'm standing on, I can make music. You building a brand, yeah, so you want. You want me. I got this many people behind me. I need 50 million. You know what?

Speaker 1 12:33

I'm saying so that's that's kind of how I'm doing with it and the next three years I see it popping.

Speaker 2 12:40

So let's, let's go back to Lost in Vegas and shit Like what made you really, really want to start Lost in Vegas?

Speaker 1 12:46

Really, I came out here and I was lost in Vegas. Like I didn't know nobody in Vegas Like I knew, like one person.

Speaker 2 12:54

I heard that part too, like before you said y'all got lost in Vegas, yeah right, like I really was lost.

Speaker 1 13:02

So it's like my birthday and the girl that I came out here with she didn't want to go out, she tired, whatever. Yeah, so I'm out by myself, I'm just chilling, I'm like forget it, like I'm just gonna go out and so many people talking to me oh, it's your birthday, have a shot. This, this and that, boom, boom, and I'm in the mgm and I'm just going down the elevator and I'm like I don't even know where I'm at. I don't even know how to get back to my car. I don't know nothing. I go out, I see the line and I looked up because I'm from the midwest.

Speaker 1 13:30

We don't got no big structures like that and I'm like you know what, I'm lost in vegas. I was like that'd be a crazy gps, like a crazy thing. So I looked it up and I couldn't find nobody that had that brand doing that type of thing Like you know what I'm saying. So I was like I'm going to run with it and just put the music behind it. So I dropped the EP Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 13:51

And I see that you put all the merch in your videos. Yeah, yeah, I peeped that.

Speaker 1 14:02

So, yeah, I wanted to just like be for tourists, you like, because I was a tourist at that point, even though I was just here. So they come get the las vegas merch. They get the app. You know what I'm saying. They hear my music. Did you bring any merch with you? Yeah, I got some merch. Oh well, shit, I didn't drive my car oh yeah I'm gonna get you some merch, though I got some merch in my car we like what we like to do here at elevated talks, elevated one network.

Speaker 2 14:18

I like to support all people's shit.

Speaker 2 14:20

So I appreciate that, yeah, I definitely cop some shit by yeah weird on on a podcast or something. You know that's what. That's what I just like to do, because I feel, like you know it's. If I'm buying, I buy designers sometimes, but like now, I'm more more so on the wave of like fucking. Let me support everybody else's shit, especially if it's dope. Why support fucking this dude all the way in Italy, or these people all the way in Italy, or whatever? I could support Lost in Vegas. I could support Sneak and Pharaoh.

Speaker 1 14:54

You know what I'm saying. And it means something. Yeah, and it means something.

Speaker 2 14:58

When I seen your shit I'm like, oh, this shit kind of like in the same room was like gallery department yeah, same room of like designer, but like where everybody can do it.

Speaker 1 15:09

Yeah, and they like each letter is like a letter from the hotel and baggy like the nation B is like the stratosphere s you know saying. So try to keep it where it's for the locals, for the tourists, shit like that.

Speaker 2 15:23

I'm gonna say this right now we're gonna cop some fucking merch. Um, we're gonna get and it's gonna be a part two as well with this, so I'm gonna bring the merch on part two make sure y'all see it we're gonna set up part two very soon. We gotta get. We're gonna set up the whole, your whole crew too.

Speaker 2 15:37

You know I'm saying because uh yeah, we gotta, we gotta put that out there you know what I'm saying like you know, we gotta put her in front of the world, man, you know, yeah, um, yeah, that is dope, like, like, like, that's some I'll definitely wear it. Yeah, I appreciate it, I'm saying so um, yeah, keep on doing that.

Speaker 2 15:55

So let's go back to the projects, man you do them you do the merch or you do the music to push the merch, right? Yeah, so, like, tell us about, like the your up-and-coming projects, because I heard some. You know what we'll put. Um, send me, send me a track that you want and I'll put it on the before, okay, and the intro and outro of this, uh, of this episode or whatever the case may be. But, yeah, like I, I personally think that the shit is dope. I don't really, I don't really promote or put people on my brand now.

Speaker 2 16:31

Yeah, yeah, because it's like it's like, like, yeah, because it represents yeah, it's like why I got this whack rapper or this singer on here. You know I'm saying it does nothing for me. You know, like it, really, I don't give a fuck what kind of buzz they got or whatever. It does nothing for me, you know I'm saying so they're, they're dope.

Speaker 2 16:48

I feel like, okay, I could use them to do something else, like, for example, I'd be like, all right, I got a project coming, I do so. I do music, right okay. But I, I'm like a cali, I'm an anr&R side. Yeah, I kind of produce, I write shit like that. Last night we were doing a project. We're finishing up my R&B project. It's called what A Time.

Speaker 1 17:09

Okay so.

Speaker 2 17:10

What A Time. We're throwing a show it's a comedy show, an R&B show. With that shit, yeah, it's fall or whatever. So I want to do the same thing with, like rap. You know, I had a rap project and I want to showcase the dope. I already came out with one, but I want to come out with another one, because it's well overdue, and showcase the dope artists. That I think is dope as shit.

Speaker 2 17:32

You know, I'm saying film the shit, get the behind the scenes shit, and then we throw a show for that you know, rap is a little tricky, throwing shows because they want the insurance to be a little bit higher because they see the crowds and shit, but they like when I talk to venues they're like, yeah, you got to have this type of insurance instead of that type of insurance.

Speaker 1 17:48

You know you got to, I always tell them I'm doing top 40.

Speaker 2 17:51

Yeah that Like oh you're going to need like five more police officers. You know I'm like God damn, but no tell them what your next projects and shit.

Speaker 1 18:06

Oh yeah, we're going crazy with the music, like I feel like with the music side, like building the catalog is more what I'm working on right now, so I want to have like 500 songs and then everybody catch on, while I already got 500 songs going. Yeah, now every song getting 10 000 views a month or whatever, so you can't lose. But I just dropped um love versus hate part two. Uh, I dropped that last month or whatever.

Speaker 2 18:29

That's a dope project that is a dope project, I appreciate it that was.

Speaker 1 18:33

That's what um today was today saturday.

Speaker 2 18:38

Uh, yeah, uh yeah, thursday, okay, because I went, I want to buy a new car and shit. So, like somewhere on my way back from, uh, california, um, I was like all right, let me.

Speaker 1 18:53

I put it on on my phone and like we coasted from like barstone all the way to vegas, like and I try to make my projects like the old way, like where it's a story, like you know what I'm saying, because I got part one, and part one of Love vs Hate was all about the fun, the love, people showing you love. Part two is all about the hate, like you know what I'm saying People turning on you and all that. So it's like a story in itself, like part one, part two, and then I got lost in vegas. Part one out too, but, um, in july I'm dropping again. So I'm dropping uh, I ain't even named it yet, but I got like 30 songs that I don't even drop yet. Like, yeah, I might pick a month and record every single day.

Speaker 2 19:34

like how long, what's your recording process, how long it take you to record. Well, I feel like I'm.

Speaker 1 19:39

I'm more than one artist in one, so I might sit down and write a song if I just feel like I got something on my mind. But most cases I just go in the studio and I'm like I like this beat and I go find the hook and I'll just go in. I don't even got to do too much with it now. It's all about the feel.

Family Life and Raising Artist Kids

Speaker 2 19:58

That's where I suck at is like I suck with hooks. You know what? I'm saying Like I just want to get straight to it, you know what I'm saying so like when I write R&B, like I write for those artists right. But when it comes to rap like I'm more like like all right the hook, I can't come up with catchy shit. You gotta be catchy, but you gotta write it.

Speaker 1 20:21

It's in between. My boy King helped me a lot on that or whatever, because I've been working with him on development and he pushed me where it's like just go in there, like I'll be ready, like sitting down He'd be like you know, the process is going there and then I say whatever. And if there? And then I say whatever.

Speaker 2 20:37

And if you got a dope engineer, I don't say whatever, look, don't, don't do that.

Speaker 1 20:40

I'm saying, but I say like, okay, I know this song sound like a life beat. What's going on in my life? Yeah, you feel me. So I can just be like all right, today my baby mama called me we tripping, baby mama, tripping, boom, boom, boom. Be like, yeah, that's hard, keep going with that. You know, when you got an engineer pushing you, you can spit out music like it ain't nothing. You know what I'm saying. So shout out to all my dope engineers, shout out to Chef King. You know what I'm saying. Like that's, that's really with me. Like I feel like the engineers, producers, most important part.

Speaker 2 21:11

Like do you have a specific um?

Speaker 1 21:20

like studio that you record in or do you have? Um, right now I've been recording with my boy, king, but chef is my favorite studio. Shout out to chef went crazy, like because we cook up, like I know anything I do is dope like I never missed in the studio. It don't matter, okay, I go there with a snippet. Like little wayne said we just we need a snippet, yeah, that's it. He'd be like all right, I'm gonna loop it. Whatever you need to do, drop it. It sound like that's it. He'll be like all right, I'm going to loop it. Whatever you need to do, drop it. It's coming out sounding like some industry standard stuff. You don't got to go back and fix it, nothing. That's how I like to do, because I don't like spending a bunch of time going back on the same song. This is the feel for me.

Speaker 2 21:55

That is what a lot of artists do. They keep they, they soak up so much time. Yeah, you guys put it out there, yeah because you can always.

Speaker 1 22:02

If it become a hit, you can always tweak it, put niggas don't care, go get timberland on it, he's gonna do whatever he wants to it. But right now, as an independent artist, I feel like the main thing is just getting it out there. So when people do meet you or we on a podcast or something like that and they like who is that? They got enough to go through and fall down the rabbit hole and be like damn, this nigga got this project, like that's the most important thing to me.

Speaker 2 22:26

I think that's the best way. That's kind of how I found like when I first started listening to like Larry June, like that, uh, uh, ransom, Ransom.

Speaker 1 22:35

Those are some of my favorite artists. And I just went down to Rabbit Hole to listen to all this shit and I'm like damn you, like damn this nigga been going crazy.

Speaker 2 22:43

You've been going crazy since 2014, or whatever the case may be.

Speaker 1 22:48

We was just talking about LaRussell.

Speaker 2 22:50

LaRussell, that's another motherfucker that he puts out a lot of music.

Speaker 1 22:56

When I heard about him he was like I got 30 albums. I'm like nigga, how Like where I went to go find them. I can't even find all of them. I'm like I need to see 30 albums, same here.

Speaker 2 23:04

Like I started like because he was doing that Backyard performance stuff for you know, and so after that it was just like damn, like he got a whole bunch of shit. He kept on saying he got albums and he kept on saying I'm pushing these albums, I'm doing this and I'm like damn, like it's crazy what the hell?

Speaker 1 23:21

like I like this format, like that's how I'm trying to do with the merch and the, like nip marathon, that blueprint, la russell blueprint. You know you go back, bastard p jay-z.

Speaker 2 23:32

You know what I'm saying you kind of yeah, you got all their blueprint like a larry june nipsey, yeah, you know where all of them, they, they pushing their music, and then they, they pushing their merch and shit. You know that's smart, you know, especially now because it's so many artists like. What separates you exactly from?

Speaker 1 23:51

you know and they can see, they, they know like it, and sometimes it become a good thing, a bad thing because they'll be like, ah, this nigga know too much. Yeah, whatever, because I didn't been on the like one of my closest friends, the a and r, you know, role manager. Then you know, like I said, I interned with strange. I didn't manage niggas myself, like I didn't been on all sides. I know how to do some engineering, I know how to do some producing, so I kind of just see it in a way where I'm like I, I know what's supposed to happen.

Speaker 2 24:17

Right, you know what I know. It's kind of funny. Most people that do that really rap. They pretty much touch every side.

Speaker 1 24:29

Most of the people that I know they started off as the manager or they started off as an A&R and shit, and they're like well, I can do this shit too, exactly because you get so used to hearing like I know what sounds good, so much I can do it myself. Y'all not doing what I see, so you say you have kids, right?

Speaker 2 24:46

Yeah, yeah, how many kids you got? I got three, three. They live out here.

Speaker 1 24:50

One of them lives out here, two lives in Kansas City. Okay, so how is that like?

Speaker 2 24:57

trying to show them the way Because, like at this point, like you're 100% yeah, nor are you building a brand or whatever. So like it was boys or girls, Well, my oldest is a girl, okay.

Speaker 1 25:09

And then I got a son, and then I got a daughter, a young daughter, so two girls, okay.

Speaker 2 25:13

That's kind of cool. You got like all right. Yeah, a little mix, that's kind of cool. Yeah, you got like all right, so how is it trying? To show them in um like the wave that you're trying to do in. You know, I'm pretty sure you're maybe your son or your kids moms. They probably like either they 100 with it or they like man, fuck that shit. Like you still need you know me right.

Speaker 1 25:33

So my first two kids. Their mom is an artist too.

Speaker 2 25:37

Okay.

Speaker 1 25:37

So she's a singer, she gets it, yeah. So we kind of grew up together and for a minute I was managing her, okay, so that's why I wasn't doing music or whatever. But she's a talented artist Shadow Bree, first lady, shadow Bree With her. So my kids are just naturally talented, okay, anyway. But I try to teach them more of the hustle part, like it ain't even about music or whatever.

Speaker 1 25:58

I try to keep them like make sure they play instruments and stuff like that, the stuff I didn't know, because as a kid I just was a writer, I just want I like the entertainment business, right, so I was infatuated with learning the business. So with them I'm like if you're going to be an artist, you need to play an instrument, you need to. You know. I'm saying, have structure to it, you need. How are you gonna make money? Right, you know things like that. And my, especially my 13 year old, my oldest, she gets it like. She wake up like dad, you need to sell lost in vegas bonnets like she come at me like that and I'm like, well, you make them and I'm gonna sell them and give the money to you.

Speaker 1 26:32

Yeah, because I'm not thinking about lost in vegas. Yeah, so she got the concept because that's smart. They didn't been in the studio with me since they was babies. Okay, you know, we always been around it, like so. And then my youngest my youngest is only one and she already playing. I you know, I got her the toy piano, got her, you know, drum set all that so that's our play time. I just let her get on the instruments very talented kids.

Speaker 2 26:56

You know you might have a Jackson 3. I know.

Speaker 1 27:00

I'm trying to tell my daughter that, like I'm a Joe Jackson y'all.

Speaker 2 27:03

She's like no dad, no.

Speaker 1 27:05

Because she don't want to do it. She don't want to be an artist or whatever, but she's talented, she can sing and all that, but she's like I don't. I really prefer that. If that was your passion, I would push that too, but do something else, like your mom and your dad's artists. If you decide to do that later, you can do it because you're talented.

Speaker 2 27:25

I think that we should, as parents, we should normalize letting them do like not what we do, but learn what we do.

Speaker 1 27:36

But like, have your own lane, and that's how I feel about it, like I'm'm gonna just help you with whatever talents you got, mm-hmm, bring them up to the best they can and you decide what you do with it.

Speaker 2 27:46

Yeah, yeah, that's smart because I see it like. I coach football as well, and so my son. He plays basketball like he's a. Hooper, you know I was a football player and you know I did football like to a high level, whatever the case may be. And so, like you know, I see a football player and I did football at a high level, whatever the case may be. I see a lot of dads out there.

Speaker 1 28:04

I didn't make it to the NBA. You going to the NBA? I see that all the time.

Speaker 2 28:08

I'm like dude let your kid just do them. You'll see it all on the kid's face.

Speaker 1 28:12

They're really unhappy they're doing it for their parents.

Speaker 2 28:15

I tell my son all the time I'm like, dude, I don't care what the fuck you play Like. If you want to do music, all right, I'm going to push it. If you want to do, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you know, do something with business, okay, I'm going to help you start that. I'm not pushing college or anything like that. If you want to go, cool. But I'll push business and trade on you, exactly. But you know the foundation, exactly the foundation, that's it. You know, like, if we build in this house, you know the foundations is what matters. You know I'm saying everything else comes after. Yeah, that's exactly how I feel, and so I'm like, look, you're probably not gonna make it to the nba you know what I'm saying, because you're one out of a million, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 28:54

So if you want to make it to the nba, you got to do a lot more. But what are other things that you want to do? You know? Like, okay, the basketball shit is fun, you know, and I we gonna push it to the furthest that we could push you there. What other things?

Speaker 1 29:07

you want to teach you discipline, because a lot of stuff is just pieces of the road man knows. And that's what I realized, even about being an artist, because it was a point when when was like I gotta be the best rapper alive, I gotta be. And I didn't care about nothing about that, cause I listened to Lil Wayne. You know what I'm saying. Stuff like that you like you gotta be the best. And then the more you develop, you like okay, I don't necessarily gotta be the best, I just gotta work harder than this. Then it'd be like I got to make more money than this. Then it'd be like I got to have my own brand. Like the more you build, the more you you know what I'm saying you got to follow.

Speaker 2 29:45

How is your like mental health when it comes to this shit? Do you like, believe in, like therapy? I'm not talking about like, necessarily talking to like a therapist or anything but like, like. Do you believe in, like, like therapy? Like you like, like?

Speaker 1 30:00

music like, for example, music is some people, most people's therapy and shit like that you know for sure, or their outlet and shit.

Speaker 2 30:03

So, uh, what is your take on that?

Speaker 1 30:05

yeah, I definitely believe that because, like that's like I don't really get emotional, like I do a song like um, like I said, my kids are in um kansas city, two of them. So I went to visit them and then so I'm leaving, because I was out there like a week and a half and they're like Dad, I don't want you to leave, but I had to come back for work and all kind of other obligations. So I'm leaving, I get on a plane and the producer just happened to send me this beat and it's like I don't want to be, I don't want to be without you, be without you, and I'm like you know what? I'll make this song to my kids because that's what I feel.

Speaker 1 30:39

So on the plane I wrote a song which I got out now with the video letter to my kids or whatever. And it was a letter to them literally telling them like how I missed them and how I didn't want to leave them, or whatever. And that was like therapy to me because like I felt it, you know, and I was like I gotta get this feeling out right now. So I wrote it on the plane, on the way here, leaving them, and that's hard laid it down when I got there. That's super hard. Yeah, so it's definitely therapy for me, especially if you're a real artist and really talk about your real life. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 31:08

Yeah, because I tell people like, like people, when they say therapy, shit like that they think of oh, like I to go talk to a shrink, I got to go talk to a therapist.

Speaker 1 31:18

I feel like I support mental health. That's good too. Some people need to sit down and talk to a shrink.

Music as Therapy and Future Projects

Speaker 2 31:22

Yeah, it's like you know, really like some people like they really off. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 31:26

Yeah, and they be scared too. Yeah.

Speaker 2 31:28

Like there's a lot of motherfuckers. That's really, really I'm not. You know they need, you know they probably need to talk to somebody. You know what I'm saying. They got to normalize that because it's cool, you know, if you have somebody to talk to, but at the same time, that's not the only form of therapy. You know what I'm saying. Like, you know, some people they might smoke, that might be, you know smoking, listening to music and shit, you know, or smoking right or whatever, or you know, as long as you do something productive and you get your shit out, or whatever you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 31:58

Some people might be like their therapy might be letting one off on the chicken.

Speaker 1 32:02

You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 32:06

Whatever the case may be. Yeah, but I think that we got to normalize finding what your thing is to push your shit up.

Speaker 1 32:15

Yeah, make you feel relieved.

Speaker 2 32:16

Yeah, because we be having a lot of shit trapped in us and, like you, see a lot of chicken time bombs, because you can't really say nothing.

Speaker 1 32:23

Like you don't say it to your homies, but you ain't going to give them the sentimental part of it.

Speaker 2 32:27

Nah, because most of the time your homies are like what?

Speaker 1 32:43

You've been tripping. What's your problem? Let's go to the strip club, you know. But that's why I feel like, because you just got to make yourself vulnerable shout out to my homie austin. He passed away and he the dude I was talking about I started music with, or whatever he passed. But I always hear him in my head because when we first was doing rap or whatever he'd be like don't try to make a hit, go harder, go deeper. Yeah, go deeper, go deeper. And he would always tell me that. So now I think about that in my music, like it's, of course, about making it catchy or whatever, but sometimes the realest songs is a hit and it ain't about just trying to be like oh, we in the club, yeah. So it's more about, like you said, that therapy part, like the more vulnerable you can be and put somebody else in that position where they like damn, I see it, I can. I actually see this man leaving on a plane. He wanted kids and he like I gotta go. Like you try to put people there like third person view.

Speaker 2 33:28

So it's just about a storytelling to me oh, hell, yeah, yeah, I think I think that's the the best way, like if I could listen to somebody's shit and I could feel what they talking about. Yeah, then you know, like there's been a lot of long drives with, uh, the windows down, sunroof open, type, you know, and uh just coasting like I'm like man, I gotta, I feel this, this is, you know, that's my therapy, like really, um is just listening to music. I like performing a lot too. Okay, that's a big part of it. So when's the next performance?

Speaker 1 33:59

So I'm putting something together this month. I actually got a show tomorrow. No, they just rescheduled it. So, yeah, I'm putting something together this month or whatever, because I'm going to do a love versus hate, you know kind of show, like kind of how you were saying and I'm one and part two I'll be messing with uh d flat shout out him, okay, you know he's in egypt right now, but uh, okay, he's a bass guitar player and uh, so I'll be performing with the band. He does corking thorne every mondays, so I do a lot with them, so I'm gonna get the band and do the love versus hate, okay, like, kind of like some old school jay-z or not where you gonna do it at I got a couple places that I know I want to do it at.

Speaker 1 34:38

Um, I got a couple places that I know I wanna do it at, but it just depends on how everything timing but it might be a House of Blues. Just let me know. Yeah, for sure, I'm gonna try to make it like a real set, like I said, the big time where it's a show put together. I might put the suit on Suit on with the live band.

Speaker 2 35:00

Please let me know, because I definitely um, I definitely pull up yeah, don't let me know the day before yeah, it's like my like, you see. You see, I would be like yeah, like my schedule, I stack it. So like, if, if it's something that's a little off, yeah, like throw everything off and shit. So yeah, let me know.

Speaker 1 35:18

Like for sure, I'm going to give it to you in a merch too. So we're going to be in contact. You want to?

Speaker 2 35:24

before we leave. You want to spit something on the mic? I can. Yeah, I'm right here.

Speaker 1 35:28

Yeah, man, spit whatever man. Sometimes it automatically do that. Yeah, but I'm going to spit this North Pole, you know. Don't want the coupe. Let's it come with the top back. Don't want your bitch. You can quit, nigga, stop that. Don't want the Glock, let's it come with the beam on it. Chopper so big if I want I can lean on it. Used to chase hoes, but them hoes chasing me now. Got them going crazy. My old hoes is seen now. Used to read messages. Leave them on scene now. We used to fuck, but she can't fuck with me now.

Speaker 2 36:04

Ah, okay, Okay, yeah, yeah, hey shout out all your shit, man Look, look hey, man copy his merch too, man yeah.

Speaker 1 36:11

Las Vegas. It's Rico Banz man, make man, make sure y'all follow us. Got my boy Gonzo Shout out Ohio Shout out to Gonzo Shout out. My boy Slugs in the cut Shout out Slugs. Look us up.

Speaker 2 36:24

Hey.

Speaker 1 36:26

Lost in Vegas. Out now. Love vs Hate 1 and 2 out now. New EP coming 4th of July. We ain't stopping.

Speaker 2 36:34

Shout out your also. Shout out your tag, your Instagram tag.

Speaker 1 36:37

Instagram Rico Bands. That's R-E-C-O-B-A-N-D-S. You know Rico Bands on all platforms, all social medias, google, just Google it, it's going to come up.

Speaker 2 36:52

Okay, and on that note we out.

Speaker 1 37:18

Peace, peace me, but I might do. She don't want to change. She's stuck in her ways, invited to the crib for days. She just want to fight. But fuck what she say she wanted.