Episode 24 - From An Idea To Sold
We’re on Episode 24 of Nicky and Moose the Podcast. This episode is full of surprises from this past week. Today, your hosts talk about everything from the Verzuz acquisition to NFTs and even Cardi B!
Make sure you have you pen and paper in hand as you check out this episode to take down the gems uncovered to elevate your brand or business.
What you will discover:
- Making the transition between how it started to the 2.0 version of your brand or business.
- The importance of documenting.
- Lessons on NFTs.
- The significance of community.
- Having the audacity to be you.
- Still producing in spite of the pressure.
- Investing to have success.
- The danger of “one is close to none”.
- Play the long game.
Nicky Saunders:
What's poppin'? What's poppin'? What's poppin'? Welcome to Nicky and Moose! I'm Nicky! That's Moose! What's up Moose?
Mostafa Ghonim:
What up y'all?
Nicky Saunders:
And another action-packed, info packed, whatever the thing, I felt like I was doing a movie, I don't know. We got to talk about Verzuz. We got to talk about $69 million, you'll understand later. And we got to talk about Cardi and a little bit...get to know her a little bit more, but just a lot to talk about. Just a lot. Moose, how are we feeling?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, yeah, I mean, a lot of things happened in the culture. This is what three weeks in a row that we've had some sort of acquisition, partnership, ownership stuff happening. So yeah, it's gonna be good. I'm excited to jump into it.
Nicky Saunders:
I need to do business and just sell it. I'm just saying. We'll get into that. But let's get into this intro.
Jaymie Jordan:
Two kids from Queens, cut from a different cloth. Now joining forces helping you to elevate your personal brand. Yeah I'm talking about Nicky and Moose! Bringing you a never before seen perspective into the mindset, the mentality, the behaviors, the driving force, but more importantly, the stories behind the people and brands that you know and love the most.
Nicky Saunders:
So you already know what time it is, it is the review of the week. And this one comes from...y'all need to have better usernames because this is hard. This is hard. Amh3891. All right. It says, "In a world driven by social media, we see the fruits of the labors of success, but we don't get to understand the mentality and drive behind it. I love how this podcast dissects was sets those people apart so that we understand those diff..." Ugh! Y'all got me?! Ugh!!! Say that word Moose.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Differentiators. Yep, differentiators.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah that one. "...and apply them. Tying this back..." Wait, "Tying this back to the flight assessment makes it even more practical great podcast and insights." Okay, all right. I sucked at that one.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Appreciate you AMH.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah, yes. Appreciate you AMH something something. We appreciate you and everybody who leaves a review. Continue to do that. We love you. But let's get into this podcast. First off. Today, I'm a little frustrated. My whole my whole iMac just went to crap. Whole... whole. Just want to put that out there. So if I sound a little aggressive today, and a little bit more passionate, this is where it is come from. I'm just letting you know.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Gotta blow the steam.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah, yeah. We're gonna have...go on our early promo go on our YouTube Live Tuesdays 8pm because I'm going to talk about this whole situation just letting you know. But yo Moose, we have a lot to talk about. We have a lot to talk about. And of course, we got to, we got to talk about one of my favorite topics. We got to talk about Verzuz. So Verzuz got acquired by Triller. Right. And so the first thing I thought of what would that mean? What is what's happening? You just signed a deal with Apple. We were doing so well. What what what's going on? What more? How did you sell this? What's happening, right? So for all the YouTube viewers, you can see this. My audio people, of course, I'm going to read this to you. But it says Verzuz has been acquired by Triller Network. Verzuz will continue to stream on Instagram. And now also on Triller. Every artist who did a Verzuz is now a shareholder in Triller Verzuz. Swizz and Timbaland will now oversee music strategy at Triller. Let me go let me go straight into the video so we could discuss. I need y'all to understand why this is a big deal.
Swizz Beatz:
We want ownership from other people, but we don't give ownership to each other. We want respect from other people, but we don't give respect to each other. Everybody everybody got to go download Triller now let me tell you why. Because they have the most creatives...that are owners in any company in the world. The most black and brown people are owners at Triller than any other. We brought 43 people with us. They already had 30 people over there that that are owners of color and creatives.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Wow, that's huge!
Nicky Saunders:
Moose you want to start this? You want...? Tell
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, that, I think, yeah, I think that was my me how you feeling. favorite part of the deal, man. Like going through and I think we talked about it as soon as it popped up. I was like, oh, wow, this is cool. And then I'm like, Whoa, ownership for everyone who's contributed! That's a big deal.! That's a big deal! And
Nicky Saunders:
First off, this is like the third week or and when you think of just, now, of course, the details, they haven't let too much out. I was like peeking around trying to see how much? What's going on? But not not too much was really revealed. My intuition tells me maybe about a month ago, there was a picture that Swizz Beatz posted with Jay, you know, and they were like kicking it at his house or something like that. And then he came back and said, Oh, this is what we were talking about. But it was of course, about one of Jay's deals. But this deal is structured so similar to the way Jay Z has done his deals over the past few weeks, that it gives you some sort of feeling like, Okay, my man definitely took a page out of Jay's book to say, I'm going to give you what I've created. But not only in exchange for money, but you're going to make me also part owner of what you have. So you pay me for what I created. But you give me an opportunity to run it and contribute into what you've done. So it's like there's a win - win there, of course, because of the creativity that they've created with this concept. But then that that big piece, and I'm sure you have some things that you want to add to it, but the icing on the cake of giving other people ownership, despite their contributions, and the fact that they got paid. So it was like, Yeah, they contributed to the idea. They got paid through streams and all these other things. Yeah. But also now you' e an owner in the company. So I hink yeah, that's just so dope, man. So something that we're talking about selling, you know, the, the business but even when we look back at the whole Tidal situation, there was numbers that came out after that was like those people who were the starting artists of Tidal, they all got a certain mil, I think it was like eight mil or something. And now that we're we're hearing about this Triller acquisition or Verzuz acquisition, but now each of the people who battled so far, are shareholders like, and I find that very interesting. First off, because it's a lot of shareholders. Alright, let's that's a lot of people already did battles. Right. But my question, to be honest with you, is what happened to Apple?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Hmm,
Nicky Saunders:
That's a big platform. Let's not, you went from a very big platform to an app that, you know, is starting to make a lot of wave, right? Because you think about it...
Mostafa Ghonim:
Similar to Snapchat, right? Like, Triller is like similar Snapchat in a way? Yeah.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah. It's like Snapchat, TikTok kind of vibe. But clearly after the Mike Tyson fight, and some of the things that they've been starting to do, clearly is doing something. They're trying to make a different direction. Because I think, from understanding that, okay, we're somewhat similar from a video format standpoint of TikTok. And instead of necessarily trying to beat them, let's try to create something different. Right. And the crazy thing is, I downloaded Triller for the first time today cuz I had nothing but time because of my computer. But you know, whatever. Not the point. It's not the point. Um, but at the same time, like I looked at it, and the format is somewhat similar to TikTok, but what I like like is that they have like a Triller TV and I could see where the Verzuz and I think Fat Joe was on there now, like a lot of stuff is happening. And it's great to see that it has minority shareholders. A lot of them. A lot. And so for, for looking at this from an idea, and I've stated this so many times from an idea to now being sold. First, it was from an idea to coming reality, from an idea to them becoming on a streaming platform, but now from an idea to being sold, that is huge. And not only that, is that these two are still going to have a hand in it as well as the what the music strategy of Triller? Because they're doing a sports section as well. Right. But what I did see, hold on, let me go back to it real quick. What I did see very specific, every artist who did Verzuz is a shareholder of Triller Verzuz not necessarily all of Triller. Right. But Triller Verzuz. So that's interesting to me. Right? Which is fair, right? You bring all these artists, you gonna say you gonna own the whole app. Let's not do that. Right. So that particular part. But my question, and I want to have that discussion is because they are owners now. Right? Do you think that all these 40 something artists are going to play a part of it? Or are they just owners?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, so the cool thing about being a shareholder is that you're not so much involved into the day to day or the operations. But you have and I...and I'm just going to assume that they they almost distributed stock amongst those 43 individuals, and said, Okay, let's say we have 100 million common stock, each of the members is going to get automatically just a million shares. So like, now each of them have a million shares, that gives them assets into the company. And should they at some point decide to sell it, Should they at some point decide to cash in that this is then how they get their returns. So that's what my my, my automatic thought is just the way the deal is structured, I'm sure there's going to be more information that comes out. But I would hope Nicky just kind of through my personal opinion, I would hope that they're not involved in the day to day because to have 43 people involved into running an organization...Now granted, if it Verzuz if that department or that arm of the brand is so big that it needs that many large leaders or I shouldn't say large leaders, you know, just like head honchos, whatever that can really help push it then sure, I guess it works, but I can't see it, at least this early in the game, having all of them being involved from an operational standpoint. I think Tim and Swizz are still gonna lead that out, but they're involved as your name is a part of the contract.
Nicky Saunders:
I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing some of them come back and give an input. You know, I wouldn't mind. Now all of them, No, but I wouldn't mind but I am interested to see what is to come because the last Verzuz that I saw was the D'Angelo one. It was like D'Angelo and friends. Right. And that's not a Verzuz. Right. That's was a concert. And granted, I didn't...I normally do Recaps of like... and it is funny because a lot of our listeners was like, yo, you ain't talk about the D Angelo Verzuz like you've been highly documenting the Verzuz you have not talked about that. And I didn't talk about it because I was like, it wasn't a Verzuz. It was a concert.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Right.
Nicky Saunders:
And it wasn't even friends. It was like three people I'm expecting when you bring friends and maybe this is just me from like a old concerts and everything you say friends you're coming out with like seven other artists and they're all here. It was like Method Man, Redman, and I think H.E.R. and I can't remember anybody else. I don't I don't think there was anybody else. I think that was it. It's not friends that's your people like that's not friends that's like people who came through. But I see there's going to be a different change, right from just Verzuz to maybe just highlighting some of the artists and clearly we've seen the benefits of their streams going up like I know was playing D'Angelo like, man, I could really appreciate this music now compared to before, right? Um, before, I'm gonna be honest, I just thought D'Angelo was just whining a lot. And I wasn't really listening. I'm just, just gonna be honest. I'm like, yo, why are you whining? I don't get it. But I don't even remember how old I was when D'Angelo came out? I don't I don't remember. But, um, I am excited to see what Verzuz does. I am excited that there is ownership still with it between Swizz and Tim. Because what I was scared about is like, you just give that up. Right. And clearly, that's not the case, they still have ownership, and they still have clear direction of what is going to be. So that's going to be huge. My question to you Moose, is, what do you think is going to happen when the summer comes?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, it's it, they have their work cut out for him. To be honest with you, Nick, like, while we've all really gave a tremendous amount of credit and props to Swizz and Tim for putting this whole thing together and making it into like a legit a cultural phenomenon, in many ways has helped a lot of people get through quarantine and the pandemic. It's been a, it's been a big hit. But I believe they really have their work cut out for 'em you know, from one part of it, there was talk about well imagine this be like Verzuz done live, where two artists are doing this in front of a live crowd phenomenal. But at some point, I believe there's got to be that transition that takes the brand and the movement to the next level. Or it's going to face some resistance of like, Alright, cool. Like, we've done this, we're accustomed to it. And I think everyone goes through it, there's a natural progression of like, it's new, it's really, really hot. But then as other people start to adapt, what what is what is going to be that Verzuz 2.0 that's going to really wow the crowd and say, okay, like, these boys are here to stay, we really want to walk with rock with them forever. Because like, yeah, I think of just other companies who've had to make that big transition, right? It's like, we saw Apple do it, we saw Beats by Dre do it, we saw a lot of companies do it in the tech space. I can't compare it to Verzuz because there's not many like it. But But um, I would be curious to see I, you know, we got some challenges ahead of you once the world opens up. But that 2.0 Verzuz i think is gonna really show a lot and say, is gonna be the big, you know, deciding and factor like, you know, we're here to stay kind of thing.
Nicky Saunders:
I wouldn't be surprised if they're going to do starting to do pay per views. So if the Mike Tyson and Roy Jones, which was under Triller was a pay per view, I can imagine some of the bigger names are going to be a little bit more interested now, just because they saw this move and say, oh, their shareholders Hold on. So maybe the next move that you make, right, we could be a part of that if we're in this. So I think now they see there's a bag clearly into this.
Mostafa Ghonim:
So and that's true. And that's true. Like the big hitters like the Jay's, the Drake's and all these guys. They still haven't really pulled out yet. So it's like...
Nicky Saunders:
I don't think Jay is coming. No, no, no, I don't
Mostafa Ghonim:
You don't think so? Not even on like a big big...the Holy Grail.
Nicky Saunders:
No, I don't. I don't think that. I don't think that. I think and I don't think he's going to battle anybody. I think that would be more of a whatchamacallit? As more of a just like a D'Angelo thing. It'd be Jay Z and friends. And that'd be something especially if the world stays semi close. I could see that happening. Right. Um, but the world's about to open up. Yeah, the world's about to open up that's all I gotta say.
Mostafa Ghonim:
It's happening. Yeah slowly but surely its happening. I just thought with his relationship with Swizz. Like, they seem to be pretty close friends so its like maybe some... What's the? Let me ask you. What's the? Can I pull that on you? Like if we're, if we're friends, and I, you know, we're like number one in our industries. Can I pull a friend card to get you in my in my thing, or is that out of bounds?
Nicky Saunders:
I mean, if it makes sense. Yeah. It's almost expected. If it if it makes sense. Yeah. But I don't, but I don't see him. I don't see him
Mostafa Ghonim:
Okay. battling anybody. And if he does battle anybody, who would he battle? The only one... Okay, let's have that conversation. The obvious guess is Nas. Let's Let's do that. Who would Jay Z battle? So the only one that makes sense to me...
Nicky Saunders:
No, that doesn't make sense. That doesn't make sense to me.
Mostafa Ghonim:
No? Really? Hmm.
Nicky Saunders:
No. We need to leave that alone. He got murdered on Ether. Let's just not bring this back for like, oh good sake. Let's not let's keep it alone like let them be. There's already like mini beef. And we talked about it I don't think its mini beef but it's coincidence that every single time Nas drops, Jay drops. Y'all could check the stats even with this last, um, Black Messiah movie situation, they were on the same soundtrack. And of course Jay Z got more props because he had a song with Nip. So yeah, I'm I'm over that. Like, I don't want to see that bad. Maybe that's me. Maybe you want to. I clearly don't want to see that battle. The only one that the only two that makes sense to me is Kanye or Eminem? Kanye or Eminem. What say you?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Wow! A Jay - Kanye battle would be pretty cool, though. That would be an interesting little...
Nicky Saunders:
I'm just saying.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah,
Nicky Saunders:
I'm just saying. What say you?
Mostafa Ghonim:
I think that will break records. Jay. Jay - Kanye will break records. That would be I don't know. But here's the thing, though. While while we may want to see that, I don't think Jay would agree to battle Kanye because Kanye live. ..there's no telling what that man is gonna do. And I don't think Jay wants to be in an environment where he can't control you know, like, how he's going to be perceived or received by the world. So yeah, I think Kanye might be a little too crazy. And he might agree to Eminem although it won't be as exciting for the viewers. He might agree to it just because it's a safer bet. It's like okay. Em is a little older. He's not as crazy. Maybe, maybe I can, I can agree to that. But yeah, that would be that would be one for the records for sure.
Nicky Saunders:
That's, that's all I'm saying. I'm saying it should be those two situations. And if it's not, I don't know who else Jay would really battle. And listen, viewers, listeners, all you people. I don't know how you watching this or hearing this or consuming this. I want to know who would you think Jay Z could battle because I honestly don't think there's anybody really he can battle besides those two period. Like there's a lot of rappers who have been like, Yo, I'm, I want Jay. If I'm going to say somebody I want Jay. Okay. All right. That's, that's amazing. That's great. But um, yeah. Oh, you know, what I want to talk about that I did not and didn't prepare for, but I want to talk about this, because we're talking about Jay Z. And so I have to talk about the Biggie documentary. Man.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Right. Yeah.
Nicky Saunders:
So, um, this thing, and its going to be short. So don't worry about we're going to get into our other topics. But this past week, depending on when you heard, um, Biggie's anniversary was March 9, right. And they dropped the Biggie documentary prior to, right. I think like a few days before, like March 1, or something like that.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, probably about a week before. Yeah,
Nicky Saunders:
So the only reason why I wanted to bring within the week. that up is because the amount of interviews that we saw on that That's what I was thinking. It's like that's early 90s you know, one, from an behind the scenes situations, was amazing, was so amazing, and, and gave a different light to the whole situation, that I wanted to bring a lesson into it as far as the importance of documenting everything. Like, I didn't know that there was a camera to everything that they were doing. I didn't know that, especially back then. Like, mid to early 90s. Before nobody had the thought of a social media or anything like that really take it precedence to the fact that they had that kind of vision. That's dope, Right? And so my whole thing with the Biggie doc is like We... he died at 24. Right? So the fact that he had a camera on him to due to D-ROC right? Through his beginnings, he even when he was on the street freestyling that got recorded somehow, some way. If we didn't have that, what, what will we know of Biggie, like we would only know of what the media put out. But what's great about documenting on your own or having somebody to document you, you are now able to craft your own story. Like you are able to fix or highlight what really is important about your life and about your accomplishments. Right, just seeing some of that footage was like, Whoa, that is so dope. Like, we hear the stories based off, you know, the mom, the friends and family and everything like that. But to actually see the footage brings just a different credibility to it brings just like, a different feeling to it, even from the standpoint of, like, all the ways to the to the last day, right all the way to the last day of when he died, just seeing from when he was a kid, to, that we now have a better picture of the personality of Biggie, instead of just maybe the music or maybe the flashiness that Bad Boy had done, but Moose, what is your take on that whole thing cuz I was, uh, you told me about it. And I was like, man, I meant to, watch it on this particular day. And then I finally watched it. I was like, Man, I wish I watched it sooner. Even though I watched it on the on March 9, but I still was like, Man, I wish I wish I would have saw the day it came out. Because I learned so much, but I really focus more on man, I need to really plop up a camera, more than I do now. I know, between us and my lives and everything like that. I'm highly documented, but maybe some behind the scenes stuff. Even with E I'm like, yo, when are we getting back together because I promise you he's going to be so annoyed how close I am going to be with this camera. Its going to be so annoying to him and I love you E if you are watching but I know you're not. But to show more of the life of what both of us feel is a very impactful like human being this this see the the the road trips just to see his thought process just to see everything like that. I'm like, yo, we did okay, but now it's time to step up. Because if it doesn't get done, then we did a trash job. We just showed the highlights. I'm just
Mostafa Ghonim:
I agree 100%. 100%. I really appreciated that saying. documentary just because to your point. It's one thing to see somebody and be like, Oh, for sure. This person's a master at
Nicky Saunders:
You should have watched it already. You should their craft. Wow. So much respect. It's another thing to see the evolution of that to see it really unfold. And I think that's the one thing that the Biggie documentary really, like communicated or it just envisioned so great. It was just like, yo, here's how it started. Here's the path. Here's the person he was, here's where his mom came from. And I don't want to like spoil it. For those who haven't seen it, definitely go check it out. But it really gives you...
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, for real. Yeah, but I really appreciate have watched. it. And then, of course, about the concept of documenting the process moving forward. 100% like there was a clip that I saw on I believe it's a project that Timbaland is working on, and it showed a behind the scenes of Nipsey in the studio. And it was just like, it was an I'm just like, man, like, you maybe even as individuals, we may not think that's a big deal. But for the viewers, for those who are in the industry or just seeking inspiration just from the individual themselves. I think that brings so much more value. And it really gives a closer look as to who you were, you know, even you would call it off camera, but in reality, it's still on camera. But yeah, I just think that the behind the scenes stuff is classic for sure.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah, so please go Watch that Biggie documentary and look at it from a standpoint of how important it is to document the things that you are doing. Regardless if you think it is important or not, that will come into play somehow, some way. In the future, you may not see it now. They didn't see it now. They were like, yo, you got tapes? Make sure this is on like, and they probably use... there's probably footage we still haven't seen.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, for sure.
Nicky Saunders:
There probably is a whole bunch of things we haven't seen. But we had a watching what a two hour doc probably a little bit less, you know, but that's how good is that for the family? How good is that for friends to see and cherish that for something that happened that was so tragic, right? And I'm not sitting here saying that you guys are going to go out and in a tragic way. That's not what I'm doing. That's not what I'm saying. I am not wishing that upon you. However, maybe even the accomplishments that you've done till this point can be documented and help other people. So yeah, go watch the Biggie documentary. That was a whole vibe. But can we talk about a $69 million on digital art on...now that that deserves a bomb. I'm sorry?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah,
Nicky Saunders:
I'm sorry. Okay, let that rock for a little bit. We're just gonna talk while it rocks. But um, so last week, we talked about NF T's and how the Bleacher Report kind of introduced it to the NBA through all star weekend. As some of y'all were, like I said, don't get it and everything like that. Well, you probably still won't get it after this. But I need you to understand, this is a whole situation. So let's, let's just listen and watch this.
Beeple:
The artwork that I've made is very much influenced by the tools and influenced by the work of a bunch of people in the crypto community as well. A lot of this Jason, just want to say congratulations, you're in 25,250,000. It's crazy man! Jesus Christ! What the? $50 million! $69 million! I think it probably means digital art is here to stay. I'm going to Disney World.
Nicky Saunders:
So so for all my audio listeners, what was that was a live auction by one of the NFT artists called Beeple, right? And one of his art sold for $69 million. Now, here, here's my thing with this, right, because everybody knows I'm really big on this whole NFT thing, because it's just super fascinating, right? When I started looking into Beeple, it was about like, two years ago, my man was struggling to even sell $100 worth of his art. Like had to be to like, one or two years ago, wasn't even that long ago, to now really go in and he's worked with people from Nike, to Adobe, he worked with major brands and was still like, selling it for the low for his own personal art. Now, what sold for that much was that he It was called [EverydaysThe First 5000 Days], something like that, where it was his drawings that he did every single day put into one spot. And this is all digital art. This was not a canvas or painting or anything like that. This is all digital art. And if y'all, we went over it last week, but if y'all remember, that Swizz Beatz episode, where, you know, he was already in the the mood of changing how art was for physical painting. I almost want to say that's not even that important anymore. No offense, because what the digital world is allowing artists to do regardless if you are physical or digital, right, is on new levels that we have not seen. Now. I don't only subscribe to the art part like that's the one that has the most flames on it right now. That's where everybody's seeing because it's very visual. We're seeing the results right now, and things like that. But there are high, high profile influencers that are even talking. Gary Vee has been highly documented as far as how he feels about the NFT's, and how he's going to utilize it as a kind of a utility, where if you buy this token, because NFT's is a non fungible token, if you buy this particular token, right, that may have like a GIF, or whatever he wants to create out of it, its going to allow free access to all his keynotes, front row, and green room access, which is a whole different thing, because now you're feeding into a community, right? A community who loves that particular personal brand or influencer, right? And they're saying, hey, if you get this, this is the access that you're going to get if you get this, this is what this unlocks and things like that. So though the art part is amazing, understand that it really comes from a community piece, because people's been following Beeple and have been rooting for him and are buying it in support of Beeple. Like it's a whole community. Now, granted, there are a lot of people that are coming in, because of the money situation as normal, right? But it's really from a standpoint, if you're thinking about it as an influencer, personal brand, or just brand in general. How can we feed our community in a unique digital way, where they have a piece of us? Because now that person that won that auction owns that particular part of Beeple's art, like owns it, no one else owns that, though, they could screenshot and everything like that, there's always a great feeling about owning, and people know that there's worth to that particular original piece. So I'm always looking at it as like, Okay. Like, even if, for example, and all my podcasters or just people who work with us, like if we did a Nicky and Moose NFT we will have a token, maybe the logo spinning and everything like that in the New York skyscraper. That's really dope. So if somebody wants to do that real quick, go ahead. And then send me um, I love you long time. But if that was our token, and then that unlocks you to watch the podcast live, or get a special one on one with us and things like that. Our community would be like, for sure, like, why not? So this is why it breaks into almost a different lesson somewhat. This is why it's important to build community. Because if Beeple didn't have a community regardless if it was a genuine connection, or if it's for a flipping and money connection, that's still a community that was always following Beeple. And when is he going to drop in everything? how important it is to build that community to have the success that you want? My man was literally crying, because somebody bought it for that much, because he would have never thought that something that he did on his maybe iPad or iMac would be worth that much to somebody.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah. Yeah, no, that's huge man. You're talking life changing generational type of money, you know, like to go from a couple hundered dollars for a piece of art, to then land at or close at, you know, close to $70 million. That's huge! That's not to mention, and again, we talked about the benefit of the NFT. Just that world is that the artists can continue to make residual income or get compensated for every time that it's sold. So that's not to say that, who knows what's going to happen years down the line, as this industry and this concept gets even hotter what will happen from there. So I think it's it's really dope its really, really dope. So again, and we're only saying this and I think we have mentioned on the last one, we're not saying we're experts in the space, we're definitely studying and doing our homework. we've kind of been going back and forth on it. But we just want to encourage people like to get into space early, right, like plug in, don't Don't be so late to the party. As we've been in a lot of these, you know, in a lot of these places where real estate and we're learning so much about These lessons now and I think, again, COVID if if there's any good that's come from it, I think the financial literacy has been great, a great benefit for our generation through COVID. But let this be another one of those spaces that although it's early, it's only two or three years, you know, when you're starting to gain traction and popularity now is like, this is just proof that there's, there's definitely some space here, there's some real estate that can be really bought. And we know the minority community is typically the most creative in the space respectfully. And we often Right, right, right, right. And we often make things hotter than what they are. So it's like, hey, start start paying attention to that. So you can be an early adopter, and you know, shift and move with it.
Nicky Saunders:
So yeah, so if you haven't at least read up on NF T's, if you have a brand, right? I suggest you do because I think this is going to be amazing for your community as far as being able to own something of yours. So that's, that's all I'll say about it. But let's talk about one of my favorite entertaining rappers right now and that would have to be Cardi B. Shout out to Cardi. She becomes the first female rapper to earn a diamond single. That is huge. No other female has done that right for Bodak Yellow that I should you know what I should have done I should have found the there was this video that I was watching that it was like the whole city of New York it almost seemed like was singing it and like was shaking the whole building. Like they were outside and all the buildings felt like if it was shaking based off that song. That song was huge. It was it was huge, but we got to talk about just how dope Cardi is. Think what you want about her to be honest with you, but how real and true this lady has been since the beginning. Right from stripper days to Love and Hip Hop to a clearly a diamond single. Moose got some stats on like just other stuff that she's she's broken but...actually let me just let me just show you how real she is. Hold on let me just. Shout out to my audio listeners. You're gonna hear it's gonna be hilarious.
Cardi B:
Not trying to be a typical like typical New York... but on God. The first thing I do when I land. I am getting a chopped cheese. I don't give a **** if it's seven in the morning. I'm getting a chopped cheese bro. I haven't been in... haven't been home for months. More since Christmas.
Nicky Saunders:
First off, shout out to all the New Yorkers know what a chopped cheese is. Second, literally, this is this was a recent video because like three months ago was was Christmas, right? Was a recent video and she's still eating chopped cheese. Like for those who don't know, like Cardi was got big on social media just by her crazy hilarious rants and raves and everything like that. And of course, Love and Hip Hop took her to a whole new level. Right? But she has been very transparent about her whole journey. Like there's nothing from you know, being a New Yorker a Dominican everything from her illegal procedures with her body. To now she has amazing teeth an amazing body. She's ...Well, no, she's not pregnant. She has a kid. She has a husband. That whole thing has been highly documented. But that's what makes us love Cardi. That's because she's, she's like one of us. She's not, like groomed to be an artist. Like if you look at some of the artists, especially early female ones no offense. You can see they were groomed to the industry. And if they didn't get with it, they were they got lost pretty much. They didn't survive. But what people love, I think she was the very first, I would say influencer, that a record label really picked up. As far as a rap artist. If you realize maybe past, I don't know, couple of years, they try to find the record labels are trying to find the top influencers and trying to groom them into artists now because of the Cardi situation. And it's, it's just crazy to see that it is okay to be your cool, obnoxious, funny, very real self and it becomes a diamond single. I don't...Moose.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, yeah, no, that's crazy. I mean, again, you talk about, first off the fact that she, you know, reaches this milestone during Women's Month. You know, where like, during the month of March, where the whole world is honoring women. I think that's really, really dope its like that that's just organic in itself. And it obviously adds more fuel to the fire. So I think that's really cool. But...my word when I when I see people like Cardi my word is always "audacity", I think "authenticity" is played out. So I use the word "Audacity". And this like, Man, what one of the things that I've really have come to learn is that when you own your shortcomings, and you almost start to air them out to the world, the world can't even really come at you like that, like they can't come back. You know, they can't come out here now and say, Hey, we found out that during before your Love and Hip Hop days, you were just like, she already told you that.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah. Everything.
Mostafa Ghonim:
She she aired all of her dirty laundry, so that you were just like, oh, okay, I'm just gonna accept her for being real, right? Like, I got a bag and fix my teeth. Like, I know, E was hooked on that line for a minute. Like, there were a lot of things that we were just like, man, she is so real. And while people were on the fence, we're like, wow, I don't know if I'm laughing with her or at her. Right now, there's a lot more people who are laughing with her than at her. Because she just kind of like, you know, stood up and said, All right, whatever, I'm gonna let the world know, this is where I come from. This is where I've been through, this is who I am. And I'm just gonna stand and really let it go. But also from some of the videos and, and I know, we're about to show a couple of them here. But she put in the work. She put in the work.
Nicky Saunders:
She did, and the how true she is and transparent. Like I really wanted to go over one in particular, because last week, we went over Eddie Murphy, right. And there was a statement, because a lot of people feel very overwhelmed, like and pressured when you put out something that's really dope, right? So for Eddie Murphy, that was the first Coming to America, right? For the regular smegular people that may be a viral post, you know, that may be a sold out product. You know, that may be a sold out event or something like that. And now the pressure of yo what next? and Eddie said, y'all don't feel pressure when when you do it this long its not necessarily about the critics anymore. But Cardi said something different. And I wanted to bring like I said Cardi is like one of us. So I wanted to bring it back to normal because sometimes we get so caught up in the whole Oh my God, these are great people. And they they can't do no wrong. They're superhuman, and every...well not Cardi. Cardi's real. I'm just...Cardi's real. So let's get into this one.
Cardi B:
It's not, to me is not easy writing. Because this has been the hardest thing ever. It's not easy writing and it's not even easy to focus on a song. Because the type of pressure that everybody has put me on me like, at first, when I was doing music, it was fun and I was so eager to get in the studio all the time. Now it's just like I just I don't know I get like anxiety when I go to the studio because everybody's just expecting some crazy amazing magic from me and it's just like, I want to give you what I thought that I what I like.
Nicky Saunders:
So, artists feel that way too. They feel the pressure too um Moose, what do you got on this one first?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, no, that's big. That's big. You know, I think while I like that she's admitting to that. Let's also make sure we take into consideration that she still has put out more great and global music. Right. And I think one of the songs that we talked about before the show, we talked about the song "I Like It", that between YouTube and Spotify, she has a combined 1.7 billion streams on just that one song. By the way, I said billion. Yeah, yeah, I just want to make sure I give that number again, a combined 1.7 billion streams on that song. And of course, that was after "Bodak Yellow". Right. You know, we've also talked about how the Latin community and just Latin music has grown so popular in the last two years. You gotta give her some credit for that pulling in J alvin, Bad Bunny on that track. JLo eventually jumped on the remix. So like, she really has done things that have been so inclusive, inclusive and brought diversity to the hip hop world, because now you see, now, Drake did it before but he also again, gotten another song with I think it was with Bad Bunny, right? Like, it really started getting a lot of the big artists together and jumping into different cultures and saying, alright, let's really collaborate regularly.
Nicky Saunders:
Hold on, I don't want to, I don't want to say like, its because of Drake and and Cardi. I mean, we got to remember, Lil' John brought in Daddy Yankee back in the day. Listen!
Mostafa Ghonim:
I won't take that away. I won't take that away. But I'm just speaking to the consistency of the music now. And it being played on like some of the again, still for us here out in the tri state or at least in New York. It those songs to be played on the on the popular radio stations that are non Latin speaking. And for that to be just so accepted is like, okay, that that's a new level as well, for it to be so regular. But no, I mean, I'm just looking at again some of these stats here. And it's like, there's a, there's a show, a show that she did with Bruno Mars, a couple of years back, the Superbowl weekend, brought in $6.5 million, it was the highest earning show average just in one night. So clearly, I mean, she has continued to produce despite of some of the pressures and, and still be a real, like, you know, just like, hey, if I'm gonna show you some of my mess ups, I know her relationship. There's a interesting situation there. But, you know, all the best to Cardi.
Nicky Saunders:
I think... like, I brought up the stats of like, look at all the people that have tried to bring in Spanish people to the songs. Shout out to to Pitbull, who I still think is underrated. For real, for real, for what he's done, he may have to...
Mostafa Ghonim:
Oh for sure! And he's great at business too.
Nicky Saunders:
Yeah, we may have to cover Pitbull for real, because what he's... the crossovers that my man has done is crazy, but not to go too far off. It's, it's crazy to hear this perspective of things, because I think we look at people who do those kinds of numbers and feel as if they don't have those. They're not affected by those pressures. You know, we, we see how successful "Bodak Yellow" was we see how successful her first album was, regardless of the personal situation that was going on. Like we see anything that Cardi put out, it was a hit like that, she just regardless of what's happening. People are listening, and people are really cheering her on, because of how normal and how her upbringing was. Right. And so it's crazy to see how that pressure really hits. And with Cardi, she's very, she has to be a flight attendant. Shout out to those people who who know the flight assessment, we should have broken it down. But shout out to the flight assessment if you haven't taken that flightassessment.com. We'll talk a little bit about it right now. But she has to be a flight attendant, because she's very emotional. Like if you look at some of the content that she's put out, while she's been successful... bump that even before prior to and doing all the rants about some of the comments that she was getting and things like that, to, even now still addressing some of the critics and the pressure clearly of what it like her latest single was "Up", and she's still trying to defend what the definition of up was and who's on like, who was making fun of it or not making fun of it, what influencers got on it and didn't like she's forever defending herself still, when she doesn't need to, she's proven. She has records that no one else has. She has a tribe that can almost go against a Nicki Minaj. And that's not to bring up no beef. But as as strong as some of these female artists have for their tribe. We look at a Rhianna, we look at a Beyonce, we look at Nicki Minaj, even bringing it back to Lil' Kim, they all had different tribes, Cardi has that tribe that really no one really messes with, right? And so how does, how does one help Cardi to not feel that pressure and for her to recognize, yo you're human, you're at a point where you could drop what you want to drop, because, um, based off that clip that was going off of one of the singles that did ["Be Careful"]. Right off other her album that gave it a different vibe than what she's normally. Normally she raps and this one, it was like kind of like a melody singing and then kind of wrapping vibe. And it didn't get the praise, as if it was any of her other songs. And we actually haven't seen her do that afterwards. Right? But she was like, yo, that's my mom's favorite song. At what point can I create for me? Right? And I really think she can. But what scares me with Cardi is that she is definitely too attached to what people say that will this affect her her music down the line? I think overall, and actually, let me let me get into the big screen with this one. I think overall, she could do acting, she could do go into her business bag and just open up a whole bunch of fashion stuff, shoes, stuff, whatever she wants to do. She could do the JLo move and go into fragrances. She could do a lot that she wouldn't even necessarily have to go into music. But I feel as if you were still defending yourself right now. Right now, when you just got this diamond single, when you clearly have a crazy amount of fans crazy amount of success. It worries me of if that second album doesn't meet that that expectation, how are you going to take it? But I think the great thing about Cardi is like she can't fail. She She really can't, there may be some songs that kind of like, hit for a few weeks and then go under the rug. It may not have the same as like what we're used to. But it's still a hit compared to some of these artists that struggle. So I love how transparent she is about the pressure. I love how transparent she is about how even the comments till this day still really affect her. Right? Because there was another interview where she was saying like, okay, they said, this is going to be easier, like, ignore the comments. There's going to be easier. But I'm still seeing The Weekend and Kanye get all these crazy comments. Like so does it get easier? I don't I don't think it will. Some people are meant for that. Some people aren't I'm not saying she isn't. I'm saying I believe her team needs to shelter her from that situation to continue this success, this success. And she has an amazing team because compared to some of her early interviews to what she is now there clearly, there's some grooming. There's some changes. Okay, but I really believe once again, getting in that kind of bubble is going to help people who struggle with that overwhelming feeling and that pressure and everything like that, because you shouldn't do your art and what you've been wanting to do for necessarily only for others, it is supposed to impact others it is supposed to help and, you know, send a sense of relief and in entertainment when it comes to Cardi. But at the same time you were doing this because you love the music. So I hope that and this this was about like, a few years ago, so she may not even feel this way. But I hope that she understands her success. And I hope that and we all feel overwhelmed at some point, but that part is, is done. And we can continue to get more hits from Cardi. And because we're cheering for her. We're absolutely I think it I haven't met somebody who just straight up hates Cardi. They may not agree with her tactics. And her social media ways and things like they may not agree with her past or whatever. But they still from a holistic view can still rock with Cardi.
Mostafa Ghonim:
That's real. I agree.
Nicky Saunders:
And, of course, it's already over an hour. And we did have another clip. Do you want to do the clip? I don't know. You call it. I don't. What do you want to do?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Let's do it. Let's do it real quick. We'll give an abbreviated. Yeah.
Nicky Saunders:
So we got one more clip, right? I was gonna leave it for the live I was gonna I was gonna say we just talked about on the live but um, we got one more clip that and this is all old, old interview, is what I'm saying. You can see the polishness Hold on.
Cardi B:
Wanna know what's so crazy people think that it was is like so easy for me. Because Oh, like I already had a following. But what people don't understand is that my personality and what I have and what the things that I have done the drama that I have gotten into on reality TV show it just in my in my overshadow my music. That's why I knew and I know that people that on reality are alway talking about like yeah I'm an artist, I'm going to be artist, but and that's why I always feel like is like, I gotta put extra work in my music. So they could take me serious. So I made sure I took my time. And, um, I paid a lot of money. So I could have the best engineer.
Nicky Saunders:
So I'm actually wanting to go into the angle of how sometimes having success prior to can almost hinder you and almost could be a bad thing. Right? So for those who don't know, the whole Cardi story we'll kind of abbreviate it already, but we already did, but I'll say it again. She was known on social media prior to Love and Hip Hop for just the way she is. The the rants that she would do just the her real and raw kind of side of her. Right. She was a whole stripper prior to, you know, shout out to the strippers.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Oh, boy. Oh boy.
Nicky Saunders:
Okay, so I mean, they, they need love too. And we don't. There probably is one who's listening and we appreciate you. We appreciate you. At least I do. I don't know if Moose does but I do. Right so.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Oh, man, I should've said we'll get we're gonna we're done. No more clips. I did it. That's my fault y'all. I take the blame for that. Okay, that was on me. Wow. Go ahead.
Nicky Saunders:
Anyways, so then she gets on Love and Hip Hop, right? And anybody who has seen Love and Hip Hop knows that that that show is full of drama. Right? It's what the what they used to say is like failed rappers used to go on Love and Hip Hop just to kind of kind of bring back their relevancy and their careers. Right. But the crazy thing is the only one that really stood out from a music standpoint was Cardi, right? And once again, it's because of her journey, and how much energy they put towards her like, yo, you got to win, you got to win right? Now, when you come from a reality TV show that no one takes serious that knows that's full of drama, to then the music industry, right? It's a lot of people are going to doubt. Because especially for how that was kind of based out of like, yo, these are, like people who did do great, but not any, like they haven't been relevant for a minute. And there hasn't been anybody that really stood out from a liveLove and Hip Hop standpoint that brought back there that brought back their career from a music standpoint. Right. So she probably had a lot of doubters, and what I liked about what she said was like, Yo, I had to put in a lot of work, I had to put in a lot of money. Because I wanted people to see how serious I was. I didn't want them to think that this was a joke. This was a reality TV show kind of vibe. And I'm just supposed to do this. Like, no, I take this serious. So let me put in the dough, to get the best engineers to get the best producers get everything like that. And let me put in the work. And it worked out. Because I don't think the others may have taken it so serious. For whatever reason, I'm not here to assume or not. But this is for those who have doubters, this is for those who may, you know, had success before and it doesn't necessarily translate to what you're going to do currently, you have to put in the work, you have to give in that extra maybe time, effort, money, whatever the investment is, to get to the top, you have to do that. Even though sometimes it seems as if it's already there. It should be a clear transition. Like, oh, I have umpteen many followers. So you know, this should, this should just everybody should just follow me. This is even where a lot of people, like ask us about a rebrand. like, Yo, I got all these followers, I'm going to do something new. I'm going to tap dance now. So you know, I'm, I'm going to tap dance in this next video. But I'm losing followers, I'm losing all this stuff like what's happening, right? Well, because you were dope at one other thing. Like they know you for this. Now you actually have to work a bit harder and not expect that your followers, your tribe members are going to rock with you with this new venture with this new activity. We have to put in a bit of extra work. But Moose What was your thoughts?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, I think the best part that stood out and I want to highlight it here, you spoke to it pretty good too, but it's just a concept of reinvesting back in herself. Like that that is so critical, you know, time and time again, and I'm learning this firsthand, as well as like, you got to be mindful of that first level of success. Right? Whatever the first few levels of success, because you're so close to being back at nothing, that if you just hang your hat on that and just say okay, I'm good. Now I'm not where I used to be. So I can just coast right here or I'm just going to continue on this path. You want to be mindful of that man, because like we said, I heard someone say, one is close to none. Like, you know, you're so close to zero by just having one thing that you that's not a safe space. Right. So like the fact that she...
Nicky Saunders:
Say that again. Break that down.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it's like you think about just her her her kind of story is like, okay, she got on Love and Hip Hope or she did the reality TV thing. And she did get some ground and she's starting to get some momentum. She could have just kind of hung her hat on that and say, Okay, I'm only gonna stay in the reality TV space. But then she goes, Nope, I'm going to invest back in myself. I'm gonna she said put a lot of money, right to get the best sound engineers that kind of thing. So that she diversifies if you want to look at it from an investment standpoint, so that she diversifies her portfolio. So what I'm saying is I've heard people say one is close to none. Meaning if you banking on one thing to cut all your bills or pay all your bills is too close to just being out in the street with nothing, because there's only one thing so now She goes to this multi dimensional thing where she levels up in the music game. And like you said, Now where she sits, she can act. And she can sing, she can rap, she can go back on reality TV, she can do her own thing. She can do fashion she can do like product, she could do so many different things that where she's positioned now just by choosing to reinvest back in herself. That's been a game changer. So I think that's the the key lesson to pull from this one.
Nicky Saunders:
Shout out to the strippers. Moose, what business are we making so we could sell like Jay Z and Swizz and Tim and like, if another week happens, and somebody else sells something, I'm...no I'm not stopping this podcast. That was that was a lie. That came in my head and that was a lie. No, not doing right. We'll cover it will cover like we always do. But um, yo. Like, what, like I said earlier with the Verzuz is like, it was an idea to sold.
Mostafa Ghonim:
Mm hmm. And typically, or traditionally, people often think that it's got to be like a tangible business, right, or a traditional business product, product based business, there are things to buy and sell. So that's the business that you transfer over because easily it will continue to go on even if ownership changes. But the way the way businesses and things are being done in today's world, that's not necessarily true, because you can have the founders take part in the business. But you know, so like it's showing it there are ways to do it in this new world, which is really cool.
Nicky Saunders:
I'm just saying.
Mostafa Ghonim:
It's happening y'all. It's happening.
Nicky Saunders:
Listen. We gotta go. We do. Um, went a little bit. Oh, no, we right on time. So look, follow us everywhere. Nicky and Moose, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. Hey, for all our professional people. We're trying to make an appearance over there. So go follow us on LinkedIn as well. But Tuesdays 8pm go to Nicky and Moose on YouTube. We go live it's always a fun time. All that great stuff. But, uh, Moose. final words?
Mostafa Ghonim:
Yeah, yeah, I'm doubling back with the same one, y'all we got to play the long game. You know, the when you look at when you look at Swizz's, or Swizz and Timbaland, I should say, when you look at how they really ran this Verzuz concept, they did not make any money until this acquisition here. This entire time, they were not making money, like taking money from Apple or anybody. They weren't really taking money in their pockets. Now, yes, they were making money through their streams, because some of the songs that the artists were choosing to play, they produced a remix, right, they did something. So they were getting money to their streams. But it wasn't for that particular concept, but you see how you play the long game. And in this case, it's only what 12-14 months Nicky, you know throughout this COVID time tha they're able to acquire it? So know it may sound like oh, bu I've heard that before. Well, think it's something that yo need to be reminded of becaus in every time you know any orner you get to to experience omething like this. It just erves those reminders, man, lay the long game, continue to nvest in your business. And one ay you'll get acquired.
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