Episode 44 - Heroes Are Human Too

Nicky Saunders  0:00  
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  0:07  
What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders  0:09  
And we are on episode 44! Let me tell you his birthday week!

Mostafa Ghonim  0:19  
Hey! It's a celebration!

Nicky Saunders  0:22  
By the time this drops, it is my birthday. So we are going to celebrate today we're going to talk about Black Widow. We're going to be talking about some I don't know, Simone, which is serious, Simone Biles. We're going to talk about a success but is it too late? We're gonna talk about a lot of things. Moose, how we feeling about this?

Mostafa Ghonim  0:44  
Yeah, you know, the vibes but all that is great. I'm just happy that we get to celebrate you on the back end of this episode. I'm gonna just be real. Ain't no sugarcoating that. This one's gonna be special man. The episode actually comes out on your birthday. So folks, if you're listening to this, it's Nicky's birthday today! So y'all make sure y'all show her some love. Yeah, let's get it this is gonna be dope.

Nicky Saunders  1:05  
And let's just get into this intro.

Jaymie Jordan  1:09  
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  1:38  
And you know what time it is it is review of the week! And I just happened to press the one that says three because it's gonna be August 3 when this drops, so it only makes sense. And plus, what you're about to hear has to deal with J Lo. And we're just gonna celebrate J Lo. It's Leo season! So Episode Three, fire fire fire. Definitely need to look at JLo No. Ba said that all wrong. Definitely never looked at J Lo in this light. There were so many aha moments for me in this episode. The breakdown is obvious. See I can't read. On my birthday, I can't read this is great. The breakdown was absolutely something I'll keep coming back to because it was so rich. Thank y'all. Whoo that was a struggle.Whoo I can't read!

Mostafa Ghonim  2:37  
And that was a short one too. Typically.

Nicky Saunders  2:41  
I got so used to the the long ones. That...pause. I got so used to those that I had to...

Mostafa Ghonim  2:56  
It's the birthday episode. Alright! Here we go!

Nicky Saunders  3:00  
If you know, you know. Okay, I'm sorry. 

Mostafa Ghonim  3:02  
Oh my goodness. Sheesh!

Nicky Saunders  3:04  
But thank you. For all those who have left, the review is still gonna leave a review. They get about a review. We read all of them. We appreciate and we go back and we just give appreciation. So go leave those reviews. Shout out to the All Access Squad. If you're not part of the All Access Squad, I need to go and try it out for three days. We do an after show, an exclusive exclusive audio after show only for those who are part of the All Access. That's it. Go join it. It's only for Apple Podcast though. And another small slight plug 120series.com. Moose is going to be speaking. I'm going to be speaking. E's going to be there. Its going to be whole vibe. You may hear a lot of air horns.

Mostafa Ghonim  4:00  
I like how you just dominate. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

Nicky Saunders  4:05  
You just may. But anyways, Moose, how we feeling?

Mostafa Ghonim  4:08  
Feeling good. Feeling good. It's been a it's been a good, you know, a lot of good stuff happening and some really good conversations. So yeah, we ready to diversify the conversation. I just wanted to use that word. Alright here we go. Sorry, folks. If you weren't a part of that, that might feel like a little What are they talking about? It's a running joke right now.

Nicky Saunders  4:32  
All our YouTube Live people. They're like, Where's the transparency? You spoke about transparency! Where's the transparency? It's okay. It's okay. So on the after show maybe.

Mostafa Ghonim  4:44  
Yeah it comes out in seasons.

Nicky Saunders  4:47  
Y'all already know we got you know, Moose is slowly opening up to us. This is a US thing. Okay. This is not just...

Mostafa Ghonim  4:57  
 I'm overcoming my trust issues. You know, it takes take some time. 

Nicky Saunders  5:00  
Yeah it's not it's not. It's not us it's him. Okay? It's not is it's him. Alright. So if y'all heard last week's episode, right, we talked about the whole Kanye West rollout, we were going to give an update of what happened. I literally got a tweet pretty much, maybe 30 minutes ago, as well. So, of course, y'all know, the album did not drop. Didn't drop. Now, the really dope thing is that listening party was great. But there's going to be it looks like on August 5, another one. 

Mostafa Ghonim  5:49  
Another listening party? 

Nicky Saunders  5:50  
Another listening party. Yes, I just posted it on @NickyandMoose. Yep. 

Mostafa Ghonim  5:55  
Wow. So I thought the album was gonna drop August 5, but ok carry on. 

Nicky Saunders  6:01  
August 6 its going to drop. Oh, yes. Yes. So for those who need a quick reminder, Kanye is rolling out another album called Donda. It's dedicated to his mom. That's, that's her name. And they did a great, a great listening party. Right? Amazing. It was in the Mercedes Benz stadium packed. No stage no wild performance, just him in the middle of the stadium, playing the whole album, we heard a Jay Z verse. So I'm excited about that. Super excited. And I knew off top. The second that I heard Jay Z, that album was not going to come out the next day, I found out that Jay Z wrote that verse 4pm, the day of the listening party, G.O.A.T. status. G.O.A.T. status. So supposedly, 

Mostafa Ghonim  7:08  
It sounded fire too. 

Nicky Saunders  7:12  
Anyways, I don't want to sound too fanned out, but um, he went back to the lab. He's supposedly been living in the Mercedes Benz stadium this all time until the album drops. So now that there's going to be another listening party, I'm hoping there's not going to be another delay. What I believe in, and this is what I hope people are going to learn from this rollout. He did a big listening party, right? He got the feedback. He heard it, how it how other people would receive it, and is making tweaks. So normally, in recent listening parties, it just like, it's kind of like a release party. Like you hear it the next day, the album drops. There you go. But he took it as let me get the feedback. Let me make the tweaks. Let me then drop it down later. I think that's genius. And for people who are like, okay, where's the lesson? Where's the group of people? And clearly, hopefully, one day, you could pack out the stadium unless you're already doing it right now. I believe celebrities listen to our podcast. Um, but maybe you're already selling certain things out. Maybe you have a small group, whatever it is, before you drop something major. Who are you getting feedback from? Are you making the tweaks when you do get the feedback because that's what he did. He pulled the pure A&R kind of vibe. And people actually didn't, weren't so mad that it didn't drop. I was I was like, that's expected. I wasn't even. He announced Donda, like I think a year or two ago that it was going to drop and it never did. And the fact that we went over it last episode that he wasn't speaking on it. He hasn't. He hasn't really said anything. Right. That it's like okay, you know, what if he drops it cool. If he doesn't cool, the listening party itself was a great experience. I can't be mad at that. I can't be mad. What do you think?

Mostafa Ghonim  9:43  
Yeah, I mean, I am you know, I think the I don't want to go strategy here for a second or like talk, you know, rollout. I think you do a phenomenal job covering that. And what I want to talk to here is like two sides of it right? The first one is, you know, imagine the status of being so great in your industry double down on your craft so much so that you can walk into a professional arena, professional stadium and say, Yeah, man, I'm gonna need this room right here. I'm just I'm just camp, you know, I'm saying like, just the the thought the idea, the fact that you get you get granted that type of access or that type of permission to work on your craft, uninterrupted, a boom, right there, which, which your crew, which your squat is like, that's definitely something to appreciate. Like, at the end of the day, that's one of the things I looked at, like, wow, what what do we have to do to unlock some of these doors or opportunities of that magnitude, where you could sit at a professional arena? Right, uninterrupted focusing on your craft. So that's the part to me that I was just like, that is deep, right. And of course, there's that part of it, which is like, just the discipline, the fact that at his level, where he he has no wants, like he really, he can afford, he can buy whatever he likes, but the fact that he is still unlocking new areas of genius, unlocking new areas of greatness, he tapped out the fashion in the sneaker industry reached a couple billion dollars, there now back in the music game, still putting out great music. It's like, you gotta respect that, you know, like, I think those are the two things that when I, you know, when I see things of that type of nature I'm like, Man, that's dope. Like, that's, that's really, really cool to see, it kind of give you some inspiration to, you know, not necessarily kill yourself in what you're doing, or the work that we're pursuing. But at least say alright, yo, how can I, you know, just like, how can I compare? What are some of the comparisons here that I can build from because that's truly, yeah, a lot of respect to Kanye for that.

Nicky Saunders  11:49  
Yeah, it's a I put on on Nicky and Moose Instagram. I was like, yeah, we're, we're too invested in this. Let me continue to cover it. Yep. August 5, listening party. What do y'all feel about this rollout? Are you saying do the listening party, or just drop the album? Shout out to those who've already commented, but I'm excited about it still. We're still going to cover it next week. Not so much. Hopefully, we could talk a little bit if the wait was worth it. Like, from what we heard, I think it is. I don't know if he completely took it all the way out. There maybe one or two things in? I don't know. There was one song that I was like, Okay, if you get all the way out, that needs go. You were clearly going through something. You are acting pure R&B like I spoke about last episode, but I'm looking forward to it. Let's talk about something we normally don't. Which is the release of a movie but with a lawsuit. Okay. So for those who are Black Widow fans, right? It dropped and it dropped simultaneously with movies and Disney Plus. However, Scarlett, that's her name, Scarlett Johansson didn't like that. And is suing Disney. Because its saying its breach of contract. Like you said, you were only going to do movie only. And the fact that you dropped it in with Disney Plus, you probably cost me a couple of mil. We didn't agree with this. So I'm gonna sue you. Now. I love Disney. Let me tell you why. Because Disney is a low key gangster. Right? Disney said, Ma'am. we abided by the whole contract. And with Disney Plus, you get extra extra money on top of the 20 mil that you already have. However, it's sad and disgusting, that you are not considerate of the pandemic that we are in clearly paraphrase in my New York ways, but y'all could look it up. It clearly says the same thing. Disney said you buggin', you don't even care about the people and you gettin paid extra like since you want to put this out here. You've already gotten 20 mil. Now here's the thing. Shout out to Isiaha who's given me this. This information because I'm not so privy, and watch Black Widow and the Avengers and all that great stuff. But he was like, because I was like 20 mil, 50 mil. Maybe I'm not in that tax bracket yet to be like, Nah, give me my 50 run that. Right? I would have been like, 20 mil, cool Disney Plus, why not? I get it. This is cool, right? Um, but Isiaha was saying, nah, this they killed off her character. This is her like, last hurrah with with this whole series and so this was... So this was supposed to be her big payoff. So yes, she could be a little bit upset. here's here's my take on it real quick fast and in a hurry. Now, clearly, we are going with a he say she say kind of vibe, right? None of us have seen the contract. What I will say is if you got into a contract with just movie theaters only still understanding that we are in a pandemic, that's almost an L on you. Like, I feel as if we know that not everybody is still going out to theaters. I know I haven't gone. I watch Space Jam on HBO Max. I'm not going into theaters. There's no need. I'm cool, right? Especially with how things are turning out lately. If you are in a position to where you can pretty much eat off of both. Why wouldn't you put that in your contract? Like are you realizing that now like Oh, man, they've been doing that. But they told me movie theaters only. But Yo, we in a pandemic. Like that didn't even make sense. Where is your team? Ma'am? Why did you think that was okay. Like, of course they're gonna drop it in Disney Plus, of course, that's almost done as a given with any of these streaming platforms. It's not. I don't feel like that's too far fetched anymore. I feel like that's the new norm. And if you don't necessarily have that in your contract, is it really, but that's like I said, that's what I would have looked at it. Mind you haven't seen the contract nothing? I do like Disney's gangster. I do. I'm gonna put your business out if you're gonna put mine If you're gonna say you're supposed to make 15 mil. Okay, cool. And also understanding that this is one of the lowest Marvel joints that's been out. And you saw that 20 mil. I see what you're saying though. I get it. I understand. But it's sad. I'm more like...

Mostafa Ghonim  18:27  
It's crazy.

Nicky Saunders  18:28  
ma'am.

Mostafa Ghonim  18:29  
I don't know. I don't know Nicks. I don't know. I might have to part with Scarlett on this. Yeah, you know, I'm saying cuz like, I see both sides. Like, yeah, for sure. Business side. Yeah. It's like Yo, businesses business, I get it. And at the end of the day, we're all fighting to gain the advantage. Cool. But, I mean, what was the communication like? So here's an here's one way to look at it as well. Okay. Typically, with projects like this, you don't record or you don't start filming and release in a matter of no time. Yeah. It is very likely that this was worked on prior to the start of COVID. And the whole pandemic, it's super likely.

Nicky Saunders  19:14  
I see what you did there.

Mostafa Ghonim  19:16  
You know, I'm saying? No, that's this just pure fact, right? Oh, no, I'm saying pure facts. Because we don't know. But I'm just saying for the most part, most of these movies, you know, let's, let's say in the event that that was the case, come on Disney, like, whoever it is, can we come back to the negotiation table say, hey, let's just let's just do this in a transparent way. Here's what happened. circumstances have changed. This is what we're about to do, but don't worry about it. You're still gonna get blessed. Then I think that's fair game.

Nicky Saunders  19:46  
But is it not also and when we're not behind the scenes, but isn't it not when she understood what was happening with the world Maybe being like, hello. It, is this even possible to say, hey, streaming services like, what does that look like getting her team to be like yo is there extra compensation with this? If not...

Mostafa Ghonim  20:17  
Yeah, that's what that's where I'm with you at that point in terms of like the team stepping in. And that's probably the lesson for us just like with our own stuff, as you watch the environment or the marketplace, shift and change. Yeah. beyond what you originally created, or beyond the intention of what you thought it was going to be, you got to be proactive to jump out in front and say, hold up. So I'm not right. So that's, that's for sure. That's a team thing. That's a legal thing that's like her business managers or whomever. Are those people they should have jumped in and kind of seen that was taking place and start started to or should have jumped outside or jumped ahead of the gun and kind of said, All right, let me see how we can pencil this in as well. Because you can make revisions to a contract that is that is there. But yeah, I could see both sides, though. I just like if when stuff like that happens, I like to keep it traditional in the sense your Let's just be transparent. Like if we have to come back both parties, let's come back together and make it happen. As opposed to one side just doing like, Oh, you got no saying this anyway, which is like, what come on? It's not cool.

Nicky Saunders  21:25  
 Right. And I think it's just being aware of the world that we're in making sure that aligns with our business, like paperwork wise. Like if we are on somebody else's platform or whatever, what are all the different possible ways they can make money off of it? And how are we getting compensated with from that? And that doesn't necessarily even mean just with the pandemic, just in general? How many times are they going to slice this pie? 

Mostafa Ghonim  22:04  
Yeah, no, no, I'm excited. Yes.

Nicky Saunders  22:07  
Even if, yeah, even if it was, like, box office only they knew, regardless of if this was prior to COVID or not, it was more like, I know, you have Disney Plus, I know this is eventually going to be on Disney Plus, what does that look like for us, especially if this is going to be your last hurrah with this series? Clearly not acting. But let me let me get some royalties of that what you're talking about. This is my, like, I'm out here. But they're saying Yo, to compensate is based off a box office sales and things and then bonuses will kick off depending on how much it makes. And so I can understand Of course, how upset she could be and if that is black and white what it is, right. But I think that's also an L on her team for not putting it in the contract even before with Disney Plus, we know it's there. Yeah, it's been advertised, subscription. And I think somebody in our legal team was just like, yo, they're doing this to get more subscribers now. Bla bla bla Okay, that's what they're supposed to do. That's not manipulating, but then it's like Yo, this this could be an eye opening thing because Disney's a big bully. Possibly that's possible.

Mostafa Ghonim  23:50  
Most big corporations in a way are like they're not going to be you know as as as friendly as we would imagine.

Nicky Saunders  23:59  
It's the you need me. I don't necessarily need you.

Mostafa Ghonim  24:05  
There's a lot of other people out there Yeah, who want to play that role. So take it or leave it kind of thing.

Nicky Saunders  24:10  
Yeah I'm cool. I see your value on want to give you what's fair. But ma'am, I get it. I understand. But we don't even have to do this movie. Like, I get it. I do. What... I hope whatever is fair, out of the situation comes out. I hope she doesn't feel that she got shafted on on her contract. I really hope not. I hope they come with an agreement. offline. That's what I will say.

Mostafa Ghonim  24:49  
I'm sure yeah, I'm sure they will like most settlements like that typically happen. You know? Check them contracts yo!

Nicky Saunders  24:59  
Yo. Y'all know we've talked about this.

Mostafa Ghonim  25:02  
Check them contracts.

Nicky Saunders  25:03  
Contracts are different contracts are different. It's a different beast. So let's talk about a little bit of some serious news and a possible solution, possible solution. So we know Simone Biles, I was about to say checked out, that sounded so dramatic, but withdrew from the Olympics overall, due to focusing on mental health. And we have a clip of her speaking about that. 

Simone Biles  25:35  
Just as a whole, not having an audience, there are a lot of different variables going into it. It's been a long week, it's been a long Olympic process. It's been a long year. So just a lot of different variables. And I think we're just a little bit too stressed out. But we should be out here having fun. And sometimes that's not the case.

Nicky Saunders  26:02  
Moose, go on this first.

Mostafa Ghonim  26:05  
You're going to have two people, again, like I've spent some time online to like, understand what's the whole debate about like, someone made a personal decision about their mental health and their well being and what they felt was also in the best interest of their team, right? Because like, also, when it first broke, the news first broke, she was talking about like, Yo, I'm not going to help the team win this way. So let me just make my exit. Clearly, I know myself, I know what I'm capable of the judges know what I'm capable of. And I'm not hitting that mark. So you have one side of the fence that's like, yo, how you just gonna up and leave your team like that. And I get it, team sport. But what I also found out is that the way that they're judged, it's really individually, like, you know, like, it's, it's what Nicky does, it's what Moose does, is what Simone does, and then combined, you know, it kind of helps us. So it's like, I get you, but I also don't get you I don't think that's the most appropriate answer. Right. But I do think we have to remember that these are still human beings. Right? These are still human beings, who a lot of us on the planet cannot do half of what they're capable of doing. So you gotta respect and appreciate when someone makes a decision that takes care of their personal in their best interest. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone's quick to say, hey, put the mask on yourself before you put it on somebody else. But why are we knocking somebody when they actually practice that in real life? That's exactly what she's doing. She's saying, Hey, I'm gonna have to look out for me real quick. I love my country, but I'm gonna just, I can't die for my country. So I'm, like, I just think like, we need to really start thinking before we calling people out for stuff that we preach, just like that double standard stuff. I think it's such a turnoff. Like, if that's what we live by, or that's what we encourage others to do, then we can't do differently than it. And we also can't get upset at people for doing what we encourage them to do. Like, that's, that's what we're teaching. So let let her do what you know, is for her best interest. So yeah, Nicks, I mean, I'm not mad at it. Truth be told, I think it's fair game, what she did, she did something to protect her own mental health and her well being and we just got to respect that.

Nicky Saunders  28:33  
Yeah, I don't understand the uproar about it. Like I don't. And, like I get it to an extent just because she is the face. She's one of the faces of the Olympics when it comes to the U.S. All right. This is the person we look forward to, to winning it all and bringing it back home. And it's like that we don't put under consideration that, oh, she's human, she's not like, and that's the problem. And I think we're gonna get into it with these two topics that we're going back to back with, but this is entertainment, right? And so, you always have to perform and it almost as if, when you get into this position, you are okay with always serving and being that entertainment for everybody. Regardless of what you go through. Your job is to be entertaining, your job is to perform out there. You're Not a human, you're a performer, you're an athlete. You're that it. And it said that we tend to forget that they're humans. And it's interesting. And I'm gonna go to this next clip of what was it like, with all the pressure, especially with the pandemic, and how they didn't have an audience and how some people really get the energy from the audience to know that they do good. They, you know, they hit it right all that great stuff. What is if people were given free therapy session, during the pandemic, I wonder what athletes get during these big situations. So Michael Phelps did a interview that we have a clip from.

Michael Phelps  31:00  
I think athletes and Olympic athletes in general, I mean, talking about weight of gold, we need someone who we can trust. Somebody that can let us be ourselves and listen, allow us to become vulnerable. Somebody who's not going to try and fix us, we're humans, right? for human beings. Nobody is perfect. So yes, it is okay to not be okay. It is okay to do it good to go through ups and downs and emotional roller coasters. You know, but but I think the biggest thing is, we all need to ask for help sometimes too, when we go through those times.

Nicky Saunders  31:36  
So what is good and bad, is that with the pandemic, mental health has now been a new normal conversation. We have heard about it, we've accepted it, we know that things need to happen because of it. So it's not one of those like, Oh, my God, we talking about it, we shouldn't talk about it, is nothing's getting being done. Like people recognize it and is like, we support you, she is getting a lot of support for what she's doing. Right. A lot of people like to protect her. We support you all that great stuff. And then there's some that is just like, I think he's just on a media vibe. It's not like you don't support you can't, you cannot not support somebody who's literally just saying, Yo, I'm out. Like, I got to make sure I'm good. I'm not going to be I'm not gonna win if I'm not good. Like, I'm not I could possibly get injured, I can possibly lose it for the whole team. Let me check myself out. Let me let me do y'all this favor. Because if I, if I lose, I lose. If I check out I lose. But the weight of because I didn't check out and I lost for the whole team that weighs heavier than me just checking out. You know, I'll take I'll take this L. Whatever y'all want to say, I'll take this L but, I did this more for my teammates because they deserve to win. And my mistakes, my unfocus kind of vibes shouldn't penalize them right now. Yeah. I'm hoping that with this between Naomi, please give us a check. with Naomi 

Mostafa Ghonim  33:48  
Four straight! Four straight episodes! 

Nicky Saunders  33:49  
I promise you we talk about her like just come come to Nicky and Moose and just talk to us. I know you're you're an introvert and you don't really like doing interviews too much. And so you don't have to just just be with us. How about that? Don't say anything. Just be with us. We'll talk about you majority of the time anyways. But with what happened with her what's happening with Simone like I'm hoping that athletic departments in general not just the Olympics, not just tennis, like just in general. They're coming up with a solution to make sure this is not a regular thing that people are not dropping out because of mental health. Because we like if we hear a football player say that a basketball player say that. You know golf like whatever it is. If this continues to be a pattern you have to look at the the bigger department You know, you have to look at the league, you have to look at the Olympics, you have to look at the coaches, you have to look at all these things in like, yo, y'all are really insensitive and do not necessarily care about anything else, but winning. And that is not going to go anymore. It's not going to go anymore, I believe.

Mostafa Ghonim  35:28  
Yeah, I was gonna say that. I think that we're seeing that people are very supportive of her now. Yeah. When they saw that, the overwhelming majority was like understanding of her situation. Yeah. But in the very beginning, I think it could very easily tip the other way because she was getting some like, like immediate backlash for how she walked off. People were feeling some type of way. But as it relates to like the services that are available now to support the help that's available for people now, you know, it's funny, I heard Brandon Marshall, talk about this, just like briefly today, I was on Instagram and I saw it, where he talked about these services. And by the way, Brandon Marshall, let me shoot my shot as Nicky normally would. Brandon Marshall, Listen, man, I shot you at DM some time back. We actually we were on a Zoom call together. So you may not remember me but it's cool. You should you know, I would love to bring you on the show. Just five minute quick little segment talk about mental health on the Nicky and Moose Podcast, you know love what you're doing with House of Athletes, phenomenal stuff. But anyway, you know, heard him talk about it.

Nicky Saunders  36:37  
I just want to drop that we're cutting that and we're going to put that on all all platforms. So everybody comment and tag my man. 

Mostafa Ghonim  36:47  
Yeah, come on, Brandon, come on, come hang out with us. Just five minutes, you know, now but I heard him talk about it. He said teams had access to these professional I think was like mandated, it was mandatory that every team had a mental health professional on the staff maybe three years ago. And again, I'm somebody's got to fact check me on this. But we don't know, if that rule still exists today. with mental health being even more of a serious issue today than it was probably three years ago, or maybe just as important but not talked about, you know, as much as it is talked about now. So yeah, that's um, that's one of those things where it's like, you know, it's true if if we are going to have such high expectations of our, you know, athletes and all these people to perform, then we definitely should be able to support them with those needs. Of course, you know, should should that should that time come for it like yeah, its a point.

Nicky Saunders  37:53  
Everybody go protect Simone. All right, just protect her. So, um, so let's get into this topic. Da' Baby. Let's just start there. Okay, so let me give you guys some backstory. Real quick, fast in a hurry. So I don't know past Sunday, whatever. Rolling Loud. Miami had a performance, which was already a little bit controversial, but as a call to action. Some people you know, if you got 100 bucks in your pocket, put your hands in the air. You know, if you got real hair, put your hands in the air like certain people do a call to action entertainer do a call to action to get the crowd going. Well, Da' Baby did the same thing. Just a little bit different. I'm kind of insulting and offending people who have HIV and AIDS and the LGBTQ plus community made some inappropriate things. Y'all could look that up. We're not going to put it here. But what we're going to address with this situation, sometimes you just need to sit down just like that. Just let that rock so yes, Da' Baby has apologized. But his apologies. I'm gonna be honest with you is just trash. And I'm gonna state this that yes, it's trash. But I think as weird as it sounds, its genuine trash. What do I mean by that? I think he just doesn't necessarily know better. Right? I think He honestly thought it was genuine. He's an entertainer. He was put on the stage to entertain. And maybe in his. In his shows, he says things like that, because he has a connection with his audience or whatever. But in such a big, and if y'all didn't see that crowd on Rolling Loud. You wonder why COVID is back, you need to see that audience period. Um, but with a bigger audience like that, you may want to scale back on some of the things that you do on your personal tours. Right. So, it if y'all heard the rant, if you heard that call to action, it was just, it was dumb. It wasn't even needed. It was just left, right. And there is one of the apologies that I have up on the screen for my YouTube people. But for my audio people. He tweeted out anybody who's done ever been affected by AIDS/ HIV. Y'all got the right to be upset. What I said was insensitive, even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies. But the LGBT community I ain't trippin on y'all. Do you? Y'all business is y'all business. So the thing is, this has gotten a lot of attention. Yeah. Sir Elton John, commenting on, you don't know your facts about HIV and AIDS. You don't know your facts on the community. Right? Because one of the parts was like, yo, if you know, if you don't have HIV and AIDS, put your put your cell phone lighters up or something like that, right? It is. It was just weird. It was just very, very weird. The performance in itself was weird. Now T.I. jumps in was like, yo, y'all giving Da' Baby the problem, but y'all let Lil Nas X do whatever he wants. T.I. stop. Stop. Right.

And I posted earlier like we, and we've gone back and forth about this topic. We can't continue to put so many expectations on these celebrities and influencers. Like we just can't, he was people were raised differently. They're brought up differently. They have different views. Just because something is accepted doesn't mean that everybody understands it, and can speak intelligently on it. The baby can't intelligently speak on things he doesn't really go for or understand. Now, granted, should he just be quiet about it? Yeah, but it's freedom of speech. Right? I am not condoning what he said, I think is really dumb. And just like I said, He's, he's a it's just very ignorant what he said, but he doesn't know better. It's like it. He legitly doesn't know better. So he thought it was you know, it was nothing. And if you look at it from what it was, it's just random. It's just super random. In the times that we are in, it's a little bit it's we in sensitive culture. I wouldn't even call cancel culture, we just a sensitive culture.

Mostafa Ghonim  44:00  
Yeah. Yeah.

Nicky Saunders  44:01  
So understanding just when we are in bigger platforms Let's fall back a little bit. Let's just do what we were paid for. And let's perform our our gift and keep it moving. Right. But what he is doing is continuously trying to apologize and it just sounds all bad. And so he got dropped from brands. He got dropped from festivals. He's, um people he's featured with are not co signing with him no more. But here is where I give him small props. I gave him small props because with all the situation that is happening, he still dropped a video. With everything that is happening. He is still about his business, he's, I feel as I wouldn't do it that way, I'm not saying it's wrong how he's going about it, I just wouldn't go with that way, I would be quiet, I would drop my video, I will keep moving. Find somebody from a team, who can give me a proper apology and not even tried to take on that horse. Not even try, I would be like, yo, write this up for me, boom, I'll do a video, I'll tweet it out whatever it is, but let me go about my business because you can't knock the craft, you can't knock how good an on a winning streak that Da' Baby has been. But we expect too much. And we expect these celebrities and influencers to be fully in tune with the world and the different cultures and love everybody and respect everybody and know the trigger words. This is a dude who's on a winning streak, who we don't know how his background was, if he likes, if he knows anybody with HIV and AIDS, maybe he doesn't know a single person. Or maybe the people we he does know is in a negative way. We don't know if he knows anybody from the LGBTQ plus community, what his relationships with them are he we don't we just don't know. And so, as a as an audience, as a fan, as a community, we got to lay off like man is gonna make mistakes we, you can't sit here and say he isn't trying to apologize. It's just it's just ignorant apologies. Teach him, instead of criticizing him, instead of downplaying him, teach him he's going to learn because money is now taken away. Brands or are pulling out, festivals are pulling out. He's going to get taught. Prime examples, just like bigger platforms, let me just perform. That's it. When I'm in my space, when I'm in my hometown, when I know what I'm what the crowd is doing, let me be a little bit more lenient. That's like, how I look on social media. In my platform. I could say whatever I want, I could do what I want. Post whatever I want to say, when I get on other people's lives when I go, there's a little diff, there's a little difference. I act right. I don't know them. They don't know me. I'm not gonna act a fool. But that's how I would do. Yeah.

Mostafa Ghonim  48:01  
I mean, honestly, I have really nothing to share about the situation. But what I will say is, like, kind of the point that you're taking it in, which is like Yo, perform, which you're paid to do, back stop doing extra alright, like just just keep that part simple. But more specifically to people in the audience. And and either fans of a particular person or a community, wherever it is, I think it's really time for us to start becoming our own heroes a little bit more. Like we...like its cool to appreciate somebody's artistry. But I think this generation is is becoming obsessively attached to every single word every single move every single piece of clothing that somebody wears, that they want to emulate and become like, that it's really setting us up for almost disaster in a way. I think we need to start becoming our own heroes a little bit more like, you know what I admire this dude, but man, I love the heck out of me. Shout out to T.O., if anyone remembers, but you know, he was just very, like, you know, I love me some me. And I think I think we need to embrace that a little bit more like we're becoming too tied to just a few big names in each industry. And we're so big on what they do. And then we just sway our entire momentum going to shift the community and the culture based on what those people do. But yeah, you got a voice. You got a talent, you got a skill set. And and that's why I appreciate so much what we do here, because we're trying to make it more about the authenticity of something instead of a focus strictly on the numbers and the followers and the likes and the comments. Like we're not even worried about that. Like I love the comment that, you know, you showed me of what someone put on the YouTube show is like, you know, it's only a matter of time for you guys. You better not give up. That's cool. I like it that I appreciate stuff like that. So yeah, I don't really have nothing to comment about this. And I mean, I think, you know, you broke it down wonderfully in terms of both sides and what it's like. But I think for our listeners, man, I think we need to start becoming our own heroes a little bit more admire some of these, you know, favorite people, but, you know, love on you, like, you know, like you got enough swag to not have to be so caught up in what other people are doing so that I think also when you have that value and worth for yourself, you're not hurt by somebody making a comment that you have my kind of hurt my feelings, like know what they said, you know, doesn't line up with who you know yourself to be, don't pay so much attention. And I think over time, this stuff is going to kind of pass by like water under the bridge. So that's my hope for you know how people will respond. But I do think there's a word in that like, love on you.

Nicky Saunders  50:48  
That and just be the change. You have a problem with it be to change. That was one of the things I was gonna tweet. I was gonna tweet, I'm like, y'all have such a problem with some of these celebrities and influencers. Then you become one. Like they are given the same opportunities as we are.

Mostafa Ghonim  51:17  
Same tools for sure. Yeah, you got a phone? You got that? Yeah, absolutely.

Nicky Saunders  51:21  
And I'm not sitting here saying that all of them should be as vocal as they are. Some need to be quiet. But they are given the same tools, like you said, and I'm like, you have a problem then. Then become one. Get an audience. put out a message, create a platform, keep it moving, and and serve those people entertain those people, motivate those people do whatever you need to do, but lay off of how hard you are on somebody because the comeback is going to be disgusting. Yeah, we've seen it too many times. where somebody gets killed, canceled all that great stuff. And they come back and they're like, Oh, this is great.

Mostafa Ghonim  52:13  
Yeah people love them again.

Nicky Saunders  52:17  
Yeah, sit down. But, so I found this clip to kind of transition into birthday talk. Okay. Um, for those are like Nicky, how old are you? I'm in my 30s Okay.

Mostafa Ghonim  52:36  
Yeah stop asking questions. Okay.

Nicky Saunders  52:38  
I'm in my 30s. Alright, so I know, there is sometimes and using just the word expectation a little bit a lot in this episode. But there is an expectation of how successful you're supposed to be in certain ages, or certain things. Right. Um, and I got a clip for that.

Russ  53:07  
It doesn't matter when that should be irrelevant. You know, you can't put a deadline on your own success. It's crazy. Yeah, it ruins people, you know, you know, those people that are like, by 30 if I don't have to, and it's like, then what's what's gonna happen at 30 if you don't? You know what I'm saying?

Nicky Saunders  53:28  
So, here's where the conversation comes in. Right? Um, I don't know, if I wanted to be successful or not wanted to be but if I should be successful when I was in my 20s, because I know so much more now. Like, I'm, like, the information, the experiences that I've had makes, it's so much more dangerous. Right? And I think maybe before back in the day, those kind of expectations of okay by this time you supposed to have a college degree by this time, you're supposed to have a job by this time you supposed to be retired that I think that's gone. And here's my hip hop life, like when Jay Z said 30s the new 20 I think that literally brought back time by 10-20 years because the same people will keep saying that is like 40 is the new 30 like they keep saying to make themselves feel younger. But we're clearly seeing because things are being documented way more on okay. This person is getting rich at like 50 something, this person is at the highest of their peak as 70 something, this person like you're seeing, you're seeing a lot of people make a whole guap of money being very successful in their way, in their early 20s. And then some in like, 70, 80s 90s. Like there's no range of when you're supposed to hit success. So we've had conversations like, I feel like there's something, there's something right there, that is going to get us to whole new heights. I just don't know what that is just yet. But it's there. Right. And by the time you've seen this, I'm on my clarity trip. I'm just put that out there, clarity. That's what I'm calling it. Not calling it a birthday trip. I'm calling it clarity. But But we. And I think it's just maybe past family members just past environment. Like, we're supposed to do certain things, and I'm not having where I am right now, I don't have a deadline, when this is supposed to work. I'm not in no rush. Because the the older I get, the better experiences I get, the more books I'm reading, the more courses I'm in, like, I'm good. Like, I'm absolutely I'm not rushing it. I'm absolutely not. And so it's, I look at that clip, and I wanted to play it because it's just like, yo let's take that weight off. Like if you're 40. And you're still working a nine to five, you're you're a fail. Like or if you retired and all you living off is a pension, you're not successful anymore. Like, that's not we, we hold true to what a true definition of success is. No one really could tell us in our lives was success is. But no one I I have my own definition, you have your own definition. It may be some semi similar, but there's still things that is just like, Nah, some people's definition of success is like Yo, I got a roof over my head. My family's good. I'm good. I'm successful. You know why? Because before that wasn't the situation, right? If some people are like, yo, my, my parents didn't make this amount of money. I make six figures. And I have a degree. I'm successful. I'm good. What is wrong with you? Other people are like yo, until I hit the millionaire mark with these particular things. I still got to grind. I still got to grind. And to each his own. There's no definition of success that is right or wrong. You just figure it out. First, don't lean on other people's success and don't lean on other people's expectations. That's what I'll say.

Mostafa Ghonim  58:33  
I like that. I like that. I don't drink. But you know, of course, there's that saying like wine get better with time. You know, I'm saying that whole thing.

Nicky Saunders  58:46  
No no. I know what you're saying. You just definitely said it wrong. But it was cool. It was cool. I like it. I like it.

Mostafa Ghonim  58:55  
You get better as you age, that whole thing. That's kind of where I'm going with it. But no, I'm with you on that. I think, you know, I was talking with Karl today is the I was talking with Karl. And I think I told you what he said to he said Oh, you sound like you're getting smarter. And I was like, ah, I don't know, if it's me getting smarter me just becoming more mature. And this is in full transparency. I think I've always been intelligent. I've maybe in the last year or so I've probably learned to embrace it a little bit more like yo you're smart. Sometimes you may seem like you're trying to be deep to people, but that's who you are. just embrace it, like stop trying to worry about Oh, sounding to whatever. But the difference that's happening to me in this season of my life is I'm becoming more mature. I'm recognizing that. I don't have to jump on somebody else's clock. I don't have to follow somebody else's blueprint. There's a particular blueprint that I can follow just with the experience the information And the things that I've acquired just like you said through time, right, you acquire your own blueprint. And I think that's becoming now more wisdom. So that's the thing that everyone prays for. Right? So it's like, I'm becoming more wise. And what was the lesson that I learned that helped me to what I feel acquire this maturity now. I'm no longer trying to cut corners. I'm no longer trying to break something in, that's supposed to take two years to do in four months. I'm just like, No, just do it the right way. And trust that. If you can do it faster, it'll happen faster. But don't start with the intention of if it takes two years, how can I do it in four months? Like, just just go just work the instructions to stuff that you've been given? And allow that to happen. So yeah, I'm with you on that fully Nicks, like, I don't necessarily feel that I'm pursuing or running after, like, a designated end goal or something that, you know, it has to be this number, by that age, or this picture by that I'm just like, Nope, I'm just gonna work my plan. And I know that if I do that every day, and continue to unlock some of these things, for me, that that make me a better person make me more valuable in the marketplace. Of course, opportunity is gonna present itself, of course, people are going to, you know, send text messages saying, good job on the podcast, and all this stuff. So like, all these things that we want, it's like, yo, it's right behind you doing what you're supposed to do. Feel like we just the podcast feels a little preachy today. But I'm just like, I don't know. It's, it's, it was it's just it's that time, y'all. This is that time, y'all. 

Nicky Saunders  1:01:37  
We don't mean to be preachy. We just going through some things. Going through some things, but, I mean, it's always big on like, everything is about timing. Like, I'm always big, like, it's just some matter of time. It's not, is it going to happen? It's just when. And we're always like, Okay, let me not try to be too transparant I'll be one level above Moose, I'll be one level, alright. But there are certain situations that may not be super ideal for me. Like, when people look at some of the things that I do. It's like, Nicky, why are you still doing this? Like, why, but why? All right. Um, and, for me, I believe in making sure I get the full purpose of the level that I'm in, right, the full purpose. And I don't believe that I put in certain situations for no reason. I feel like there's always a lesson. I feel like, there's always clues to what is going to make me truly successful. Alright, so I don't want people to be too hard on themselves, when they're in certain situations, and they feel like other people are looking at them. Like, yo, why are you still in there? Or, yo, you know, you could do this by yourself. Like, it would be crazy this that and the third its more like there's something deeper, that still has to be done. That is going to get me to that success place. And I'm not going to rush that. I'm not going to allow feelings to like, really hinder that, because then I'm going more based on feelings than facts. I believe that each year of my life, there is another clue to and another piece to this success puzzle. Now is it almost there? Yeah. I got like few more pieces. I got few more pieces.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:04:37  
Just filling in.

Nicky Saunders  1:04:38  
Right, right. Right, right. Because before I and I've said it multiple times, like anybody would say yeah, what do you want to be when you grow up? I have no clue. What are you gonna do? I don't have no clue. Right? I'm more of like, I just go with it. Because I truly believe that. I'm never putting In a situation I can't handle, or that I can't learn from. So, with that, I'm like, reflecting about, okay, what was the clue that you got this year? Right? What was that? Was that piece that you got this year? And it was more of the pandemic was one of those things that was that piece I needed. Because when you are stuck in a situation, and you can't go nowhere Can you adjust? Because this is we're looking at it from the world stopping. But then there's going to be other smaller situations that you're not going to go anywhere in. Like, you may be caught in a team situation and you're stuck with that team for a bit. You know, you're stuck in this state for but you stuck in this certain position for a bit. Like I'm not looking at it from a location standpoint, I looked at it like, okay, you know how to adjust. You were put in that situation to learn and I didn't get it right at first. Right. But it was one of those like, Okay, once I figured it out, it started blowing up, I started maximizing on the situation that I couldn't go nowhere. So I can now in my head, the piece that that is part of this success puzzle is can you adjust when you can't go left, right, up or down? Can you maximise on that particular spot? No matter what are your tools, systems? How are you creating something new? I had to create a whole new routine, how to create a whole new presence, I had to create, you know, a whole new reputation at some point. And that was a learning experience. So like, each, like I said, each year gives me a different piece. And this was that adjustment piece. Can you adjust when things are open again? When you can move freely. And when you were super closed four walls kind of vibe. Can you work with nothing? And can you work with everything? 

Mostafa Ghonim  1:07:57  
Yeah, yeah, that's a good word. That's a good word Nicks.

Nicky Saunders  1:08:05  
Birthday lessons.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:08:09  
Wow. Well, before I said, I don't think we had any more clips. Is that it? 

Nicky Saunders  1:08:14  
That's it. We good. We're on time. 

Mostafa Ghonim  1:08:19  
Can you... 

Nicky Saunders  1:08:21  
No. 

Mostafa Ghonim  1:08:21  
Oh, wow. Can you tell us what do you want for your birthday? Come on let's have this conversation live and direct. Yeah, tell us tell us. What are some of the things on your wish list?

Nicky Saunders  1:08:35  
A new Rocket Book. I got a new one. But I want another one. What else what else? Why are you putting me on the spot? This is weird. Oh, oh, there's new shirts on The Marathon Store that I said I wasn't going to buy no more because they took all my money. So that's something that I want. There's one that has like all the chains in the back of the shirt that looks fire and he's dropping a new capsule August 13. So that's something right. Um, okay, what's Am I going high lo?. I'm gonna only child so you know.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:09:27  
Share. Yeah, sure. share some of your wish list. You know, we just want to know give us couple items.

Nicky Saunders  1:09:32  
So for all How about this for all my rich friends, right? Um, you know, CJ, Mal, Eric Thomas, you know. So if you feel like that, if y'all want to put in the pot two tickets to a Rick Ross has dropped this mastermind conference thing.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:09:58  
Fire! Fire!

Nicky Saunders  1:10:01  
A good birthday gift would be two tickets for Nicky and Moose to go to this marketing branding networking event. Just saying is three days September. It doesn't doesn't affect the 120 Series so we will still be around you know, um y'all look it up it's on Rick Ross's IG I'm not gonna super promo it unless of Rick Ross you would like to give us tickets as well.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:10:38  
He he posted your clip that one time so you know I'm saying? Brother Mr. Rick you know us like you've seen us before. You know what I'm saying? So in case in case you want to rock Yeah, let us know sir.

Nicky Saunders  1:10:51  
Listen, I'm just saying we cover artists celebrities influencers as far as branding, it would only make sense that we will be there to just be a student and and learn from people like Rick Ross people like Diddy people, people like you know LA Reid. That's for the rich friends that's for rich friends. Okay. Um, and for I don't want to say like non rich friends.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:11:28  
Please don't say for my poor friends.

Nicky Saunders  1:11:31  
Um, to be honest, I think the like so simple. Bagels, Bangs like stuff like that. I'm I'm super cool with like, I love I love like, the real true followers cuz they're like, ah, I got you Bangs its going to the crib. I'm like, wait, how? 

Mostafa Ghonim  1:11:59  
You still drink Bang a lot? 

Nicky Saunders  1:12:01  
I do every day.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:12:02  
Okay, gotcha. Gotcha.

Nicky Saunders  1:12:05  
Cotton candy or strawberry one. Cotton candy, strawberry, I'm cool. Okay, I'm done with this birthday list. 

Mostafa Ghonim  1:12:12  
Okay. Well, let me see. Let me say I gotta say I gotta give a couple a couple of I gotta make a little announcement. I gotta give a little birthday speech live on the podcast unannounced. Sorry to interrupt your, your, you know, regularly scheduled program for a second Nicks but before we sign off, man, let me say, for real man for for those of you who have been following Nicks for a minute, have been rocking with her for a minute, I can honestly attest to, you know what I'm about to say here in a moment and say, you know for someone who may appear like I'm hard core, I work and she does there's nobody who works harder than this than this Nicky here that you see. But I'm always appreciative of the teddy bear that's still on the inside you know saying because I do know there's a teddy bear on the inside there's that there's that super awesome caring, you know, delicate individual that wants to protect everybody that you know is is has ever done anything. So for that I just want to say thank you. I'm so proud of what you've been able to accomplish. I'm proud of the person you're becoming I feel like every day you're getting better every day. You know you're looking for ways to add more value to people's lives and that honestly means a lot so yeah happy birthday to you. Enjoy this clarity trip have a blast. And yeah, and I can't wait to where we celebrate again next year.

Nicky Saunders  1:13:46  
In person! Me and Moose are going to do a clarity trip on my birthday. We're gonna do out of the country birthday trip! If you know, you know why that's a big deal. I'm just saying. Um, but a shout out to everybody who listens to the end shout out to the people. Even though we gave the assessments last episode, right shout out to our two winners Ralph and Santana. We had a lot of people no, I'm still here. I see. Y'all I'm still here. Hello. Um, so shout out to those who actually we saw it. We're gonna do something else. I can't tell you which episode that's just I can't do it.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:14:41  
Just listen til the end. You never know we got we got. Got some giveaways coming up.

Nicky Saunders  1:14:44  
Big facts. Um, it's not a Rolex just yet. Shout out to those who gives out Rolexes and cars and all that great stuff. We're not there yet. But um Listen, everybody, go to all our social media platforms at Nicky and Moose everywhere. For updated stuff, I realized we have a different experience everywhere. So I realize on the Twitter, we do like quotes, right? On the Instagram we give you kind of like the clips and updated stuff that's happening. Facebook, we give longer clips and we're putting out like full episodes starting to put Full Episodes right? Still figuring out LinkedIn, sorry. Um, but and then of course YouTube you get this whole vibe clips all that great stuff doing shorts. So follow us everywhere. Join the All Access Squad. And Moose, final words.

Mostafa Ghonim  1:15:54  
Can we can we can we remix this because it's your birthday? Can you hit them with a little, you know what I'm saying birthday final words? I feel like it's only right. Like, you know, it's you got to send this out Nicks. You know, it's it's only right. Just give them a little birthday lesson. Like a quick little alright listen. 

Nicky Saunders  1:16:14  
Fine. Fine. Ok. I'm gonna tell you the vibe that I'm on right now. Okay. experiences. Moose has told you multiple times that I pay for convenience, right? I don't don't want to spend too much time doing things if I can pay for that to be done. So I can think of other stuff. But because I pay for convenience, I now have time to experience certain things. So I'm getting in a level to where it's not necessarily about money. It's about what can I experience in my life that no one else can? So I challenge everybody to get to a point where the experience means more than material and experience means more than the money because we can't hold on to those things. But you they can't take away what you experience. So that's what I say. 

Mostafa Ghonim  1:17:24  
Boom!