Episode 4 - The Drake Breakdown

Nicky Saunders: 0:01

What's poppin? What's poppin? What's poppin? Welcome to Nicky and Moose! I'm Nicky! That's Moose! Sup Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:08

What up y'all?

Nicky Saunders: 0:09

And we are going to be talking about the boy, the man, the living legend. It happens to be his birthday on the time that we're recording this so maybe that was like Godsend. I'm cool with that, right? The six himself, Drake! Heeeyyy! Yo, how we feeling about this Moose? How we feeling?

Mostafa Ghonim: 0:33

Yeah, pretty swagged out, man, that's cool. Well, as always, it's always an honor to show respect to people who are doing phenomenal things while they're still alive. I think that's one of the greatest things about the show and this concept that we've created. So I'm excited to go over this very creative genius of an artist and a businessman who has broken records time and time again.

Nicky Saunders: 0:56

Giving away too much you're getting way too much. Let's go into this intro.

Jaymie Jordan: 1:01

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, more importantly, the stories behind the people and brands that you know and love the most.

Nicky Saunders: 1:31

So first off, happy birthday, Drake. If you ever hear this in life, I'm hoping that in like maybe two three years you happen to hear this on your birthday. I'm with it. Or in your birthday month. Happy birthday, Drake. But anyway...

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:48

I'll tell you what, though, after after the after Ricky Ross reposting the video, I don't even think these are these are long shots anymore. Literally when they say what is it two degrees or three degrees of separation from everyone in the world? I think we about maybe we've cut it down to like two and a half like 2.25 we doing sound right now. I think we in the building.

Nicky Saunders: 2:09

So look, so everybody, before we get into Drake. Tag him, right? Say @nickyandmoose would love to have you on one day. One time for the one time. Ya mean? One time for the one time. Ya mean? But Moose, how you feeling today?

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:30

I'm feeling very good. Grateful as always. And excited to be here with you rocking out, man. This is gonna be good.

Nicky Saunders: 2:36

I'm loving this new set up! Aye! I'm loving this new... How are we feeling with the new crib? For those who don't know, he moved. Okay, he moved. He is in a whole new place somewhere. Still New York, though. But, um, I'm not gonna give the location however, how are we feeling? How we feeling?

Mostafa Ghonim: 2:56

Really good. Really good. You know, it's funny I was. That's why you got to have some friends like Nicky, man, I was gonna keep this thing under wraps until like, top of the year. And then day one, she was like, "Oh, look at his background." Yeah, yeah, Nah, man. I'm grateful. I'm super excited. I think this was a much needed move. Simply put, I just outgrew my old space. And I would give the advice. I actually wanted to share this at some point. But I would give the advice to any entrepreneur, man. Any person building just in general, whatever it is, career or business or brand, anything that you're doing. Give yourself the opportunity to live below your means and sacrifice. Because there's so much discipline that you acquire during that time when you can do things financially, physically, in every way, right? And you're like, Nope, not right now. Not right now. I know I can. But there's just something about holding off that builds such a great character that that builds some of your greatest ideas that that attract certain people to you. So I'm going to post it one day, man, and I'm going to tag the podcast so you guys can see the place that I was working out of, I literally did everything out of one room. I slept in that room. I worked out of that room. I ate in that room. There was a bathroom in that room. Like, you know what I'm saying? And people don't know, I was 30 years old sleeping on a twin size bed. So to tell you the sacrifice that went into it again, I could have done more. But I just said nope, not right now. Not right now. So this move for me was a was major man. This was major. So I'm very grateful, you know, very grateful and excited. But...

Nicky Saunders: 4:33

Let's clap it up. Let's clap it up. Let's clap it up. That's huge! Shout out to Moose and his move. Shout out to Moose and his move. But he said he said he's gonna post it one day, one day, so that means you gotta follow us @nickyandmoose on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook. He's gonna put it somewhere on those right? But definitely have the conversation with us on Twitter because we're gonna be talking to you guys. But let me get right into the reviews. We always say leave us a review and we're gonna acknowledge it righ? So we got somebody, Logan 100. He said, "Energy! The amount of energy, the wealth of knowledge that is communicated is like no other. You can see and feel the passion of branding with Nicky and Moose. N-I-C-K-Y but that's cool. I feel so empowered and educated after listening to this powerful duo. Keep up the great work, guys." I can't finish reading it, because it's like a dot, dot, dot, dot but we get the point. Shout out to Logan 100. We appreciate you and everybody who has left a review, we see all of you. It is on nickyandmoose.com. We see it. We see you. Alright, so let me be fully transparent. We recorded this and it messed up. Okay, we recorded this and it messed up. Um, so we are here again, recording it. And you know what I don't feel... I was like little disappointed. I was like, man, we gave so much heat. We gave so much heat, but I feel like this one's going to be even more fire. I need that I need that sound. More fire! More fire! Right? A little bit more energy today. But Moose, let's talk about the flight assessment. Let's do this, right. Because we messed up the other time. But let's do this right. So, this is what we do. Okay? This show goes over our living legends, right? We want to talk about a different side of it. The branding and business side we go over their career, but we really try to focus on what makes them different, just in totality, and what kind of business moves are they making. But we also try to break it down from the flight assessment kind of standpoint. And for those who don't know what the flight assessment is, Moose is going to tell you. But we go over four characters, right? Four

characters: 7:09

pilot, flight attendant, grounds crew, air traffic controller. If you haven't taken this test go to flightassessment.com, flightassessment.com, flightassessment.com. Moose, in a minute and 30 or 45, however you feeling like it, can you let the people know what is what?

Mostafa Ghonim: 7:30

Absolutely! So, based on the four dominant personality types that exist in the world, you can simply find out which one you score the highest in by completing a simple questionnaire, which is what we call the flight assessment. Now what we do is we go through certain clips, and we try and see some of the similarities or what personality types are driving this person's behavior, his moods, their strategies, the whole nine their vision, just their creati ity, all in all. But what we u e is the airport theme to help p ople make the connection. Righ ? So first off, we go with the pilot. Now what do we know ab ut the pilot? They go on the plane, they go straight to the c ckpit, and they're only foc sed on getting the plane from w ere it is to its final desti ation. They don't interact w th the passengers, at least no until the job is done. So th se who are pilots, we know the to be people who are sup r goal oriented. They love cha lenges and problems. They'r super motivated by a big cha lenge, right? They they like to ise to the occasion. So those riving, very determined and aggr ssive A-type personalities, t ose are what we're going to ca l your pilots. Next up, you have your flight attendant. So if ou're getting on a plane, you'r going to walk past the pilot, ou're going to get to your sea . And you'll notice that the fl ght attendant is smiling, ha py, right? Welcoming you or hel ing you to your seat, maybe gett ng your bags on the plane. And the idea for the flight atten ant is that they are people orie ted. They love the experience. They're all about the charm, the charisma, the swag, right? The want to have the newest and lyest clothing. They're re lly creative and visiona y people. So that is the drive behind the flight attendant. Th next up you have the grounds crew. And if you're sitting on the plane, you look out the win ow, you're going to notice peop e in blue, orange and green ves , doing a whole bunch of thing , right? Getting bags on the plane, bringing up bevera es and snacks to the flight atte dants to use during the ride, t ere backing the pilot from th gate to the runway, a whole b nch of things, right? But a lot f things that are extremely imp rtant for the success of the ov rall trip, mission, the who e concept. So what we know abo t people who are grounds crew , they're very loyal to a visio . So they love to work with peo le, but they just want to mak sure that they're involved in a way that's helping everyone win. Right? So they're great li teners, very empathetic peopl . They don't like to really g t into any problems. They j st want everyone to get long. And then last but not lea t you have your air traffic cont ols. You don't really see t ese people you don't hear f om them but you hear of them right? Pilot comes on intercom and says "Hey, air traffic co trol said we're up next. So w need five minutes before we an go." So these are the peopl who are working behind th scenes, usually behind co puters, but they're big on st ategy. They're big on details a d numbers and making sure thin s are lining up and thinking bout how does my decision oday impact our organizat on or our team five and 10 ye rs down the line? So that's wh t you have for the flight as essment.

Nicky Saunders: 10:20

So if you kind of connected with whatever Moose just said, you're probably that. But to confirm it, go to flightassessment.com. Check it out. But let's figure out what Drake is. Let's get into this first clip. Let's not play around. I was gonna go into stats first, but we'll get into it. So let's talk about this first clip.

Drake: 10:42

I don't, I don't necessarily have like, you know, the same stories as Wayne or I don't have like that, like you said, you know, Wayne could sit here and tell you like I'm a gangster, you know, I could rap about that gangster life, you know? I can't do that. I can only rap about like, my like my Jewish mom. And like, you know, like the girls that I take on dates and stuff. So. So, I take my, I take my time. And I observe life. I study human beings, specifically women and their patterns. And I try and, in songs, I try and pinpoint moments that people think about, but just don't know how to necessarily verbalize.

Nicky Saunders: 11:18

Mm mmm. First off, he starts off with the light skin voice. I just want to put that out there. "I'm not Wayne, I just, you know, I'm me. I'm Jewish and stuff." Like what? But, um, okay, so so let's get right into this. So, branding wise, right? When you go into the hip hop game, it has a certain kind of style, certain kind of look to what you're supposed to be, act, say when it comes to being a rapper, right? And the great thing about Drake is he just happened to be rocking with, at the time, the greatest rapper alive, which was Lil' Wayne. Many people can debate on that, but that's why I said at the time, right? So with Wayne, the way he raps to word play, the tattoos, his lifestyle, everything like that...Drake was the complete opposite, right? And we've known many artists who have faked a rap persona, right? Who have faked it to fit into the mold of what that industry should be, right? And when we're learning about this whole branding situation, we're looking at Drake and what shows that he stands out is that he is the clean cut, I don't care about no guys shoot him up, bang, bang kind of vibe. I care about the females, and what they want, and what's going to trigger them, and impact them. Because at the end of the day, first I'm attracted to females. Two, I'm fully aware that females buy more than guys. And I could probably direct them to go here and there based off my music, right? Everybody else is doing the other stuff, the fight stuff, the you know, the houses, the cars, the females, all that other stuff, but no one's talking to the females. Talking about the females, but not talking to the females, right? So he went into the game already different. He came into the game already branding himself different as like a clean cut, light skin, no tattoos, everything like that. It's like you don't even think you barely see him smoke. Which was another thing that hip hop people do. Right? And it's just, he was almost like a breath of fresh air. When it comes to the hip hop game, as well as his style of rapping. He both raps and sings. He does it-depending on who you talking to- he does very well, right? I think his rapping is a little bit better than his singing. Other people will say different, right? But that was something that wasn't done in the game. And so it doesn't surprise me that way. He's been in the game for 15 years, something like that, right? It doesn't surprise me that he is one of the top tiers, if not top tier, of our generation. right? Because he just did it different. There's other people who've done it well. Who've done it great. Who've done it, like to the top. Jay Z, Nas, Lil' Wayne, you know Biggie - all these people have different styles, but similar at the same time, right? And Drake was just over there, doing what he wants to do. And people of our generation are saying, yo, he is the number one artist, right? Some people will say number two, because you know, we still have Beyonce' in our lives. Yeah. Hi, Beyonce'. I don't know if you watch this yet, you know? Hi! But, um, I think it's important to really see his beginnings. As far as that the beginning part really molds people. The beginning part could really make you to truly transform into the industry or you transform the industry to what you want it to be. And I think Drake did just that where he transformed hip hop and R&B into just being Drake. So is it Drake mood, a Drake vibe? I'm feeling Drake-ish. Like, it's just it's a vibe. It is when you're on your light skin mode, like that's Drake. When you feeling any kind of emotions, that Drake. Like no rapper is like, "Man, I'm just really missing her today. I'm thinking about texting her but not really. I don't want to." Like you're in your Drake mode. That's it. You're in your Drake mode, like, "Yo, let me let me go text my ex." Hey, you have no business texting no ex. Stop it. Stop being on your Drake mode. When you're doing those long rides and you're like playing that thinking music a little vibe out kind of vibe. You put who do you put? You put Drake on. It's Drake. It's Drake mode.

Mostafa Ghonim: 16:48

We're explaining somebody's life right now. You know it's true. you know it's true.

Nicky Saunders: 16:51

I'm telling you they are thinking like.

Mostafa Ghonim: 16:54

Everybody listening to this is like shoot...

Nicky Saunders: 16:57

Somebody's driving right now like like man I did on a long drive really think about her. Like aww man. I think I almost text her too.

Mostafa Ghonim: 17:09

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever gone to Drake-ish? Have you ever done the Drake-ish?

Nicky Saunders: 17:13

Absolutely! Listen! I pulled a Drake mode. I pulled many Drake moves! Yes! I have done that! I have! Yes, absolutely! And I'm petty with the word play like Drake. I will intentionally...like you will know I'm talking about a certain person if I get in that... Yes! Yes! I will claim I will strongly say maybe that's a light skinned thing. I don't know. I don't care. But all l...I don't want to be the ambassador of light skinned people. But majority of light skinned people do like get in a like a deep vibe. When you know something is going on. They put on Drake and then they're like, "Yeah you right. Man. Let me text him. Yo, what you doing big head? What you doing big head?"

Mostafa Ghonim: 18:06

Oh, God. Oh God. Hilarious.

Nicky Saunders: 18:10

Just saying! Okay, fine. My bad. Moose, what you got? I'm putting all my business out there? I don't care. I've text exes. I've done that. I don't care. I don't care. What? Did it work? No. Did it work for him? No. So I don't care.

Mostafa Ghonim: 18:29

Hey, it's worth a shot.

Nicky Saunders: 18:30

Hey, shoot your shot. Shoot your shot. I'm just saying.

Mostafa Ghonim: 18:34

Yeah, no, but I really liked this clip because of the you know, it's a it's a constant theme on on our show on our podcast where we talk about authenticity. Because we know that that's when somebody is going to experience the maximum level of success is when you are being you like nobody else's business. So when you first enter anything new that you're passionate about, and you want to succeed in, especially like the music industry, a business or a career, and you have someone who is at the top in the field, that is your influence, or your partner or someone who's working with you or guiding you along the way, it is very easy to slip up into their habits and into their tendencies and start carrying about an acting the way that they do because you're like, well, if I want to be successful like them, then I have to do what they're doing. And you want to mimic the habits but not the style. Right? You want to mimic the habits in terms of the work ethic, maybe the the perspective, how they how they approach conflict and leadership and confrontation, and just overall minor things or personal things like fear and all of those things. But you don't want to mimic exactly what they're doing because you're going to be a mirror of them. And people are going to know like oh yeah, that's wannabe Lil' Wayne or Lil' Wayne two point nothing and it's just not clicking. So early on... two point nothing right? And he he embraces himself and says, You know what, no, I'm gonna stick to my, my way. And they mesh perfectly together. I mean, they've made some phenomenal music, you know, early on in his career. So I definitely think that one of the things that he's done early on and shout out to whoever was mentoring him or guiding him or to himself as well for really carrying out that advice is that he stayed true to who he was. And he wasn't looking to mimic, right, the style and what everyone else was doing. So as you mentioned, with branding, and just the overall image that you bring to the table, within your business or within your brand, that is a big component of how you are received through the, you know, through the perspective of other people as well. So I thought, yeah, this this was a really cool and definitely a big thing behind his success.

Nicky Saunders: 20:48

And even with that clip, which comes from CBS News, right? Later down, he was like, Look, me, being who I am, right, me, doing the rap and the R&B and just talking to females and really understanding it. That's what true success is for me, when it comes to this industry. Because I get to be myself. I don't have to, I can only say stories of what I've done, and what I do and what I'm interested in. And if I have to do something else, that's not that's not success to me. That's not genuine. That's not real. That's like a short lived career. Where I can be me forever and this is what I can do. So I think, you know, I think when you're looking at some of these Living Legends, and you really see how they've, when they reach their success, it's really truly who they are. Right? And it's great to see from just the jump when it comes to Drake is like, yo, I've been this way. And I'm not, I'm not changing, not you we don't see all the sudden with him with guns and a whole bunch of gang members or anything like that. My man didn't take on the Lil' Wayne blood affiliation in any kind of way of allegedly, allegedly. I'm sorry, allegedly. But you know, that's not really a secret. But I'm saying allegedly, he's not a gang member. And anything like that, let me stop because I'm gonna get myself in trouble. Let's go into this next clip. Alright, so we got how Drake feels about social media.

Drake: 22:43

Because I enjoy social media. It's good for so many things. You know? I've met so many great people. So many great songs have come from me being active and me actually checking my dm or me, you know, you know, I've had great friendships form over social media. I've met great women over social media. Just because, you know, a few bad apples want to violate it would be a shame for me to just like, be like, I can't deal with this. And it also is just like, I mean, it builds strength, you know, as as tough as it may be. It definitely strengthens your character. I mean, I've heard it all I've seen it all.

Nicky Saunders: 23:19

I wonder how many females slide in Drake's dm's but just anyways Moose start it off! I just...

Mostafa Ghonim: 23:26

Oh man. Oh man.

Nicky Saunders: 23:29

My bad. My bad. My bad.

Mostafa Ghonim: 23:31

Yeah, you kno w what? This is one of those clips that I think was a great reminder for a lot of those people who don't like social media, he because as you can see, he's not out here saying man, I love social media. He's just letting you know that I understand the power of it. Right? For those who know his story, he was technically found through social media, right? He connected with you said that the guy's name was Young Prince it was?

Nicky Saunders: 23:53

It was like Jazz Prince.

Mostafa Ghonim: 23:55

Oh Jazz Prince yep on Myspace who found out who met Drake on MySpace. And he was a part of Lil' Wayne's camp. So like stretching back to even how he was found. It has something to do with social media. So I think he does a great job of continuing to stay engaged, and dialoguing or connecting with his people, so that he can continue to build opportunities. And, you know, I know you'll talk about this here in a little bit, but just the concept of how he's leveraged even the idea around means and how that's helped take his career and his music game to a whole nother level. So I think it's a great reminder for those of us who don't enjoy social media as much is that if you can operate out of that first principle behind authenticity, and find a way to do it, where you can just show you being you and not so much in terms of well, are they gonna like it? Are they gonna receive it are they gonna respond to it? And I know that's part of it, it matters. But don't let that be the driving force behind why you do it. And and, and that's definitely one of those things that I think can be helpful for anyone building right now like Yeah, I don't like it, or I don't love it, but I know how to use it because it's important. And I think it's only going to grow like the world is not about to, you know, a quarantine out of social media, like it's only gonna grow more alive. It's going to revolve around that, like, even when we look at what's happening now, they're saying a large part of companies are pretty much letting go of physical office spaces, because they're not seeing a need for office space. So, like yo, if we just navigated, you know, six, seven months working virtually, yeah, and we did just fine. You know, there are some reports showing that there's almost a 30% increase in the economy over the last few months now. Virtually, then they're like, you know, what's the point of the physical space? Now I understand maybe just once in a while, we can all come together and Kumbaya. But for the most part, I think social media is only going to increase if that shift happens, or when that shift happens, I should say, it's only going to increase especially with our demographic actually wanting more of the freedom and wanting to work from anywhere or work on their own time. So anybody who transitions and pivots into that space is going to have more that opportunity. So yeah, social media is here to stay.

Nicky Saunders: 26:12

Yeah. I love what he said, because he embraces social media, where maybe other rappers don't. Where, you know, other entertainers kind of just stay very low key, and does like the pictures and the videos. And that's it. But Drake is very, very engaged with social media. He really has the, you know, his hand to, to what's happening on trends on other people's platforms, things like that. These past couple of months, because he's about to drop, any time as Certified Loverboy is about to drop at any moment. Hopefully, by the time this comes out, he doesn't surprise drop, but we never know what Drake, right. And him understanding that people have been wanting his music, they always do. He could drop an album tomorrow, and they're gonna want new music on by the next day, right? That's just kind of the the age that we're in. But as he tends to, like make comments here and be on certain lives over here, he's popped in on DJ DNice and Verzuz battles and popped in The Shade Room 17 million times. Why? Because they know that people are going to screenshot it and send it to send it to the blogs. If he has something coming out. He wants to stay relevant. Right? I think all the way back from I don't think it's coincidence that he showed pictures of his son. I don't think it's coincidence that he let people inside his estate and showed more of that. I don't think it's a coincidence that he did an exclusive Rap Radar interview which that clip came from. So shout out to B. Dot and Elliott right. I don't think he does anything by coincidence. He literally had a battle with Meek Mill and used the whole bunch of memes that was from social media. He totally embraced it and crushed Meek Mill. No offense, Meek Mill, we love you truly do. However, you got killed. You got killed, because he use what was undefeated, which is the internet, you cannot in this day and age, defeat the internet. They have memes for everything. They have jokes for everything. They have a video ready, they have Photoshop ready. They have everything ready for when you mess up. They have a GIF for you. They have a meme for you. They have you in a whole different outfit, everything like that. And Drake embraces that instead of complains about it. He likes it and repost it instead of being like, "Man, they're all trolls" or hides more behind the scenes. He doesn't necessarily do that. Right?. And I think that's what keeps him so high up in the game because where as like I said other artists kind of shy away from social media, he embraces it. So we, on our on our Facebook Live show, we went over 50 Cent one time. And we were talking about the whole G Unit situation. And Lloyd Banks did not want to get into social media. He always said yo if Biggie and Tupac were you know, we're alive would they be on social media? And 50 was like, Yo, I think Biggie would have the most fire Instagram in the world. What are you talking about? Like, I think Pac would be super dope online, like, what are you talking about? Right? And it hurt Lloyd Banks down the line, because he wasn't relevant. So you're good for a certain generation who understood life before social media. But now we're in a time that we don't know anything else but social media. There are kids who've only known social media, right? There's an age range that's done both. And then there's an age range that had nothing to do with social media. If you want to be relevant for all generations, you have to be on social media. All generations, Gen Z, X, all this great stuff...millennials, all that great stuff. You have to be active and relevant and doing different strategic moves to be a part of what's happening and what people are talking about. And it's not even about just let me do pictures and videos. It's about who are you engaging with? Who are you collaborating with in your industries, how could like, it's Drake really, really, really, really like gets it. And I don't think it's a coincidence that he is number one, because he's one of those people that fully embraces it compared to others. That's, I keep repeating it. But I want really, for people to understand that. Because if you are not embracing it, you are going to be average. If you're not embracing it, you're just going to be a typical business person, a typical personal brand, that kind of gets it kind of doesn't. But there's people who really study it, who strategically launches things who are super creative, not necessarily in a style wise, but just from a vision wise, and they execute on it. And that's what people connect with. Yeah, I went off on that one.

Mostafa Ghonim: 32:29

I love the collaboration piece, too. Like, if you think about some of the connections that happen organically through social, just because there isn't such a barrier between you and whoever it is right? Again, and I think ... I keep going to this because I think it's so dope, like three episodes into the podcast, Rick Ross posts a clip of what you know, what we did for him, or at least a part of your, your segment, on his own story on his own page. So it's like, just that connection piece. When you're doing things from a pure heart, and you're adding value into the world. It's like that connection, the ability to collaborate with who, whomever it may be. And he's done it like he's collaborated with Toronto comedians and other people on social at least used, they're either certain clips of their voiceovers or parts of their skits. So he's done it on a multiple, multiple levels. So I think that collaboration piece also goes unnoticed, because I think when you're in business, it's very easy to just keep your head down and say, All right, I'm focused on here, that's all I need to do. And I don't need to worry about anybody else. But again, I think if anything, 2020 has proven that more than ever, you need more than just one thing. And more importantly, those relationships, if you keep them strong all throughout, imagine if whomever your greatest collaborator is, or the person you could have had the greatest collaboration with. You don't touch base with them until COVID happens, right? It's like that, even if the partnership and the value exchange is phenomenal, you're more likely to get kind of, you know, blocked or put off to the side, if I haven't heard from you or we haven't really interacted for an extended period of time and you're only reaching out when you need something. I know that's a pet peeve of mine, I'm sure it is of yours. It's like man, don't do that. Don't hit...don't reach out and then 24 hours later, so you know, it's like, come on.

Nicky Saunders: 34:22

Right. But in, in, even with COVID. Like, we got to think about what has been the talk of the town which is it hasn't been any of these CNN, ESPN, all the stuff that we used to watch. We're watching Verzuz and we're watching DJ DNice, like artists who really embrace the platforms, they're winning. The Weekend did a whole concert on Tik Tok a whole virtual conference a concert on Tik Tok. Like they're finding different creative ways to still connect with their audience and their fans, regardless if they can go on tour or not, who says you can't do a virtual tour Who says you still can connect with your fans in name in a more intimate way? And like, and I would love one day, and I sent you this in the dm's, all the stuff that Travis Scott did. I mean, my man did a whole concert on Fortnite.

Mostafa Ghonim: 35:30

That's fire. Genius move by the way, and let's talk about some of the business investments behind

Nicky Saunders: 35:36

Right! And, so. And that's the thing, like, top that. artists are thinking about ways to figure out how to get in front of people where they are...on their phones. Beyonce' did a Disney Plus joint, right? Did a whole movie on Disney Plus, which a lot of people were on especially during COVID. Your like, Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, right? And of course, social media. So, understanding the time that we are in, and that is not going to change anytime soon, like just because some of the some of the numbers may be lower than before then the peak of everything, right? We are, this is our new norm. And so we have to figure out how to be creative and how to really get in front of people using the platforms that we have. And these are free platforms. This is not something we have to pay for. This is not something a paywall of any kind of sort. We just have to be ourselves as well as interacting and embracing the trends and embracing it in our own brand. Right? Because that's the key part. Don't just do a trend because it's a trend, right? Do it that it you incorporated with what your industry is doing what your niche is doing? Right? Drake when you look back at that battle, right, he took all the means and put it into a dish record, he put it as part as his performance. Right? So you're rapping you see all this stuff? You totally put that in your brand. You didn't make it different. You didn't just become the meme. You transformed the meme into whatever you wanted it to be about. Right? And if you could do that, with your brand, the power that you have, and the messaging and the storytelling that you can do is unlimited. If you could figure this whole social media thing out. Whole thing.

Mostafa Ghonim: 37:50

Yeah, yeah, and I don't, I don't want us to go too heavy on social media. But it really is a big part of things right now. And the part that I was thinking about is with that whole move of taking those means and adding them to his concert or his performance when he was, you know, having that issue with Meek Mill. I always think about the connection and the relationship he built with his audience during that time, right? Like, just think about one of the greatest artists in the world is using a meme or gift that you created. Like think about, you're gonna go crazy over that. And then you're going to share that with your platform. And, and I use the example of man, regardless of how smart someone is, whenever we're in a mastermind or a large training, the collective benefits because we combine our genius, no matter who's the smartest person in the room is, if we all combine our genius together, we automatically elevate our game. So the fact that he's able to embrace all of those means and all of the people's creativity, he has millions of designers now. He has millions of writers and creators helping him as opposed to just the people on his team, which I think is brilliant. And the critical point here too is and we talked about this during our pre show was he also received a large deal of criticism on social media. So just as he got the help for the Meek Mill thing, you just go type up the memes or the gifs about Drake in your phone, and the Hotline Bling video is going to come up and that was just a crazy thing, right? Like that whole concept and and he embraced it. You know, what's funny is that they were saying, while they were shooting that video, he predicted that the internet is going to go crazy from a meme standpoint with it, and he still had fun with the concept. So you talk about someone who is whatever perceived to be maybe a little bit cheesy or corny and still saying like, screw it. I'm just gonna be me and continue to walk in that confidently. Yeah, like the average person wouldn't have confidence. If they are the way Drake carries himself in the sense right and I don't mean that in a bad way. But he does phenomenal job of like, yo, it's, it's dope being me and as a matter of fact, look at the life that I'm living as a result of it. So yeah, it's that double side concept that I definitely wanted to add in there from an audience standpoint, as well as he didn't just get there because he's liked, he actually received a great deal of criticism. And because he was open to embracing it, and having fun with it, and sometimes laughing at himself when it's necessary, as opposed to getting all upset, you know, that really helped people start to embrace him more and just kind of like fall back a little bit as well. So yeah, I think that part is pretty dope.

Drake: 40:34

I think less than a dollar value, it's just more

Nicky Saunders: 40:34

Facts. Facts. Let's get into the business side of things that moves took here is what Drake thinks, based off, what success is and what does money mean to him? about the idea of growth and business business mindset, too. You know? Twenty five million at the time seemed crazy to me. But when you start becoming a headlining touring act, and you know, brands want to get involved with you, and you can go do private events and whatnot, it's, you know, you're capable of making it and now, I want to, you know, for sure, obviously, keep touring, keep making music, but now I want to do something that has maybe nothing to do with music. Mm mmm. So, um, let me let me set it up real quick, just cuz first, those people who say, it's not about the money, you know, money isn't everything pretty much have it. And, you know, the, I don't mean to sound bad, but the broke people are like, yo, because you have it like you don't know, our lifestyle and everything like that. But it really, all money really does is provide different opportunities and ways to live, to live life and to provide other opportunities for other people, right. And even in that clip, to be the top artist, you're going to need money to pay for tour, you're going to need money to pay for the people who are helping you. And depending on if you're on a record label, you have to pay them people back. Just because you weren't good at a talent. Being that is still a business and being in business, you still need some type of money to make sure that it gets to the top that it deserves, right? And so what I love about what he said there was, yeah, it's not about money. But it is needed to get to doing other things because I don't want to do music my whole life. Right? I don't I I like I love what I do. But this provides me with being able to create OVO to be able to create a clothing line to be able to create a record label to provide other people to do their own music, to be able to start film and things like that. And Moose is going to get all into the stats and everything. But it is really a different kind of vibe when you look at money from that standpoint, instead of just saying, I need it so I can buy A,B,C,D,E,F,G. He didn't say any of that. He said tour, brand, all that great stuff. And so you can already see there's different priorities when you reach a certain kind of level. And my question to you Moose is when should that shift be made in business? Like should that be like a right away kind of mindset shift? Where a person shouldn't only think about the materialistic or having a certain amount of money? And they should think about it from a standpoint of what is this money going to do to get me to the next level to get me to maybe my first employee, maybe to my first building, maybe to opening up a different business? Like what would you say about that?

Mostafa Ghonim: 44:37

Yeah, man, I mean, it's so critical that you get to that point as quickly as humanly possible. You know, now, I always like to give context because I don't really ever want to give a one size fits all type of example, but you have to understand that the unique advantage that Drake has here is that he, like LeBron like many of the great's that we've covered so far, has a strong team beside him right? with his producer, with Future, with Oliver, right? These are people who grew up with him in a sense, that have helped to really carry out other arenas of his business that helped him to focus all in on his craft. So I would say, if you're in that position, and you have people in your area that you can begin to put in position to carry out those responsibilities for you, then absolutely make that shift as of yesterday, as quickly as you can, you need to think about Okay, if we've if we've mastered or are mastering our process today, what's our next move? What is our business look like in the future? What are some trends? What are some things that I can begin to predict or start to see can come about 3, 5, 10, maybe even 1 year down the line, that I can begin to position ourselves so that when that shift happens, or if I guess, right, I'm ahead of my competition, because I've just laid the groundwork. Right? Now, some people may argue, well, no, you're wasting your resources if you're doing that, but I'm telling you, it is people who began to onboard their businesses online, that survived during COVID. It wasn't anything major. Like some so many people went out of business, because they just weren't tech savvy enough to transport their business from a physical location to online. So everything stopped for them. People didn't stop spending money, but just the way they accessed what you were providing was different. They weren't going out to see you. They weren't traveling as much. So think about some of the businesses that are really struggling right now. The airline industry, right? Even the fashion industry to a sense and it's not even the fashion industry, I would say more so retail business, because people are not going out as much. So you had a store I think like Johnson and Johnson or a big suit retailer close, because who's getting who's going out to buy suits and dress up clothes or or formal clothing right now? Right? The context of the industry changes and and the way it's happening right now, you really can't just look at your country, your state or your city. You really have to look at the world, right? Like we saw China suffering through this almost late last year or early in 2020. You know, people should have been on that wave like man, well, China's a big global team or a global leader in the world. And whatever happens, there can possibly affect us. Can you imagine if we just had a 20 minute brainstorming session? Like, alright, what would we do if, if that was happening over there? And we did that like January? Yeah, we would have been ahead of the game. So it's that same concept that when you have people in your team, and you're positioning them, absolutely begin to shift and start thinking about that 1,3,5, and 10 year marks and say, alright, we're mastering our process. How can I now shift and begin to think about what we're going to build in the future based on upcoming trends and concepts? That that's absolutely critical.

Nicky Saunders: 47:49

That's fire. That's fire Moose. Let's talk about some stats, though. Let's talk about some stats. If we talking money, let's talk about them stats.

Mostafa Ghonim: 47:57

It's only right so first off, remember that another key principle, right another key principle, you're going to keep hearing on this show, because it's super critical that you apply what the greats are doing in your own

way. Number one: 48:07

Mastered his own craft. Five albums, seven number one singles on the Billboard 100, 4 Grammys...not to mention the countless nominations! Countless, I'm talking about hundreds of nominations. But 4 Grammys, right? He stands with $150 million in net worth. I'm saying he has a good accountant because I can imagine that to be a lot better. But you know, Drake, send us a referral if you can about the accountant, please? We are in need of some CPA services.

Nicky Saunders: 48:40

All my accountants, please hit up Nicky and Moose. All my accountan s, please hit up Nicky and Moose on Twitter, Facebook, and Instag

Mostafa Ghonim: 48:48

Shameless plug, yeah, for real. But then the thing that I really like is that he's beginning to diversify his portfolio. And he's thinking about his business and his career beyond the music industry. So of course, he's making some investments, right, and we see the top one in the gaming industry. And the strategy behind investing in the gaming industry is very similar to what Travis Scott is doing with his with some of his collaborations is that he is trying to stay relevant with the younger demographic.

Nicky Saunders: 49:16

Yes.

Mostafa Ghonim: 49:17

Remember, Drake was dope when I when I was in high school. I'm 30 years old, that's 2009. So even the lifeline of his career, it's beginning to shorten, because Drake is relevant, let's say with people my age and maybe a little bit younger. But if he now taps into the gaming market, and he can get back relevant with teenagers think about the lifelong of his career. Now he can go out on his own terms. If he says, You know what, I'm not feeling music, no more. I don't want to do it anymore. He's not walking away from the game because he's not selling albums, or he's not, you know, his music and his streaming is not as good as it used to be. It's because he doesn't want to do it. But some of these investments that you see him making here, he's really thinking about, alright, how can I stay relevant with the younger generation? How can I diversify of course? How can I expand the brand? You see him collaborating with the Toronto Raptors? Major move right? People again, think people were thinking that, going back to the memes, people were thinking that Drake is acting a fool, just as the at the basketball games because just because he can. No. Like Nicky says, sir, ma'am, no, he was not right. He is so big time. He is the team's ambassador. Right? Meaning his logo, that OVO logo is on the Toronto Raptors jerseys. He has a banner that is hanging in the arena. So think about the brand presence, the overall exposure, just how he showing other media outlets, what his brand is capable of doing, because he now has proof something to go back and show and say, Hey, we collaborated with this team. And here's what we were able to do for their media buys, for their ticket sales, for their merchandise, right? Again, proof. So a very strategic move. And what he was doing on the court, people forget that he's an actor. So hello, he's bringing more attention to what he's positioned in. It worked great. It worked genius. Now, whether that was pure passion, or fully acted out, it doesn't matter. Whatever it is, it worked out in their favor, they went on to win the championship last year. And you see what happened with that. So just so many different moves that he's made. And right now, I think the final one, which is really showing an indicator of where he's going to be 10 years down the line is him collaborating with different producers and network companies to executive produce. So he's going back to his acting acting bag, and he's looking about, alright, how can I position myself to be back in the industry, but not maybe in front of the camera, but from behind the camera, and I can executive produce. So one of the shows that he executive produced was a teenage show similar to the one that he was a part of. Right? So again, using a strategy of something that's worked in the past, and taking that same concept and bringing it back with a different touch, because he has that experience that ability to tell stories, and of course, the team to back him up in different areas. So yeah, just to see the how well he is spread out between different industries and how he's already planning his next move, I can, and I'm going to make a prediction here, I can see him collaborating with LeBron in a major way down the line, you know, when it comes to content, executive producing, writing, movies, films, things of that nature, I think that's where he's headed and focused on as well.

Nicky Saunders: 52:50

They're actually boys. So I wouldn't be surprised that they already have something or cooking up something that would be really fire. But I try to end it, I always try to end with something, dope, that the person said, you know about their success, some lessons learned or anything. And plus, I try to impress Moose by being deep, because he says all the deep stuff, and I'm just a really direct person. So I found something deep. So here we go. Shout out to Elliott for this interview.

Drake: 53:28

My uncle always told me something early in my life, which is stuck with me, which is that while you're on the journey, you have to disconnect from the end goal. You know, because if you're just focused on some end goal, then you might get there, but it'll be hard to progress past that, because you're so focused on that one destination that it's like, you know, you you maybe forget everything in between and maybe you could have done more in between just be...he always told me like, just be here right now. Live right now and do the best you can right now. Don't worry about what that end goal is. It's great to have goals. It's great to have dreams, but it's just that you get too attached to it and sometimes it can be a self destructive thing.

Nicky Saunders: 54:11

So, I love this one, because it makes me feel normal. Okay, let me break this down. I'm one of those people that suck at, hey, give us your fourth quarter goals. Give us your year goals. Give us your 5 year, 10 year...I suck at that because I don't believe in putting a dollar amount or like a limit to what I can do. Right? I always go based off like the environment or the vibe that I want. But not necessarily a hardcore like okay, yeah, I want to make 200K with this project and I want to do buy this car, and I wanted to do this and I want to do that, because then when I do it, I believe in celebrating those really big wins. And then I may have to lay off the gas real quick. And I never want to get into that phase, right? I'm always like a big dreamer. My mom makes fun of me, because I'll be looking at the $30 - 50 million houses. And she's like, you're not a Jay Z, or Beyonce and Kylie Jenner type. Like, you can't do that. And I'm like, yeah, that the $1-12 million houses. That's just that, that doesn't do it. That doesn't do it for me. But we could start looking at over here, because not only does it have the, the closet while I'm in the pool, and everything in the balcony, all that. But then down over there has a whole entertainment vibe. Like, I just don't want to put limits to what I like to do. And I don't want to get so caught up in trying to make that particular goal, because then I don't have a vision for what comes next. That's just me. So it made me feel super, like normal. And the fact that he says that I can connect with it and feel like you know what, you're on the right track, buddy. You you kind of not doing that bad. Because Drake did it. Yeah, you know? I try. I try. What you think about it Moose?

Mostafa Ghonim: 56:32

Yeah, it's dope, man. I'm reminded of two things right? Number one, I heard E say this. And he always said, "Be where your feet are." That's one of the most critical things that I heard him say, right? Because whether you are a big visionary person, or you are someone who really wants security, oftentimes you speed ahead, because you want to control your environment, or predict what you're going to create. When you tell yourself to be where your feet are, it helps you to focus on the very thing that's going to help you to either make the vision or reality or make sure you continue to maintain that security that you're desiring. So usually, we have to do the polar opposite of what we need, or are focused on to make that thing happen when we're talking about our future, right? Because you can be a daydreamer, and just imagining and thinking about your goals and creating this beautiful world. But if you don't give yourself an opportunity to begin to do the things that you need to do, to slowly but surely progress toward that you're shooting yourself in the foot. And same thing if security and you want to make sure that your bills are going to be covered and your family's going to be safe, and you're going to have a retirement and all this stuff, you know, 20, 40, 30, 50 years down the line, then again, you can't just sit there and worry. You have to allow yourself to clear your head so you can think strategically and begin to do the things on a day to day basis that will allow you to achieve that. So number one, "be where your feet are". The second thing, and I love this, where he talks about don't focus on the goal. This is something that I had to that I've experienced on my own was don't dream from where you are. Right? Because I noticed that when you're when you're dreaming, and you're someone and I'll make reference to myself this way, because at least that's who I was. When you struggle with confidence when you're new in an industry when you're not sure if it's going to pop the way you think it will, you always shoot yourself short. Like you don't really dream super big. You just kind of like look for the entry model. You're like, you know what, I know, Tesla got the the the Super Sport model, and they got the the cool model. I'll take the cool model. Like if I could just get in on the cool model. I'm at least driving a Tesla.

Nicky Saunders: 58:59

Right.

Mostafa Ghonim: 58:59

And guess what, and you'll notice, and Nicky when I when I was shopping to get things for the apartment, the difference between the regular and the Super Sport model is so minimal in price. Mm hmm. But when you're only thinking about just getting through the door, you don't give yourself the opportunity to get the things that you deserve that you worked so hard to get. So it was a huge learning lesson for me, man. Don't dream from where you are, dream from where you're going to be. Right? Take into consideration the growth and the progress that you'll make as an individual and calculate your dreams that way. Allow that to be the thing that propels your vision, right? Instead of just looking for the entry ticket, that basic model, the least expensive thing that can get you through the door. Now again, for some of us, every one of us at some point did that very thing. Right? I talked about my hospitality business. When I started that business. I called it The Dream Supply. That wasn't that wasn't a coincidence. That was because I knew I did not want to be in the hospitality business forever. But that was going to be the vessel or the vehicle that got me from where I was to where I want to be. Cliche', but that's something that I did, and didn't just talk about. Everyone talks about, oh, this is what you got to do to get from where you are to where you want to be. But I did it. Right? I built a company that that embodied that for me, and slowly but surely, you know, with COVID that's what helped our transition. So yeah, don't dream from where you are. I don't want to get deep with it. But after I got deep with it.

Nicky Saunders: 1:00:38

Yeah, I don't want to get deep with it. Alright! We'll leave that for the final thought. But let's go right to figuring out what Drake is. Okay. So Moose it's your turn first, right? It is. So first off, this is based off the flight assessment. flightassessment.com Go there. Anyways, who you got?

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:01:14

I'm gonna say Drake is not a pilot. You know, I don't see no pilot tendencies. I don't see no, super, you know, let's push everyone out the way or and I don't even want to say it like, that's what pilots do. But he's not just a very demanding type of person. He's really kind of more so in tune with the moment and he's really looking to experience life at its fullest capacity. He's not someone who's just rushing through or allowing that to be the the big driver behind what he does.

Nicky Saunders: 1:01:49

Big facts, big facts. Now, um, so we got three up there. And I would love for our listeners and our viewers to really hit us up on Twitter about this one, because I'm stuck. Right? I'm like, I'm really stuck just because, like, let's go with the facts. My man is emotional. Right? An entertainer, right? But very strategic with what he does, like I think the whole son thing was strategic. I think how he releases certain situations certain things, is strategic. How he creates his brand is strategic, but I think also, when it comes to his team, he's all for his team. I think how he is setting up as far as the film and the, you know, the the Esports and all that great stuff, I think everything is done for reason. And even from just standing out in his individual ways, it's hard to say this and this like, I feel very confident in the flight attendant. Right? I feel very confident, but then I look at he's not out there like that. Right? Like, he has a pulse to social media, but he's not all the way out on social media. Right? I don't feel if if you were a full blown flight attendant you would hide your kid even once you announce it, let's say maybe not the full announcement but once it's announced I would expect more and it still almost feels as if it's a secret even though he did that bar like I'm trying to hide my kid from the world or some stuff like I forgot that bar but you know what bar I'm talking about. Not trying to hide my kid no the world from my kid. I'm trying to hide the kid from the world or something.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:03:54

"I'm not trying to hide my kid from the world. I'm trying to hide the world from my kid."

Nicky Saunders: 1:03:57

Right. Right. So I think but that protectiveness of the family. How close he is with the family, between his dad and his mom and, and the emotions that he puts out on on pen and everything like that. It leaves me like, Yo, what are you? Right? Like, because I feel grounds crew vibes, like I feel it. Right? Um, but I there are certain points and then maybe it has to be how we do from the past where it's like Drake, the entertainer, and Drake the person. What do we feel is that is there a difference? Because I'm looking at flight attendant, grounds crew, and air traffic controller and I'm like, I don't know, cuz I don't even think he's like a super super high flight attendant.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:05:00

Yeah, you know? We haven't really talked about this on any of our platforms much. But what we also know through the assessment is the there's an adaptive style.

Nicky Saunders: 1:05:14

Yes.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:05:15

Right? The the flight assessment measures how you are when things are going good and gravy when you're in your element. And how you are when you know that you need to be something else. Or when you have to strategically do something to get what you want, right? We're able to measure both of those patterns for you, again, to help put you in a position to be more successful. So when I look at the report this way, or when I, when I analyze Drake from this perspective, I can't help but imagine that he is heavy on the grounds crew, and air traffic control, like those are his top two naturally. Like when he's just really in his element, he's more so on a chill laid back type of vibe, really in his head and in his emotions about or his thoughts and his feelings about what is happening around him. And he's analyzing that. He's spending time to really think about what does though what do those feelings mean? Right? And we saw in the very first clip, he talked about, I helped to translate what people feel that they don't know how to put words to. That's that we can't we can't overlook that. Right? Really, what he's telling you is that he has a high EQ, right? An emotional intelligence. There, there's something about him where he's able to translate some things that people struggle to analyze or put into words. So I see that big in the grounds crew in the air traffic control, but when he is on stage, when he is when he has to because we you know to what we're seeing that just anything related to social media, when when he has to, he knows how to turn on and operate out of the adaptive flight attendant, to attract the likeness, to attract the laughs, to attract whatever it is that he's pursuing at the time. So I would say someone who's extremely self aware, right to know that, hey, this is who I am. This is where I need to be probably why he doesn't do social media, like you said until he has to right? This is where I need to be to operate in my gift and in my greatness, but when it's time to launch it or really turn up, I got to activate that flight attendant and show up for my people and give the people what they need because it helps me to stimulate this process that I'm currently in. That's what I would say. What are your thoughts?

Nicky Saunders: 1:07:31

I like that. I'm not even gonna disagree with it. I like it. I'm all for that. However, Alright, so let's do this. All I want you guys to do...this is all I want you guys. Thank you for listening for this far. Review.Right? Reviews, review review. Take a screenshot that you are listening and watching this and put this on your stories. Share this on on social media. Tag us @nickyandmoose. Tweet us, all that great stuff. We're active everywhere. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, make sure you follow us and tag us every single time. You are listening to this. And that's all I got. This was fire. Moose, final words.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:08:24

Tell the people if they if they want to rock with us on some of the pre shows, man, come come hang with us. Come hang with us on Facebook.

Nicky Saunders: 1:08:30

Oh, yeah. You smart? Listen, Tuesday. Tuesdays? Tuesdays and Fridays 7pm facebook.com/nickyandmoose. Go chill with us. We do a whole preview and pre show. You get to know a little bit more about us. We get to break down the next episode a little bit and answer any kind of questions. So that's on Facebook, Tuesdays and Fridays 7pm. We might have to I'm a be honest with you, it may just be once a week. I'm just... better catch it now while it's on two. We're gonna have we're gonna have discussions. It may just be Tuesdays. So depending when you hear this definitely Tuesdays 7pm Eastern 8 nope 6pm Central, I don't know when 5 west coast time... 4! Listen, shout out to the west coast people. We love you. Um, Moose final words.

Mostafa Ghonim: 1:09:38

Yeah, don't dream from where you are. I'm gonna go back to that one. Don't dream from where you are. Take into account the growth, the discipline, the development that you're going to acquire on your current path. And and take that into consideration when you're planting your seeds or thinking about your vision and thinking about where you want to be right don't short sell yourself or don't go into the regular model. Like I said, when when you when you begin to just step on solid ground, you'll notice that the difference between the basic model and the premium version is minimal in cost. But it makes a great deal of a difference in terms of the feel. When you when you're in that car, when you're sitting on that couch, or when you're sleeping in that bed. I just moved. So forgive me for these, you know, these examples. They're very relevant to me right now because I literally had to do it. But there's a minimal cost or minimal difference when you really think about it. But a major difference and again in that return on an investment and what you're able to do with it, so don't dream from where you are. Take into consideration the growth that you're going to make in the process.