Sevan Matossian (00:00):
Record. Bam. We’re live. What’s up guys? What is this? That’s a good question. Bruce. Wayne. Bruce, you going to, uh, waap please? This year? Part of the team this year.
Mattew Souza (00:16):
He lives at Waap.
Sevan Matossian (00:17):
Please. I’m really trying just to do one show a day, but, uh, this is, uh, east Coast Cat. He has an 11:00 PM he has a show that goes on at 11:00 PM Eastern Time. Is it 11:00 PM Eastern Time or 12:11 PM Eastern Time. Uh, so how long does that mean we have him? We can go two hours if we had to.
Mattew Souza (00:37):
Yeah. Uh, less than that. He probably needs to jump off and like prepare for a show,
Sevan Matossian (00:41):
But Okay. Uh, he has a show at 11:00 PM and so he, he sleeps in the morning and, uh, gotta get him all we can. Yeah. It said this is gonna be a trippy show. I’m, I’m, I’m actually, um, so excited. I’m a little nervous about this, uh, show. This guy is, uh, this guy has quite the life. I’ll wait until he comes on before I give my,
Mattew Souza (01:16):
Give the spiel.
Sevan Matossian (01:18):
Yeah. Give my thoughts on, on what it is. That way he can course correct me and be like, no, that’s not true. Or that is true. Or, damn, you nailed it. Which is what I expect.
Mattew Souza (01:26):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (01:27):
So su you found your hoodie. Are you wearing a rogue hoodie?
Mattew Souza (01:30):
I am, but this isn’t the one. It was a gray zip up. Uh, rogue hoodie. I wish.
Sevan Matossian (01:36):
Oh, yeah, yeah. Zip up. I need a, I need a ceo. Zip up. I would love a, yeah, I would love a ceo. Zip up. Ho. What’s up dude?
Hocus 45th (01:46):
What’s going on?
Sevan Matossian (01:48):
Hey, thank you. Just thank you. Um, what a, what a weird world that some dude, some 50 year old man sitting behind his desk in Santa Cruz, California can reach out to some dude who lives in, uh, New York. Your New York. York
Hocus 45th (02:11):
Bronx. Well, I’m from New York. I live in Georgia, though.
Sevan Matossian (02:14):
Georgia Okay. Living in Georgia. And, uh, can just reach out to him and just strike up a conversation. Just two random guys. <laugh>. Well, I am the guy down below Producers
Hocus 45th (02:29):
<laugh>, what’s going on?
Sevan Matossian (02:30):
I, I appreciate you doing this. You have your own, you have your own live show that you do. Uh, that starts at 11:00 PM Eastern Time
Hocus 45th (02:37):
Every night at 11:00 PM Eastern Time. On Clubhouse, though.
Sevan Matossian (02:41):
On Clubhouse. Oh,
Hocus 45th (02:43):
Hoku. Yeah. It’s called Hocus four Fifth Rabbit Hole.
Sevan Matossian (02:46):
I, God. A couple years hos, uh, four Fifth Rabbit Hole.
Hocus 45th (02:50):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (02:50):
Oh, we’re gonna get into some of that. That’s gonna be fun. Um, and, uh, clubhouse, I remember a couple years ago that supposedly it was like blowing up. It was huge. Everyone’s like, Hey, you gotta go get on Clubhouse. You gotta get on Clubhouse. And then I haven’t heard about it in like two years or a year. It’s still going off.
Hocus 45th (03:08):
Yeah, it’s still, well, you know what, some people, like Clubhouse has its own community, right? Um, you got people that love the platform and be on there every day, but some people feel like it’s a dying platform. I guess they feel like that because a lot of celebrities left and, but my platform is still jumping. Actually, my platform is growing day by day on this, so it’s not a dying platform for me.
Sevan Matossian (03:28):
Right. You know? Well, um, why can’t, can you stream to, do you go? They can, can they see you on, on Clubhouse or just hear you?
Hocus 45th (03:35):
No, they can only hear you. It’s on, it is audio only.
Sevan Matossian (03:39):
You know, you could do both.
Hocus 45th (03:41):
Yeah. I, I could connect it to YouTube and go live Dead too. Yeah, I know. I can’t. I just, I don’t know why. I just don’t do it.
Sevan Matossian (03:48):
<laugh>. Okay. Um, you
Hocus 45th (03:50):
Know, sometimes I like laying in my bed and then like, you know, not having to shave or, you know, <laugh> make sure I look like
Sevan Matossian (03:56):
Sure. That sure. But people are gonna love you either way. You are a charismatic, uh, dude, thank you. Some people, like, uh, some people are like basketball players, some people like actors, some people like scientists. Um, I am a huge, uh, rap fan. Uh, you know, I, I grew up, I grew up in that era, uh, UTFO, run dmc, going to an nwa, um, then, you know, um, digital Underground and Tupac, and, you know, just the, I took the, I took the West Coast too short. I was born and raised in Oakland, in the Bay Area, E 40. Um, and I just took that, um, I took that route and now that I have my own podcast, I’ve just like, I’ll have whoever the fuck on I want, and I get to meet whoever I want. I, I, I wish I’ve met you when I was, you know, 12 <laugh>, but fuck it. 50. I’ll take it. Not not much has changed since, since I’ve been 12. Really? My mind,
Hocus 45th (04:53):
Oh shit. I, if you’d have met me, you was 12. I’ve been one. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (04:57):
You’re, you’re, uh, you’re 30, you’re 39. Yeah.
Hocus 45th (05:00):
Mm-hmm.
Sevan Matossian (05:01):
<affirmative>. I wanna I wanna show you this first video, um, from your Instagram page. I wanna start here. And, uh, you got it. You gonna share it? Yeah, I got it. And I got it all cud up because this is definitely where our paths cross, uh, the most. Right. Fucking here. This is, uh, hocus, uh, four fifths, uh, 15 year old daughter, uh, playing Rhapsody in Blue by George Gerwin.
Hocus 45th (05:29):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (05:31):
Crazy. You must be the proudest dad ever. I can’t wait till my boys can do something like this. This is amazing.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Um,
Sevan Matossian (05:55):
And you’re there. Are you, you filming this?
Hocus 45th (05:58):
Yeah, I’m the one filming. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (06:02):
Are you holding back tears?
Hocus 45th (06:05):
<laugh>? I was smiling.
Sevan Matossian (06:15):
And where is that? Is that church?
Hocus 45th (06:17):
Yeah, it’s in a church. Yes,
Sevan Matossian (06:29):
Brother. Congratulations. I I have three kids. And when I saw this, uh, amongst your post, I was like, oh, this is where this dude and I connect on, on the, there’s, there’s nothing better than that, huh?
Hocus 45th (06:41):
Ah, man. I mean, she’s such an autistic person. Like, let me say like the, the, um, the drawers that I have, this is my home studio, right. Uhhuh like, um, show you. Right. She drew everything in here. All this is her, this, and this is what she was 13 years old. Like, she such autistic person. Look at her. It’s just like, she’s so unique with her own style. Like, I don’t know if you could, I don’t know if y’all could see it good, but Yep,
Sevan Matossian (07:05):
Yep. We see it. Good.
Hocus 45th (07:07):
Yeah. She just like an autistic person and just, she amazed me every time. Like when she want to do something, she just do it and she master it. And everybody was telling me, cuz you know, I’m, I wasn’t, I, I heard the tune before George Gerwin, but, um, everybody was like, yo, that’s really hard to play. I was like, for real? They was like, yeah, that’s really hard. Like, she did a thing. I was like, wow. So, yeah, she amazed me all the time.
Sevan Matossian (07:30):
And, and you have four kids?
Hocus 45th (07:31):
Yeah, I got four.
Sevan Matossian (07:32):
And how old are your kids?
Hocus 45th (07:34):
Um, 20. She’s 15, seven and three.
Sevan Matossian (07:39):
Wow. Are they all in Georgia?
Hocus 45th (07:42):
No. No. My oldest son, he’s in New York. He, he don’t wanna come to Georgia.
Sevan Matossian (07:46):
He doesn’t,
Hocus 45th (07:47):
Nah.
Sevan Matossian (07:48):
<laugh>. Does he have a good life in New York?
Hocus 45th (07:51):
Um, yeah, he got, you know, it’s probably cuz his girlfriend, you know, <laugh>, you know, he’s at that point like, nah, I’m not leaving my girl. So yeah, he got a good life. He, you know, he’s like a TikTok, uh, you know, YouTuber. So he make his little money, he do his little thing. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (08:07):
Uh, if you guys go to YouTube and you type in, uh, hocus, uh, four five t you will see a huge library of really awesome, uh, music videos. I watched him today for about 90 minutes while I was working out in incredible stuff. We’ll get to that. Um, ho could we go back to just your childhood where you were born?
Hocus 45th (08:26):
Yeah. I was born in, um, I was born in Harlem, um, up until the age like eight to where, um, me and my brothers, uh, and sisters wound up going to foster care. Then he moved to the Bronx. And then that’s where I’m from, from the Bronx. I’ve been living there ever since. I was like nine years so old. Well, I grew up there. Castle Hill Projects would be exact in the Bronx.
Sevan Matossian (08:46):
And, and there’s, there’s five of you siblings total?
Hocus 45th (08:49):
No, no, no, no, no. I got seven brothers, three sisters.
Sevan Matossian (08:51):
<laugh>, there’s 11 of you.
Hocus 45th (08:53):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (08:55):
And where are you in, in the pack?
Hocus 45th (08:57):
I’m the fourth child.
Sevan Matossian (08:59):
Wow. And when you go to, uh, foster care, how many of you go, do you guys all go to the same house?
Hocus 45th (09:05):
No. So, um, the second half wasn’t born yet, so it was just like, um, me and me and, uh, three of my older brothers. So four of us we went to, um, we went to foster care in Brooklyn. My sister got Lucky <laugh>. Right. And she wound up going to stay with a family member, but, you know, it was still considered foster care. But we went to like one of the harsh foster care houses in Brooklyn. It
Sevan Matossian (09:29):
Was, was it a fac was it a facility or was it like a man and a woman there? Nope.
Hocus 45th (09:33):
No. It was, it was at like a, it was a woman. She was like a grandmother type woman, older woman who really treated us like shit. Her name was Mrs. Bingley.
Sevan Matossian (09:43):
And, and were there other kids there? Other kids in foster care?
Hocus 45th (09:45):
Yeah, she, no, no, not foster care. She had, uh, grandkids.
Sevan Matossian (09:49):
Oh, shit. And why did she foster,
Hocus 45th (09:51):
Had fight every day
Sevan Matossian (09:53):
With those kids?
Hocus 45th (09:55):
No. Well, um, her, her oldest grandson, his name was Calvin. And I kind of respect it now. Right. Even though I was a kid, I was eight years old. Right. So it was like, it was like what, 7, 8, 9, 10. Right. So that’s how old we were. So Calvin was like, yo, y’all gotta come downstairs, like our first, second day there. So we like, all right. So we go downstairs. Calvin got the whole building down there ready to fight us. I guess he wanted to test us, so we all had to fight. And you know, when we, we all fought and that was, but they, the far the people, they fell in love with us. It’s just the grandmother. She treated us like shit.
Sevan Matossian (10:28):
How old was Calvin?
Hocus 45th (10:30):
He had, I don’t know for sure, but he was older than all of us. So he had to be anywhere from 13 to 17 maybe. Cause he was taller. He was older. He was, he was already a teenager. He was older.
Sevan Matossian (10:41):
And so you guys had to fight him one at a time. He just thought you guys one at a time.
Hocus 45th (10:44):
No, not him. He had other little kids out there from the building.
Sevan Matossian (10:47):
Oh shit.
Hocus 45th (10:48):
Yeah, he had them lined up like, ain’t nobody jump us, but we all fought one on one. Just
Sevan Matossian (10:53):
Calvin change his name to is Calvin. Calvin have a big old Afro and he changed his name to Don King. <laugh>,
Hocus 45th (11:00):
<laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (11:01):
Fight promoter. Holy shit. Yeah. Crazy <laugh>. Wow. I wonder how many foster kids he did that with.
Hocus 45th (11:11):
Right? It’s probably, probably all of them. Yeah, it was, it was, it was really bad. Another quick story is, I remember we had got it into it with, um, uh, uh, it was like this, this, um, family in the building. They, we called them the grease monkeys cuz they all were Jerry Curls number, the Jerry Curls back in the day. So we called them Grease Monkeys. They was mad black with Jerry Curls. It was funny. Right. So I think people was playing with they door, whatever. And they tried to like, um, they tried to basically, you know, front on this guy named Charles used to be with Charles was old, the two, he was like Calvin Age. So we went with Charles to his brother house and his brother actually gave us a gun. Like, you gotta remember eight years old, like <laugh>. It was really, I think about it now, like, wow, we didn’t do nothing, but it’s just the fact that we had access to a gun at eight years old. It was crazy.
Sevan Matossian (11:54):
And, and and why did you go to foster care?
Hocus 45th (11:57):
Well, we went to foster care because, um, my, my, my mother was in the streets, you know, using drugs. My father was selling drugs. We wound up going with my grandmother and, you know, it just didn’t work out, you know, um, uh, what they call it? It’s acs Now’s Bcw n Bcw. Yeah. They came and you know, they, they took us,
Sevan Matossian (12:18):
I think in California they call Itcp Child Protective Services.
Hocus 45th (12:22):
Cps. Yeah, CPS out there. It’s ACS now. It used to be called Bcw. So Bcw came in New York and they, and they, you know, they took us and took us to foster care. And our mother, my mother and father, they, they got they shit together. They got I could cury. Right. I’m good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They got they shit together, you know. Um, he quit the streets. She got off drugs, they got back together and they became my superheroes. Man. They came and got us out of foster care. I always appreciate them for that, you
Sevan Matossian (12:46):
Know. No shit. That’s incredible. Are your parents still alive today?
Hocus 45th (12:51):
My father died in 1996. They came and got us out of foster care in 91. He died five years later. My mother’s still alive.
Sevan Matossian (12:59):
Wow. Holy shit. How, how long were you in foster care?
Hocus 45th (13:03):
Only a year. We was only there for a year.
Sevan Matossian (13:05):
And, and when they come check on you, are you like, Hey, by the way, I’m in this foster care and someone gave me a gun.
Hocus 45th (13:10):
<laugh>? No, we don’t, you know, like, we don’t tell them. I beat up all the kids. <laugh>, you know, my mother, um, unless she seen the interview, I never told her that story. Wow. Cause I done said it before. And matter of fact, she watched the documentary, so she probably know now. I got a documentary out, but I never told her that story. Like, you know, I just, I don’t know. I grew up in the streets, man. We just, you know, certain things, you just don’t come back home and tell your parents, you know, <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (13:35):
And then, and then, so you get outta foster care and you, and you go back home and, uh, and, and it’s like a new life again. And do you go to school?
Hocus 45th (13:45):
Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I was, um, nine years old. Yeah. Got outta foster care. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Sevan Matossian (13:52):
And did you stay in school all the way through high school?
Hocus 45th (13:55):
Yeah. Yeah. I stayed in school all the way to, um, see my father died when I was like in seventh grade. And that’s when my, um, cause I was always an honor roll student. All of us was honor roll students, you know what I mean? But, um, that’s when my grades started to fail. I, I passed junior high school, but high school was too much freedom. Like, you mean to tell me I could just walk out this door, nobody gonna say anything. I could just go home. It was like in New York, it was like, it was too much. I was able to do what I want. So, and I didn’t really finish high school, but I did get my GED and I did go to college. And that’s another story, <laugh>. Cause
Sevan Matossian (14:27):
And when did you start getting, and, and then did you, you ended up joining the gang there at the, um, at your home, what was it called? The Castle Rock
Hocus 45th (14:36):
Castle Hill. Castle Hill Project
Sevan Matossian (14:38):
Ca, castle Hill Project. And in the Castle Hill projects there was a gang.
Hocus 45th (14:42):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (14:43):
And they basically ran the building.
Hocus 45th (14:45):
Yeah. It, yeah, it’s a gang called Sex Money Murder. It was a, um, it was a street gang before was became a part of the blood set later on, which became part of the blood,
Sevan Matossian (14:56):
Meaning bloods, the bloods are an international by the way. That’s why I wore my red shirt today. I started putting on my black one. I was like, no, no, I’ve watched enough <laugh>. Um, uh, and um, and basically, so the Bloods are an international group, or at least a national group, and then this gang somehow affiliated with them.
Hocus 45th (15:12):
Yeah. You know, it’s, you know, a subset of the blood, you know, the blood’s got blood is the overall gang, but they got subsets, you know, which, which we call hoods, which would be different neighborhoods. You know what I’m saying?
Sevan Matossian (15:23):
No, I don’t. And <laugh>
Hocus 45th (15:25):
And,
Sevan Matossian (15:26):
And, and, and tell me how, how does that, how old are you when that happens? When you start rec, when you start seeing those guys around, how do you remember your earliest memories of, of seeing a blood and being, letting someone explaining to you, like, hey, or, or the, um, sex, money murder guys. Do you remember your earliest memories of someone being like, Hey, don’t fuck with those guys. Or like, those are the guys we gotta get with?
Hocus 45th (15:44):
So my earliest memories of sex, money, murder was really, like I said, it was like a crew. So that was probably early, early nineties, mid nineties. Um, and then you started to see the bloods come along. You know, in 93 the bloods hit New York, but you started to see ’em a lot more in like 90, 95, 96, 97. It was like heavy, heavy, you know? So started seeing them a real, a lot, lot.
Sevan Matossian (16:13):
And, and so you live in the building, so these guys are hanging out front and every day you walk home or you walk by them, you walk by them and, and, and everyone knows who they are.
Hocus 45th (16:22):
Well, it’s, it’s like, um, it’s a project. So it’s not one building. It’s, uh, my, my projects actually have 14 buildings, right. <laugh>. So it’s, um, it’s really big. It’s a big projects in each building. There’s three 20 story buildings, and then the rest is a 12 story building. So it’s a big project, a lot of people. So, I mean, yeah, it’s, it’s a corner store, castle Hill and Ran where, where the drug dealers, where the, where the gangsters hung out. Of course, you know, we, the young kids in the neighborhood, we used to go up there, play with them, joke with them, they’ll give us money, beat us up, you know, shit like that. So, you know, we grew up idolizing them, seeing them have money, cars, girls, you know what I’m saying? Jewelry.
Sevan Matossian (16:59):
What’s, what was the, what’s the history of building projects like that? Why, why build, do you know what the history of the project is? Why build a, a, a 14 building, uh, 14 buildings and three that are 20 stories and just start trying to pile people into ’em? Why’d they do that? Do you know what the history of that is?
Hocus 45th (17:16):
I mean, I could, I could, uh, guess it’s that, you know, a project is a project I guess to see, you know, how people would, um, will live under those conditions and not only to see how they would live to actually manipulate them and to, oh, look at the, look at the hood. <laugh> actually manipulate them and to, um, certain things. It’s a drug, it’s a liquor store on every corner, you know what I’m saying? They push drugs and guns in the neighborhood and, you know, it’s a project, you know.
Sevan Matossian (17:42):
So from day do, from day one, is there a wiki page on that project? Uh, su so from day one, a project is, is a, is a fucked up situation. It’s not something like really nice and then slowly goes downhill from day one. It’s, it’s, it’s sketchy.
Hocus 45th (17:58):
Well, um, honestly, I, I seen the old picture someone sent me of my, my neighborhood and, um, it, it was a bunch of, um, it was actually a bunch of white people. There was like a castle hill in the 1960s, right? I guess it was around the time the projects was made or whatever. Um, and it was a bunch of white people. I believe that there was Jewish people. So I believe that the, the
Sevan Matossian (18:18):
Coming through Ellis Islands. Okay, so that’s where they put the Jew immigrants.
Hocus 45th (18:22):
Yeah, exactly. That’s where they put the Jew immigrants. Right. So I think that that’s where it was. Like, that’s where it, that’s where the ghettos right, that’s where the ghettos come from. Yeah. You know, they put Jews. Yeah, exactly.
Sevan Matossian (18:31):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because they were, they were running from ghettos.
Hocus 45th (18:34):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (18:36):
Okay. They were running from ghettos. They built them this housing. They went in there. The way I know this story is that they started getting into, uh, clothing and seamstress shit, and cleaning. And basically that’s when textiles and all that shit took off. And, and they happened to be in the right place at the right time and killed it. And there, and, and basically crazy hard work ethic.
Hocus 45th (18:54):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (18:56):
Wow. Nuts, nuts, nuts, nuts. And then, and when you, when you, in your whole memory of you being there, is every single resident black?
Hocus 45th (19:05):
No,
Sevan Matossian (19:06):
No.
Hocus 45th (19:06):
Um, um, black and, and Hispanic mostly.
Sevan Matossian (19:10):
And Hispanic meaning just anything south Amer, anything, uh, south of San Diego?
Hocus 45th (19:15):
Well, the Bronx is, the Bronx is full of Puerto Ricans <laugh>. Okay. Everybody knows that. Yeah. The Bronx has a lot of, I’m talking about mostly Puerto Rican blacks and Puerto Ricans. You get a sprinkle of, I don’t even, I remember no Mexicans living in there. Um, yeah,
Sevan Matossian (19:32):
You we kept them all California. We weren’t gonna let you have any, we kept them all in Texas. In
Hocus 45th (19:35):
Texas and all that, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you’ll find a sprinkle or Mexicans or sprinkle Honduras. I’m talking about a few people, but it’s mostly blacks in Puerto
Sevan Matossian (19:44):
Ricans. In, in any, any Irish cats there any
Hocus 45th (19:47):
Dominicans, Irish,
Sevan Matossian (19:50):
Like an Irish family. Like what the fuck? Look on, on the 17th floor in building three. There’s some white people.
Hocus 45th (19:55):
Yeah. Like, like I, um, rest in peace of, you know, my homegirl cat. I believe she was Irish. She’s in the hood, you know, shout out to her whole family, you know what I’m saying? Um, she’s, you know, that was people’s too, man. We all loved her. The whole hood loved her. Um,
Sevan Matossian (20:09):
She was in one of your videos?
Hocus 45th (20:12):
No. Cat wasn’t in?
Sevan Matossian (20:13):
No. No. Oh, okay, okay.
Hocus 45th (20:16):
Oh, yeah. But um, yes, it wasn’t really, wasn’t really no white people. Like, I be rude. Julie, what? He was
Sevan Matossian (20:23):
<laugh> not me. <laugh>. And what Ha and what happened to Ka?
Hocus 45th (20:29):
Um, uh, she, uh, passed away from an illness. Um, I can’t remember exactly what it is. Can’t say. I believe one something. I don’t wanna freestyle with ’em. Yeah, she definitely, yeah. Got sick and passed away.
Sevan Matossian (20:42):
And then, so, so these guys are hanging out. The sex money murder guys. Um, you doing normal kid shit with them trying to get ’em to buy you candy. Fucking with them, you know, seeing what you can get away with, building relationships with them. And then at some point they must indoctrinate you. Right? They’re, they, they’re like, Hey, Hoku, you wanna do this? You wanna roll
Hocus 45th (21:02):
With us? Well, even before I became blood, you know, enjoy the gang, I was already outside, so meaning that I was in the streets. So I started selling crack cocaine, um, when I was like 13, 14 years old. And, um, and, you know, I was outside. Like I said, I was out there, you know, I wasn’t blood then. And you know what it was, it was when all my bloods, like I said, bloods hit the streets hard. A lot of people started coming home, which come home, not in the sense from jail come home, mean a lot of people started turning blood. And I didn’t turn blood, like a lot of people was. Other sets first. So there’s a set called non tray five, non brim, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So these, my, um, my peers, they was those other sets and they wanted me to turn blood then. And I was just like, nah. The only way I would turn blood is if it’s sex, money murdered, because that crew started in our neighborhood. So eventually all of us would, you know, the OGs from the hood would bring all of us home, meaning they would turn all of us sex, money, murder.
Sevan Matossian (22:02):
And, and when, from the day when, when you started selling crack, by the way, did you know the guy who made it? Did you
Hocus 45th (22:08):
Get it from
Sevan Matossian (22:09):
Yeah. Did you, did you get it from the source?
Hocus 45th (22:13):
When you say that, what? You mean the actual guy who made crack from
Sevan Matossian (22:16):
Me? Yeah, the cook. No, no, no, no. Not the very first guy of all time. But did you get, did you know the cook? Would you go to the Cook’s house and get, and get your supply?
Hocus 45th (22:24):
Oh, um, yes. Yes. I, I, yeah, I, I had a partner and we would buy, um, cocaine and then I would late, I would later learn how to, um, cook it up myself.
Sevan Matossian (22:33):
Damn. 600 episodes never had anyone on the show who cooked crack. And now, in the last two weeks, we had two dudes who had, and this kid, this dude, uh, cooked crack at 14. That was his first gig. What city was that? Was he Milwaukee? What city was he? Uh, Tomlinson. Do you remember? S
Mattew Souza (22:53):
Uh, no, I don’t, it doesn’t, it doesn’t come to mind. We’ve had so many of ’em. I’m like,
Sevan Matossian (23:01):
So, so, so then you start doing that, and so was there, was there ever an official affiliation process or because of your vocation being a cook and a businessman, do you just get absorbed into it? Or is there an actual mo is there an actual ceremony of some sorts?
Hocus 45th (23:16):
Well, I, I guess for different strokes with different folks when it comes to gang, some people get jumped in. Some people gotta put in work, meaning they gotta, um, commit a violent act to get in. Um, for me it was, it was, um, I, I did, I did have to fight dudes. That’s because dudes try to g check me, like, try to see G check me. And then they come and like, make sure you write everything, you know, your stuff and all that. But, um, other than that, you know, I was, you know, I was already involved and I was already a part of, you know, that kind of crew. So, you know, I’ve just became, it was like second nature kind of like, yo, you know, y’all sex, money, we sex, money, murder.
Sevan Matossian (23:54):
And then, and then, so, and when, when do you start, um, seeing, when do you start feeling your, um, artistic talents coming? What, how old are you when you start feeling like you might be a lyricist or you might wanna rap, or you might have musical inclinations or whatever, your creativity, how, how old were you when that happened? So
Hocus 45th (24:08):
That, that, that goes back to my father. He, he introduced me to hip hop. And, um, the first artist that I fell in love with was Tupac. And it was a song called Trapped. And it’s funny because, you know, now that I think about, it’s like I was eight, nine years old, loving, trapped. And he’s, he’s rapping about being trapped in this prison of illusion. Like, you know what I mean, being a police brutality and all that type of stuff. And I’m really too young to understand it, but I love the flow. I love the beat and I love the lyrics. And I actually wrote down those lyrics to just to learn them. That’s how much I was in love with them. And my father used to always talk about music and rapping, and I was like, I wanna be a rapper. So one day, you know, we used to have the ra, you know, the radios, and you press play and record and you could record on the tape.
(24:48):
So he was like, all right, rap something for me. And, um, so I, I said, well, I don’t want you to be here. So he went to the back, I wrapped in the radio, he came back and he listened to it. I ran to the room. I didn’t wanna see his response. And then he was like, yo, come here. And then I came. He was like, yo, I like it. It’s nice. And I think that if he would’ve told me like, ah, tra I don’t think I would’ve never became a rapper, because his word really meant a lot to me like that. Like he, one quick story is, um, one day he was at the window and he was smoking a cigarette. And he was like, come in. And I went over there and he gave me the box of cigarettes. And he was like, read it.
(25:19):
And I read it and it said something like along the lines, like may cause lung cancer or something like that, had a warning signal. And he was like, don’t ever smoke these. And I was like, but you smoking it right now as a kid. I’m like, you smoking it though? He was like, yeah, but you know, these, these will kill you. Don’t ever smoke ’em. Do what I say, don’t do what I do. So I was like, okay. And to this day, I never smoked a cigarette in my life, right? So like that man, he had that much influence over me. So my influence from rap came from back then. And he really like, you know, that right there, that event that, that, that spark.
Sevan Matossian (25:50):
Uh, I, I never rap for anyone. Only time. I never, I never broke past the phase of just rapping to myself or rapping to my kids. Like, especially when they were babies, I would rap to my kids all the time, all the fucking time. Crazy. I would love to hear one of your raps. No, you can’t <laugh>. But, but it is interesting. That’s a great story. I’m glad you told like that because you didn’t, I wonder if every rapper starts off that way. I always, I always wonder, I saw, I, I saw this thing on Lil Wayne one time that he basically takes a recorder with him everywhere he goes, and a pole mic, and he’s just fucking obsessive. That’s just basically, he’s just wrapping all the fucking time and he’s just obsessed with it. That’s the first thing he sets up when he goes to his hotel room. Um, right. So, so you did that and someone believed in you, just a little spark. Your dad believed in you.
Hocus 45th (26:34):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (26:35):
And you were off to the races. Do you remember the next time you raped and, and do you remember the first time you wrapped, like, like with like five, five of your friends around or something?
Hocus 45th (26:43):
Yeah, actually, um, as we got older, and I’m as like early teens, I would say as early as 14, 15, I started to really write raps now. And, um, I wouldn’t say take it serious, but as far as just rapping, taking it serious, and I would rap to my friends, they would rap. And, um, I was always the one to orchestrate things. So remember I told you about the radio, right? So what I did now is we went and got two radios. One where I could play an instrumental from, and one where I could record. So this is before we had studio, right? So I would play,
Sevan Matossian (27:14):
You had a two track, you had a homemade two track <laugh>,
Hocus 45th (27:17):
The homemade two track. I would play the instrumental for one radio and we would rap into the other one. And that’s how we would make our tracks and we would let people head around the neighborhood and they actually liked it. I was like, oh shit. Right? <laugh>, you know, people really liked us rapping.
Sevan Matossian (27:31):
And does that vulnerability ever go away? Like the fact that like, you’re, you’re rapping, you’re making yourself vulnerable, right? You’re rapping and then all like, I like you have a two minute, I, right before the show, I listened to a two minute freestyle. You did live on the air, on YouTube. I’m like, that’s fucking cr I mean, that’s, and, and when, when I’ve seen other rappers do it, I’m like, that’s gotta be fucking wild to do that. That’s gotta be terrifying.
Hocus 45th (27:55):
<laugh>, I guess you get used to it. I mean, I haven’t done it in a while, but I guess you get, you know, you get, if this is what you doing is what you love doing, it’s, it becomes second nature. It’s like, it’s not really scary, not exactly what you want to do. It’s like,
Sevan Matossian (28:08):
Yeah, you, you might, I always think that you might just wrap yourself into a corner. Like all of a sudden you’re like, oh fuck, I’m, I ran outta words. Yeah, I ran outta words.
Hocus 45th (28:16):
Nah man, most of the times you got it right here. So it’s, you know, it’s all good. <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (28:23):
And, and, and, and do you get in the zone when you’re free styling? Like you can’t, like, almost like you’re having an out of body experience. Like you can’t even believe this shit’s coming outta your mouth?
Hocus 45th (28:31):
Um, no. I mean, I get in the zone. I get in the zone, but I just, it’s just flows. It’s, it is kind of like, it is kind of like that, um, in the zone, like how they say sometimes basketball players be in the zone, right? Yeah. It’s, it is kind of that in the zone sense. Yeah. You do get in the zone though.
Sevan Matossian (28:52):
And so you have these, basically you have these, are they competing with each other? Your, your job and, and sex, money, murder and this desire to rap. Are those the two big things in your life from a young age?
Hocus 45th (29:05):
Well, I tell you this much every time I pursued my music, every time I got a positive result, every time I would revert back to the streets, I would get a negative result. Meaning I would, I would, you know, be faced with some problems, issues in the streets, or I would go to jail every single time. But every time I pursued my passion a music, it was always like, I, I told you a story about my father. It was like, oh, good. Later on with my friends, yo good. Then we the neighborhood like, oh, we really like this. It was, and it just, you know, kept growing but always got a positive result. So yeah, it kind of, it definitely is. And I think it is, it’s like that, that for, for all rappers who come from the street, it’s always gonna conflict.
Sevan Matossian (29:44):
Always. And, and what are the problems with, um, obviously the problems with the crack business is you’re dealing with, um, people who fucking have, will fucking steal your shit, right? You’re dealing, you’re dealing with the cops, uh, you’re dealing with, uh, uh,
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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