Episode 2 - Dr. Adrian L. Miller

Ashanti Abdullah (00:00.174)
What was I talking to? I talked to Fab 5 Freddy for about an hour and a half, two weeks ago. And Fab was like, yo, hey, I didn't know all this about you. And I'm like, and I didn't know all this about you. And he was just like, yeah, man, you know, people miss a whole point of me, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I thought I studied you enough. I was like, I'm proud to call you a friend and somebody I can pick up the phone and reach out to and be on the one with. So to me, that's...

That's the shit. Welcome to The Loadout. I'm your host, Ashanti Abdullah. And each week we take you behind the scenes of the live music industry. From touring tips and industry insights to candid conversations with artists, managers, and music professionals, we uncover the stories and strategies that make live performances unforgettable. Whether you're an artist, a tour manager, or just a live music enthusiast, this podcast is your backstage pass to the world of touring and live events.

Today, we're thrilled to have a truly remarkable guest with us, Adrian Miller. Adrian is a music entertainment executive, manager, music supervisor, and executive producer known for his work with artists like Anderson Paak, Flo Rida, Daz Dillinger, and many more. As the owner of Zion, Adrian has shaped numerous careers and produced award -winning albums. He's worked with labels such as Warner Brothers, Jive, and Loud Records

I don't know, so many more contributing to the success of Coolio, House of Pain, The Far Side, and we could go on forever. Join us as we dive into Adrian's behind the scenes business strategies and creative process. Let's get started.

Adrian, what's up, dog? Happy to have you on the show. Hi, you guys. Man, thanks for being on the show. I'm really excited to have you here. I've known you for a while. So I wanted to get you on here and talk a little bit about your time in the business also with Anderson Paak and Daz and Coolio back in the day and all the stuff you did at Warner and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's get started at the beginning though. You're out of St. Louis, right? Yes, sir. Original hometown, homegrown.

Ashanti Abdullah (02:11.33)
How'd you get, how'd you end up from St. Louis into the LA area and working in the business? Well, I think the St. Louis to LA thing, I gotta blame it on my mama. Yeah, she chased down her high school sweetheart. So I was in LA at like age six, you know, from St. Louis, but between St. Louis and LA pretty much all my life, I was reared here.

under the guise of Royce Davis. was Joyce and Royce Davis. So they couldn't pass up that namesake. And, you know, it was, I got a brother with my dad. You know, my mom is just me. We come to LA. I get another brother. That didn't quite work out how I was supposed to. And then, you know, like how all families do, we reconvene later.

I think people forget that you can reconvene later and that the kids are byproducts, not necessarily the ones who guide the family. Nowadays, everybody's kids guide the family. So if the kid don't want to go to this school, or the kid don't want to move, it becomes a whole thing. And so I was the kid who had to go to this school and had to move. So I wound up in LA. Moms had it that way. it was out to Dena, Pasadena.

Hossie in the Heights and then LA, LA proper, which I think they're trying to call it Inglewood now, but I grew up by sportsman's park, which is now Jesse Owens Park. Gotcha. The music and the vibrations to the music always kept me coming back. Gotcha. Your father's record store, did it have anything to do with your passion for music? And you remembered that. That's funny. You must do really know your boy. That my

Dancing, my aunt used to always have a new move she would show me. It was the dancing, it was the music, it was the affinity for music that I think on my entire family from my uncles and my aunts, yeah, my dad's record store did play a part just because I felt close to the vinyl. It wasn't even about the artist, it was actually about the vinyl, being able to read what was on the back of the liner notes. That was ill to me as a kid.

Ashanti Abdullah (04:35.896)
checking it out. didn't realize those guys were collectively getting together to record. Right, right. Or like how it works. I remember back in the day with the same same kind of thing. I remember riding on the bus and listening to a tape and trying to figure out how that even works. Like how did their voices get on the tape? Like that. How about how about I was in a program at school. I'll never forget it. Manhattan Place. They used to ask

I don't know if this sounds right, but I'm gonna say it out loud. The principal of the school play for the Rams, he was retired. Forgot his name, I wanna just say Jim Baker for the time being. people do the research, they'll realize that at Manhattan Place, we had a real Rams player as our vice principal. And he was just like, you don't get into trouble, what do you like to do? And I said, I like to listen to people, I like to hear what people's stories are. Even then as a kid, I must have been like, I don't

seven or eight years old. And he said, here, I want you he's like, you got to, I don't even remember where the tape that came from, but it was the Panasonic one. Yeah, the little red record on it. pull it out, it's got the little trotting. It was a little rectangle. Yeah, all speaker. He gave me that he said, go around and tape your friends and take their tape their stories. And then if you hear something like worthwhile,

So I was doing that for like a week straight, I was also, I also had another cassette and I would listen to the jams on that one. And so we'd be listening to the jams and then I was like, yeah, I got to tape you. And then I was like, say some shit. And then my friend would say some shit, whatever, Dorian, he would always just clown. He would say some stuff. And it wasn't nobody rapping or anything like then. He was just like, I'm Dorian from 70s and 90s, crazy shit.

You know, I would tape over him. I didn't know how to keep the recordings. Right. So he would go, you know, principle come back around. He's like, well, how many people did you tape? I said I taped a lot of people, but then it would be just be Dorian. Just one. So I was learning. I didn't know then I was learning how to interview people. I was learning how to let people tell their story and get clowned and all that. But I was also jamming good music in that era too, because.

Ashanti Abdullah (07:02.08)
I was always the guy they said, and every kid from my school remembers me as the guy with the jams. I always had the jams and they would be like, you my friend James was running, we were in the school last day of school, was like, hold my vinyl, hold my record. He said, don't know my vinyl, he said, hold my record. It was a Rick James brand new vinyl of the album, L7 Square. And I was holding

He ran off to go get into a fight. And I wasn't trying to be in the fight with him. And I was just holding the vinyl and he never came back. And that was my first piece That was the first one. Yeah, Rick James. That's funny, actually. I want to say it was my, I'm a little younger than you, not much though, let's not. My first vinyl, my mom, it was my 11th birthday, bro, 10th birthday.

And my mom knew I wanted to be a DJ at some point in life. So she set me up with a whole DJ setup, which by the way was a big deal for her because she was a single mom with no money, bro. So she set me up and she got me two singles. First single was Big Biz Markie. And the A side was, you you got what I need. And the B side was a song called Mudfoot.

I don't know if anybody remembers that, but it was a dance thing he was trying to do at the time and had Bill Cosby on it. And then the other one was the Tectonics. I sat outside and I mixed those two records probably. I brought my mom's speakers outside and shit. And I probably sat outside and mixed those two records all summer long, bro, for the whole entire neighborhood. You had to be outside or you had to be in your window. You can't do it for yourself. You gotta do it for the people, bro.

I was ready to whoop my ass by the end of that summer, bro. They were like, bro, can you get some new records? Can you get some new records? Yeah, so that was the early days. And then you were out at the University of Tulsa. You pursued theater, right? What made you do that? Yes, sir. I was into theater. I thought I wanted to be an actor. I was an actor. Life was I was acting my way through life. I acted like I was wealthy. Yeah.

Ashanti Abdullah (09:24.03)
I acted like was prosperous. I saw myself on the other side of prosperity. I was wearing clothes that I didn't need to be in. I was fronting like I had my car in the shop for three years straight. This mysterious car in the shop eventually got out the shop and I had to show face. But yeah, I was an actor, man. And I was a writer and I really had

I really felt like I had dope stories because think about all the stories my friends used to tell me. Whether I recorded it or not, I would just always have these ill -ass stories and I knew how to write them down and pay attention to how to put them down. yeah, theater class and I played a role early on in high school

it just clicked, learning the lines, knowing the blocking, understanding the naturalisms, how to get into character, how to help your whole crew feel like they're a part of the situation so that they, look good, but then you even look better when the grip or the second hand or anybody on the crew around helping me, I made everybody in the room feel like they were a part of something big.

My teacher noticed that in me, so she was just like, should think about maybe going to school for theater. And I didn't even know you could go to school for theater. I was a history major as well, I like a double major, but it was theater and history. The theater thing got me the piece to be in school. I thought I was gonna swim and do history, but that wasn't where the scholarship came from, and I actually got a scholarship. And it was an insane, full ride.

type of vibe. And, you know, I did a play, the play got major write ups, I had all kinds of, you know, people scoping me out for TV projects and, you know, little commercials in Tulsa, you know, all that, all that, all that work. I got so much opportunity out there, that it was just easy for me to take the next steps, which was like, let me go to the radio and TV stations and see if I thought I was gonna be a weatherman automatically. I thought maybe he was gonna give

Ashanti Abdullah (11:40.792)
give a brother a job. They was like, it's a no. You're black. Good luck. There's no black radio. There's no black TV stations. So I went to the black radio station and I got hired. I got hired as a salesman because it was KB. Okay, right? Yeah, man. And Eddie Harris hired your boy and it was a summer of you want to be on the air? Here you go. And he gave me a broom and a mop and a dustpan and he said, get to work.

So I was a station janitor for like three months, but it was humbling. I was in school, I was on the radio at school anyway, so I didn't really trip off of being on the air so much as I was just trying to be in the room with him. And he trusted me, I eventually did sales, because of the whole experience of being on the commercials and stuff, I had a whole sales repertoire. I sold, outsold everybody.

several months in a row and so I realized that the head sales guy had all the time on the air. And so I just, I traded up my time for me to do my own thing and nobody was playing hip hop. And that was easy for me to get on because I was just taking what I was doing at school and doing it on a regular station and just learn. So I just soaked up as much game as possible. It was people visiting the station, regular record guys, Mike Jones, Tony Rice.

Belinda Wilson, Mark Boy, God Rest His Soul, Mark used to show me everything in Mark work for EMI. So they were reps coming through Tulsa trying to get their records aired, not to mention Orlando, Sharon and the team over at Delicious Vinyl. All these reps would come through and ask me to play the records because we were a billboard, we were an easy ask. And so when we got our status as a billboard recording station,

It was just, you know, regular and I could play the records, but I didn't have the permissions because I wasn't a music director or a program director and let Reggie Reg Reggie Davis from Detroit used to be the music director. He used to be on my ass. You can't play that record. I'm like, why not? He's like, because we don't play rap. I'm like, I just played it. What you mean? We don't. I feel like we do now. Yeah, he was mad.

Ashanti Abdullah (14:08.288)
Reggie used to be on me, but then I give him a ride home because he didn't have a car. And I live, and the cold game is I live three blocks from the station and I went to school close, but he went to ORU, which was all the way across town. So I had to, I had his whole ear. I was bending that fool's ear. He was just like, we'll never play hip hop. And he was, he was one of the first ones also like, I don't know what you see in this. And I'm like,

My age, what you mean you don't know what I see in it? He was just an armed Negro to death. And he's still alive, that's my man to this day. He's in Detroit, he went through radio and did all kinds of stuff. But anyway, long story short, yeah, theater scholarship, history major, TU. They have me to be back. So it feels like, you know, it's funny, because I was just talking about this one of my other, actually on the first episode with Raka.

about how we kind of all end up in this business. And, you know, there's a lot of schools and there's a lot of little places you can go and learn how to be a manager and things of that nature. And I've gone and spoke at a lot of those schools and had, you know, gotten paid to go talk to these kids. And I kind of generally tell them, if you don't got the body for it, might as well quit right now, because it's not something you can really learn. either have the intuition of how to do it or it's really hard to learn,

But I think another thing that gets passed up is people kind of want to slingshot their way into it or do it quick and they don't realize like it's paying dues is a big part of it, right? Most of the people that are doing that you see doing anything or behind the scenes are doing whatever they're doing. They've spent years mimicking, paying attention to in the right rooms with the right people, learning all of this. It's not something you can go to school and someone can just teach you on a book. You know what I mean? It's not, it's not how it works.

So it's interesting to hear that, you know, obviously your path led through that way as well. So after working in music, I'm sure you got some connect or working at the radio station, I'm sure you got some connections from that. And then how did you transition into like breaking through in the music management world or just into the music industry? I don't know that there was one thing that did it. I think that I was putting programs together for the school and for the community. I was

Ashanti Abdullah (16:33.772)
I would sell advertising space and then I would have to show up and do something for the space sold for that store. So I would hold contests and people wanted to rap. So I'm like, yeah, bring your behind up here and grab the mic from me and rap. And Reggie didn't like that, but it was content for the actual, yeah, he wasn't having it, but it was content for the station. And so you couldn't front. I'd sold the time and I had to fill it in with whatever I wanted.

And I remember selling some time, believe it or not, they had just built a new police station. And I mean, to this day, that's still one of the most state of the art facilities to take people to go to jail. But the police were there full time and they had a basketball court, they had an auditorium. It was the illest thing I've seen in a long time, but they wanted to jump it off. And so I sold the time, I had the space. And then they were like, well, what are you going to do with the time? And I'm

you know what do i do with a talent show and i put a whole talent show together and everybody was rapid and i was the guy that you went to adrienne a love you know kb okay so i had the weekend madness show popping by this i was off friday until sunday morning on the air coming back and forth for the evening shift

I promoted the heck out of that show. got some of the most talented individuals who were not already locked up in Tulsa to come out. And you know, we saw some of the most interesting performances and I got a chance to see that at the time my friends were these kids called the Bermuda boys. They were the click, hold Tulsa down. were very hip hop. They were lyrically entwined. They were a little too, you

we gotta be this and we gotta be that. So they were. So they were a little bit of heavy D, meets a little bit of tribe, meets a lot of bit of themselves. It kind of felt really like two put together. Like we gotta get our outfits to match. Got you, got you. Yeah. And they were kind of like, you know, two fat guys and then one white boy who was lyrical. was the funniest thing, but they were my homeboys too. So I can't front on them guys. Got to risk Brad and JJ. She got.

Ashanti Abdullah (18:55.202)
Brad food those guys passed away, but Joe Joe and I are still close to this day. That's crazy lives in Atlanta. Yeah, so I had another kid who was always calling me on the radio station every every week every time I was on the air. This kid will call me and you know, I'm gonna play I'm gonna play you my record one day a love and I'm like, okay, Emmanuel, I'm gonna hear it when you when play it. Yeah, you you you and my brother dating the same girl a love I'm gonna play you my record a love I'm like, all

And then he was just like, and my boy gonna be in that contest, A -Love. And I was like, Emmanuel, you gotta do a sign up if you're in it. Easy. And they signed up. And to my surprise, they were dope. They were as dope as these guys who was always doing it at every show, the Bermuda boys who held the city down. And then out of nowhere is this kid who was really quiet. I said, where you go by? And he's just like, I go by the judge. And I said, okay. And he's just like, and this is the

Meanwhile, we on a phone call. I can't see who he talking about. I said, well, yeah, y 'all sign up judge and jury or whatever. And it was just funny. Now that I think about it, we had the whole thing at a police quarters and he was calling himself the judge and the jury. And we had a big talent show. And at the talent show, I'm going to make it really quick because I don't think I ever told this

at the talent show, Bermuda boys deal with what were supposed to do. were nervous wrecks, they got on stage, they killed it, they were dressed alike. I wish I had had they fit on, I would have worn my fit like they fit, but I didn't. And I just knew they were gonna take it because they were the most put together thing in Tulsa, know what I mean? And then Emmanuel came out with his partner and they were some kind of dope. They had a couple of technical difficulties.

playing the keys. His partner was rapping like a father MC had a high top. At the moment, father MC was the moon. It was the jam. had an original song. They weren't hype. The partner was fluid. His vocals was right. He was singing about love and he was really kicking the lyrics and it was like, wow, y 'all are fantastic. They were dope. And the rapper was Daz.

Ashanti Abdullah (21:21.39)
Are you kidding me? Yeah, man. So Emmanuel was producing and Daz was the rapper on the mic. Emmanuel later came out with Daz. He kept telling me, you know, they didn't win. But Daz was like, that's my cousin's getting ready to put a record out. I'm moving to LA. And I'm like, OK. And he was like, Emmanuel was telling me how he was going to be on the show. And he just kept on, on, kept on. They did really, really good. They did not win.

And then the judge and the jury came out and they were on some hammer. Like, please don't hurt him. He was dancing and it was right there and hammer wasn't quite who hammer was. Yeah. And we adored hammer and it was just ill how he presented himself out of nowhere. Right. And he was even doper than that.

And so unanimously the audience said that they won. And so the judge and jury won. The Bermuda boys didn't win, but they were still rocking. And Daz didn't win, but I started managing Daz and Emmanuel. I became their manager on the site. I knew they had a record. I knew that they could do it. If anybody could do it, they had the capacity. And so I was just trying to manage them and I had my own little crew. We were called One Nation. And that was cool.

So yeah, man, Tulsa taught me a lot about being an entrepreneur Negro. I love it. love it. So you know, but like I was back and forth between Tulsa and LA. And during the time of me having that talent show, was trying to put together the same kind of vibe here in LA. And that's how we started the good life. Gotcha. Okay. And so that was next. Yeah. The good life was next. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got out of.

I was in school for like a last year and came here over the summer and my cousin and I went to a community meeting about having an open mic space and I was all about open mic spaces. I'd already been familiar with can't curse on the wrong, you know, I wasn't really cursing anyway. I was pro black, not smoking, not drinking. At the Africa patch, was, you know, history major. running around school creating havoc about arguments and stuff that probably shouldn't exist.

Ashanti Abdullah (23:44.454)
And yeah, man, you know, I got here and B Hall was like, hey, anybody got some bread to help me kind of start this thing? And I gave all the little money I had, which later she said was the contribution needed to kind of kick off the good life. That's what's up. Yeah, you know, and that's that's when I finally came back from school. It was going on and I was getting invited to it. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know, you know, because it wasn't called a good life. And I got there and I saw what was happening and I went, you know, this is the kind of stuff I want to be a part

So was my cousin and my best friend or my cousin's best friend My cousins Lamar Kwame is my his best friend, but it's still like family to me Yeah, and so we were we were at the good life and in homegirl walked up to me. She's just like where you been? And I said, you know, I had to go to school. I go to school full time Yeah, she's like with thank you This is what we created when you we sat there and had that meeting and I was like, wow And it wasn't just rappers at the good

It was at the first meeting, the very first meeting was the guy who actually, can I say this? He wrote, what's my man's name? Brian Bellamy wrote Boys in the Hood. And told me early on about his roommate before Boys in the Hood existed, he was running around and I swear everybody who knows his story will tell the truth of

He was running around with the boys in the hood script in his back pocket the whole time. He went to SC. He was saying his roommate was John Singleton and him and his roommate was going to be filmmakers. And he never got any credit or whatever. And no disrespect to John, I never knew John. I never met John, never knew him, but I knew Brian's story from back when I was in high school, mean like college. So it was just ill that we had filmmakers then around us.

You know, yeah people who were aspiring comedians that was big boy. Yeah. Yeah, you know him and fuzzy was running around I don't say what they was into but they wasn't on no radio With damn straight skipping in fuzzy See, I'm holding your secret. Yeah What so so let me ask you this so yeah, so Would you consider your first major major industry roles like PMP and loud?

Ashanti Abdullah (26:07.456)
Are those the two first two big ones? Well, after the radio working at the radio station because I actually was I was getting ready for those jobs when I had an internship with Bill Stephanie's company. So you well, so so and we had young black teenagers. I was working at record and we were working son of a zurp. Okay, and I knew how to work records by being a part of a team and a crew. We were on regular conference calls. Barry Benson, myself, Jameson Grillo.

kelly woo duckie you it was a gang of us that stayed in the game from start to finish maybe not kelly but it was a bunch of us that stayed in the business doing radio promotions down the line and when i came to LA it was one of those parties i went to i saw paul steward and i was like look i'm getting ready to come work for you and he was just like yeah come on man you know when you get out of school come do your thing

I was serious, as far as I was concerned, had it. To me, I had a job. I was coming out of college, back to LA with a job, no matter what nobody said, because Paul said it. And I stayed in touch with him. And we made it happen, you know, by happenstance. He and Malik showed up, gave me a chance. And it was a close -knit group of us, no matter how you look at it or spin it. We were all a unit. We were a family.

whether it was dysfunctional or not. But Paul, yeah, Paul PMP, you know, was, once upon a time I was the tattoo, I was the guy. You know, I never portrayed myself as no pimp or nothing like that, but I was definitely PMP to the heart. And Reggie called me and said, dude, what are you doing running around on the streets in LA? You can't get no work like that. And I said, yes, I can, this is a job, I'm working. And we were working records for Rifkin and everybody, right?

Paul would take jobs and be like, yo, now you got some work. Go do it. Yeah. Well, whatever it is. And because the PMP was on Gardner and Melrose out of his house. And we were living in the hood and Steve Rifkin was right across the street in an office, like right across directly. You walk out Paul's front door, you can see Steve's office. You can yell at Fade upstairs. OK. You get his attention. You better not yell at Steve. But you could definitely be like, Fade.

Ashanti Abdullah (28:31.246)
Let's smoke something, you know, it was easy. So in that era, it felt like a perpetual summertime, you know? It really did just feel like it wasn't gonna never end and hip hop was starting and it was blossoming. And you gotta think this was before House of Pain. Right, right. Because we eventually, Paul eventually was managing House of Pain, but we were working some of the most weirdest records and then we were working some dope records and then we were seeing some of the dopest artists because he was a promoter.

and a manager and I was seeing both sides of it. Gotcha. So you got a chance to get a good education with that. And then you, after that, looks like you transitioned into Immortal and Warner or Immortal with Warner? Yeah, well, was PMP. It was Hits Magazine. I helped create the rap music chart for and then they told me we wasn't gonna do a chart no more. We don't need

hip -hop ain't gonna blow up. They sounded like Reggie. And the crazy thing is, I must admit, Reggie called me and got me the job working for his uncle at Hits. So I went to Hits and I never gave up on the hip -hop thing and Graham Armstrong, God bless his soul, Graham taught me how to reach out to my community, which was Black Radio. I would not know.

Well, I would know Doc Winter because I used to call up to the station in St. Louis and bother the shit out of Doc and Lisa Canning all the time. I just always did that. Jockenstein, all those guys, would blow their phones up. Thinking, if you on the radio, we on the radio. If I get a chance to talk on the radio, you're going let me. And then that grew me into wanting to be on the air and I did it. And so the next wave was seeing all these promoters promote their music.

to radio guys nationwide and Graham was like, gotta talk to all these guys. You gotta be able to reach them. Cause I'm going to go in the back and do whatever I'm doing, but you just, your responsibility. And I got so good at it. If you was at your girlfriend's house, your baby mama couldn't find you. I to get your, to get your report. I your report at a certain time and I didn't, I didn't take no for an answer. was like, Adrian, it is Adrian cat is serious. And I'd be hunting you down and I'll be like, well, if I can't find you here, what am I gonna find

Ashanti Abdullah (30:55.618)
And if I can't find you here, who gonna give me the list? I was panicked about getting the list each week by any means, because there was no internet. And you had to fax it over because it had to be verified. So I would write your list down for you and make sure you agree to it and let Graham hear it. But Graham would be like, out of my office. I'm like, no, but Chuck Atkins is gonna give me his list over the phone.

He's like that's not how you got to do it I was like well that's how we got to do it because I can't miss no list can't miss the devil and I was And so I had all these radio programmers operations managers MDs. I had all the information coming out of radio I knew it wasn't one person running or steering the the decisions in our station So I learned that being one of the guys in the other side making it. Yeah, you know,

When I got fired from hits, I was heartbroken because that was a real job. It was benefits and everything. they were like, cut our losses. Get rid of that little Negro boy. Get him out of there. So Dennis and Lenny let me go. And they didn't realize that I was going to hold a grudge for the rest of my career because they went in high. They went in high, Ricky Lee and all this other craziness. And I was like, we created the Raptor. Y 'all don't want to give me no props. Y 'all just fired a brother. But Rifkin.

Fade was smart enough to say, little bro, come over here and work for me. I'm like, what am I going do for you? He's just like, you can work there rifkin'. And that was a, it was a real promotions company. A real management firm. Steve was a real name in the game at that point. He had just finished working with new addition. He had all these accounts and he had an office. Most importantly, I would have been working back in a real world. Steve asked me the most pivotal

he said so you got the robo -dex as it were robo -dex he's like tall the radio that guys he's a can you reach the radio dot and and fade out for me is is like a drinker region as quick as i can and i was like yeah he's just like he took the test in the upper and we asked me let's just say he said how do you reach jammy jam jammin jimmy ulson i said well you know i can call the correct at his office or

Ashanti Abdullah (33:09.794)
He's not there. probably call him at his auntie's because he goes over there at the the the lunch or whatever usually. And then if he's not, he's at this bar down the street from there, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he's just looking at me like you really do have all this shit. And I'm like, yeah. And I had like all the DJs, not part of them, all of them nationwide. And that was in an era where that list was the holy grail. Yeah, that's gold. Yeah. You know, but something I want to add.

If they needed a list, Adrian shared it. And not because we worked at Steve Rifkin's company together, but because we all wanted the experience of being able to say, oh, you got hired over here, you need a list, boom. You would collect lists and you would combine your list and your list would be the dynamic that we all work from. That's the way do it. Yeah, because no matter what what we realize is it can be 50 hip hop records coming out. There was room for hundreds. Nobody knew that at the time.

So, and the things were changing and so that's kind of the way we operated. It was a different faction. We were a family. We couldn't wait. We didn't know what was gonna happen when we went to the Gavin as a convention, but we couldn't wait to go again because we realized afterwards it was really abrupt. We got a chance to see everybody that we talked to. Everybody that, you get off the phone with somebody and Matty C had just talked to them and they would be like, yo, Matty C, what's up? It was like a.

It was like being in jail, you would fly kites to different prisons on different coasts, but you learn about new music. That's how Wutane got signed to a company on the West Coast. So I went to Steve Rifkin's office and then, speaking of Wutane, Steve will never tell the story the right way, but yeah, I got fired from Loud and got hired by Amanda and Happy to go.

started this company called BuzzTone Immortal. Okay, yeah. And that's how that started. And from BuzzTone Immortal, I went to go work for Bidding. But I was always working with managers that were entrepreneurs, so I got a chance to see both sides of it. That BuzzTone, the management company, became Immortal the label. Yeah. And you in A &R over there? Or what were you doing? Well, I forced my way into A &Ring because before I left Loud and helping out with, you know, the discovery of certain

Ashanti Abdullah (35:34.03)
well -known super groups. also have my own production company over there that Kevin Lyles and I manage the artists for. So that was was saying the most because know Kev and I still rock together on projects. You know we have Blake Iana signed his label 300 Venturewood you know Warner and Lanning. So it was all these relationships that you never know if they're gonna pan out or turn into something they all and they all did. Sure. And you

I don't feel like I'm the smartest guy in the room for keeping the relationships, but I wasn't the guy who was going to be quickly deterred by saying, later for this person. They don't do things the right way. You know, I'm more or less like, hey, we can go out of the box about it and then be men and then change the exchange from being mad at each other to figuring out how to work together. Yeah, you was. But at that moment and even now, I feel

My asset, my biggest asset is that you're not going to outwork me. I'm stay working, I'm going stay talking, I'm going stay in the rooms, I'm going to stay busy, and then I'm going stay listening and learning. I think listening and learning is my forte and then outworking everybody. I don't care about outshining nobody because I can't outshine most of these Negroes out here. I can't do it. Our business, from me being on the manager side, you being on the manager side, our business is the important people knowing who we

Not the crowd, not the people off front. Do you know what I mean? Like that's our business. You know what I'm saying? absolutely said it. A &R, they're, and then you decided to, when did you decide to found Zion and how did Anderson Paak play a part? How did all this come about? man, come on. You talking about never stopping the hustle. Yeah. Always got a side piece hustle going on.

So from Immortal, was making records, executive producing records and making records with Loud. My first one was an artist out of Philly. He went to Temple. His name's Hans Sol. Hans and I did that project at Loud together. It created an avenue for my boy Speaks to be a director. He did all the Coolio videos. We missed the whole Coolio thing, but that was a whole era for me as well.

Ashanti Abdullah (37:59.19)
Tommy Boy being closely related to them. I I never signed an artist to the label personally, other than helping Coolio get signed. give Paul Stewart all the credit. He was the manager. worked for him. But Coolio brought me the demo and I took it to Pete. He had a relationship. You know, it's all good. How'd you find, Coolio just hunted you down or how did that happen? He was from my neighborhood. Truth be told, a lot of people didn't realize I wasn't from Tulsa.

dudes who knew me in LA and saw me all the time walking around with a backpack on, they were all like, that's Adrian, he live off 103rd, you know, what you talking about? He from Tulsa. And it was never even a thing, you know, like, and if I wasn't at home, I was in Compton on the East side with my cousins and so I didn't even trip off for like not being from LA. I felt like I had an upper hand with them thinking I was a country bumpkin. Got you, got you. So yeah, in that era, it

BuzzTone Immortal, I left that company, because I didn't feel like I was being appreciated and I could grow. somehow, someway, you know, I think it was the matter that we also had all kinds of music. I brought my boy over from Hits Magazine. You got to know I stayed true and loyal. My boy Paul Pontius came over and then Paul's whole influence of, yo, A -Log, we got to take this group in here. And I'm like, well, what are they called? He's like LAPD. And I was like,

Alright, and it was a rock band and I'm like, I love rock music. And so, and Paul is my family. So I was just like, yo, I got you this job over here. Don't give me fire. Don't fuck this shit up. first thing they say is, okay, we gonna sign them. We gonna give you guys some points on the records. I don't like the name of the group. That was the first time that somebody told me to change the name of a group. And I'm

Well, that's their name. I don't know what the heck you want me to do. Right. He's just like, I'm not signing in no group called LAPD. That's just not happening. Yeah. And I was happy saying that. And, you know, they came back around after the weekend and they were like, we want to call ourselves Korn. So, you know, got them on boarded and got points for the records that I never saw.

Ashanti Abdullah (40:17.03)
And was one of those things where if Happyhead just did things the different way, he would have had a crazy team because we bringing all kinds of records through that company. And that's what I, that was a mistake. His mistake is something I had picked up on and I learned. And that is, he said to me, you can't work with your friends. And all I knew up to that point was that I worked with my friends. I fought with my friends. I beat my friends. I was competitive with my friends and I lost against my friends.

But it were all my friends and family. wasn't nobody I didn't rock with in this game that wasn't. And I didn't understand. That was when he was trying to teach me how to be cutthroat. Yeah. And I'm and I'm like, I don't I don't got to be cutthroat to be my best version of myself. But he and I stayed cool. But he used to let me hire my friends. Right. And I would have my friends, Paul Ponies, James, James Andrews, John Stockton.

You know, I made sure all my people, if I ate, they ate. And if I wasn't eating, I tell them straight up, hey, I don't know what to do. I got John, everybody knows John from Def Jam. And when Kevin called me, my old partner, and said he needed a guy on the West Coast, who you think I gave a job to when I couldn't hire my own guy, because we didn't have a budget for it. Knowing we had the budget for it. I knew we had the budget for it. I knew how to count money faster than anybody.

I was always been about my bread. to tell me we don't have a budget to hire people, that broke my heart. And so I just knew it was time for me to, I knew my time was up at that company. And Benny had kept hearing about this guy who was doing rock. He was making hip hop records. He was managing DJs on the radio. He was just, he was me. And I got to him through Dan Charnas and Peter Edge. And they vouched for me like nobody's business.

And Dan was like, gotta meet Adrian. Dan would give me the keys to his apartment, leave. He was my A &R guy. He was one of my closest friends and still is to this day. I love him like family. And I helped him in LA. I helped a lot of people. When they came to LA for the first time, if people came into town and they needed assistance or help, I would lend it as if I went to their town and tried to do, what I'm saying? So Eric Brooks, Dan Charnas.

Ashanti Abdullah (42:39.906)
you know, Mark Boyd, the list goes on and on for people who would touch down. And Dan went to go work for Rick Rubin. And you know, that's how I got signed as an artist. And this was right when I was getting hired. He was like, you should go do A &R for Ben. And I was like, that was the most covenant opportunity in job. I needed, I didn't realize I needed the experience on my resume to say Warner Brothers, but

When it happened, was so surreal. And here I am now after seeing Benny and Will on a cover of Ebony magazine in Tulsa saying, I'm going to do that. That's crazy. Here I am. Here I am. I'm doing it every day now. Yeah. And I always tell people, condition yourself to see yourself in that picture. Because that's what I did. I saw myself in the picture with Will and Benny. And you know, I don't run up on Will like, yo, you got to take a picture with me.

but I saw Will walking out of a studio the other day and we just did BET because I managed Sunday's service. So I'm with him, you know, like, and it's like, what's up, A, what you doing over here? I was like, I think the same thing you got going on over here. guess I'm meeting the same guy and you know, he's laughing and we're laughing and you know, it was a real quick in and out, but yeah, you know, I'm traveling in those circles now and it's, still a little bit of like, you got to pinch yourself in those moments.

It happens all the time. mean, even even everything that I'm doing and where I've ended up from the from the day I started when I didn't know how music got on the tape and where I'm at now. I get it. I get it, bro. It's the same. It's always like, man, what is this really happening right now? It's kind of crazy. Kind of crazy to me. I'm here. Yeah, I got to jump back in and pinch myself. So you you. OK, so so Zion happened. Zion is now your baby.

Yeah, I mean the thing with Warner, it was an end of an era. I saw Doug Morris come into a company over at Mo Austin, who ran a company from Jump Street. And Doug, you know, is a funny, serious individual. I had an opportunity to work with him. And I would hear bosses and this and that and ownership and I've seen some crazy deals go down early on.

Ashanti Abdullah (45:08.716)
you know at Warner I mean to tell you I saw I saw Jeff get his entire setup that took him into Alicia Keys hmm I saw all that happening and I was like wait a minute what and I was dealing with Tommy Boy and American and all the labels I dealt with all of them because Benny was like you know what work with him so right after leaving Warner Brothers or y 'all got fired

I just knew Alison was gonna keep me too. That's the funniest shit in the world. She fired me. And I was like, why you gonna fire me? I make you an executive producer on my record. volume 10 album, she was working for Skip Miller and I invited her to be an executive producer after getting permission from her boss. And the first thing she do when she gets an appointment to a company is fire me? And I'm

What you firing me for when we got all this bread over here? Because again, I knew how much money the budget was. Yeah, yeah. And they were just like, we don't got room for you on this system. You don't, you know, I set up like by design how I want you to be. We don't know what you do here. And I'm like, what? Wait a minute. I got a dope group here. I got a couple of dope things over here. It's a no for me. And I, and I love Alison and she taught me something.

that shit happens and it doesn't happen how I want it to. So as unfortunate what it was, just told her, was like, well, word to the wise, I would keep this guy on staff if I were you because he's going to be the glue for anything you're trying to do here. And if you fire him, you're to have to figure it out. And she kept that guy. And when she left the company, she kept that guy. didn't last. They were short lived. Long story short, I had a really good contract.

Shout out to Jonathan Pollock, my attorney at the time. He set me up right with a really good deal. Benny gave me a really good situation. I don't know what everybody else's deal was, but I had a bomb deal that when I got away, I left Warner Brothers with a little couple of bucks I had saved up anyway. I left Warner Brothers as a millionaire. And I was set up and I was trying to figure out what my next move was.

Ashanti Abdullah (47:29.806)
I started a company with my boy Jordan. both put up, you know, 50 K 25 K something like that. Let's say 25. I think that's safer. I don't think my chief has put up a thousand. We started a company called worldwide heavyweight. Okay. And that, and that they keep in mind, that was when they had TRC distribution and my, my best friend, my brother, Kelsey, Kelsey goes, yo man, we got it. You got

do some shit like different. And I was like, got an idea, I got a plan. And I had been watching DJ Rectangle's mixtapes, how they were getting going. And I felt like there was something, I don't even know how I got the story that he was unhappy. But I got the story, the story came back to me that he was not happy with his current situation. And I went to him and I said, hey, what if I could do this a different way with you? And he said, yeah, and Kelsey and I.

tied it up, we tied the business up and the next thing you know, was mixing, we was releasing all of his catalog, all of DJ Red Taggles catalog and I had my own distro company, Worldwide Heavyweight Distribution and people started bringing us distribution opportunities for whether we were doing with the one stops, whether we were selling direct with our own product. We got so good at the game, the bootleggers were hitting

They were hitting us for 30 ,000 units when we would come. So I won't say how legit we were or were not, but we were, everything had a barcode, everything was above board. Violet Brown used to buy my product in a big way. And when we had a moment of grace, I wanted to try other things. We ventured into, well, I ventured into,

It's interesting because I was so scared of cannabis at the time. smoked or whatever, but my boy was like, you gotta be in the cannabis game. And I'm like, that's illegal. the previous tenants before us got raided in the same spot. And I was just like, dude, you gotta stop coming up here with X amount of weed. And so interestingly enough, he's a big player in the cannabis industry

Ashanti Abdullah (49:51.554)
But I was like, yo, you can do that. I'm a ventrote over here. we started to, because we making so much money from mixtapes, we had Rectangle, Baker Boys, Flex, Ron G, Swaying Tech. I put out first vinyl for Crooked Eye. And Crooked, you you look like Crooked Eye too. He's the Y 'all related? Nah, we ain't related, but he's the homie. But yeah, I released his first vinyl.

And then from there, we kind of split up the company a little bit. And I went into business with Schechter, Jonathan Schechter. We did the Hip Hop Hunnies. I was helping him run that out here. Because I felt like what better place to be in than a place where I can do beats and baddies. And that was when I kind of created Zion and that was 1999. Yeah. So that's how long Zion has been in business. Got you.

And you know, it was a lot of different phases of things, but we started off with a deal with Ventura distribution. That's crazy. Image Entertainment. So what were the hurdles though, when you first started?

I don't know. I think one of the main things is I didn't understand infrastructure on me. All on me. It was like I was starting a whole other business because I didn't have my business partner who's the king of setting up stuff. I was the king of releasing fly shit. He was the king of setting up stuff. business of it, So we had DJ Rectangle and he set it up to be a smart business and we was clowning. Yeah. Then I had to

do all of that and he wasn't a part of it and so I and I was in a whole different game I wasn't in a mixtape business anymore I was doing DVDs so it was different products it was infrastructure it was you know set up the rescheduled the marketing and everything I had to have a product that was firing the next wave you have to keep reinventing yourself and I try to tell artists if you invented yourself once you

Ashanti Abdullah (52:03.596)
reinvent yourself twice and you can help somebody else do it. Take your skill set and help them grow. But I stayed trying to manage artists and that was the one thing that everybody knew me for. They were like, you're a good guy, you know what you're doing. Stay in this with us and you know, it'll pay off down the line. So, you know, it was a dark time for me. At that moment, I was pretty much

What do I do? was at a crossroads in life. I kind of disappear for 10 years to just be on a farm in the middle of nowhere and just be alone. I bought a house and just chilled, disappeared. And that was actually the most curing time for me. The healing time for me was to spiritually be enlightened and connect to my, to my inner self and take two steps back off of the bull crap that was just the rat race. I don't I'll take vacations.

So Zion started with me taking a real mental takeaway and reestablishing myself and being proud of who I was. And I got into Jamaican music a lot more. And I was in the Caribbean strain. I was managing producers. And I had Yeti Beats. Yeah. It's crazy. I hate to bust in, but it's crazy how our stories are

somewhat aligned because when I got fired from Rhymesayers and I had the idea for Turn Well at that time, right? But I was like, I need to go to the West Coast or something. need to like, man, I came out here, I probably did more acid than anybody's done in their life. I did all kinds of beach life, you know what I mean? I did every kind of Wow.

thought process to really kind of get myself back into this, you know, and when we, you saw me during that period of when I was just kind of like, you know what I'm saying? Just floating along. Yeah, I was curious about you too because interestingly enough, I didn't know a lot about rhyme sayers, but you know, some of the main artists of that era were artists that I was helping kind of initiate their careers. Right. You know, I can't take any credit for exhibit. Yeah.

Ashanti Abdullah (54:29.568)
Razz cash, dilated. But in and around all of those guys, was always around. These were my fam. And now, By the way, Rocca only knows you as A -Love. He refuses to call you Adrian. It's like, you mean A -Love? I say yes. He cool, tell him I said does. And the crazy thing is, I know Rocca as a youngster. He's so young.

I remember him coming up with, you know, when I had the hooligans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. bottom line, that's how I Rocco was through the hooligans and they were kids. Yeah. So it was just, you know, we've had really many iterations of our life. Yeah. And I'm so proud of it being in and around hip hop as a cult. Like I can say culture because I've seen every aspect and ratio of this business and I know all the players from all the beginning parts.

And you don't meet everybody. And so I'm super excited when I meet like a legend in game. And then, you know, like, what was I talking to? I talked to Fab Five Freddy for about an hour and a half, two weeks ago. And Fab was like, yo, hey, I didn't know all this about you. And I'm like, and I didn't know all this about you. And he was just like, yeah, man, you know, people miss a whole point of me, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I thought I studied you enough. But I was like,

proud to call you a friend and somebody I can pick up the phone and reach out to and be on the one with. So to me, that's the shit. you know, going to buy the Rolls Royce, that's cool, I guess. I ain't never done it. But shit, talking to Fab Five Freddy for an hour and a Yeah. Crazy. Like nobody would have never told me no shit like that. And it don't add up to a lot of people. Yeah. Like, so what? You talk to some guy for an hour and a half. So what?

I'm like, don't understand, B. That's the guy. Mine was having dinner with, I think it was in Austin and probably like 2010, 11, having dinner with DJ Premier and MC8. That was like the craziest shit of ever. I was like, yo, is this really happening right now? But I'm keeping it cool. We've been around everybody, so we can't, you know what I'm saying? We keeping it cool.

Ashanti Abdullah (56:51.502)
You know, I mean we're one in the same it was never like being a car hop or you know a little too much of a fanboy To not really stay doing the work that needed to be done around them I remember moving around treacher, you know, like they wasn't naughty by nature then but then he eventually he became treach He was always super cool Vinny was my friend in the group. Like I stayed cool with Vinny. He always remembered that yeah, but the reality is

Yeah, man, you know, these are supposedly our peers. Yeah. You know, yeah, we supposed to have that much, but that was a little older than us. You know, yeah, he had it going on in a different altitude. Yeah. When I could only dream about that. Right. You know, I got got one. I got one funny story. I'm going to ask. OK, no, actually, I'm going to ask first. Let me ask you this first so we can wrap this joint up. OK, so Anderson

started off as Breezy Lovejoy. What was your involvement? How did this all happen and how did it just start? I mean, I know the story, you tell the list. I'm gonna give you the...

Ashanti Abdullah (58:02.552)
He was always super talented. I think very few people saw what I saw and could activate in the moment that I did. It was always his vision to be where he is right now. And I had a same identical kind of vision of having an artist be at a pinnacle because of who they were and how they did what they did.

and I set it up with many different artists. Some came later than others with the wave. was like, you know, that wave, my ability to create a surfboard and put him in a moment where he could ride a tunnel and he actually rode it and Sports Illustrated got the pictures at the right moment. That was a trifecta. And I was just, you know, like, wow. And he was like, wow.

connecting the dots and making sure that his dynasty and legacy lived through the test of time by really being on my point for what I had already been trained to do. I couldn't have asked for a more competent player and I hope he says he couldn't have asked for a more competent partner in business. And that's why OBE is still alive and well and we're still doing

and he's getting ready to tour Malibu. And with the Free Nats and we put out their first album. Nobody wanted to sign the Free Nationals and we did. And thanks to our commitment to excellence, you see an album getting made, I'm still able to do my A &R thing. I'm showing them all how to be positive of themselves and be producers and the next wave of things to come.

And they definitely, as a unit, had it. It was just a little bit of a push that was needed and required. And I felt like I was the one who pushed them into what it was that they now do on autopilot. And now I can do that for other artists. Now I'm in a position to do that for other artists. Prior to Anderson, it was Flowrider. Prior to Flowrider, it was Yeti Beats.

Ashanti Abdullah (01:00:25.654)
You know, it was just always my hand on the on the next wave of things to come, whether it was a producer, a writer, an artist, you know, a AP turns out he was all of those things. Yeah, right. And so you that's a that's a that's a different kind of unicorn. So, you know, I I just be laughing at the success because I feel like it can almost happen every time to different people. Yeah. But you've got it. You've got to be ready. That's all the pieces.

And you got to be ready to fall before you ready to ball. Yeah. Yeah. That's all the pieces. That's all the pieces. I think I don't think people realize it's like it's not just one thing or the other. I mean, it starts with this right person to propel it, this right person to make it. But there's all these little pieces that actually have to happen. It's a teeny bit of magic. But if you've been putting yourself in a position to get magic and you have something good, you know, the connection is there. So I didn't have a discussion with this person.

But you and I were hanging out with Sway in San Francisco. I don't know if you remember that. That was quite some time ago. You were up here for Anderson Paak had played, I think he played his first hard ticket show at the Fillmore. I came out and hung out with you that night. And then the next day me, you and Sway went out to lunch at Houston's or Hillstone, think is what it's called now. We got some.

We got some shrimp, whatever. While we're there, we're all hanging out, talking about business and whatever. And Stevie Wonder called you. And that was my closest ever coming to talk to Stevie Wonder. And I was fucking in awe of that whole situation. And it was Wait, did I have him on speakerphone? Yeah, you did. And the funniest part Hilarious. Is fucking Tway's in the background, like, cause he wanted you to put it on speakerphone cause he's behind, he's like, yo, hey Adrian, tell him I said, what's up?

Tell him I said, what's up? And this is Swyatt, Need an OG. But this is fucking Stevie Wonder, baby. You know what mean? Like, this is big business. Yeah, that's That shit had me dying. Yeah. So yeah, technically, I met him through you for five seconds while you were talking to him on the phone. Yo, listen, thank you for reminding me about that. I remember us being at lunch. I remember meeting and doing that. I did not remember the Stevie part. But so now I... Word.

Ashanti Abdullah (01:02:51.32)
Two things, number one, what's some of the craziest shit you can share behind the scenes? You got a funny story in there somewhere. And then number two is what do you leave people with and then we'll wrap it up. Yeah, I think one of the craziest things was an Anderson thing that transpired where we were doing Coachella. We got invited to do Coachella finally. We got the small tent.

And he's not a guy that wants to save money when he's doing a show. He wants to spend every dime. So if we got 15 ,000 to do something, he wants to spend 150 ,000 to make it work. so, you know, which I think, you know, scared money don't make none. I agree with him on that. So he has a song called scared money. And so we are thinking who are we going to have to come out? And I'm throwing names out the hat, just being funny.

I'm like, we can get Black Thought, we get TI, we can get Dre, we can get Kendrick, we can get Snoop, we can get, you know, I'm just throwing them out and he's just like, okay, let's do it. I was like, we ain't gonna get no Dr. Dre to come out, fucking Coachella. And it just timed out that Dre actually could do it, but Dre's a perfectionist, he would have never came out without rehearsals. So just knowing that I had rehearsals with Dre set up for him to come out, and we're in business together, so it's not

I lost this, like, that's Dre kind of feeling. I just was like in awe of scheduling and being in his moment with him and realizing how he moves and getting it there and knowing that we had him there. I forgot about who wanted to come out. And I go, yeah, Gary Clark Jr. wants to come out. Anderson was like, tell him to come out. I'm like, but we didn't get to rehearse with him. He was

I don't care. we had Gary Clark Jr. come out. had TI come out. Because you know you do it two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. So we had to do the blow up. Kendrick came out. TI came out. Black Dog came out. And who else do you need to fucking come out as you're introducing your new project? That's it. That's it. And it's still it was the funniest thing was it still took a long time for Ventura and Oxnard to come out. Yeah.

Ashanti Abdullah (01:05:13.922)
So we're still living off of Malibu. And I don't know, you know, just they wasn't ready for it. And I just shout out to the team. We had a whole team around him moving him. And that was the illest like behind the scenes Coachella. I saw the red carpet treatment with Coachella finally saw that.

and shots out the ball to let his team. you in a minute. man, had we had free reign of Coachella. What do you want to leave people with after this discussion? OK, I can actually lean in with you on that one because I feel like there has to be a common a common meant to what touring is about. I think that you may have an answer here. Yeah.

can't wait to get deeper into it with my teams because we all have to communicate and we all have to be in front of our, like I said, infrastructure. We have to build off of those things and we need things that are competent. it means that Turnwheel steps into that. I personally need it in my life. Hard work is going to always outwork talent.

So be as talented as you are creatively, continue to be on your journey with the hard work that it takes. the elbow grease in, put the time in, serve purposefully, and look for your success in the success of your hard work. Yeah, my man, my man. And last thing is, what was that place we went to lunch to like last month? John and Vinny's. Yeah, man, I fuck with that place. Let's go back.

I'll be back in a few weeks. I'm in Miami next week, but then I'll be back in a few weeks. We can't go there. shit. And I already know why. I know why. Hey, man. Hey. Take me somewhere else, We can't go there no more, I'll you somewhere else. Yeah, we are. We definitely can. We can go somewhere else. Over the rainbow. I already know why. Yep. I appreciate you taking the time, I'll to you soon, and stay safe out there, brother.

Ashanti Abdullah (01:07:35.054)
And that's a wrap for today's episode of The Loadout. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite podcast platform. Follow me on social media at ProbablyAshanti or at Turnwill on all platforms. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep buying those tickets. Peace.