All language subtitles for Hip Hop Was Born Here (2025) S1E3

[siren wailing in distance]

So, my question to you is,
you're in this world.

There's people getting shot,
people catching cases.

- It happens.
- People is dying.

- Things is happening.
- Uh-huh.

Why did the streets pull you in?
Like, how does

music come into this? Like...
- Yeah, so--so--

Like, when was
there time for it?

- So, honestly...
- Yeah.

You know what I'm sayin'?
I don't think it's a choice.

You start beefin',

and then you start speaking
about it in the songs.

LL COOL J: Mm-hmm, and it just--
it just morphs.

It's like--
it's like a battle win.

So it's a battle, but it's--
but it's real life, though.

Yeah, but behind the battle win,
it's like it's pain and hurt

and losing people every day,

and you get lucky
to make it out.

- Yeah.
- Grab a few that you can.

- Yeah.
- Just trying.

- Let me tell you somethin', man.
- Yeah.

It's like walking
through the desert.

- Word.
- You know, just 'cause you

walking through the desert,
and you suffering every day,

don't mean there ain't
no oasis on the way.

- Yeah. [laughing]
- You know what I'm sayin'?

You know what I mean?
We thirsty right now,

but we gon' flip the script.
- Hell, yeah.

♪

LL COOL J:
Hip hop is everywhere,

every corner of the globe.

But to understand the power
of hip hop today,

you have to go back
to where it all started...

SINGER: ♪ Ain't no love ♪

LL COOL J: ...my hometown,
New York City.

Because listen, when I tell you,
hip hop was born here.

SINGER: ♪ In the heart of town ♪

♪ Ain't no love ♪

♪

New York City, where one out
of every 25 Americans lives,

faces a financial showdown.

- [tone drones]
- REPORTER: New York City...

[overlapping
reporter commentary]

- ...streets of New York City.
- ...more financial help.

LL COOL J:
New York in the '70s and '80s

was mired in economic hardship
and social struggle.

There's always shootouts here, always.

♪

- Stagnation.
- [grunts]

Decline. The city was
on the verge of bankruptcy.

♪

Unemployment skyrocketed,

school funding
for the arts slashed,

and abandoned buildings

transformed into havens
for drugs and crime.

Drugs, drugs, drugs. That's all
the neighborhood is. Drugs.

In an environment like that,
full of turmoil and strife,

there's every reason to give up,

and yet some managed
to break through.

[amplified voice]
Is the Bronx in the house?!

[cheering]

They had the intellect

and willpower to get out.

Artists who created
an all-new art form,

a uniquely New York art form

that they built
into an industry.

- New York City, come on!
- Rap music is here to stay.

I damn live and die for it,

'cause that's what it takes
to live in New York.

The birth of hip hop provided
an outlet for storytelling,

a means to find escape,
to aspire,

and to push for change.

I'm headed back to the streets
of Queens where I came up.

I'm on my way to talk to a man
who experienced

the pain and hardships
of street life firsthand

before harnessing the power
of hip hop to escape.

- Talkin' about my man.
- Oh, shit.

James "Bimmy" Antney.

- How you? Good?
- Yeah.

Things are beautiful, man.

- It's good to be home, huh?
- Yeah.

My man Bim. You know
what I'm sayin'? Queens G.

A Queens native like myself,
Bimmy came up hustlin'

as part
of the notorious Supreme Team,

an outfit which handled
much of the crack distribution

in the borough at its peak.

REPORTER: Crack, the most
addictive form of cocaine,

is now sweeping New York.

LL COOL J: But seeing
no future in the streets,

Bimmy pivoted to hip hop,

working at Sony Records
and Def Jam

with artists including
Slick Rick, Gucci Mane,

Waka Flocka, and yours truly.

The GOAT,
the greatest of all time.

♪

Bimmy witnessed
a whole generation of rappers

rise from these streets.

So, there's few better to tell
a story of hip hop salvation

or of hip hop's roots
in the streets

than James "Bimmy" Antney.

You know, we got a lot of
history. We go back a long way.

But I wanna start
from the beginning.

Mm.

When you think about the street

and when you think
about your life,

what was it like for you
being around this area?

- What was it like as a kid?
- Well...

My mother wanted me
to come outside in this--

this area right here.

I used to go to that
laundromat down there.

The man
that owned the laundromat,

I watched get killed
right there on the corner.

- You know what I mean?
- Really?

- Right here by the rock.
- He got killed on the corner?

ANTNEY: Yeah, yeah.
I was, like, 12 years old.

REPORTER: There is a crime
of violence committed

in New York City
every four minutes.

Last year alone, there were
more than 1,500 murders,

4,000 rapes, 41,000 assaults,

and 77,000 robberies.

So, what did that tell you,

seeing something
like that over there?

So, I was prone to it,
'cause I watched

another man get killed
next door to me.

He jumped out the window naked.

Yeah, he jumped
out the window naked.

[thunderclap]

[siren wailing in distance,
police chatter on radio]

So me and my brother and sisters
look out the window like,

"Mr. Such and Such
is in the yard! He dead."

So, we watching, looking
at that, and I mean, you know,

and I got busted my head
over there on the corner,

right there
by the Chinese restaurant.

LL COOL J: Right there
by the Chinese restaurant...

- Yeah.
- ...somebody stabbed you

in the head?
- Stabbed me in my head

right here.
I had 20 stitches in my head.

'Cause I was selling drugs
right here on the corner.

- Right.
- So, I see, you know,

dude trying to sell
somethin' on the block.

So I go towards him. He pulls
a hoe out. You know the garden?

- Yeah.
- You know the garden...

So I spinned off.
Caught me in the head. Boom!

- Wow.
- Said, ooh! Right like that.

- Down Farmers, I ran home.
- Right.

And my mom took me
to the hospital,

you know what I'm saying?
- Yeah.

And when I came back outside,

bandaged up,
still selling drugs,

you know what I'm saying?

So somebody's dying,
it don't mean nothin',

you know what I mean?
You just sitting there--

- You got used to it.
- I got used to it.

♪

So growing up around here,

you're seeing people,
you know, lose their lives.

You know, I never put
a lot of that in my music,

but a lot of hip hop artists

put all
of their street experiences

in their music.

It's rap music,
and it sounds like this.

Hip hop has always been
synonymous with the streets.

- [imitates barking]
- It's a cycle.

We've been dropping like flies
for years, you know?

CRYSTAL CAINES: The streets
go hand in hand with hip hop

'cause most people
are talking about

what they experienced in life,
how they experienced it.

♪ Broken glass everywhere,
people pissing on the stairs ♪

♪ You know,
they just don't care ♪

ROXANNE SHANTÉ: When you wanna
think about how rough it was

and what people
had to deal with,

it actually went like this.

♪ Rats in the front room,
roaches in the back ♪

♪ Junkies in the alley
with the baseball bats ♪

♪ Try to get away,
but I couldn't get far ♪

♪ 'Cause the man with
a truck repossessed my car ♪

Please believe it, baby.

["The Message"
continues playing]

This was our music.
This was how we were

able to communicate
from borough to borough.

♪

This is how we knew
that Queens was getting money.

This is how
we knew Uptown was rich,

the Bronx was burnin',
Brooklyn was robbin'.

The only way to do it was
to spread it through hip hop.

♪ It's like a jungle sometimes ♪

♪ It makes me wonder
how I keep from going under ♪

LADY LONDON: I think a lot
of things are birthed

out of struggle and out of pain,
but there's miracles that happen

in the midst of mess,
and hip hop was one of them.

♪ Don't push me
'cause I'm close to the edge ♪

♪ I'm trying
not to lose my head ♪

♪ Huh-huh, huh-huh ♪

LL COOL J: So, you ended up
at a crossroads yourself,

'cause you were still
in the street.

What happened when
you met Run-D.M.C.?

How did you, like,
pull yourself out

of the dragon's mouth,
so to speak?

- Yeah.
- You know what I'm sayin'?

D.M.C.--he started
liking my sister.

He used to come over to see her,
so then me and DMC got close.

He said,
"Yo, come on the road with us."

LL COOL J: As you're leaving,
as you're going on the road,

what is it like
for, at that time, a kid

who's in the street
to be able to leave the street

and be standing on the stage

and watching things?
Like, what is that like?

I'm like, yo, this the life.
I said to myself,

let me get into the music.
- Right.

This guy--
he had a studio down Farmers,

so all the local rappers...
- Would rap and be down there.

- Be down there.
- Yeah.

So, now we down there making
records, and I'm loving it.

I'm going there every day just
to make music with these guys.

Russell Simmons heard my music.

And Russell, like, "Yo, you want
to come to Def Jam?"

I said,
"Yeah, I wanna come to Def Jam."

What's going through your mind?

I'm just like,
I'm-a get off the streets.

I'm good. And that was that.

♪

♪

LL COOL J: I remember where
I came from, and I don't--

I'm never afraid to remember
where I came from.

- You know what I'm saying?
- That's right, baby.

He used to always shout out
in every song,

early back in the day,
"Farmers Boulevard!

Farmers Boulevard!
That's right!"

LL COOL J: ♪ I repped it,
what more can I say, son? ♪

- ♪ Farmers
- ♪ What ♪

- ♪ Farmers
- ♪ What ♪

Now that you look
at all this, right,

what lessons did you take
from the street into--

you know what I'm saying?
The industry.

Well...
listen more than talking.

Mm. You watch people's behavior
and learn lessons.

- Yeah. Yeah.
- From other people.

You don't even have
to experience it yourself.

- You do, too.
- Oh--

Let me tell you why.

A lot of times we was in
the studio, you'd be like this.

You know what I mean?
I've been with artists that

wanna be the only one
in the room.

Yo! [rapping indistinctly]

You like this.
And that's come from here...

- Yeah.
- ...that you learned to let...

One of the things
that I learned in order

to survive out here
is to shut up.

- Shut up.
- Not trying to be tough,

having manners,
and not running your mouth.

- You would last a lot longer...
- Yes.

...when you move around
out here.

I don't wanna be tough because,
you know, what is tough?

You know, if I wanted
to be tough, I'd be a boxer.

♪

This neighborhood, it's a lot
of successful hip hop artists

and ball players
from around here.

- Yeah.
- Everybody from Run-D.M.C.

to Tribe Called Quest
and myself.

Yourself.

And, you know, you had
people living around here

like James Brown...
- James Brown, yeah.

- ...and Count Basie...
- Count Basie.

...and Duke Ellington
and Ella Fitzgerald

and Colin Powell and...
- Yeah.

- ...lived around here.
- Russell Simmons.

Russell Simmons is
from around here and...

Yeah, yeah.

They've escaped
the call of the street.

Hey, we escaped.

I just wanna know
what it means to you--legacy.

A man that care for other kids
and wanna take care of them

so they won't see
how I grew up...

- Yeah.
- ...and live that.

- Yeah.
- I don't want them

to grow up with no heat,
no hot water,

'cause the decisions
they gon' make in the streets

ain't gon' be lucky like I was.
- Yeah.

- You know what I'm saying?
- Yeah.

'Cause I think I was lucky.

- You was blessed and lucky.
- I was blessed and lucky.

You know, a lot of people
was praying for me.

You know, that's my legacy.
I-I want to be known as,

"Yo, he'll give a man
the shirt off his back."

- So, you gave love.
- I gave love.

- And set an example.
- That's right.

You know what I mean?
I live by it.

My man.
Come on. Let's take a walk.

Yeah, definitely, definitely.

♪

♪

LL COOL J: As hip hop evolved

over the course
of its first two decades,

the genre continued to mirror
the streets where it was born.

♪

The pendulum swinging

from stories of inspiration
and hope

to the brutal realities
of people often overlooked

and forgotten by society.

♪

So, now I'm on my way to Y.O.--

Yonkers, New York,

to connect with a group
of hip hop artists

who found struggle
and enlightenment

in the streets that raised 'em.

Most important,
they found their voice

and used it to launch
a career that took

their music and their story
to millions around the world.

Yo.

- Yo, yo!
- What's up, baby?

Just in the process of me
trimming these brothers.

He trimming 'em,
you know what I mean?

Quick, quick cut.

- What's good, family?
- What up, baby?

So, yo, um, the first thing
that I really wanna... get into

is where was you born?

- Right here.
- Right here.

New York. St. John's Riverside.

See, I believe in--I believe
in money, power, respect.

LL COOL J: The Lox--
Jadakiss, Styles P, and Sheek.

Sheek Louch, Lox.

We've been seeing in videos
hearing the name--

the hottest street sensation,
The Lox.

♪ Take time, try to figure out
who The Lox is, fear no one ♪

LL COOL J:
Born and raised in Yonkers,

their distinct style
and lyrical prowess

made them rap heavyweights.

Quickly going from appearing
on underground mix tapes

to putting out platinum records,

The Lox continues to create
essential music

while drawing
from the street life,

which remains a dominant premise
in hip hop to this day.

Okay, so what came first
for you?

The street? Hip hop?

I would say the streets first

'cause going outside is how
I learned about hip hop.

Like, what was the mindset
and the process of, "Yo,

I'm going to get involved
in the street life"?

Growing up,
you try to fend for yourself,

and you start dippin'
and dabbin'.

Yeah, I mean, running around

hustling motherfuckers
that's getting the money,

the trappers and all that,
wanting to be like them.

When you said, "Yo, come here
and bag up for me

and do this and that"
for hours and hours at a time,

making thousands of dollars,
I never looked back.

♪

LL COOL J:
So, you're little kids,

young boys, at that point.

You're out there
in the street hustling.

What was the very first seed
of hip hop

that you heard that kinda
piqued your interest?

One of my uncles,
when I was young,

he had the room in the back.
So, one day he wasn't there.

I go in his room, I hit "play."

- ♪ Walking down the street
- Yo.

BOTH: ♪ Box in your hand ♪

The Crash Crew.
"High Powered Rap."

That did it for me.

♪ You walking down the street
with your box in your hand ♪

I must have sat there
for about three hours

just listening to that.
- [LL Cool J laughs]

My moms and them
came in, like,

but when he came in,
and I was scared to death.

'Cause he just
gave me that look like,

"What are you doing in my room?"

[laughter]

♪

All right, so at some point
in the midst of all this,

you started rapping and easing
away from the streets more

and--and getting more
into the music.

We had the chip on our shoulder.

- Yeah.
- 'Cause we listening

to the radio, Mr. Magic.

They shout out Queens, Brooklyn,

Staten Island, Manhattan,
Harlem.

- They keep skipping over Y.O.
- Yeah.

♪

So, we like, we gotta show
these motherfuckers

we got some fire here.

But when they called us
for Big's album,

we went there straight
from the block.

♪

We just try to do whatever
it take to prosper

and building this rap--you know
what I'm saying--industry.

That's who we are right now.
Music, you know what I'm sayin'?

This is our first video.

But when we signed
the actual Lox deal,

Styles was locked up
for eight months.

And then after that, we got away
and went full-fledged.

We gon' do this music thing.

So... all them times
it went left,

what happened for it
to go right?

I definitely wanna say,
staying brothers,

staying loyal to each other
and believing in what we do.

We've been together
all our lives, since childhood.

Same football teams,
junior high schools

to after college,
the whole nine.

Everywhere. Everywhere.

We the only ones that believe
we could have a career

and really help our families
and do something different.

I love the love,
and I appreciate the hate.

See, my grandmother
used to tell me,

"Todd, get it done if you gotta
eat shit with a splinter."

- Mm!
- You know what I'm saying?

I grew up hearing that,
and that's what you telling me.

- The same shit.
- You talkin' about ingenuity.

- Yeah, man.
- You talkin' about, like,

"We not giving up.
We getting to it."

Absolutely. That's us.

Read it and weep.

[cheering]

- ♪ Fuck the frail shit
- ♪ Uh-huh ♪

♪ 'Cause when my coke come in,
they gotta use the scales ♪

♪ That they weigh
the whales with ♪

- ♪ Carlssons on the Jeep
- ♪ Uh-huh ♪

- ♪ Bugatti made the prototype
- ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Hoped you'd get the picture
but you just can't photo life ♪

♪ Determined niggas make it,
kicking down the door ♪

- ♪ And we burning...
- For some reason, like,

even though how much fame
we had, we was kinda, like,

still, like, worried and shit.
- Reserved.

Like, we didn't know where
this shit was going.

Right. This whole shit
is a roll of the dice.

'Cause you never know
what it's gon' be.

Like, I never knew what
it was gon' be.

Like, the show money
had dried up for a minute

after my first single.

- So, I'm sleeping on the train.
- Mm.

I'm on the subway.
I'm on the E and the F train.

I got my green garbage bag
with my clothes in it.

Then I got a room in Brooklyn
for, like, $40 a week.

That shit was busting my ass.

♪ We gon' make it,
we gon' make it ♪

♪ We gon'... ♪

It really is about where
you at in your spirit.

That's really gon' be the thing

that's gon' give you
that measuring stick.

♪ Y'all just talking,
I'm doing it well ♪

♪ Jadakiss, motherfucker,
I'm-a see you in hell ♪

♪ Make it, we gon' make it,
we gon' make it ♪

♪ We gon' make it ♪

♪ We gon' make it,
we gon' make it ♪

LL COOL J: One last word--
legacy, to you.

Um, how my kids and my grandkids
think about me.

I want everybody to say
somethin' positive about me,

you know what I mean?

For my contribution to music,

our contribution,
I want it to--

to live somewhere
in the iCloud of hip hop.

♪

LL COOL J: When it comes
to that street shit,

that raw-from-the-curb,
hip hop shit,

you know what I'm saying?
Y'all got to get that.

We showed y'all we could
stay together to the end.

- ...right here.
- What up, what up?

When you think of loyalty,
I want you to think of...

- LL COOL J: Fucking Lox.
- L-O-X.

LL COOL J: Period.
That being said, man...

- Yeah.
- Somebody pick up the dice.

Go ahead
and do what y'all do, man.

Let's see what's happening, man.

- Carry on!
- Carry on, baby. Love you, man.

- No doubt.
- Come on. Whassup?

Yeah.

Yo, why do people
not like Fivio?

I don't think
it's people don't like him.

What I do think is

he kind of fell victim
to expectations.

♪

LL COOL J:
The Lox continue to inspire,

but now I'm leaving
the Y.O. behind.

I'm headed back down to Queens

to connect with a young artist
from Brooklyn

who has tapped
into the often violent

and brutal realities
of modern street life

while establishing himself

as one of the leaders
of the New York drill scene.

...New York City!

[cheering]

LL COOL J: Five, what up, baby?

- What's up, big bro?
- What's goody?

- What's good?
- How are you? You chilling?

- Excellent.
- Yes, sir.

- Excellent.
- Yes, sir.

So... I wanna start
from the beginning,

before life changed.

You know what I mean?
Where was you born?

I was born in Brooklyn.
Little Harlem, too.

- A little Harlem, little Harlem.
- Little sprinkle of Harlem?

- Little sprinkle. [laughs]
- [laughs]

♪ It's easy ♪

LL COOL J:
Hailing from Brooklyn,

Fivio Foreign's music
is built for the clubs

but born in the streets.

And despite the destruction
and decay he came up in,

Fivio defied the odds,

used social media
to make a name for hisself,

took his surroundings
and documented them

through drill music.

Figured out what people like,
and then I did it.

And in the process,
he's striving to build

a legacy worthy of
Brooklyn hip hop's forebearers.

But it's legacy that's on
his mind as he finds his career

and his relationship
with the streets

at a crossroads.

Make some fucking noise!

LL COOL J: Okay, so you
was born in Brooklyn.

FIVIO: Yeah.

Where you exposed
to hip hop music first or...

the call of the streets,
you know what I'm sayin'? Like--

- To be honest with you...
- Yeah.

- I think it was the music first.
- [cheers and applause]

I'm hearing the music first.
I'm catching the rhythm,

then I'm hearing
the gangster shit.

Mm-hmm. What's the first
gangster shit you hearing?

- For real, for real?
- Yeah, for real.

- 50 Cent, G-Unit.
- 50 Cent?

Hell, yeah. I ain't saying that
'cause we in Queens.

- [laughs]
- That's that.

[indistinct
police radio chatter]

- [radio chirps]
- That was the first time

I was hearing some
shit like that happen.

I'm like, damn,
nigga getting shot up, rapping.

We was all hyped. Like...

- You was hyped.
- We was hyped.

♪ Hit the corner,
I'm doing 'em bad, skrr ♪

♪ And the bully got two
in the stash ♪

What's going on around
that time, like, in the hood?

What's the--like,
lay out the environment.

All right, so around this time,
niggas ain't even looking

at the drug dealers.
They more trying to be

the niggas who's, like,
beating the most people up

or shot the most people,
you know I'm sayin'?

- They looking at...
- Gangsters.

FIVIO: So, yeah,
they wanna be like gangsters.

Gangster shit.
The real gangster shit.

- Not the hustler shit.
- Yeah, yeah.

The gangster shit.

Yeah, they wanna be
like the gangsters.

So, niggas grew up looking--
looking up to people like that.

♪

REPORTER: Some do believe
the lyrics and the lifestyle

the gangster rappers portray
does little to help their image.

FIVIO: You get into this shit
by accident almost,

'cause it's like,
these your friends.

You see a nigga go do somethin',
you know, you jump in for him.

You know what I'm sayin'?
I don't think it's a choice.

I don't think a nigga have
a choice like that.

LL COOL J: So, then you gotta
just lock in to survive.

FIVIO: Yeah, smart thing to do
is to be like, a'ight, bet.

- Let me lock in.
- Right.

Like, this is
already happening to me.

LL COOL J: You're in this world,
people getting shot,

people catching cases.

Shit is happening.
People is dying.

You know,
how does music come into this?

Like, when was there
a time for that?

- Yeah, so--so, honestly...
- Yeah.

Niggas started using music
as a way to, like,

probably taunt niggas
that you don't like.

You start beefin',
and then you start speaking

about it in the songs.
- Mm-hmm.

It's like--It's like
a battling.

So, they just took it to the--
to the--to the beats that--

- Drill music?
- Yeah, drill music.

Explain drill music
to people out there

that don't know what it is,
'cause a lot of motherfuckers,

you know,
they was thinking drill music

meant, like, you know, when you
in the high school band.

[laughter]

♪

KIM OSORIO: That drill sound
originated in Chicago

and then was brought
into New York,

where New York put its own
little sauce on it.

♪

Fivio Foreign could do
whatever he want, man.

New York City
is Fivio Foreign's, man.

Bow!

♪ Look, I've been
through the most ♪

♪ I've been through the most ♪

♪ Why would I trip
over internet posts? ♪

- ♪ Why would I? Yeah, yeah
- ♪ Yo ♪

♪ Why would I stop
when I'm in that Ghost? ♪

♪ Why would I? ♪

TONE: The feeling of it
is high intensity.

It's up-tempo. It's aggressive.

♪

It's basically me beefing
with the opp on record.

Unfortunately, some of
that beef is deadass serious.

Hip hop is still in the streets.
[laughs]

I don't think
that a lot of the artists

are trying to get on the radio.

They're not thinking
about FCC rules,

you know what I mean?

They're talking
to the audience directly

with zero regard

for any of the rules
of the previous generation.

Let's put it that way, you know?

The thing about drill is it
never really had a wide appeal,

but it would spread.

They would never tell somebody
to do a drill song

'cause now they calling
from all over.

The feel of drill
is what we want.

The message that drill is
sending is what we don't want.

That'll never cross
over into mainstream.

But hip hop will always
be street.

It starts there.

So, it's a battle, but it's--
but it's real life, though.

But, yeah,
but behind the battling,

it's like it's pain and hurt,

and niggas
is going through shit.

You losing people every day.

And you get lucky
to make it out

and grab a few that you can.
- Yeah.

Hopefully they grab a few
that they can, but just trying.

LL COOL J: What you just
told me, basically,

when you have a hit...
- Uh-huh.

...in drill, I mean,
if you really livin'

the drill shit, right?
- Yeah.

If you really, really drilling,
you know what I mean?

Like, you--you're committin'
to some shit that's real,

and then you gotta stand on it
as part of your career.

Mm. Yeah.

That's a hell of a thing
to commit to.

♪

♪

With all of the things
that you've done,

how are you navigating a career
when you got music that's...

- Mm.
- ...got some...

- It's--I mean--
- You know what I mean?

What you gotta do,
you gotta move smart,

you know what I'm sayin'?
Make sure the places you go,

tap in with certain people,

and you can get
through it smooth.

You know what I'm sayin'?
No hiccups.

♪ I made it this far
'cause I waited my turn ♪

- ♪ You live and you learn
- ♪ You live and you learn ♪

♪ You get what you earn,
you get on my nerves ♪

- ♪ And you get burned
- ♪ Bow ♪

I would say that, man.
Like, listen to your ideas.

Mm.

Take a little advice here
and there,

but listen to your mind.

- Yeah.
- Watch who you help

and follow your intuition.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Follow your intuition.

I'm gon' outwork
anybody working,

but I'm just gon' go
expand the drill.

You know what I'm sayin'?
There's more to it

than just beefin' on the song.

Tell your story on the song.
You know I'm sayin'?

It's just all type of ways
to drill.

What you think, like, a good--
somethin' you really,

really learned from just
being who you are? Like...

I tell you, and this is a---
this is a kind of a deep one.

- And it's wild, right?
- Uh-huh.

It's like you gotta
know who you are.

Yeah, you gotta be confident.

Yes, you have to know
your value. However...

- Mm.
- Don't be a pain in the ass.

When you get to a certain level,

when you get
to higher altitudes,

you got to know what to let go.
- Right. Right.

If you don't know
what to let go...

Mm-hmm.

...people stop
inviting you back.

- Mm.
- Even if you bringing value.

- Right.
- You dig?

- Right, right.
- You just don't get the invite.

Like, we would never
survive in this park

if you a pain in the ass.
- Right, right.

Right? You know what's--
you know what's coming.

Yeah. You got to be easy.

I'm learning the game
to where, like,

I could pace myself now.

So, as I more
get comfortable with it,

but I don't feel like a rookie.

And then the thing
I learned is that manners...

- Mm.
- Having manners.

♪

Every now and then
you will meet a villain...

- Yeah, yeah.
- ...who's a gangster

who don't have manners,
but the real ones

that are gonna be here
have manners.

FIVIO: Oh, help the old lady.

LL COOL J: Help an old lady
cross the street.

FIVIO: Yeah, true, true.

LL COOL J: Don't run around
with your chest poked out.

But confidence though, 'cause
we don't wanna do weakness.

- Right.
- We're not doing weakness.

- You know what I'm sayin'?
- That one is heavy.

- Yeah.
- That's a heavy duty one. Damn.

- Yeah.
- That's crazy.

- Damn. And that's every day.
- Every day.

- That's, like, all the time.
- Every day, all the time.

- I invited you...
- Right.

...to come out to Queens that--
to hang out in my hood.

- You know what I mean?
- Yeah, try to see

how you living, no doubt.
- Yeah, see how I'm living.

- You know I'm sayin'?
- And it's peaceful. [laughs]

♪

There's one word that, um,
I wanna ask you about--legacy.

- Mm. Legacy.
- Yeah.

When I'm thinking legacy,

I think all good things,
big things.

Like, if you gon' use this
as a way to better yourself

and get money, you just gotta,
like, do right by your people.

But when somethin' happen,
for real, if you keep going

and you keep getting up...
- Mm-hmm.

...you gotta win.

- Every champion has lost...
- Right, right.

- ...on some level.
- Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah.

Yeah, that's powerful shit, man.

Yeah. You know,
you got all the knowledge, son.

I'm-a be a legend.

Watch this. Bow. Movie.
I'm outta here.

Bow. Get in tune.

LL COOL J: I did have
one last question

now that I'm sitting here
thinking.

- The name.
- The name. All right, all right.

Let me break it down
for you real fast.

Break it down for me real quick.

Real quick. Yeah, so they
started calling me Fabio.

the white nigga
with the long hair.

- [laughing] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Like, "You some Fabio nigga."

Whatever, whatever, right?

And then I thought
they were saying, "Fivio,"

so I just kept it "Fivio."
I'm like, "Oh, I'm Fi--

I like that. I'm keeping that."
- Yeah.

[laughter]

I like that. I'm keeping it.

Yo, I can't fucking
take it, bro.

The motherfucker on the cover
of the novels?

- Yeah!
- Yo, you fucking...

- That white boy. [laughing]
- [laughing]

- He's in that--
- I fucking love it.

- All right, bro, all right.
- Fabio. I fucking love it, man.

FIVIO: Yeah, yeah.

♪