The Breakfast ClubINTERVIEW: Michael 'Harry O' Harris Talks Community First, Death Row, Trump Pardon Suge Knight, Tupac + More
The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Michael 'Harry O' Harris To Discuss Community First, Death Row, Trump Pardon Suge Knight, Tupac. Listen For More!
Wake that ass up in the morning.
Breakfast Club Morning.
Everybody's the j n V. Jesse Larry Charlamage the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Justice on maternity leave, so Laurla Ross is filling in and we got a special guest in the building. We have Michael Harry O. Harris, co founder of death Row Records.
Good morning, brother, Good morning black man.
How you feeling I'm good, I'm good. You feeling good?
We got we got to start.
The story is from the beginning, sir, death Row Records.
You started as the co founder for death Row.
Right. We're gonna break that down.
Please break that down to who are all the co founders? I mean my mind is you sugar, and I don't know.
Who doctor doctor. Yeah.
So, so originally we created a company called Godfather Entertainment, which was the parent covey of Defro Records, and should was I believe the president of Godfather and doctor Dre was the president of Defau Records. And so we set it up like that because Godfather was going to do other entertainment assetts like films and concerts.
But def Ro took off and.
Then everything was different.
Focus.
How did you get into the entertainment world. We always hear the story that you know, Sugar was playing football and from the neighborhood see what was going on with music and decided he wanted to get into it. So how did y'all get into music? What made y'all say I want to get into the music?
So how did I get it entertainment? Yes? Or how did we start doing both? Okay?
Actually before I went away, you know, I did thirty three years before I went away, I used to be involved in club promotion. I used to do plays, national plays, and I got to do a Broadway play before I went away. One of those plays actually included as Washington on Broadway, So when that aired on Broadway, I kind of took an exit. And so, but I was in the music business. I had limousine services. Was I was in an entertainment circle. So I met a lot of people from that. From my first business. I was twenty one years old when I started. It was a limousine service that that allowed me to make meet with different people in the sports fields, the entertainment world, political world. So I got to meet a lot of people at the early age.
I want to go back to something you said, so you said sug was Godfather, Gray was death Row.
Let me back up. Sure was the CEO of Godfather. That was my company, and Shured was also the CEO of.
Death rowt you doctor J was the president?
Got you right? And where'd you come in at? I just was decided I was behind.
He was the money man.
It wasn't just the money man. I helped structure it. But you know, in my situation, I wanted to play the back. I kind of wanted to just have a phantom present because I just got a life sentence and I got a twenty year sentence from affairs, and I didn't want that to become the focus I wanted. I wanted to be about the business that we had created.
Did they did they take care of you when you was away?
Well, I mean, you know how business is.
I mean everything was good, I mean, you know, everything was organized, but as things got bigger, it got crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah, did you come home in any money? Is what I'm asking I guess. Yeah, you wonder how much I got?
At one point he made three hundred million dollars in a year.
Yeah. I came home to what I was supposed to come home to.
Okay, how did you meet Sugar, and how did you meet Doctor dre Well.
At the time that I met Should, he was managing Doctor dre and DLC and UH. They had just came out of a situation with n w A and a friend of mine is Ryan Brown, used to play football for the Rams. Uh also was connected to Should through the football world, and Ron and I grew up together him and his cousin Eric, and so they introduced me to Should because he was trying to make some things happen and it needs some back in and they introduced me to him. I had my attorney, David Kennell, bring him in and we sit down and talked about how we can make this a business. At the time, he was just managing and he was working out of Solar Studios with Dick Griffy, and Dick Griffy was kind of mentoring me. But I don't think at the time Rest in peace, Dick Griffy, he didn't really understand what the emerges of hip hop meant and so he kind of fell asleep at the wheel. He was more focused. He come from the R and B SE world. He was our version of the West Coast motile and so you know, Charlamar Atlantic Star whispers, you know, babyface.
Everybody came through him.
So he was adviseding and should on how to manage and do things like that, but he wasn't really pushing for him financially to set up the company.
That's where I.
Came in at what you had in life. But you did thirty three and didn't Trump commute your sentence?
Yeah, he community the federal sentence. The state says I did twenty three on and actually was found actually innocent of that case. But I did the time and was released through the board. They didn't have a mechanism in there for actually innocent, but they let me go after twenty three years.
How did you even know about your situation? How did like like who put them onto it?
Okay, Well, first of all, he got backed up for see the content see this in full context. So when Obama was in office, I put in a request. I was transferred to the federal system in twenty twelve, and so at the end of his term, I put in a request for relief for clemency.
Didn't hear nothing back. And when.
The second term, I put in a request basically land on all the work that I had done while I was incarcerated. You know, I had helped create a lot of financial literacy courses, you know, self help classes while I was in the state prison. So the second time, my mother was dying, and so I put in a compassion release.
Didn't hear anything about it.
So I had already created a record for requests. And so when Donald Trump, when the President was leaving, I put in a requested him, and Alice Johnson was working with him, and she got wind of my petition and read it and says, this man had done too much time based on the second circumstances, and she took it to Ivanka Trump and jaredt and they took it and lobbied it to the president, and after four attempts, people kept trying to push it down. This is what I heard later. He just went through it and says, I gotta let him go. This guy did too much time here, you know, did the work. Don't make sense why I am in prison.
Alice Johnson is the woman that he also helped to get free to with Kim Kardashian being involved, right right.
I think one of the first releases.
That is what he did for you, is that the biggest part or the only reason why you decide to back him, or are there are other reasons why you also decide to back him too.
Well, look, look, let me just keep it real. I appreciated what he did for me. I always got to be lawed to that. But at the same time, I'm really about my community. And so even though he had done that for me, I still did my research in terms of how I was going to approach community first, and community first needed to be.
Approached with all options.
So when I put out the challenge for the old plan and the community first, I put it out to both candidates and then he tapped in. So in my due diligence, you have to look at the things that has been done before in terms of and so you can figure out.
What's real moving forward.
So what he had done, because like I said, I'll just go by what somebody say, I go by what it is.
I know they did.
He had put in for permanent it was a bipartisan bill for HBCU permanent funding. I know he did that for the community. I think it was authored by Corey Booker Tim Scott, but he signed it in the law.
Also, I know that he did a sickle cell.
Anemia initiative where he funded it a bipartisan bill to make sure that we get get to a cure for a disease that is mainly strike stricten old black people in some Hispanics and also lets HBU.
The HBCU thing is true.
But Biden and Harris they did give a record seventeen billion dollars the historically black colleges and university So they did.
I mean, I'm not trugted.
Trump did sign the HBCU bill and the law before they get twenty fifty million dollars annually, but Biden Harris seventeen billion dollars.
That's a record but afterwards, So I don't think we have a disagreement here. I think what he did was he made it permanent before people have to still you know, bid for it, you know, go in and just about reasons to get the funding. And so he made it permanent. And so I believe the seventeen billion initiatives you're talking about came not too long ago where they actually enhanced something that became permanent.
So I think I'm not I'm not sure of it. I I don't know how it all worked.
Yeah, but it was bipartisan, so from both sides did the right thing.
Yeah, everything is always by part of it, which is the conversation. You don't like you can't do it without Democrats and republic right.
And I think I think that's I think that hopefully that's what this conversation will be about today about you know, we have to be on both sides of ours to get something done. If this team win, and who's over there to represent us? If that team wins, who's over there representas and what is the policies? And so outside of that, she asked me a question about was that the only reason? I think. Another reason that that hit home for me was opportunity zones. That was also about a partisan bill that was also signed the law by Donald Trump that I think generated over five hundred billion dollars, but as today, one hundred billion has been deployed, so it's about four hundred billion left and I think four hundred about four three hundred communities has benefited from those opportunity zones. And I don't know if you you've covered that or not, but what it does is it allows wealthy people, private investors to get taxing centerves to invest in overlook communities.
You know, we got all these communities where.
People go in and you got cheaper housing, but you don't have no malls, you don't have no shopping centers, you don't have other type of businesses that help support those communities. And so one of the things I wanted to do with the old plan was doubled down on that opportunity zone so that we could, uh, we can get we can, we can rich. People can stay rich and do what they do, but how can we utilize their money to help elevate our communities without begging? You understand, like like this is a deal about business, always been about business. How can we turn this into a business situation instead of just emotional you know, I go for this person, I go for this person, and and and chase down the facts. And then also one of the last things, uh that I'm partially through this first step at because it's not just about me getting out. There's thousands of people got a prison that was over incarcerated and was able to be reunited with their families. And that was important to me, you know, to to not be out here having a cool life back in business and forget about the people who still walk in that track every day, and it may have got a weak case that got them thirty years or some drug cases that might have got them thirty or forty or life sentence. And the First Step Act was also a bipartisan bill. So when I keep saying that, it's about who can we rely on the work walk, walk across the aisle and get something done. And so that's that's kind.
Of like the reason why and who's willing to do things for us?
Don't forget about that part because when look, I'm nobody, I'm just a guy. I'm not a politician, but I'm a guy who's been watching a lot of smoke and mirrorage jump off and people talk and talking down to each other, opposed to watching people every day have to deal with how they gonna pay their bills when things done doubled up and tripled up, and how they gonna how they gonna make a living.
You know, real people, I got family. Everybody ain't rich, you know, I mean, we all doing what we're doing, and so, uh, you.
Know, I was blessed to be an opportunity to have connection to something that put me in a level But why not use that platform to speak to the truth.
You know what I mean.
So I don't care if it's her, it's him, whoever's going to represent us, we should represent them, and we need to get get our hands dirty. We need to get involved, we need to agree. Yeah, so I appreciate this.
So, you know, with so much going on in your life that people don't know, why did you feel like you had to jump in politics or you had to spit with you you know, the truth of politics?
Why that?
Because your story is amazing and you're kind of like the for most the secret source in death Row? Right what people might not know? You know, they don't know that you were behind a lot of people don't know that you were behind death Row when you were part of that situation. Why jump into politics?
Good question?
But you know even when I came home, when I first came home, you know, different people and from my neighborhood has called on me, and I went to the community and I.
Spent time with the kids. You know, I know that.
Let me back up for thirty people say thirty two years you said quick, sound quick, but to do it?
Trust me?
Trust me if you broke it down in the seconds, minutes, and hours, even astronomical and you have a lot of time to think.
And so.
A lot of people don't know that even when I first started Death Row, I was on death Rod for a period. Even though I wasn't sentenced to death row in sat Quinn, I spent time there. And when I spent time there, I was able to be around some people that was actually younger than me. I went to prison when I was twenty six years old. So you have people on death Road that was and they were still killing people, and so I go to the yard, but I'm separated from them because I'm not a part of death Row. I'm just on death Row and I'm talking to these guys that come from neighborhoods like mines and these dudes's like twenty four years old and twenty three years old. So that's part of my psychic When it was time to create death Row. That and a lot of people go back and forth about the name. Who came up with the name night Sure then was playing with d E F like death ro and I and I said it's gonna call it death Row Records because I just thought as a cautionary tale, it was a great opportunity to tell young people that grew up where I come from, the death road waiting for them. And I just don't think a lot of people understood that or know that. Like just to sit here and hear people walking down the hall and never come back, and to see that as a youngster, it has an impact on you. You cannot you cannot not remember it.
They glorified now it's so weird to me, like they be posting from Instagram like they just having a ball in prison, Like yeah, but.
You know, like like any show is reality and his hype. When they get off that mic, they gotta walk their track. They gotta eat that same meal. They gotta you know, some of them got tears in the pillow. They may not never tell you that they buffed that eye, and they do what they do. But trust me, I ain't met nobody that ever loved being in prison. And so but but you to your point, people come out, you know, unde x amount of times's supposed to feel like they're supposed to get a certain type of reputation. I think that's a false reputation of the pain that you go through when you're in prison, that's right.
So what did you think about what you're creating? Death Row and the reason you created death Row from what you're seeing. And then some of the death row artists were you know, it was violent. You know what I mean. Snoop was was was on death row one time. He was you know, possibly convicted of of of of murder. He was trying to try, Yeah, tried for murder. But a lot of the death row artists were so violent that could have put him in places where death row was. So did you ever think like that's not this why this was created, or did you think this is just music?
This is just it goes back, It goes back to what Shannaman just said, Like you see a projection of some people wearing things from prison. I just think that death Row guy out of hand. Like a part of the narrative in the beginning was Teller Street start right, good, bad and difference.
That's what it was about.
But when you go out and the public and things start to happen, to get in commotion, shoot, and then you start getting hype behind it and getting news articles behind it, like the thing that happened in New Orleans that change Should's mind kind of like it made him start feeling like we need more of that. You understand, but to sell records and so, and I think he got caught up in that.
You know what I'm saying.
I'm not just saying him, I'm just saying the whole culture. Because you know, from an economic standpoint, First of all, the East Coast created hip hop. Let's put that out there, right, But from an economic standpoint, the machine that the West Coast win. And what I mean by that we went, we won and we lost. So what I mean by that is that because of the nature of the subject matter that we was talking about, we was able to do to do big business. So he was independent what he was able to move into the majors because of our first album, The Chronic. However, the subject matter changed from what original hip hop was about, you know, having parties kicking it, talking about our king and queens, and that that wasn't getting supported by the machine. But when we start killing each other talking about you know, so even though he was telling cautionary tales, people got confused about what's real and what's not. And I just watched it become pervasive. You know, even in prison, you know, guys seeing their hood hollowed out. You know, it was a sense of pride. I mean, it kind of got a little off track from what it was really supposed to be. And once you started making first album, your first year, I mean, we made fifty million dollars.
You know.
Actually, Interscope was about to close its doors with his investment with death Row saved its company. So a lot of people don't talk about it in reverse. They always talk about Interscope make death Row. They don't talk about what death Row did the Interscope and what it did the Universal and the fact that Warner Brothers almost went out of business because they got out of hip hop business, they got out of death Row business. I mean, it's a whole lot to be talked about if.
You were right, because even if you think about in the scope, they might have got out of the business to death Rode, but they damn sure stayed in business with doctor Dre and made sure Dre came over there and something.
So you know, it's all connected, But where is it? Where is it?
Where did it come from? It came from that that thing in me and others. I didn't do that for by myself to want to make an impression like like to not allow my incarceration to be the end of me and so I invested, you know, some of my some of my money, but I could invest it in something else. So I invested in that organization to become a reality.
If you were home, you think it would have been ran the same way, or you think since you were inside and you've seen so much, you would have tried to calm it down as much as possible.
Yeah, I just look, man, You know you don't You don't go through what I went through. You don't see people get stabbed and killed every day, and that's something you look forward to, you know what I mean. I mean, I'm not just saying that. I'm just telling you I don't know. Some days. When I first came to prison, it wasn't about all those programs I'm telling you ILL helped create later. It's about am I gonna be alive tomorrow? You mean, because you know it's so much hate up in these penitentis. When you're up in them type of penitential you can cut it with a knife, that's how much hate you feel. And to be able to communicate and deal and then try to create a company with all that going on, it wasn't no easy walk. But you know, I'm a man of God bruh. And then that's what kept me alive and pushing and trying to stay revenant in a situation where they had me in a control environment. So you know, yeah, I think it would have been different, but I don't live in the ifs, you know what I mean, because, like I said, that was my intention, and you know how intentions go. But it became what it became. And now it's on a new trajectory. You know, it's a new management if you will, you know what I mean. So there's an opportunity for a different death Road history.
Are you part of the Death Row that Snoop has now?
Are you part? Yeah? We're partner, Okay, okay, okay, Yeah. Yeah, he's the CEO and I'm the co that dope.
Yeah, And we also just created death Ro Pictures, so we feel to try to do for death Ro Pictures what we did with Death Row Records in terms of imagery and trying to like deflect some of the stuff that we were known for.
The Tyrene movie was part of that, right, Yeah, it was.
It was it was.
Used to speak to ship.
They spoke to him in a while. Yeah, we kind of went a whole separate ways.
But but but nineteen ninety two and then y'all got an y'all the Snoop bio pick is coming.
Yeah, we got Snoop Bio Pick. I'm doing my biopic. Uh.
We've been talking with Danzel about producing it and Antoine for Choir about directing it. And like I said, again, here's another opportunity to tell the story. Uh, but keeping it real, you know what I'm saying more like a serious probably because it's so mustant the cover.
What's our what's our community first? You got that's an initiative.
You got community First, the community.
But I don't know if you guys with award you got all you got? You got too much going on here. I need to get one of them hats.
Yeah.
Community First is an initiative that we created to speak to really to elevate the voices of the black community doing this vot voting cycle. But even beyond that, it's like, you know about assets, like how can we have access to capital? How can how can we how can we have munyful jobs at uh second chance hiring when people come home. So we got the access agenda and we got the redemption agenda.
So the access is about what we can do in.
The community in terms of like I said, even when I was talking earlier about opportunity zones and talking about better schools like a second, you know, like in terms of school choice, what can we do to make sure that our schools in our community is top notch and not controlled by unions where people just you know, if people are not effective, they still keep their job. Our children deserve more than that, and so very what I know what school did to me, you know, in terms of me almost dropping out, in terms of not hearing the information I need to hear.
That speaks to my spirit.
And I think a lot of people call us dropouts from a community, but don't understand that there's a reason why things happen. If somebody's telling you information that's inconsistent with the truth that you know and you're supposed to digest it. I'm not saying people should drop out, That's not what I'm saying. I said, but that's the reason a lot of people drop out, because they can identify with the information that's been served to them. So we need better schools rather, you know, people need to have opportunity to go to better schools in their community.
Outside the community.
And we also need to have you know, pale grants that deal with Bouquet shouldn't have a training. Some people don't want to go to college and so and we know with these training, with these new training systems, programs in terms of technology, people can go there a couple of years, six months and make half a million dollars a year, you know. So these are the things that we're concerned with. And people that's in prison, who is a captive audience need to have the skill set when they come home. They need to be trained, They need to be giving programs. I mean, if you do a crime, you're doing your time. Why shouldn't that be taking advantage of and giving people the opportunity to come home with skill set. Like when I was in San Quentin, we created a company called organizations called List Last Mile that trained people how to code so that when they came home they had meaningful employment and they out there doing big days and created all kinds of organizations from that.
So that's a model of what we could do.
But I also believe it, why should we wait till people go to prison that's helped them before and help.
Them when they get out.
They might keep them out of prison. They worth they feel the work, they have to feel it.
Yes, and what's the op playing challenge?
But the old playing challenge was basically laying out what this agenda is. That I was looking for somebody to commit to what we're trying to do.
And and so I think a lot.
Of people thought, Okay, well Trump pardoned him, so he's gonna back for Trump. Look, if it was just about that, I could have just did that day one. But when you involve the community, you have to make sure that the community have options.
So that's why I.
Made the challenge to come out as well as Donald Trump. And still I haven't heard nothing from her camp, but I heard something from his camp. And like I'm here, I'm not here in disrespect the black woman an elevated white man, because I'm not a politician. My job is to give my community information so they can make the best choices, because that's what I think.
Destroys a lot of our lives.
It's not having the wisdom of the information to make those decisions.
You know.
And when I say, and you ask me, why would I get in this when I sit in there for all those years and I could watch you know, people think that when you're in prison, you're dead, but you're just like a grave that's covered up. But you could with a glass ceiling you can see the world. And you're saying, why is this not happening? If I was out, what would I do? And I know a lot of people that's pretty wealthy, that makes a lot of you know, they can make a lot of things happen and don't because they get put in boxes. And I don't judge that, you know. I think it's too easy to judge, you know, but it's hard to think, you know. So I'm just saying, instead of judging other people while they don't do, what can I do? So I use my platform the opportunities I have to speak to my community. So we did some concerts in Pittsburgh, we did some Conder, we did some concerts in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and we did some concerts in Detroit. And we spend time on the ground and talk to people. And I went to this, uh, this one Paul Paul Kids as an organization what this lady has in Atlanta and Kathy.
And she and she she's.
The mother for children whom mothers are on drugs and fathers are in prison on drugs and they come there to eat every day. And seeing these kids reminded me of me.
And what can happen if people don't pay attention. So that's what I'm about. Yeah, that's what I'm about. That's what I focus on. Not seeing people do a day like I did, and they're gonna take people supporting their community to make that happen.
That's what I'm on. You know, It's amazing.
It's like you based off your information and your experiences, you support, you support based.
Off buying from MEAs my experiences.
I supported, I support, But that's not gonna ever stop me from helping another black man help his community.
That's what That's what I'm ultimately on. At the end of the day.
I love that bro, because that's what I'm saying. We got enough division, you understand. Just like even on a small level, we was at we was in Detroit, Pontiac actually, but you know, outside of Detroit, and it came to my attention that Trick Trick and Rick Ross had had this issue ongoing issue and they both was on the bill.
Hey this is I forgot.
I forgot you made made peace.
Look they had it in him, bro, and it was easy, you know, because we're brothers. Why not Saturday example, and they did. It was big and people felt it, you know what I mean. So that's what community first is about, merging communities, not.
Not who did you call first? Who'd you called?
Uh jeeries out know. It was like, that's a good point. It was Trick Trick City, and so one of the things I wanted to do is be respectful when we come up into different communities. And I just know how that is and how important it is. So it was Trick Trick City. So we brought him on and then I talked to Rick about coming onto the show, and he was cool, and then we had to talk. You know what I'm saying. He said, you know, you know how you talk. That's an easy big dog. It was just that, he said, that's easy because and then for them to meet halfway coming up to the stairs and race.
Before they came out to the stage, it's powerful.
And so you know, we had we had some first like it was uh State property. It was in our first concert and they that was the first time in twenty years they had all collectively UH stays together, you know. And then we had in Atlanta. We had t I two and all those guys and uh, I think this is one of Tu's last concerts. And just to see all the homegrown talent on the stage together, it's powerful. So we want to keep doing stuff like that. We want to keep having to do townholls. We want to talk to republics and democrats together. We want to talk about real issues, and we want to talk to anybody that supports us.
Can you put Kendrick and Drake stage to give or let them hung it out?
I got another question next mission.
That's the next mission, that one.
Yeah, I'm on it man. Anytime we can, like anytime we can kill it.
Perfectly that.
I don't know about love. I would like to see it, like if that could happen. Why not, because it's just something to watch.
I disagree with he just said, you don't like I've been watching you. I've been watching all from behind the balls, behind the walls.
What they say about the insigne they think they people ask me what they really got?
I think they think they're gainst us. Yeah, that's what he said.
Can you see a gun on the Trust me be honest with you. You guys are liked for people that's incarcerated. I think I think people don't realize what kind of a fact people incarcerated have on the family members that really stay connected to them, because really people really want their brothers, sisters, mamas and daddies and nephews to come home. And so when you when you have a show like you guys have and we're able to watch that in it, you know, fast stay whatever, They're gonna watch you, and they listen.
They hang on you, guys every word.
And so this is to be on your show and to be able to talk a little bit about community first and about the old plan.
And uh, I really appreciate y'all.
Man.
You don't know how much y'all affect people.
On a data base on a daily basis, because what else you have in there besides reading?
Of course I did a lot of that.
But to be when they listen to you, you bring them back into the world because you understand you are isolated.
Outside of walking that track, you ain't going nowhere.
And when you know that in your mind and you have to find something else, you have to find you, you know, and I find God to God help me walk through that and then be about purpose. You know what I'm saying. I stay president, you know, at every step of the way. So when I came home, I was ready to go. I had to get ready. I think people. I think when people don't do that, they have to come home and get ready, and then there it goes backwards instead of forwards.
You got to get ready when you had an opportunity.
To get ready, and we had this is I just want to go back to this voting thing. I just watched our vote becomes so powerful in the last few months, and I just think people shouldn't know that that you can't keep voting for people that don't represent your best interest. And I'm not saying everybody's gonna do. You don't agree with everything everybody gonna do, because you're not gonna do that.
But we have to. We have to push for something if we want something.
If we continue to sit back and vote like it's like we're going to church and God gonna do something special for you, you gotta do something special for yourself.
It's the same thing when you get when you're going out and putting people in a position to represent you, you gotta request.
Something to them so at least you have a measuring stick that says, okay, I requested this from you. You said you was gonna do it. Three years, four years go by, nothing happened. I don't see you no more. We need to be about the business. Just like you watch everything you put digest into your body. You need to watch you. You got to represent you. It could be the death for you. And that's what I'm on you know, Like I just I just hope my voice is heard in a way and the way that I'm sitting it out, I hope it's received that way. I don't have no reason to come out here and put on a show. My thing is about if you heard something that changes your mind or open you up to something, then I'm down my job. I can't direct you into no direction. You just gotta see that this is about us making a deal to change the trajectory our community. That's what it is. And if you don't, if nobody don't want to engage you, how you gonna make a deal. The fact that whatever you feel about Donald Trump was able with all this stuff going on. Tap back in and says, hey, man, if I get back in the office, I'm committed to work in community first, to make sure that we help you do what you're trying to do with the old plan. I left it out there, it came back, it's still out there. So to answer your question, I.
Think it's all about relationships too though, because I can.
I can.
I can say that about Vice Fresid and Kamalade talk to me about that.
I can say that, like I got.
You know, one of my big initiatives is mental health advocacy, you know, and I've seen her put two hundred and eighty five million dollars into mental health programs that help increase the number of mental health professionals in our communities. I can talk about the American Rescue Plan, you know, where she's put tens of millions of dollars into small, small, small black businesses, you know, all through North Carolina, all through Louisiana. So I mean, I just think it's all about what you're tapped into and what your relationship is with that individual.
Like you, probably no more than most.
I didn't know any of that what you said about, you know, Trump with the community first thing, But that's because that's been your relationship, that's been your experience, just like my relationship.
My experience has been with the VP. So that's what I support.
Yeah, outside of me meeting with President Trump, when I thanked him for you know, allowing me to reach back out into my family. First, I'll always give it to God first. But the fact that Trump did it, I thanked him for it. But I haven't really I haven't really develop relationship. But at the same time, you have, so you know more about her. I mean, I'm from California, so I know certain things about her as well, but you know.
Not not in the way that you do.
Okay like that and uh and uh so when you're in California State prison, so I got a different lens, different view different viewful how things happen or could have happened. Like I said, I'm not here to do that. I'm just here to talk about policies that elevate the community.
Yeah, that's all I mentioned was policy.
And I appreciate the dialogue in the way that we've been civil and I feel we're supposed to know.
I think it's the most ridiculous thing in the world for people to be at odds with each other and like people be talking.
Crazy at each other over politicians. At the end of the day, regardless of who wins.
Guess what, We're still black when our communities are gonna still be what they are, and we're gonna have to do what we gotta do the better community.
And that's about that. And I think we don't have no arguments here, and that's beautiful. I wish the world saw it like that. I see people you know, sit next to you on planes and mentioned party and the next thing you know, they got separated them.
You know, it's is the plane going down? You know what I mean?
Like, I'm serious, I don't seeing that. And it's like it shouldn't be like that. Like one thing God gave us is free will, choice and we should be able to make that choice. And the best way to do that, I believe is with information. And so even though like he just broke down the information that he has, that I break that information and I have. Well, once you have that information, you can make a determination and no one should tell you or shame you because you made a determination separate from the way the other person feels. I think that's disrespectful to human beings, but I think it's more disrespectful to what God gave us. Don't take my choice away from me. Don't tell me if I don't vote for him her or this race or that race that somehow I'm not who I am. And you haven't even walked in my steps to speak to me like that. So I'm just I'm just appreciative of the conversation and the opportunity because people respect your platform.
Thank you for joining us. I would dislike you more if you're a Cowboys fan than anything else, like him, like I just like a cowboy. I just the reason why.
But how can people follow what you're doing?
Before we wrap up?
Sometimes?
You said earlier, I've been trying to ask this, so we kind of moved away from it. So I'm going back to it. And when he asked you about sugar, you said, y'all want y'all separate ways. Is there any way that will ever see that reconciliation because it seems like there's definitely a lot of space and stuff in between. Now with the defro Records conversation, will you guys ever get back to a good space? Is that over and done for you?
We got two minutes. I just say this, look this should Knight that the world knew. It's a different should Night that I originally right and I just think. I just think that money and power does a lot of different things. And even when we went through like you know, I had to sue him about my bread and that's how I ended up losing death row.
I tried to talk to him.
Then I'm saying, look, man, his opportunity familiar to resolve was supposed to be right, you know, because I chose are gonna see this one day and says, why you guys didn't work this out?
I see, that's what we should be on.
But I can't keep trying to find a good in somebody that don't want to find a good in themselves. And so him being behind these walls, I don't Whishperrison on my worst enemy. I know he's feeling and understanding things that he may could not have understood when he was out here on the streets. So I pray that he'd get the wisdom that I got when I.
Was behind, when I was behind the walls, and I worked on myself.
And I don't blame other people for anything I ever went through, you know what I'm saying. So I can't be out here talking about I'm about peace and about community first, not be open, but people gotta stop living in the past and try to figure out how to move forward together. You know, I know, even Dog had opened up our brands and things. Just it didn't work out, you.
Know what I mean.
But we all stayed hopeful and open because we all created something in the beginning that was you know, entrepreneurs.
It's powerful.
It was a voice for so many and it created a lot of other companies. The other people was able to benefit from what we created. Back in ninety one ninety two.
I got one of the death ro questions, do you remember the first time you heard Snoop? Did you know he was a star right away? And do you remember the first time hear in Tupaca? Do you know he was a star right away? Did you know that was gonna take it to the next level? Well your thoughts the first time you.
Heard I watched I watched Tupac grow before he became involved in death Row. But Snoop dogg my ex wife, Lydia Harris, she was she was a part of the company. Even though I was around ay the walls, I used to communicate through the farm every day. And she told me that because he had a little naturally and she told me she says, he the one, you know, and then and then because sure didn't think he was. He didn't think he was starting, you know, because you know, DC was supposed to be Snoop Dogg.
Correct, So he lost his voice, lost his voice, but.
He still gave what he had, Like he taught Snoop Dogg things that changed Snoop.
Dogg as an artist.
You wrote a lot too, That's what I'm talking about, but not just Snoop Dogg, but for doctor Dre, for n w A. You know, he was the voice, to be honest with you, out of Dallas. You know what I mean, look at that economy. But what I'm saying to you is that when I heard that voice, and even when he was inside the wall, so I got the music sent the At first, people was kind of like didn't know what it was. But when he him on that murders uh uh murder the cover the cover one eight seven on the n the cover cop the first time you heard that melodic voice, it changed West Coast music.
It's beautiful.
The DC get what he was supposed to get for being the voice of death Row, not just dethro A.
Well, my brother, he got a he got a documentary coming out, and I think he's gonna get his flowers because you know, and I don't want to dip the tea, but make sure I'm gonna make sure he come on y'all show before he come out with it, because he's gonna do something real revolutionary and that you know, that's gonna shock people.
But you know the question of you know, I don't think.
Doc's got what he's supposed to get because Doc was the heart of Death Row at n w A, and I just think that, and he's out there trying to do stuff in the community. Me and him as a real close contact. I love Doc because he was there doing them first days. It was him, Should and Dre that was supposed to start a business first, and somehow Doc got pushed out and I came in and then I had my push and pull too. You know, it's been a you know, it's a family, but it's been a kind of crazy family.
But you know, I'm back.
And you tell us the first time you heard Pop.
UH liked it him.
When I first heard him, Uh, I thought he was clever, smart, But when he came with the Death Row version, I just think him being away, him being frustrated. He came with another sound. You know, so when I first heard you know, dear Mama, I'm not dem mama. But Ben just having a.
Baby, he was already something special.
I don't know.
The jury is still out on how I feel about some of that, some of what happened. But in terms of him musically, he just went to a whole other level and he just it just was pawing out of it. Like he went to the studio. You know, I wasn't there, but they would tell me that he went to the studio and he just he couldn't be stopped. You know, he was He was a perfectionist. He wanted that he wanted to sound like he wanted to sound. He wants you to feel that projection. So, yeah, he was a loss, you know, mismanagement. Uh that costs uh one of our treasure's life. As as relate to him and Vickie, you know, thank God bless their soul. They was they were both treasures to our community.
Absolutely. Well, how can people get in touch with with with you and see what you're doing with community first and all that, and follow what you're doing and maybe even help and support.
And that would be lovely man. All the support we can get we want.
Uh So, it's Community First Action dot org or at Community First Action, and that's how you can get in contact with US supports. An official Harrio mhm. It's mine handle. I'm just out there.
I ain't hard to find. That's right.
Well, we appreciate you for joining us this morning, ladies and gentlemen. Is Mike Harry Old Harrison. It's the Breakfast Club.
Good morning, wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club
M hm.
