Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Music Industry Exec, Benny Pough discusses Jay-Z, Rihanna, Travis Scott, relationship building and personal branding.

Transcript

Music Industry Exec, Benny Pough discusses Jay-Z, Rihanna, Travis Scott, relationship building and personal branding. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: My guest is Bennie Pew.
0:02
Speaker 2: He's a music industry executive entrepreneur and when Amazon announced
0:06
Speaker 2: its newly released Books chart this week, his book on
0:11
Speaker 2: Impact was number one. Well respected in the entertainment industry,
0:15
Speaker 2: he is a veteran of the game. I've known him
0:17
Speaker 2: over two decades. The careers he's worked with in the
0:20
Speaker 2: industry include Jay z Rihanna, Kanye West, Travis Scott, Future
0:25
Speaker 2: twenty one, Savage.
0:26
Speaker 1: Pewtre Pew as poug h.
0:29
Speaker 2: I remember when I first made it, I thought it
0:30
Speaker 2: was Pew, Bennie pewtell I member, Steve Harperson, how you
0:34
Speaker 2: spelled Leaden?
0:34
Speaker 1: Now, I said Pew and now then I looked at
0:36
Speaker 1: that with its p O U g H. Benie Pugh.
0:40
Speaker 2: Well, he's lefting a delible mark on the music industry,
0:43
Speaker 2: holding the executive roles at Motown Death Jam, you know,
0:47
Speaker 2: Epic Records. That's where I met him, at Epic Records,
0:50
Speaker 2: MCA Records, you know, just chronicling the career and culminated
0:53
Speaker 2: with the ultimate position for him at that time president
0:56
Speaker 2: of Rock Nation Music in twenty fourteen, a dramatic accident,
1:00
Speaker 2: the current in Bing's life. I'm bringing them on the
1:03
Speaker 2: show for that reason, and it is chronicled in his
1:05
Speaker 2: book on Impact. Without further ado, let's listen to the
1:08
Speaker 2: man himself tell his story and why we should understand
1:12
Speaker 2: that when it seems dark, there's always light. Welcome the
1:15
Speaker 2: Money Making Conversation Masterclass, Bennie Pew Yes, sir, yes.
1:20
Speaker 3: Sir, yes, sir. Listen.
1:21
Speaker 4: Let me say this to you, Rashan, And I'm listening
1:26
Speaker 4: to you and I was like, wow, who is that right?
1:29
Speaker 3: And then while.
1:29
Speaker 4: I'm listening to you, I'm watching looking at the back
1:33
Speaker 4: wall in your studio and I'm like, it almost feel
1:36
Speaker 4: like one of the mega churches, you know, like you.
1:39
Speaker 3: Know, like you buy your break.
1:42
Speaker 4: The next time ever come on your show, Bro, I
1:45
Speaker 4: want to be on that wall because that wall people
1:47
Speaker 4: can go over to interviews all day.
1:50
Speaker 3: You want the wall because the wall is the truth, Bro.
1:54
Speaker 3: The wall is what's gonna last for happen. It's that wall, man.
1:58
Speaker 4: And I appreciate you for bringing me on him, and
2:00
Speaker 4: thank you so much for your friendship.
2:02
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for your time, man, and I
2:03
Speaker 3: appreciate it.
2:04
Speaker 2: Well, you know the thing, you know, celebrating five years
2:06
Speaker 2: of Money Making Conversation Master class this month, and so
2:09
Speaker 2: I felt it was just fantastic to bring on you
2:13
Speaker 2: a longtime friend. You and I met Steve Harvey and
2:16
Speaker 2: I was doing local radio, the Beat in Los Angeles
2:19
Speaker 2: and you and the idea by the record UH collaboration
2:24
Speaker 2: where we bring in a bunch of artists, new artists
2:26
Speaker 2: and you know, our star artists and uh collaboration, and
2:31
Speaker 2: that's how we met. And we've been friends. We've been
2:36
Speaker 2: uh dinner, dinner, buddies, lunch buddies, breakfast, buddy laugh, all
2:41
Speaker 2: that stuff all these years. But that's been the key
2:44
Speaker 2: to you, Bennie. You understood the value of relationships.
2:48
Speaker 4: Why you know, it's interesting that you that we're gonna
2:53
Speaker 4: revisit that story because I mean, you guys invited me
2:57
Speaker 4: in your lives. I was the guy who was just
2:59
Speaker 4: a little promoter in Los Angeles, senior vice president.
3:04
Speaker 3: But you know, I always saw myself as a worker.
3:07
Speaker 4: And I remember when you brought me in and it
3:09
Speaker 4: was like, only introduce you to Steve, and we got
3:12
Speaker 4: this idea.
3:12
Speaker 3: We got this concept right on.
3:15
Speaker 4: You know, rap music was different, you know, it was
3:18
Speaker 4: actually starting to morph into what it is now, and
3:21
Speaker 4: you guys wanted a positive message in the marketplace, and
3:26
Speaker 4: in doing so, that's how we got to the compilation,
3:28
Speaker 4: which was super exciting and also penetrated the market. And
3:33
Speaker 4: you know, it was an entree for both of both
3:35
Speaker 4: of us, one me being aligned with with a superstar
3:38
Speaker 4: manager and superstar artists as well as you guys connecting
3:42
Speaker 4: into a whole other audience and music. So what it
3:46
Speaker 4: shows is when you foster and people see something in
3:49
Speaker 4: you that you may not see in yourself, or you
3:52
Speaker 4: see something in yourself that someone needs identify that.
3:55
Speaker 3: It's all about patients and perseverance.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely.
3:58
Speaker 2: And the thing about it is when I met you,
4:00
Speaker 2: you know, I always tell people you know it.
4:04
Speaker 1: It was a very interesting time in my life.
4:05
Speaker 2: I just transitioned from being a sitcom writer. I was
4:09
Speaker 2: doing the Parkers and then Jamie Fox and Sister Sister
4:12
Speaker 2: and Steve and I was on radio in La. We
4:15
Speaker 2: came in the number nineteen when we walked in that
4:18
Speaker 2: building and in six months we was number one, and
4:21
Speaker 2: so we like owned LA.
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Speaker 1: We were like the face of LA music wise.
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Speaker 2: We was a couple of young guys man that was
4:27
Speaker 2: just kind of like wilding out because we didn't know
4:29
Speaker 2: why we were number one. We just went gut instinct,
4:32
Speaker 2: and our relationship with you was tied to gut instinct
4:35
Speaker 2: because you had that same fire, Bennie, that same man
4:40
Speaker 2: with Steve Harp and I. We would walk away from
4:42
Speaker 2: you man, goll that Bennie, that Benny somebody man because
4:45
Speaker 2: your energy, that laugh man, and you like you truly
4:48
Speaker 2: were like they said, you know, and this is a compliment.
4:52
Speaker 2: You know, the used call salesman because the used cost
4:55
Speaker 2: smealsman can say you're a call and it might not
4:57
Speaker 2: be the call. You about to drive off that lot,
5:00
Speaker 2: and Benny would sit down man and talk to you.
5:03
Speaker 1: You go, he Benny. But they don't have no wills.
5:05
Speaker 1: Don't worry about that. Don't worry about that. Yes, yeah
5:10
Speaker 1: you need a car, right yeah, don't come here?
5:12
Speaker 3: Will you came here for a car? Wills come later.
5:17
Speaker 2: See what I'm saying, it's me come here for a
5:22
Speaker 2: car with wills.
5:23
Speaker 3: You gave me a for a car.
5:25
Speaker 1: I got it.
5:25
Speaker 3: We're gonna get you, Wills.
5:27
Speaker 1: We don get you.
5:28
Speaker 3: We're gonna get you, Wills.
5:32
Speaker 5: Man.
5:32
Speaker 1: We leave him.
5:33
Speaker 5: Man.
5:34
Speaker 1: We be driving laughing so hard.
5:36
Speaker 2: Man, because we go Benny Man, Benny something else Man,
5:39
Speaker 2: if Benny go in the room with these white folks
5:41
Speaker 2: and start talking and they be listening, and we just
5:44
Speaker 2: be just we be quiet as little church bouse because
5:49
Speaker 2: Benny knew what he was doing, as he still knows
5:52
Speaker 2: what he's doing today.
5:53
Speaker 1: And then you know, you.
5:54
Speaker 2: Started transitioning like we started transitioning. Start looking for other opportunities.
5:59
Speaker 2: What made you look at it said I was bigger
6:02
Speaker 2: than where I was at, and then start challenging yourself
6:05
Speaker 2: to really start reaching what God talents that God gave you.
6:09
Speaker 4: So first and foremost entering into the music business, I
6:13
Speaker 4: realized there were no salt and pepper hair black men
6:15
Speaker 4: walking in the buildings. So that's when I decided on
6:19
Speaker 4: two plan aids. And my first plan aid was this
6:22
Speaker 4: corporate job, which which actually played paid exponentially, but knowing
6:27
Speaker 4: that this would not be my retirement because there was
6:30
Speaker 4: no one in their mid fifties late sixties, so it
6:34
Speaker 4: wasn't going to be like my mother at the Post
6:35
Speaker 4: Off getting a golden package.
6:37
Speaker 3: So that's when I invested in real estate.
6:39
Speaker 4: So every bonus I made for the last twenty years
6:42
Speaker 4: twenty five years went to purchasing a piece of property,
6:45
Speaker 4: whether it was a single family, whether it was a
6:48
Speaker 4: condo or a co op, you know, a residential building
6:51
Speaker 4: or even a city block. That's what I said was
6:54
Speaker 4: going to be important for me being blessed in an
6:56
Speaker 4: opportunity to you know, make make make the living that
7:02
Speaker 4: I was that I.
7:04
Speaker 2: Was doing up the time. And so as we go
7:07
Speaker 2: through the process. But you you know you you you
7:09
Speaker 2: engaged in superstar talent. You know, you know we we
7:12
Speaker 2: we you know, the industry is different now, you know,
7:15
Speaker 2: for studios still had the relationship when we were back
7:18
Speaker 2: and we met, had the relationship with the talent. Now
7:20
Speaker 2: they got streaming and they could drop their own music
7:23
Speaker 2: and all this. So it's a it's kind of like
7:25
Speaker 2: a more independent world out there. I don't really know
7:29
Speaker 2: how Lizzo is really successful or how Meg the Stallion
7:33
Speaker 2: is successful. A chance to rap us successful or tank
7:36
Speaker 2: it successful because there are different ways for them to
7:38
Speaker 2: just say I got a social media platform, I can
7:41
Speaker 2: drop my own thing. It's just like Beyonce say she's
7:44
Speaker 2: just gonna drop our music at midnight. Same thing with
7:46
Speaker 2: Taylor Swift, I'm gonna drop my music at midnight. They
7:48
Speaker 2: ain't got they don't have to ask nobody if they
7:51
Speaker 2: want to drop their music. How has that impacted how
7:55
Speaker 2: you look at the industry because now you're looking at
7:56
Speaker 2: it from a perspective as an entrepreneur and not somebody
7:59
Speaker 2: who's employed by well, I.
8:01
Speaker 4: Mean, in all seriousness, there are two ways to look
8:07
Speaker 4: at it. They are independent artists who are truly independent.
8:10
Speaker 4: That means you own your masters, and you can go
8:13
Speaker 4: to a distro kid you can go to you can
8:16
Speaker 4: upload it yourself, right, or you can go through one
8:19
Speaker 4: of the distribution companies and put it up.
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Speaker 3: When you actually going to a deal with a label,
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Speaker 3: you just.
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Speaker 4: Can't do what you want to do because they actually
8:29
Speaker 4: own and control, you know, your masters. So being in
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Speaker 4: the space and that's always existed, be quite honest with
8:38
Speaker 4: you know, we're old enough to be to know about
8:41
Speaker 4: one stops and you know, distributions as well as major corporations.
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Speaker 4: And the one defining factor is the majors have always
8:50
Speaker 4: been in the position of powerful artists that come through
8:54
Speaker 4: that funnel, and that works for you and against you, right,
8:56
Speaker 4: And there's nothing wrong. If you're an artist that can
8:58
Speaker 4: strive and make it dependently and don't need a major,
9:01
Speaker 4: that's great. But there's a lot of benefits of being
9:04
Speaker 4: in a major because guess what they can take you
9:06
Speaker 4: from zero to sixty or zero to ninety if the
9:11
Speaker 4: thrust of the building goes behind you, which you might
9:13
Speaker 4: not be able to do over yourself in a runway
9:17
Speaker 4: that you know is best for exploitation.
9:21
Speaker 5: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
9:24
Speaker 5: with Rushawan McDonald. Now let's return to Money Making Conversations
9:30
Speaker 5: Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
9:33
Speaker 2: So I'm talking to Benny put His book on Impact
9:37
Speaker 2: is number one on Amazon and remain there as long
9:40
Speaker 2: as you keep buying it.
9:40
Speaker 1: That's why he's on the show today.
9:42
Speaker 2: We're here to talk about this book, talk about his group,
9:43
Speaker 2: but we're really here to tell book No.
9:45
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be here if that book wasn't number one, bro,
9:48
Speaker 4: as much as you love me, you like yo, Benny,
9:49
Speaker 4: if he was number forty.
9:51
Speaker 2: So you know it's hard to climb up with a
9:56
Speaker 2: backpack is real heavy, okay, but when you could climb down,
10:00
Speaker 2: you know.
10:00
Speaker 1: When when a back back life.
10:02
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Everybody ate up the food.
10:04
Speaker 1: It's going back down to get some more food.
10:06
Speaker 2: When you climbing up, Brother, and that backpack is full
10:09
Speaker 2: of rocks.
10:12
Speaker 1: On Impact ain't got no rocks in it because it's
10:15
Speaker 1: number one, Benny.
10:17
Speaker 2: Peer, number one, you know, and that's what really when
10:21
Speaker 2: you talk about the energy of success and the energy
10:24
Speaker 2: of what we're trying to do. You know, I read here,
10:28
Speaker 2: I'm gonna read this, uh, this quote by you and
10:32
Speaker 2: I both know her. Over my seven decades, I have
10:35
Speaker 2: read too many books to even guess the number I
10:38
Speaker 2: most honestly met. On Impact has impacted my life and
10:42
Speaker 2: touched my sensibilities like none other in a very, very
10:46
Speaker 2: long time. Truly a roadmap, Truly a roadmap to fulfilling
10:51
Speaker 2: one's potential while at the same time guiding others to
10:54
Speaker 2: achieve the same. The one and only Kathy Hughes, founder
10:58
Speaker 2: and chairperson. When I was working for Radio one NA,
11:02
Speaker 2: it's called Urban one, which is TV one, Radio one,
11:08
Speaker 2: Urban one digital platforms. Kathy Hughes. She has been a
11:12
Speaker 2: face of radio and music. When you went to her,
11:16
Speaker 2: I'm assuming there was no hesitation to get her to
11:18
Speaker 2: give you a quote.
11:19
Speaker 1: Why I was let me, hool.
11:22
Speaker 3: Man, let me say this. I was extremely nervous.
11:26
Speaker 4: I mean, we know, miss Hues, all of us and
11:30
Speaker 4: we've been blessed by it, but we don't really some
11:34
Speaker 4: of us. Let's say, this is just the people in
11:36
Speaker 4: our generation and youngers don't know what she's meant to
11:41
Speaker 4: people of color, black people and women like she was
11:44
Speaker 4: the first woman to have a company on woman and
11:47
Speaker 4: woman of color on NASDA, right, So that's just huge
11:51
Speaker 4: in the money game, right, like showing who and what
11:55
Speaker 4: her influence was. And she's an avid reader and she's
11:59
Speaker 4: also just like you know, a dynamo in business. So
12:03
Speaker 4: as a friend and just like you, and I appreciate
12:06
Speaker 4: you bringing me here. You know, I'm not one to
12:09
Speaker 4: ask folks to help me. I want to bring tea
12:12
Speaker 4: it up for them to want to be engaged, right,
12:15
Speaker 4: because you don't never want to be that person you
12:17
Speaker 4: know that's begging, right, don't perceived to be. So when
12:20
Speaker 4: I when I went to her, I didn't bring it
12:23
Speaker 4: to her until I had it in its best date,
12:25
Speaker 4: in its best form. And of course, just like what
12:28
Speaker 4: you said, she said, absolutely, I'll give you a quote. Absolutely,
12:32
Speaker 4: I'll give you a quote for the book to send
12:34
Speaker 4: it over, because she would have gave me the quote anyway, right,
12:39
Speaker 4: But I wouldn't have accepted the quote, has she not
12:41
Speaker 4: read the book? And when she read the book and
12:44
Speaker 4: we spoke, she said, Benny, this is phenomenal. I read
12:49
Speaker 4: it three times. And this was in like two days. Bro,
12:53
Speaker 4: I ain't read the book three times in.
12:54
Speaker 2: Two days, right, Like I got to like, I.
13:00
Speaker 3: Never read the book three times in two days. That
13:03
Speaker 3: just says the power of her mind. Right, And then
13:07
Speaker 3: I knew I had something. Right, you know, when people of.
13:12
Speaker 4: That level that value and have that intuition and have
13:18
Speaker 4: seen the past, the president in the future is telling
13:21
Speaker 4: me that I have something. Then I realized, like, Okay,
13:24
Speaker 4: this is everything I wanted to be impactful to people
13:27
Speaker 4: like you.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm talking to Bennie Pew, the one and only
13:29
Speaker 2: Benie Peugh form a record executive entrepreneur, the number one
13:33
Speaker 2: book on Amazon available right now just go to Amazon
13:37
Speaker 2: called Own Impact. I have six questions I want to
13:40
Speaker 2: ask you. This is an entrepreneur show. I bring individuals
13:43
Speaker 2: like you own here to just seed information into my
13:46
Speaker 2: fan base. And now the first one is the key
13:48
Speaker 2: to building mentor relationships. I talk about that a lot.
13:52
Speaker 2: You've shown me it works, You've shown me the value
13:55
Speaker 2: of it. Can you give us my audience some keys
13:59
Speaker 2: or just a couple of a statement of the building
14:02
Speaker 2: mentor relationships.
14:04
Speaker 4: So you know, I actually talk about that in the
14:06
Speaker 4: book as well. So for me, mentoring as a mentor,
14:10
Speaker 4: you have to realize that you're in the position of
14:13
Speaker 4: giving right and you may not get anything back other
14:17
Speaker 4: than that.
14:17
Speaker 3: Person getting the best from me.
14:19
Speaker 4: So for me, it's all about from the mentor perspective
14:22
Speaker 4: giving as a mentee, you need to realize the value
14:24
Speaker 4: of what people who are on the other end are doing.
14:27
Speaker 4: They're giving you your time, so don't waste it right.
14:30
Speaker 2: And also that's because you know, like I said, I
14:33
Speaker 2: always tell people, like when I stepped away from Steve,
14:36
Speaker 2: it was the mentor and the relationship. There's two words
14:38
Speaker 2: that are key, mentor and relationships. The relationship can be
14:44
Speaker 2: equally as more powerful as the mentorship. And so the
14:47
Speaker 2: mentorship let you know that as you grow older, you're
14:49
Speaker 2: seeding people who can come back and be an asset
14:52
Speaker 2: to you. Not not that you're trying to be self
14:54
Speaker 2: and say hey, hey, but look here, I'm doing this
14:56
Speaker 2: for you. Now, don't forget me. That's not what we're
14:58
Speaker 2: talking about. We're talking about because I because I was.
15:02
Speaker 1: I remember, I was. I was. I was talking to
15:04
Speaker 1: Sherry Shepherd yesterday.
15:06
Speaker 2: In fact, I was in New York and she was
15:08
Speaker 2: and she had me come on the show.
15:09
Speaker 1: Were sitting in the dressing room.
15:11
Speaker 2: She said, Rishan, I remember when I was on the
15:14
Speaker 2: show and you and I was selling you.
15:16
Speaker 1: I was selling my book, and you was telling.
15:18
Speaker 2: Me repeat the name, keep repeating the name, keep repeating
15:21
Speaker 2: the name.
15:22
Speaker 1: And I didn't know why you kept saying.
15:24
Speaker 2: They said, look, because you never know when somebody gonna
15:26
Speaker 2: start listening to this interview. That moment stayed with her,
15:30
Speaker 2: staying because you reminded me in the dressing room. And
15:32
Speaker 2: I get that a lot from people. I've gotten that
15:34
Speaker 2: from Gabrielle Union. I've gotten that from Lolla Anthony. I've
15:37
Speaker 2: gotten that from Nick Cannon. I've gotten that from Michelle Williams.
15:40
Speaker 2: I've gotten that. And it's not so so. Your mentorship
15:43
Speaker 2: can just be advice that people hang on to and
15:47
Speaker 2: it shaped a decision they may make in that life
15:50
Speaker 2: that proves to be important. And that's what it really is.
15:55
Speaker 2: When you're talking about a lot of people tag mentionship.
15:57
Speaker 2: I got to be there holding somebody's hand. I gotta
16:00
Speaker 2: be there pick him up after school. I got to
16:02
Speaker 2: be there to open their books and clues, mentionship of
16:04
Speaker 2: just conversation on this conversation that you can have with
16:08
Speaker 2: somebody when they come to you, and not blowing them
16:11
Speaker 2: off with some cavult statement or a statement that you
16:14
Speaker 2: don't you should need to be restorting to. I always
16:16
Speaker 2: tell people, you go if you're a doctor, you don't
16:19
Speaker 2: go to a mechanic for advice.
16:21
Speaker 1: Now, if the mechanics start.
16:22
Speaker 2: Telling you about how to be a doctor, then you
16:24
Speaker 2: need to walk away and realize that he's lying. And
16:29
Speaker 2: I don't care if he's your daddy or your uncle,
16:31
Speaker 2: He's a mechanic.
16:32
Speaker 1: Okay, Right, So.
16:35
Speaker 2: Let's talk about you know, since me in the world
16:37
Speaker 2: of social media and you're not develop our relationship before
16:39
Speaker 2: social media.
16:40
Speaker 1: An if you the value of personal branding.
16:44
Speaker 4: All day every day, man, like you know, I am
16:47
Speaker 4: who I am because I work at it. Yes, I
16:50
Speaker 4: realize you know, my shortcomings, I realize my area of growth,
16:55
Speaker 4: I realize what my gifts are, and I make sure
16:58
Speaker 4: that I tap in and ask people questions.
17:00
Speaker 3: You know what do you think?
17:02
Speaker 4: Like you know you and I have candid conversations every
17:04
Speaker 4: time we're together, it's greatly. Even after this interview, I'm
17:06
Speaker 4: gonna say, Shan, what can I do better? Because there's
17:09
Speaker 4: going to be another Rashawn that's going to come in.
17:12
Speaker 3: My life for the rest of my life.
17:14
Speaker 4: So I don't want to just think yo and have
17:16
Speaker 4: people around me that go, hey, man, now you did
17:19
Speaker 4: a great job, and then when you leave, they go.
17:21
Speaker 3: You know, he's, oh, my god, honorable, he can't speak right.
17:26
Speaker 4: So truth is so important, man, and surrounding yourself with
17:30
Speaker 4: people who can actually give you what you need that's
17:33
Speaker 4: going to help you as you evolve and become the
17:35
Speaker 4: person you need to be.
17:36
Speaker 5: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
17:40
Speaker 5: with Rushaan McDonald. Now let's return to Money Making Conversations
17:46
Speaker 5: Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
17:49
Speaker 2: We know when you early in this conversation, you was
17:51
Speaker 2: talking about investing, and that's a visionary approach to anything.
17:56
Speaker 2: You know, I always tell people, you know, President Obama,
18:00
Speaker 2: you know he had to do things in his life
18:02
Speaker 2: as a young person to make sure it didn't come
18:03
Speaker 2: back on him.
18:05
Speaker 1: Otherwise he would have never been president never.
18:08
Speaker 2: You know, that means he had he had a vision
18:10
Speaker 2: and the fact that you just said, Rashaan, every time
18:12
Speaker 2: I got a bonus, I invested in property, I invested
18:15
Speaker 2: in the building, I invested in.
18:16
Speaker 1: The car door a house. Where did that come from?
18:19
Speaker 3: My mother?
18:20
Speaker 4: We grew up in a five family house and we
18:22
Speaker 4: were in the We lived in the attic and in
18:26
Speaker 4: the winter it was really cold and then the summer
18:28
Speaker 4: was really hot because it was no installation. So my father,
18:32
Speaker 4: you know, I always say to him, he's the Black
18:35
Speaker 4: Magaba because he could fix and do any and everything.
18:37
Speaker 4: So he worked around the house and he gave the woman,
18:40
Speaker 4: she was an older woman from Kansas.
18:44
Speaker 3: He did all the work for free for her.
18:48
Speaker 4: So he did all the electrical, he did all the plumbing,
18:50
Speaker 4: he did all the grass because you know, back then
18:53
Speaker 4: there was just a different way on how people moved, right.
18:57
Speaker 4: You know, it's that barter kind of thing. You know,
19:00
Speaker 4: it never went up. But he did all the work, right,
19:02
Speaker 4: It's just how it was. And there's a lot of unstated,
19:05
Speaker 4: unsaid things.
19:06
Speaker 3: That were valuable in relationships.
19:08
Speaker 4: So when she decided to move back to Kansas and
19:11
Speaker 4: they didn't have the money, she told them, hey, listen,
19:14
Speaker 4: I want you to have this house.
19:17
Speaker 3: So I'm going to hold a paper since she hold
19:18
Speaker 3: it out.
19:19
Speaker 4: Cash and holding the paper is she was the bank,
19:21
Speaker 4: so she could do as she chose to.
19:24
Speaker 3: So she allowed them to purchase the house.
19:27
Speaker 4: And that's what changed the line of my life because
19:30
Speaker 4: I was able to see my father lived the life
19:33
Speaker 4: that he wanted to him and my mother in their relationships.
19:35
Speaker 4: She worked at the post office, so I benefit, our
19:38
Speaker 4: health insurance was covered in My father was able to
19:41
Speaker 4: be the man and as strong man as he was
19:44
Speaker 4: living his life fixing cars, fixing homes. You know, just
19:48
Speaker 4: like yo, man, I'm free. You know what honest day's
19:52
Speaker 4: work for, honest ady's pay. I mean them grits that
19:54
Speaker 4: he used to make for us and eggs in the
19:56
Speaker 4: morning was nasty.
19:57
Speaker 3: But more importantly, he was the one that helped us.
20:00
Speaker 2: So if you find a little levity in this interview
20:05
Speaker 2: with Bennie ps p o U g h H, he was.
20:10
Speaker 1: He did stand up comedy in his life.
20:12
Speaker 2: You know he standing, he's on stage when the motime
20:14
Speaker 2: executive spotted him.
20:16
Speaker 1: He was on stage.
20:17
Speaker 2: Now he didn't he didn't sent to the level of
20:19
Speaker 2: h Chris Rock or Bond Lawrence or even Jean McDonald,
20:24
Speaker 2: cause I did damn comedy jam By the way, thank
20:26
Speaker 2: you very.
20:26
Speaker 3: Much for TVC. You always you always just yo. You
20:29
Speaker 3: can always bro see how you do? You know like
20:33
Speaker 3: you you started going and you like yo.
20:35
Speaker 4: By the way, we started on camera talking about how
20:38
Speaker 4: you just be jabbing at like you great cats on
20:42
Speaker 4: your show so you can find.
20:45
Speaker 3: Remember you know me, I just throw out those ways.
20:49
Speaker 5: You not me.
20:51
Speaker 3: I just through out those big names.
20:52
Speaker 5: You know.
20:53
Speaker 2: Then I did death jam Me and Dave Japale and
20:56
Speaker 2: all that stuff, you know, back in ninety two and
20:58
Speaker 2: things like that. But I bring that up because in
21:01
Speaker 2: a movie with Beyonce, Yeah, yeah, and so and so
21:04
Speaker 2: Beyonce brought it on stage with Kelly Rowling with Good
21:08
Speaker 2: People and way Back, and Michelle Williams came later on
21:12
Speaker 2: Way Back in ninety two with my boy Matthew.
21:15
Speaker 1: Knows back in Houston, Texas.
21:17
Speaker 2: And so my life is that's my life, but the
21:21
Speaker 2: life of being able to work with amazing talent like
21:24
Speaker 2: Travis Scott, future Rihanna, who's going to be the Super
21:28
Speaker 2: Bowl halftime show for twenty twenty three. You know, man, Okay,
21:36
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you this. You know, I've been in
21:38
Speaker 2: the I've been in these rooms.
21:40
Speaker 1: These rooms can just suck all the air, they can
21:42
Speaker 1: suck all the air when.
21:43
Speaker 2: They walk in the room. But you also have to
21:46
Speaker 2: maintain who you are and that identity. And you've always
21:49
Speaker 2: been able to do that, Benny, without intimidating the star.
21:53
Speaker 1: How were you able to pull that off?
21:55
Speaker 3: Man?
21:55
Speaker 4: I only take it back to you know what, and
21:57
Speaker 4: that's why we have to you me and you guys
22:00
Speaker 4: actually did this. You know, you guys used to have
22:03
Speaker 4: the mentoring session with Steve and that was very powerful
22:07
Speaker 4: because kids need a blueprint.
22:09
Speaker 3: You know.
22:10
Speaker 4: Obviously you're going to learn what you learn, how you
22:12
Speaker 4: learn it, when you learn it, at what stage in
22:13
Speaker 4: your life.
22:14
Speaker 3: But for me, it was my mom.
22:15
Speaker 4: Man, like you know, our spirituality, like my mother had
22:18
Speaker 4: us in church.
22:19
Speaker 3: Man, we hated going to church.
22:21
Speaker 4: We was those kids, right, and me and my sister
22:23
Speaker 4: was talking not even just a couple of weeks ago,
22:26
Speaker 4: you know about our mom.
22:28
Speaker 3: God, you know, God bless God, bless her.
22:32
Speaker 4: But you know she raised me as a little man,
22:36
Speaker 4: like I never really was a child, right, I was
22:39
Speaker 4: five year I was a little man. So you know,
22:41
Speaker 4: she taught me about economics, she taught me about your words,
22:45
Speaker 4: She taught me about the discipline. She talked me about foundation.
22:48
Speaker 4: So now, and she taught me about spirituality. So or
22:52
Speaker 4: God spirituality is that lose term. We believed in God
22:56
Speaker 4: and Jesus Christ.
22:57
Speaker 3: Right, So.
22:59
Speaker 4: When I got into music, I never let go my
23:02
Speaker 4: fundamentals to subscribe in the situation that I was in.
23:06
Speaker 4: You know, ultimately, the reason why I last thirty years
23:09
Speaker 4: is because I didn't rush the process. You know, I
23:12
Speaker 4: didn't get invited to every party. I didn't get invited
23:15
Speaker 4: on every boat. I didn't go to every event. But
23:17
Speaker 4: you know what people knew when they came and they
23:19
Speaker 4: sat with me, they believed what I said because I
23:23
Speaker 4: was rooted in what I was rooted in the truth.
23:26
Speaker 3: So therefore, you know what they felt comfortable.
23:29
Speaker 4: People recognize, you know, like they say, game recognized games,
23:32
Speaker 4: real recognized real. So ultimately, at the end of all
23:35
Speaker 4: of those conversations, Kats knew I was going to be like, hey,
23:39
Speaker 4: can I get your number?
23:40
Speaker 3: You know, you know, can I come over? You know, yeah,
23:44
Speaker 3: what's your little brother doing? What was his number?
23:46
Speaker 5: You know?
23:47
Speaker 3: All of that stuff.
23:48
Speaker 4: Is about the business. So I always kept it business.
23:52
Speaker 4: And then they had the opportunity whether they wanted to
23:54
Speaker 4: invite me in their life. I was never about trying
23:57
Speaker 4: to be in their life doing business.
24:00
Speaker 2: He wants to invite you into his life with a
24:02
Speaker 2: book called On Impact. Understand the value he brings to
24:06
Speaker 2: the table. When I throw out these names, and I
24:08
Speaker 2: don't casually throw them out, you know them, jay Z,
24:12
Speaker 2: you know her, Rihanna, you know him, Kanye West, you
24:16
Speaker 2: know him, Travis Scott, Future, Turned One Savage. These names
24:20
Speaker 2: are important in our interestry and they become iconic. The
24:24
Speaker 2: things that Bennie Pugh has done behind the scenes are iconic.
24:28
Speaker 2: That's why it's important if you want to pick up
24:30
Speaker 2: a great reader. It's not number one on Amazon by accident.
24:33
Speaker 2: It's number one on Amazon because it's a necessary read.
24:36
Speaker 2: It's a necessary motivational tool. It's a necessary book that
24:39
Speaker 2: will enable you to change your life because we all
24:42
Speaker 2: have dark sides in our life, and that dark side
24:44
Speaker 2: is turned by unknown, and unknown should never stop you
24:48
Speaker 2: from reaching your dreams being a peer. As we close
24:50
Speaker 2: this interview, the reason you worked, you wrote on Impact, was.
24:54
Speaker 4: Why I was near death car accident and head a
24:59
Speaker 4: treated ninety miles an hour as a passenger. I sustained
25:02
Speaker 4: the level two concussion l three to zero four vertebrate fracture,
25:05
Speaker 4: bulging disc in my back, lacerated liver which led me
25:09
Speaker 4: to lose half my blood supply, and we hit the
25:12
Speaker 4: tree so hard that has severed two feet of my
25:15
Speaker 4: small intestine. And in that moment, God put a book
25:18
Speaker 4: inside me call on Impact. An Impact is an acronym
25:21
Speaker 4: that stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity, connection, and teamwork.
25:26
Speaker 3: Those are the pillars of my life.
25:27
Speaker 4: And at the end of each chapter, I put together
25:30
Speaker 4: a hit list of takeaways from the chapter that people
25:34
Speaker 4: can subscribe to. And at the end of the day,
25:37
Speaker 4: I feel that I can meet everyone and where they're
25:39
Speaker 4: at because you know, I'm gone from intern to CEO,
25:43
Speaker 4: So I feel that I'm the person that you can
25:45
Speaker 4: relate to and also guess what you can learn from
25:49
Speaker 4: just because I've been where you are.
25:51
Speaker 2: My man, Benny, people, thank you for coming on money
25:53
Speaker 2: making a conversation master class.
25:55
Speaker 1: Let's keep this book number one.
25:56
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it, brother, I love it.
26:00
Speaker 1: You zoom all right,