This is your opportunity. Every situation is an opportunity and you don't got to do more work than the next man. You get to do more work than the next minute. You get to take advantage of your opportunity.

Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world, thanks to each and every single one of you that come back every week to listen, learn and grow. Now, I've been looking forward to this conversation for a long, long time. Not only am I talking to the one and only Big Sean, one of the most successful rappers out there, multiple number one, topping charts, singles, albums on the billboard.

But what I'm fascinated about him is his dedication to personal growth, his journey with meditation, his focus on well-being, physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. And today we're going to talk about all of that right here on on purpose. Please welcome Big Sean.

Thank you. Man, that was a great intro.

Well, it was from the heart, man. I feel like when I started listening to your music before I knew about your personal journey, I loved your music. And then I saw you start talking about the journey you've been on personally. And I thought, this is someone even before we were connected, I was like, this is someone I really want to get to know because it's not easy to talk about the things you talk about. Yeah, it's not easy to be vulnerable in your position with the career you have, the way you have.

And so I can't wait to dive into it today. But I was going to start with something a bit different because we have a few more things in common. Yeah, I was reading somewhere that you said that in another life you might have been a film critic. Yeah. And I love that because I love movies and I pick them.

I like I don't pick them apart sometimes. Lately I've been watching movies just based on how it makes me feel like I take my critical head off and I'm just like I enjoy the good story or, you know, like the hero's journey or just like, you know, great pieces, great shows, great plots.

For me, what's been a movie that you feel is like defined the way you think or moved you in a way that in the way that you're speaking about right now, that left a lasting impact.

Forrest Gump for sure. That's one of the ones that, like, struck me hard. The Matrix. I like a special relationship with The Matrix because Neil's name was Mr. Anderson. So that's my last name, too. So I always, like, struck a chord with me, definitely like I'm a huge I'm a big nerd. So I love, like. Batman, I love all Marvel DC Anime, Dragonball Z. Star Wars, Star Trek, that's something that really my brother kind of got me into early on.

It is. But what I connected with by everything about those things like Dragonball or like Star Wars, they all have to deal with like that power within. And I feel like that's why I connected to it so much. It would be like against all possible odds, they would dig deep and go to a new level that people, you know, not only did not expect them to, but was was quote unquote impossible for me. You know, my girl would be like nerd.

And I'll be like, yeah, whatever I do, I have is who I am.

People don't expect it because, you know, you're fashionable and you got slack. And then and then all of a sudden you start talking about, oh, I can talk about it all day, but and just but not just that.

Like I said, great movies. They they go hand in hand, like when I'm in the studio creating like I have a setup where it's like these screens and I'll play like two movies I want sometimes just for aesthetic, not looking at them, but it's just I love him. And that's like definitely a passion of mine for sure that maybe I'll tap into more later on in life. You know, yeah, I could see that because I love writing.

I love stories. I love all of that.

Yeah. Have you directed your music videos as well? Yeah. Well, I have a best friend, Lawrence, who we actually did just start a production company who's directed a lot of my big videos, um, a lot of my big songs. We won some awards together and things like that. But, you know, for for most of my life, music has always been my first priority, you know, but that is something that has also gotten me in trouble, you know, has got me in trouble.

And I'll explain that a little more, because being from Detroit. Right, and I'm from a family where they were hard workers. My grandma was one of the first female black captains in World War Two. She was one of the first female cops in Detroit. And then later she was done being a police officer. She was a teacher, a counselor. She was like a strong woman, you know. And my granddad, too. They met in World War Two.

And he was has a similar story of just being so strong. And I come from a family where it's like hard work, hard work, you know, and everyone went to college and is educated. And I was kind of the first in my family to go on a different career path. You know, my mom used to always play all these like Motown, like she would play Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, all these, uh, the Isley Brothers, like always in the morning.

And I kind of fell in love with the music, you know. But my whole life, uh, I remember when I was graduating high school and I was graduating with a high GPA, I was on my way with a full scholarship to college. But I wanted to do music. I knew and I knew I wanted to do music. And every time I got excited about it, I would just I could just tell that it was real, you know, like I could just feel the connection.

Like, I don't care what anybody could tell me. Like, nah, you trippin don't like man you to fall on your ass. You know, you're going to be out here with no on living on the street, man. If you, you know, you got to you got to play safe, you've got to have a backup plan and all that stuff. And obviously that is a way for a lot of people. But for me it was I put all my eggs in one basket tonight, you know, my scholarship.

Yeah, you can stay. Yeah. And it didn't work out at first. You know, it didn't work out for me. You know, I was like and that was the first time in my life where I had a very big wall of depression, a very big wall of anxiety, a very a very, you know, pivotal moment in my life where I just didn't even feel like living. And, um, and, you know, not to be dramatic, I was eighteen years old, you know, but those are they are defining moments in your life.

And when you're around seventeen or eighteen, because you were around the same time when you saw that must be. Yeah. Because I'm also reading your book Think Like a Monk. And that's a pivotal moment, you know, coming out of high school and all my friends went to college. I didn't go, you know, I ended up meeting Kanye West, right, rapper Faunus, my idol, this is my number one person who I wanted to sign to.

And I felt like I manifested that. And my mom is someone who introduced certain books to me that I was reading at the time. When I was around 17, she introduced me to Esther and Jerry Hicks and and also the secret, you know, the secret. And, you know, she was like, you know, you can do it, like you can manifest it. And I just believed it. I really did.

So tell us about that process of manifesting. I'm intrigued to hear about it. We just had Rhonda on the podcast. Oh, really? Yeah, I just now I just interviewed her two weeks ago. Wow. So. So I'd love to hear from you. I was going to ask you about that moment from a different angle. People have had you tell the story. I find like our generation today is so lost in, like, procrastination, overthinking, overanalyzing.

But you just went there and showed up. Yes. Without knowing if it was going to go anywhere. Like you were ready to be rejected. Ready to fail. Yeah. Ready for it to fall flat on your face. Yeah.

Because it was like I can look back and wish I woulda, coulda, shoulda. I mean, I just couldn't I just felt like I don't know why. And that's that was one of the concepts or one of my albums. But I just don't know why I felt like I lived a life already and like regretted it. And I was like I just felt that in my heart as a young, you know, as a teenager. So I was like, I got to make it happen.

Like, that was just it it was no other option, you know? And she presented these books to me and it's like she she's like a guardian angel. I feel like I feel like when I look back on it, it's like me. I really am living with angels, you know, like my mom and grandma because they would give me books I would never read, you know, give me books, try to introduce me to meditation and all these things.

But it was when I felt hopeless, you know, and I hate that it got to that point. But I was young, too, and I was like, I might as well just pick this book up. I might as well just let me just see what's going on with this because. This has to work, and when you pick those books up and you crack it open, you realize that the book was talking to you, you realize that these books have energy and that is attracting you.

It's not just for it's not just because for no reason. It's like it's literally there in your hands, up in your hands, because it's destiny, you know? And that's one of the things I learned as soon as I cracked it open. I remember reading the seven spiritual laws of success and tearing up, you know, and I remember reading asking is given by Esther and Jerry Hicks and like feeling my whole vibration change. And that is one of the most that is the first time that I realized that there are two realities.

There's a reality that we see with our eyes and our feel and touch. And then there is a reality just as real where it is our spiritual world that we can create and manifest. And that is the reality with a capital R, you know what I'm saying?

That's the real reality that you bring to the other reality. I did these exercises, man. Like I never read. I only read books because I had to a school that was like my thing, which I can relate, you know, and some good books. Right. Like we I remember we were at Animal Farm, The Hobbit, all these great books that helped me, but I still never read on my own time. So these were the first books I read in my own time.

You know, I graduate high school. I ended up I ended up meeting right before I graduated high school. So I did. A rapid form is a classic fairy tale hip hop story. You meet your idol, you rap for him, he hears you out. And I have been recording CDs since I was 11 years old, man. So I have been passing out CDs around school, selling them for five dollars, three dollars. I have been participating in open mikes, battle rap.

I go gone to the radio station every Friday after school, even when you know, because when I turned 16, my grandmother had a stroke and she had a brand new car. So it just it was a bittersweet thing because it was tragic to see my grandma. I have a stroke and the strongest woman I've ever seen literally get old instantaneously. And then I ended up getting a car which provided me to get places that I needed to get to to make the moves I was trying to make because I was I had them in the Hustler mentality.

I was like, I had to do it. You know, Eminem was the only rapper from Detroit at the time. Yeah. That was doing a big and just to keep it real, I was I got a representative for black you, me and be like and put on for my city and just felt the responsibility man. And I would do this radio show every week. I you know, and that led me to meeting Kanye because he was at the radio promoting his album Late Registration at the time.

You know, I met him from doing the radio show there every Friday. I lied and said I left my phone in the back offices so they would let me in a back to go check because I knew that's where the artist would go. I got a chance to rap form as he was walking out, you know, he was like, I'm real busy.

How did you have the courage to do that? Because I feel like people probably see you and then I want to go rap for, you know, people want to repeat all the time. Yeah, exactly. So how do you think you were able to even have the courage to be like, I'm just going to find a way in the hallway, like, you know, when he's walking, he's a busy guy?

Well, because when I did that radio show every Friday, we were rap on the air. On the radio. Yeah, that was the most nervous, racking thing I've ever had to do in my life. It would be like, oh, my God, everybody was listening to the radio right now is hearing me. And that was a beautiful platform for up and coming emcees to come and display how I write a new verse every week. And I was super nervous, so I had done that for about a year straight already by the time I met him.

So I was used to rapping under pressure. Right. So when I saw him and was delivering it, it was just like I had so many raps in my head already. And I was freestyle and and I was used to deliver and under pressure. So I was able to, um. Dynamically, you know, I delivered it as best I could. Yeah, um, and he he heard me, he threw me out and he was like, well you got a CD.

And it's like, well, yeah, because I had CDs I was on in high school. I had my CDs ready. I had a buy already. I had everything ready. And it's crazy because ever since I was 11 years old, everything single thing I had done so far led up to that moment. It all happened and it was like, yeah, I had this CD, I had this, I had that. And he followed through.

But it took years after that. That's what people don't get. It was like I rapped for him and that was it. You know, I rap for him and thought I was going to be like that. That's why I didn't go to school. That's why I turned everything down. And then I stopped getting a response from him. And then all my friends are in college. A whole semester goes by. And I mean, you could have came to school.

What are you still at home like? Well, so what's up? What's up with your record deal? Like, what's up? Like, that's the hardest. That's the hardest.

And I come from a family. My grandma is like, why aren't know you need to go to school like this is the way to a better life. You know, she grew up in poverty and made her way to that point, you know, and she's like, education is the way. And it was the hardest thing to go against the grain, you know? And my mom was really one of the only people who, even though she was a teacher herself.

Right. An English teacher has her master's degree. She she no, she knew what it was like to have a dream and she knew what it was like to chase it, you know, so she believe, of course, education is important, but you can always go back and get it. You can't always believe you take that chance did the other way around. So during that time period for like a year and a half or two, what I did was that was the first time I intentionally worked on myself.

Mm. And I intensely read these books and meditate every day and you know, imagine myself like living the life that I was trying to live and I don't know how to explain it. It was like I feel like I was there. And what that did was it put me there. It really did. To make a long story short, it put me there.

What were the work that you were doing with that meditation and vision? Because I'm sure, like you said, and I'm really glad you brought it up, because before, like you said, I was at the radio station. I was yeah, I was rapping live. I was nervous. Like, what I what I find is that with yourself and stories like yours, there's manifestation, but there's also a ton of hard work.

Oh yeah. In the background. Yes it is. And and tell me about that part of what were you doing in the background while you're meditating, you envisioning you seeing yourself there, what's happening with rap music and music?

Well, one of the things that I would do in my meditations is I would put out the like I would like let me attract the people energy places that I need to go to the next level in my career. Let me attract the people. And I would meet people. I would meet producers and we would lock in. And, you know, who had a common belief is mine or, you know, the same one. And I I'm trying to get on as a producer like you, trying to go on best work.

Right. And I will write things down. I would just I treated it like it was a job. And also one of the things I had to put in perspective is that it didn't matter how hard I was working necessarily. It really mattered how smart I was working. You know, I had a perception it is hard work, you're right. But I had the perception that it takes hard work until I realized that some of the most successful people I knew will work a couple hours a day.

Yeah. And enjoy their life. Yeah, it's flowing. And Adam and me and my mom, we grew up in debt and she worked two jobs and she was working most of her life. So it just didn't make sense to me. You know, early on I'm like, it's not about working hard, it's about working efficiently and smarter. So that's one of the things I really learned at that age, too. So I would say how big lesson?

You know, because a lot of the other people who I would see as studios, they would be I mean, I'm a science today. Like, I'd be like, well, I'm still here. I've been working on the same song for like a week and a half. But it's not about that, you know, it's about it's about the product. It's about what you what you're doing and not about necessarily how much you're pumping out, you know what I mean?

And that was that was something I really had to accept, because your ego will not let you accept that sometimes we've been conditioned. Right. To to think all these things. And that's one I feel like one of the things your book talks about. We've been conditioned to think a certain way.

We've been conditioned to you know, we we're given like a certain amount of of of option guidance options, directions.

You're supposed to do this. You're supposed to do that. You're supposed to follow an explosive device. Was that you guys got to do, you know, the our whole lives and some of his great. But some of it just doesn't apply to everyone. That's one of the things I had to realize and re. My foundation and my whole life and be my architect, well said, man, that's beautiful. I love the way you've expressed that because that must have been an uncomfortable place to live for one or two years.

When you feel you're going to get your break, it doesn't happen. Your friends are now moved on. Yeah.

And everyone's and I'm still in the same way that I grew up in. Yeah. You know, I was sleeping in a twin sized bed. I mean, I'm 18, 19 years old. And it was so frustrating. And it was a test of my ego is a test of my ego. But I was a visual. I visualize Kaiya reaching out our visualize. I just knew that it was going to happen. I didn't know how and like I was to make it happen somehow.

And it just it debro it's like some you got to trust, you know, imagine you being on a cliff and it's like there's no more cliff there, but you like game and there is an invisible bridge. You know, if you had if you had a guy a guidance next to you, like you had your higher self walking next to you and you're like, bro, there's nowhere to walk. And he's like, I'm telling you, if you take a step, it's an invisible bridge right in front of you.

And that takes a lot of faith to walk on that bridge. Yeah, you know that. You can't even see. Yeah, that's what I had to do because that's the decision I made. I wasn't about to go back to school at that moment. I wasn't about to go back to my friends and be like, man, yeah, I was right. I messed up. And I said, you know, I couldn't do it, you know?

And that may have been my ego, too, but I did let that motivate me know. And then he did reach out.

Tell us about that moment, how it felt internally around. Were you like, oh, wow, this manifestation stuff works? Was that a point where you deepened your faith and belief in the invisible bridge where you were like, all this stuff really works well? Do you think you already believed that it worked and it was just about trust, or was this like a confidence point I had to trust at first? Yeah, OK. I had to trust it first.

Beautiful. Yeah. You know, and that's the thing with everything. You've got to trust it then and started working. You know, things necessarily don't work before you trust is kind of like you got, you know, I think that's one of the best things I had to learn. You know, I had to trust in me, trust myself, trust the process, trust Gosbee. You know, that expression is so popular for a reason. You can make all these plans.

My grandma is always black, man. I you make all these plans guy guys are going to laugh at.

Yes. You know, that classic scene. And she would say that to me in so many things like that just means so much more now because it's true. That's why it's so popular.

What goes around comes around, you know, all the things that we've heard. They're true. They're true. You know, uh, it's been a beautiful time. And when he did when he did reach out, it was confirmation that trust wasn't wasted or that trust wasn't betrayed, you know, because God always is or the universe or whatever you believe in, it's all a higher power, right? Yeah. And that and that is guiding us and wants to support us.

Yes. And does support us. Not wants to support us.

Absolutely. Did you ask him why it took him so long now?

Because, you know, I knew people who were like thirty, forty years old that never got their shot. So I'm not going to be like me.

It took four years. What took so long, you know, that, uh, you know, and it was a process after that and things now I'm not going to sit here and say life is smooth sailing. Never. You know, it's not it's not smooth sailing. It's like a constant unraveling experience. Right. And things me so many times other things don't go my way. And I've done all the work and I like sometimes. Right. And expect things to do anything.

And it was good. I'd be one of my biggest songs in my career. My biggest moments are one of my great, you know, greatest experiences or things that I've I with so much energy and power and citizen and not do what I wanted it to do. Like these are things that I go through on a daily basis. But I had to realize that the side of life that I'm on is such a unique side and it's the blessed, the blessed side.

Yeah. And that anything that happens to me, it's all it's all love. It's all beautiful, you know, and it's something to be learned from is something to be gained from. It is when you win something, you learn something. When you lose something, you learn something. You know, you still win something. Yeah. You gain something, you know. So it's really crazy.

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We see an external PR version of who we think those people are on the front cover of magazines and music videos or whatever it may be, but behind everyone, there's a deeper story. It wasn't just like that. I'm intrigued because I feel like a lot of people listening to us right now, they may actually feel blocked from that invasion, right? They feel like. They feel like. When have you felt blocked or if someone's listening and they feel blocked.

How do they remove that? How do they let go? What what are they needing to let go of?

Well, this is deep dug in.

They had to I had to go that way. You're giving me deep talks. I don't want to, you know, get a dive in.

Well, one thing I have learned on my journey is that there are blocks that are sometimes placed on us from our parents or from our surroundings. And whether you believe this or not, I believe it is true even from a past life. Mm hmm.

And it makes total sense because I'm a complete babies who were like, this is like an old man sitting here. Right. He's very mature. You know, it's like I have worked with people who have helped me remove blocks from my life memory diamond being one of them, you know, and that's a whole deeper conversation. But she has been a mentor to me spiritually and helped me along my spiritual journey. You know, honestly, when I when I just think about the blocks that I've had in my life.

So to go back to that, to think about people who are feeling blocked, I know that you have to believe that you can feel unblocked because you're given a power by acknowledging, like, I'm blocked, I'm blocked. You put that out in the universe, remember? I always said the same things that people live by that you've heard what goes around, comes around. What you get is what you gave. Those are real things in that subconscious mind is just as powerful as the conscious one.

When I'm feeling blocked and I'm just I'm down bad. You know, I've heard people just say all these things that they put on themselves, like, I can't figure it out. I can't figure it out. I can't figure it out. So, OK, imagine if you're in front of the universe and God and he's like, whatever you say, I'm going to give back to you. Whatever you say, I'm to give it back to you.

So you still have your life. I can't figure it out, man. I can't I can't make money. I can't do this. I can't you know, I just I feel like I it's like even when I did feel like I never I never owned it. Mm. I would be like I never would keep saying I'll be like, OK, I got to switch that. I got it. I got to feel better. So the first key to unblocking something is acknowledging that you are blocking yourself for sure.

Hmm. You know, and I do think there are some deeper blocks that you got to work harder on to remove, like blocks that may have not even been put there for me. So you don't even acknowledge it and or know or know how to, um, remove it.

And there are special people who can do this, you know, that can help you get rid of it. But I do feel like you're blocking yourself. Stop locking yourself. It doesn't matter if you don't have money. Don't say you don't have money. Yeah, I got money. Money's coming in right now. Like, if you keep that mentality and you're not rich, if you really believe it, which you have to believe it because then you will be whatever you want to be.

And it's never too late to be who you want to be.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I used to have a mentor. I remember I used to repeat to me the Napoleon Hill words of like, you become what you think about. Yeah. And he just keeps saying it to me. And he told me to keep saying it when he first said I was just like, oh, come on. Like, you know, how many times are you going to say it's like a mantra? When I first became a monk and they introduced me to mantra saying the same thing every day again and again, and you think, you know, this ain't going to work.

But actually what you're saying is true, that when you repeat, you become what you think about it and keep repeating it. It becomes your vocabulary, it becomes your mindset, becomes your thoughts, and then it becomes your reality and and you spawn. I love what you said about being in front of God and you saying, I can't do this. I can't do that. God's given you back exactly what you're repeating right now.

You can't. Yeah. All right. Hey, yeah, you said it. Yeah. That is such a great way of thinking about it as a conversation around how we're creating our reality through our repetition.

One of the things that that made me think about this is when I would come home and watch Bob Ross on PBS painting the pictures or when I would watch Michael Jordan and all these and Kobe Bryant and all of these inspiring people. It just brings me back to, uh, technique. Mm. How much life how much of life is truly technique. And that is one of the biggest secrets I've learned. Um, when I was going to one of the roughest times of my life a few years ago, I just turned 30 and I was feeling so depressed and I just moved into my house that I've been in for a few years in Beverly Hills, where I all these now all my neighbors are you know, Vanna White is my neighbor.

I'm like talking like this is like. To me, this was like my dream. This is my dream neighborhood, right? And I was in the worst condition of my life. So I just felt I felt it was just too hard for me to even get through the day. How did you get there?

Why did he get there after all of this, envisioning focus in a work? How did he get that?

You know, I got there because I lost touch with it a little bit, not just because of that. I burned myself out. I wasn't paying attention to what my self was saying to me. I was doing it for all different other reasons. I needed to do this show. I need to do five shows so I can get this money, take care of this person and do it for this. My management. Everybody is expecting me. I got all these people.

I got people who are on my payrolls. I'm like, I'm putting everybody before me. Yeah. I didn't know how to balance work and work because there is a work that you do for your career and is a work that you do for yourself. Yes. No one ever taught me that because no one knew this is something that my dad didn't know. This is something my mom didn't know. Their mentality is you work as hard as you can.

You work as hard as you can. So I come from a place where it's like you got to keep the foot on their necks. You got to keep going hard. You don't want to lose your opportunity. Yeah, that was my I'm thinking. But really I had already had it. Yeah. You know, I already have it. So now to take it to another place, I got to take care of myself so I can bring my best self to the table.

And it's something that life forced me to do, is something life forced me to do, man.

And I had to stop everything I was doing and completely fall back, bro. Completely fall back from looking at things about me, from being online, completely fall back from all the obligations I had to do performances, money I was losing, like it was just like I had to fall back from everything and take some time. And that's when I met Maree Diamond. And obviously I know I've seen her on the secret. I was you know, I knew about her and my mom taking one of her classes emailed Marie Dime.

And I was like, hey, my son is a musician. This and this and this.

And then she got an email back from a retirement. She my mom was freaking out. And Marie Diamond said, this is so crazy because my son has Sean on his vision board while she was I've never worked with a rapper, you know, I've never done anything like this.

She's worked with big people, you know, big, big clients. That was a serendipity. You know, I wasn't meant to be thing. And I got into the technique of loving myself, bro. I'm bringing it back to the point. I said earlier when I would look at Bob Ross and Michael Joyce, all techne, so much of life is technique. What you do is technique because it's you know, I had to get into the technique of loving myself.

I had to really make sure that I put myself as a priority. My meditations came before anything, me write down my intentions, you know, every day or every other day or, you know, writing my thoughts down like that was a priority to me. Spend just spending time for myself being in nature. Right, working. I started taking care of myself more working out. It changed me for the better. And it just it just it's built my strength up is giving me more strength to deal with things when they don't go my way before I would tear me down, before I used to let people's opinions about me really, really affect me.

Same.

And now I say, what was I doing? What am I even thinking right now? You know what I mean? You get this crazy. How are we going to look and see a comment that's like, I love you. I appreciate you changed my life. Amazing man. This guy sucks.

And we'd be like you just said, I think I'm doing something wrong. You know, it's crazy how our mind immediately goes there because our ego. Yeah. You know, or maybe because someone else. But I think is just that ego. It is. Yeah, but but I had to get into the technique of loving myself enough room because it's an ongoing process. Ongoing journey. Right. I had no choice. I couldn't get through the day without feeling terrible.

And when you get to that point where it's hard for you to just do anything, I knew my perspective was off. I knew I did. And I saw I sought therapy to. Mm hmm. You know, I saw therapists. I was spiritually working on myself. It was just the perspective brought. You know, I used to look at things like, oh, I got to do this today.

I got to do this. I got to do this, I, I got it. Oh, man. I'm like, overwhelmed. But now it's like, no, I don't got to do that. I get to do it. I get to do this. I get to man, I get to live this. I get to wake up and and see this. Well you know how we lost Nipsey Hussle. Yeah. You know, we lost my mom's best friend's dad.

I've lost people close to me. You know, they don't get to wake up, you know, and they leave behind kids. They leave behind a life. Right. And I almost felt like I was being selfish because I was not living in the moment. You never lived in the moment when you're thinking about what you have to do. Mm hmm. You're only living in the moment when you're enjoying each moment, right? Yeah. One of the things that I've learned, dog, is like love doesn't hold grudges.

You hold on. And grudges, your ego holds on to grudges. Like you got to just move to love and live in the moment. And when you do, everything is a pleasure. You know, even if it's a lot, even if you can't get it all done, even if you liked him, I didn't even get to that today. It's like at least at least you're here at all. Mm hmm.

You know, I love that switch of what you said from I've got to do this. Do I get to do this? That's that's a beautiful switch in the mindset. And I think so many of us always are gonna do this next. I've got to do I think that is such a great I'm Dev. I'm going to remember that forever.

Like, yeah, I hope so. I hope people really understand that, because even if you're down bad, everybody who's down there right now who's watching this, even if it's the worst situation, you don't have a sense of your name. But somehow you and it's just remember that this is your opportunity. Every situation is an opportunity and you don't got to do more work than the next man. You get to do more work than the next time you get to take advantage of your opportunity.

See a spectrum that people don't get to see. You know, you get to you get to live out the levels of life. You get to live that way and you have strong enough muscles to climb the mountain and be the master of your life. So I'm letting you know that you got what it takes. You got it. Yeah, I love that, and you get to be more compassionate and empathetic, because when you've been there now, when you rise, you're able to love and be compassionate to other people's pain.

Yeah, you were there. Yeah. And you get more empathy. And that's such a gift in life. I feel to feel compassion to that degree is a huge gift because you've been there, you know what it feels like, and it only comes from experience totally.

And to have that is a gift in and of itself. Tell me about, you know, now where you are. Like when we look at you now, like you've given us a really beautiful deep dive into these moments in your story. What what are you visioning today? What are you working on today? What are some of those techniques for love? And I love that you use the word techniques. I think that's such a beautiful juxtaposition between technique and love, because people often think love is just fluid and fluffy and right.

You know, but you're spot on. It's it's a science and a spirituality. It's it's both it's strategic and sincere. It's it's both. Right. Like, I feel we live in this world where we talk about it with a friend today. And I was saying that the human mind needs to get better at entertaining the idea that two opposites or two things that you think are opposite actually is where the magic happens. So when you say love is a technique, people go, oh, no, no, no, love.

Love can't be a technique because it just has to be, you know, pure and flowing. But actually, it starts as a technique. Yes. And then it transcends. Yes. Right. It starts that way. Tell us about some of the work you're doing today internally and externally that you feel is in line with what you're sharing.

Well, first of all, I'm like going through this cleanse right now. Yeah. This form of cleanse. That's the food cleanse or. No, it's a form of cleanse. And you clean your gut in your intestines and your liver and your kidneys and you clean, then you clean out parasites.

I mean, at one point, especially at a high school, like every night I was eating McDonald's, you know, I'm saying I was getting a double cheeseburger, I was getting Taco Bell and Burger King White Castles. I was on it. That's just because it was just what we had. Yeah, I would be in a studio at my friend's house or we record in a basement. It's like that's just what it was. So I was like, I really need to do this clean.

So that's that's one of the things I'm doing now. I do feel like when you do a cleanse like that also cleanse energetically. Some of them told you that you've been holding on to for years so that you learn discipline, you learn.

It's always like I feel like there's this beautiful story that you just reminded me of from what you said. It's it's in a book, I think it's called The Zen of Archery. So it's about archery. And a student comes to an archery master, a Zen master who's also nature and goes, I want to learn archery. And so the master goes, OK, let's let's learn archery. So they draw a target onto a little piece of paper. They stick it on a tree, they make a little bow out of a twig in the string, and they give it to the student and they give them a little arrow made out of a twig and they say, go for it.

And the person just starts like shooting twigs and they're missing. And and then the master says the student, the master says, what is your goal? And the student says, My goal is to hit that target, the bull's eye, to hit right in the middle. Right. And the master says, So you're telling me that your goal is to shoot a twig into a piece of paper and the students like, yeah, isn't isn't that what we're doing?

And the master says something beautiful. The master says, that's your target. The goal is to be calm enough so that you can hit your target. I love that. And what you just said now is that your target is to change your gut and purifying detox. But the goal is the discipline. Oh, yeah. Nourishment. That what you just said. Like, that's what you're really achieving. Yeah. In the Klans. Yeah. And I think we get the goal in the target confused a lot.

We think that the target is the goal, but the goal is to be still and to be present. The target is just a way of getting to that goal. I want you to introduce me to that person afterwards.

He's managing that. I'ma tell you, Mama Meira, my mom, she is she's the one everything I've ever done with health. Let me tell you another quick story. Yeah. Real quick, please. And you don't have to include this if you don't want. No, no. I had a real bad injury. I tore my knee, right. Went to the doctor and the doctor was like, man, we're going to have to put screws in your knee.

We're going to your cartilage is completely torn down and your bones are rubbing together. I could barely walk. My mom was like, I don't accept that. Right. So let's go to this is the second time in my life, I'll tell you the first time, the second time it's happened since I found this place that does a stem cell research. And this is how we got hip to the oxidation of the blood. What they would do is they would oxidizes blood, put it in your wherever you needed it.

Right. For me, it was my knee and it was slowly repair the knee and then regenerate the cartilage with, uh, stem cells. My cartilage regenerated in my knee. Ninety eight percent. Ninety eight percent. Regeneration was a game. And this doctor told me I had to have surgery on my knee and put screws in my knee. And this was a more holistic approach. You know, this was a more of a, uh, eastern, I guess.

Yeah. You know, medicine alternative in alternative medicine. And, um, the other time was when I had heart problems growing up, you know, I had heart palpitations and it got so bad that I couldn't walk from one side of the room to the other side of the room without being short breath. My heart, your heart runs on electric currents. And mine was like beating like this. Weird, right? Anyway, I passed out in a shower.

I went to the hospital. They were like, man, we're going to have to put a pacemaker.

We're going to put a pacemaker in your heart or we can cut half of your heart open scar and the electric current will run through the scars. Now, I went to this doctor who is actually my doctor now in Michigan, one of the best doctors in the world, Dr. Brounstein. He gave me magnesium and a couple other things. We I make sure you take this magnesium. I go back a week later or like a week and a half later to get for prepped for the surgery that we couldn't afford.

They test my heart and they're like, oh, my God, your heart's fine. You know, they diagnosed me with the whole disease. They diagnosed me and said my heart. I had a diseased heart. And then when I got tested again, they were like, oh, your heart's really healthy. You have a strong heart. And I couldn't believe how different I told them. Like, all I did was take this, you know, I told them like I took the magnesium and they were like, no, no way.

That's that's impossible. But it's like people got to open their minds up a little bit more. Right. And just I mean, all of us have had to. My mind up so much of my life. Yeah, yeah. But I love hearing you talk about this stuff. I think it's great. I think it's great because I think people would externally just think, oh, yeah, I'm skeptical about this kind of stuff. No. And hearing you say it and you having real experience of it, what makes you your mom sounds like the most amazing.

No, I'm not just saying as you should like to meet her one day. Yeah. Or maybe come over for dinner and talk to her.

Yeah, I'd love to like I'm not even joking. Everything you've just said to me, the books your mother introduced you to the people like I'm fascinated by her story.

Probably, you know, you get we get lucky, right, with our parents. They say that we choose our parents. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Five, that I chose the right one for sure. Yeah. My dad is cool too. That's not going to confuse my mom is amazing. Yeah. My dad is amazing too in a lot of ways. Yeah. Just not those ways. Yeah. Yeah. Different, different strengths and if different teaches a different lesson. Yeah. Yeah.

A lot of, a lot of personality traits I picked up from him. Yeah. For sure. You know he, he's somebody who loves first you know, and that's something that you don't get, he's somebody who's open hearted and very gentle, you know what I'm saying. Yeah. And he grew up in Monroe, Louisiana, where he had to run for his life and he would get beat up for being black. You know, he's dealt with a lot of pain and trauma.

And one of the things that I inspired him to do was go see therapy, you know, and that that was one of the most emotional moments for me because it was like I know him and my Uncle John as black men growing up in Louisiana and all the stuff that they've been through. You know, my dad told me he felt like I didn't know that. You know, he was I didn't talk to you about certain things because I, you know, guys are supposed to talk about certain things.

We're not supposed to open up about that. You know, as crazy as that sounds, right. Because it's different now. People are more comfortable talking about mental health. Now, people are you know, there are discussions. There are people who will relate, right? Yeah, but that really was a stigma. That really wasn't something that you couldn't talk about 100 percent, you know, and it messed up. He's still working on that right now.

Totally.

I mean, can you imagine holding it in for that long and not feeling you can share it and being told you're not allowed to feel that as a man. And I mean, there's a lot of toxicity that comes with that. Yeah. And getting being getting beat up. Yeah.

I mean that, you know, he said he would run for his life sometimes man like to make it past these train tracks. Crazy man. That's insane. That's intense. Yeah. You've seen that through his experience. Yeah. It's all in my blood though, right.

Yeah. Yeah. Like my grandma is not with me anymore, but she was a female black captain in World War Two. That's insane. Like that's in my blood. Yeah. You know, my mom's blood is all in me. My grandma my other grandma had to pick cotton.

My dad's mom, she picked cotton for a job, you know, and my granddad's aunt was born a slave. That wasn't that long ago. My granddad died when I was in the seventh grade. His aunt was born a slave. So that goes to show you it's not that far removed. It isn't right as I have on my black and proud shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, but I love I love how your experience explaining the story of your background and each person in your history and you're spot on that, of course they made you. So, yeah. All all of that is is part of your story. Yeah.

Just like your parents, you know. I mean and just like everything. Yeah. And you know, your ancestors, like they are really a part of us for sure. They really are for sure. And you got to and I had to accept that, that they guided me and I when things don't work out is because they are working out better than I could even imagine. Mm. You know, when it is, when it doesn't go the way that I planned on it going, whatever it is, it's not that it's not working out is that is working out better than I can even comprehend.

Yeah.

If my plans worked out the way I wanted them to work out my life would be lame compared to what it is today.

It wouldn't even be. You know how I would. And it's like I think about my plans worked out the way I wanted them to work out my life would be nowhere near as good as it is. No, no way. And that's the thing that you hold on to. We hold on to our little plans and we keep chasing them and we keep thinking that the only way. And so when a new opportunity or a new ball comes up, we're scared of walking through that portal for that portal is I know our greatest journey and you've taken it and now you're sharing through your music.

I read that Rolling Stone said your latest album was like a self-help book. Yeah. I mean, how amazing that. You know how amazing that your journey and study of so many powerful teachers and books in your own work and your own growth journey, your own purification, and now you're sharing it through music. Do you feel now that you're at a place where your music is is allowing you to share all of that even more than ever? Or tell us about that journey with music, because your purpose is to change people's lives through music?

Yeah, my purpose is to inspire, you know, through anything I do. So whether it's music or a book. Right. Which I haven't written yet. But yeah, it's coming up and thinking about it. You have to. Yeah, it's it's something that I wanted to just look back on my life and be like I did all I could in a moment when people not just like me, but just people, whoever needed it, you know, at least I said it.

It's a lot of music out there. Yeah, it is a lot of music out there. There's a lot of music that sounds the same out there. There's a lot of music that sounds different, too. Yeah. Because it's just got tons and tons and tons of music. So I have to represent my mindset, at least at that point in my life. I try and do that with all my hours. But on top of that, I don't want to sound like I'm preaching.

I don't want to sound like I'm talking down or, you know, I want to sound like I'm talking to someone. So I do have records that are fun. Yeah, nobody's perfect, you know.

And all of us. None of us. Yeah. So I you know, one of the things that I realized is that, OK, I got to make sure I have the balance of having fun in my music. Yeah. You know, and that's the it's like a picture, right. It's like you can you can like, OK, this one I'm going to really paint what I'm going through right now.

This one I'm just going to completely talk about last night when I got drunk, you know, I mean, it's like it's just it comes from all different inspirations.

I love that. Yeah, it was I found that even and you're reading things like I'm on right now. But when I was writing that, I wanted to share my weakest points, a monk. So I don't there's not many examples in there where I share the best days. I share all my worst days. Yeah. Share my worst meditation. I share my biggest criticism that I had people around me. I share my worst train journey. I'm like in the book, I was like, I want to share the worst days.

Wow. Because the is the big days are the easy days to share when like I felt enlightened and I, you know, when I had a moment like those are easy to share. Right. But to share like you know what, I used to wake up and I hate waking up before I'd like to share that felt like the right thing to share because of what you're saying. We all have bad days. None of us are perfect and have it all figured out.

And people relate to that, right? Yeah. And also you I feel like that's just the truth that we need to hear more because like I was speaking to a friend yesterday and he was saying, you know, I feel scared about my future and my financial future and this and that and whatever it was. And I was like, did I relate? Like, everyone feels like that. There's no one here. And as soon as you hear that, you go, OK, it's OK.

When you hear that someone else feels that way. I know when people are going to listen to this and have a bit of a nervous rapping. Yeah. Like when when you hear that, that's good. Oh, OK. It's OK to feel nervous and still do something. Yeah, I think a lot of people feel they have to feel confident to do something. Yeah. When actually most of us do things when we're nervous. Yeah.

And you know I wake up still totally messed up. Sometimes I feel there are times where you know, I do feel very like down and depressed. My vibration is low but I'm able to approach it and react to it differently and I'm able to not let a stick on me. Yeah. You know, one of the things that meditation does for me is like it's like when you work out or like do something like go on a hike or something and you take that shower.

Yeah. And you just like our clean. Yes. That's what meditation does for me. It energetically, literally just cleans me and I feel like I'm ready.

It's like having a full charged phone. It's like I'm ready for everything now charged up and, uh, bathing your soul. Yeah. And people have a lot of misconceptions about meditation. You have to understand that there's no wrong way to meditate. There's no wrong way. It's not wrong. Even if your mind races and you get better at bringing it back to your sanity, you get better focusing on your breathing. Right. You don't you can't do it.

And thank you for doing it wrong because there is no wrong way to do it. You're going to get into a groove the more you do it. That works for you because it's for you. It's not for everyone else. This isn't like something you get great. It's not like a math test. Meditation is a personal moment that you share with yourself, you know, and that brings you in the moment into the your mind does race. Right.

Think about things. You may visualize things and but you come back in a moment. So meditation for me, that's what it is. You know, there's no wrong way of doing it. I just want to put that out there. There's no wrong way of doing it. I love I love that you're an ambassador for meditation. It's it's awesome seeing you talk about it in such a genuine way. And I love what you just said, that meditation is not a math test.

I mean, that is the problem with the conditioning, that everything's a test, everything's right or wrong, everything's, you know, and so right. That you just have to let go of that. When I'm sharing meditation with people, often I find that especially the musicians, it's like they they want to get the music. The sound right is free of them. Like meditation is. I mean, I'm tone deaf and, you know, I think I saved my life.

I love music, but I can't sing to save my life. But it's meditations beyond that, like it's beyond the mental verbal capacities that we have. But it is.

And that's that's one of the things I do. Write stuff down. Yeah.

Says twenty nineteen. I've also been like, let me do one thing every year that's going to change my life.

Oh so that's that, you know, that's just one of the things I'm doing.

I love it when I'm feeling first of all, I'm feeling very grateful for the generous time you've given me today. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm feeling, I'm feeling totally I've learned so much and I feel so inspired just sitting here listening to you speak and we and every one of these episodes with a fast five. So this is final five questions where you have to answer with one word to one sentence maximum. Gotcha. So it's it's time and say you're dropping the buzz already.

So it's easy. It's easy. All right. Yeah. So the first question for you is, what's the best advice you've ever received?

Experience. Mm. It's the best advice I've ever seen is experience.

That's a great answer. We never had that before. I love that. OK, what's the worst advice you've ever received. You know what you know. Yeah. It's like I block it out.

You don't hold on to it. Yeah.

You know, I got terrible advice my so many times I can't even speak.

I love that. That's a great answer. Well we're good with that. We're good to that. OK, question number three, what's something that you know to be true. But if you other people might disagree with you on that, they're not like they don't fully get it. Yeah.

I can make a list meditation.

Uh uh. Mentioned past life ancestors. Yeah. Guiding you past life blocks or moving blocks?

Yes, a lot. That's the question number four. What's the biggest lesson you learned in the last 12 months?

You can't kill your ego. Tell me more about that. That's something we should talk about.

People always talk about ego, death, and you can't kill it. Why would you want to kill a part of yourself anyway? You have to just know how to work with it and how to treat it. You know, people always say your ego is the most childish part of you. But then I also hear that children are the most fearful beings because they have no restrictions that have been set on them. They're just purely right from the source, right?

Yeah. So there has to be a connection between the two. And I think your ego is unfiltered part of you that is easily affected and very emotional, very sensitive. And it's something you should embrace. Instead of trying to get rid of it or lock it in a room, you embrace it and recognize it for what it is. And when you do and when you nurture it in that way, I think it won't be as dramatic of a outlash and as damaging to you.

If that makes any sense.

That makes sense to me sometimes. Well, when I was listening to you, what I was thinking about was sometimes your ego just needs a big hug when you just embrace it. I'm saying, you know, and I don't feel ego from you today, you know, from the moment you walked in to meeting my team. And, you know, it's like, you know, I don't feel a sense of arrogance or bravado in your presence at all.

Thank you. Which which just shows that you just embraced it. You know, you get it there. And I like that. That's what came to my mind when you were speaking and also when you took my children, I was thinking, you know, we want to become more childlike and not childish. And I think that's the you know, what you were saying then. Like, yeah, being childlike is great. Like childlike is like fresh new.

But being childish is like tantrums and, you know, being, you know.

Yeah. Being childlike is like not putting any sales on yourself, you know. Yeah. Like one of the things that we do as grownups is like, oh that sounds a little crazy, right? Yeah. When you were a kid, you might want to be an astronaut.

Yeah. I'm going to climb that tree. I'll get it. Yeah. I'm going to do this. You know, I want to be and it's like they do it to their capacity, but that's something we lose. And when we grow up so childish versus childlike, that's similar to like selfish and self care. And I used to get those confused, you know, and that's one of the reasons why I felt like I probably stayed. So I burned myself out.

As far as like trying to do too much is because I thought that it was selfish of me to be like, I need to take time for myself. Yeah. And, uh, I started doing this work I need to do I'm going to get a massage. And I thought that was selfish of me. But that's not selfish. That's self care. That's self-love. And you've got to know the difference between the two absolutely selfish is when it affects the people you love or people around you or certain people in a negative way.

Right. You doing something for a wrong reason. But when you're just taking care of yourself to to to be better for those people. Yeah. And that's that's self care. Yeah.

So that's such a great definition. And I just hope everyone is listening and watching this. I'll be taking notes because that differentiation can actually change your life, because when you give up your self care in the short term to think you're being selfless and in the long term you end up having to be selfish because it pushes you back that way. So, yeah, you're spot on that we have. And I can relate to that so much because there was a time in my life where I was just extending myself to others.

And I used to think that getting a massage, eating on time. Right. All of that stuff was bad. And now it's like I realized, well, I can't give myself or I'm giving people the worst leftovers of myself when I haven't taken care of myself. I don't want to give the people I love my leftovers, but that's what I've given them because I drained myself. So I love that differentiation with. The final question is, if you could create a law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be not to judge?

Because everyone has an opinion. Right. And that's fine. But we are all humans. We judge each other. It brings us down traps. This is like and what you put out there is just going to come right back to, you know, it's like a double edged sword. So you're judging somebody that you messed up.

You're wrong. This is not good. What are you doing? This is not good. But that's coming right back to whether you know it or not. It could be different ways. Right. But to me, you can have an opinion. Right. And that that's that's a thin line to between an opinion and judging. But and judging is when is when you go out of your way to to make somebody feel a certain way. And that's something that's become so accustomed to our society as we judge each other.

Really, I don't even know if we have the right to judge each other. You know, we're all made in the image of God. Right. Or. And, uh, I don't know if, uh, judging each other is productive necessarily. You know, I just don't think it's productive. I think that it's time that you could have spent on something else. And if you don't like something that's different, you don't have to comment on it.

You don't have to judge it. You can just be like, oh, yeah, you know, let it go and put the energy on something you like, you know, let it go. Or I think when you bring somebody down, though, you're bringing them down, but you can't bring anything down without going down yourself. Doesn't even make any sense.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Everyone, Big Sean, thank you for doing this. Man Yeah. I can't wait to come back. We've got to do like a part two. I know. I mean, I can carry on. No. So we can save for another time. Like, yeah.

Know this has been amazing, man. Like just hearing you share your heart and your genuine purpose with us today. Like, I've loved every bit of it. It's been so inspiring. Thank you. And I loved it too. And I learned so much. And I mean that, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. And I recommend that everyone goes and listens to this again and and takes notes, write stuff down, because there are so many gems in what you shared that can be truly powerful for people at different stages of their life because you just walked us through the hero's journey.

Yeah. And and your journey, of course, still continues informs that there's so many parts of that. And I want to I want to ask you, though, is there something you wanted to share today that you feel I haven't let you share or that you haven't had an opportunity to get through because I want to get there. I don't want to. There's something on your mind that you're like, oh, I feel like I need to share this with people, but I do want to just share that I go through.

Terrible days, I go through, dark moments, I go through great days, I have great moments. You know, it's not like I figured life out. You know, I don't think anyone on this earth has ever figured life out all the way. And I don't think it's for us to to figure out, you know, maybe there are other purposes for it. But I just want to put that out there and say that, you know, you're not alone.

Like, whoever you know, whoever needs to hear that, you just you're not alone. Jay, he got you. I got like, we're all in this together. Yeah. And then, you know, I just want to I just want to end on that and just say that. Thank thank you guys for listening. You know, to anybody who needed to hear this, like I needed to hear myself, you know, everything I said is because I it was on my heart that needed to be expressed for you and for myself and for for whatever other reason.

So thank you.

That is a beautiful night. And on and a thousand percent. I'm in for a party. Yeah, got it. But yeah, I'm all in for. But I could, I could talk to you for like two or three hours and I could listen to that voice and that voice for hours. You know, it's like it's but honestly like what you just said is, is so perfect and exactly what we all need to hear. And I don't think you shared your story with any sort of perfection or with any projection of you having it figured out.

I could hear that. Yeah. And see a secret inside of you in every steps. Yeah. Yeah. I think you said it beautifully, man. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Man. This is beautiful. This is amazing. I loved it was. It was.

Thank you. This podcast was produced by Dust Light Productions, our executive producer from Dusk Light is Michelle Yousef. Our senior producer is Juliana Bradley. Our associate producer is Jacqueline Castillo. Valentino Rivera is our engineer. Our music is from Blue Dot Sessions and special thanks to Rachel Garcia, the dust like development and operations coordinator.