Bloods vs Crips panel with Skip Townsend and Sweezy

him nothing's possible binky mac on the track ice bird the great mr. los angeles i'm here with the sister that's working against gang violence you got miss bubbles miss spring lady slick and mary the therapist and miss mary the therapist man she got that she want you to sit down and tell her about how you feel she make sure you walk around feeling good about yourself i mean i need all the g's yg's og double g's triple o g's we can't make it happen man this is our community our main goal is to reach the young children that are followed by tv's and media special acts commander for the elite gang intervention you got miss bubbles working against gang violence special shout out to skip townsend for opening the door like i said these ladies are here to help they here for gang intervention domestic violence shout out to those who support they here for the mothers who lose their sons to jail and or death so if you with the movement please check the link in the description box and you can find us on our website at www.swagtalk.org and we'll see you next time peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out peace out whatever it is her left yeah that's my left yes ma'am Jaime is from Watts he's a gospel rapper I'll let him tell you his story then he's also on the executive board of Ceasefire and then we have Skip Townsend from Second Call also on the board executive board of Ceasefire and then we have YDM Sweezy he's a rapper upcoming new artist so I'd like to thank all of you guys for coming out today thank you so our topic today is Bloods and Crips does it really matter what you are if we're all killing, hurting, slandering and hating on each other so I ask you guys to come here today because I know that you all have lived that life you're still watching it going and so we want to get a little input from you guys on how life was for you guys then and how you see it now well Bubbles let me just start by saying I want to say amen to the end of your prayer can I start with that amen amen amen amen amen amen amen amen pests Thank you to our special guest, Hyman. Is Skip there as well? Yes, he is. Okay. Hello, Skip. What's going on, Spring? Hey, what's going on? LF, I heard you back there too. Hi. She's on time. She was on time. Oh, man. Here they go. There you go. That's all right. That's all right. It was the medicine. So I just really wanted to call you. Is Snoopy there? Is our co-host? I'm here. Snoopy is here. How are you? I'm good, Spring. How are you doing? I'm good. Thank you so much for stepping in. And I just wanted to call and just say thank you guys for being in there for us this evening. And I listened to the intro and I heard everything, Bubba. It sounds good. And amen to your prayer as well. Thank you. I'll see you when you come home. Love you. All right. I love you guys too. Okay, bye. Have a good show. Bye. Okay, so I want to start off with a question. So anybody can feel free to answer it. Why do you guys feel there's so much hatred in the hoods amongst homies? I mean, there's a whole lot going on. And from what I see is when you down, they talk about you. When you up, they talk about you. So what would you guys have to say about that to start off with? Let's give Townsend. I would say when we separate, whenever there's a reason to separate, I mean, let's just go back in time before there were Crips and Bloods. They were just black people working together here in L.A. and Watts. Not even in Compton. We weren't even allowed in Compton back there in the 60s. We were just put in a certain area. But when we found reason to separate, when some people were able to move to the west side, when some people moved south to Compton, we started separating. We started claiming areas. And that made us competitive against each other. So even in the same community, we separate. You know, you take most of the communities, they're separated by streets now. They're separated by addresses. You got the 400 fighting the 500. And you got the, you know, the different streets, the 20th Street fighting 30th Street. We found reason to dislike each other as black people. And then we find reason amongst the same community to dislike each other either. You know, so I believe it's distractions and the separation is really difficult. And I think it's just the fact that we're all in this together. And I think it's just the fact that we're all in this together. And I think it's just the fact that we're all in this together. And then instead of looking for reasons for us to come together, we start looking for reasons why they're not like us. Why those people down the hill ain't like the ones up on top of the hill. Or those people that would be at the park ain't like the ones who hang at the liquor store. So I think that's what ends up happening. And, you know, the cliques come together and the drinking, the drugs, and we find reason to be mad at each other. And I don't agree with it. And I think it's ignorance. It's our biggest problem. It's fear and ignorance. That's my take on it. Jaime? You spoke on allies, you know, why we go against each other. And to me, just sitting in the middle of it, the midst of it, you see that it's a lot of conflict coming from pride and ego. And just hanging around each other too much with too much idle time, basically. And once you got all that idle time on your hands, you can't do nothing. And you're part of, you know, death and destruction. That's going to come amongst each other, you know. And then you're going to start. And, you know, backstabbing each other and things of that nature. So for me, I grew up with a lot of that in my neighborhood, in my community, you know. And, you know, allies just turning into enemies. And to this day, you know, we still call them enemies. And like Skip said, I don't agree with it. That's why we do the work that we do because we're standing against it. And it's time to be aware, you know, bring awareness, go back, you know, show the people that's walking around asleep, trying to follow behind our footsteps and thinking they're making up something. And they not, you know, they far from being brand new with doing things. And it's just hard because they desensitize right now. And we got to reeducate from us all the way down to them. Because if we don't reeducate ourselves, you know, even the ones that's doing good and trying to be productive, you know, because we still have conflict within ourselves that we got to fix. So once we do that, then we can go back there hand in hand and tell them people, you know, let's do better. Right. I want to ask before I get to sweet. Because it's part of the same question. I've witnessed firsthand a homie killing another homie. I mean, this is someone that you hung with, somebody that you trust, somebody that you probably went to middle school with or something. What do you guys think about that? And I'll go with you first. I mean, we could see going to the park and taking fades. But then they come out with the guns and they start killing each other. And that's where I get what's the difference between bloods and crips if you killing and hurting each other in your own backyard, people that's from your own community, your own hood. I mean, what do you think about that? I mean, honestly, I feel like everybody's going through the same thing everywhere, period. So really, there is no division. It's division. But when you really look deeper into it, it's not. It's a lack of productivity, really, and jealousy. Okay. Sandra, you got anything to say? Do you feel that there is no loyalty left in these neighborhoods? Do you feel there is no loyalty left in these neighborhoods? First off, can you say what's your definition of loyalty? Yeah, we could go there. Because everyone has a different definition. I feel there is or it could be. But it's a lot of work. What is your definition for loyalty? Well, because we know that certain people have, like Skip said, cliques they hang with. You know, because I used to hang at the bus stop. Yeah. And then my best friend, she hung at Louisiana. She was a chicken. And, you know. That was Golden Bird. That was Golden Bird. No, no. They had changed it to Golden Bird. I'm not going to say her name. But, oh, was Skip a go-that-for? Yeah, I hung at the bus stop that many years. From when Golden Bird changed to Louisiana. But for me, though, loyalty is being true to the end. Being true through it all. No matter what's going on. No matter what's going on. No matter what's going on. Just like he was true to it when it was going good. Be true to it when it's bad, you know. And I experienced non-loyalty because, you know, I was snitched on twice. Right. By my so-called homeboys. And sent to the pen almost 20 to life. So, loyalty wasn't there. And it been watered down since my generation of being there, you know. But I looked at the generation before me. And that's what I stood on. But my generation took it another path and did it a whole other way. And took the carous way out. And, you know, I was always a younger dude hanging with the older dudes. So, I think that's why my mentality was a little different. And loyalty don't exist these days. And like they say, there's no honor amongst thieves. So, I'm going to go to Skip. Skip, what happens like Jaime just gave his definition of loyalty and how he was crossed. How do you handle when you've been crossed by people? How do you handle when you've been crossed by people? How do you handle when you've been crossed by one of your homies? Because I know that your life has changed a whole lot. Like drastically, drastically. I'll let you tell your own story. But I don't know if everybody in here know. But Skip saved my life. Well, he planted the seed. And then it went from there. Because I was like totally out of control. And I really thank you. And I want to commend you for that right now. But how do you handle that? Because you've been through it. I'm just now starting to go through it. But now... Now I really feel your pain. But how do you handle it? And how do you deal with them people that you know don't like you or don't care about you? How do you deal with that? Well, first of all, Bubbles, for me, I want to say that I'm 51. So, you're talking about right now. Right now is totally different than how I handled it back in the day. So, right now what I do is I think about people that came before me. I think about Bo Taylor because he told me. Bo Taylor was telling me that when we were putting stuff together, a lot of times he wouldn't deal with the Midtown area. And I'm like, man, you frustrated. I'm from Midtown. And he said, man, I'm going to have to kill somebody over there, Skip. And I didn't understand it. I couldn't figure it out. I'm like, man, you're the brand new Martin Luther King Jr. Why would you have to hurt somebody? But I get it now. I understand. And so, the way I deal with it now is I bless them. I give them the blessings. Like, bless your heart. When the people hate me, I say, I understand. I understand why you hate me. I understand why you don't like me. I understand it. And I'm not mad at you. I forgive you. That's now. Before. But... Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. Before. I became loyal to something totally different. I became loyal to something that was global. It was across the county of Los Angeles. I didn't become loyal to one street. I became loyal to what we stood for and had to fight against. And that was when we went to Juvenile Hall. We went to YA. We had to find somebody who was like me. I don't care where you come from. You could say I come from Bacoima. Or I come from Compton. Oh, we the same, no. And I need to know you because they about to rush us when we go to challenge. So I became loyal to something that was bigger than just my area. And for me, it's heartbreaking to see that we go against what we started. And I'm 51, but I wasn't one of the originals. But the guys who were 60 and 62 that started this because of the invasion of Raymond Washington and Tookie and them, you know, we had to come together. So for me to see that loyalty was broken back in the early 80s when certain people started fighting each other and when the drugs came and now we robbing each other. And then finally, by 93, in Pasadena, they went all out war with each other. In Englewood, my brothers started fighting each other in Englewood. And I was like, man, what is we doing? Right. And now I see in Compton, it's out of control. You know, cross roads, you can't cross the street because they fighting each other. It's killing me inside. It really, this is what drives me to do. It's the work. You know, how can I stop the black on black violence? But how can I stop the violence amongst brothers? You know, it's fraticide. Sweezy, what do you have to say? How would you handle? I don't know if you've ever been crossed or disrespect. How would you handle or how could you tell the kids that may be listening or watching? How would you handle a situation where you've been crossed by one of your homies? Or a close homie like Jaime was snitched on and was facing a lot of time? Because you're younger than they are. So this is like three different eras of generations right here sitting at the table. But Skip, I know what Skip probably wanted to say was he probably would have killed somebody back in the day. But now he has a whole new different perspective. Because I know that's how I was and I'm a female. But how would you feel? I mean, now. In today's time, how would you feel if you were crossed by a homie? I mean, it hurts for real. Like, when you put your life on the line for it for real. Or you done been out there and done stuff and then they, you know, they can talk or say whatever. All right. Caller? Caller? Hello? Hello, caller? Say your name? Yes. I'm... I'm... Yeah, this is your son's mama. I told you I was going to call you. What's the name? Your name. Say your name. I am not mama on air. Hey, this is Shooter calling from New York. Okay, they're calling from New York. And we have Jaime in here. We have Skip is here. And Wheezy in here. And I believe they're all of you guys' Facebook friends. Yeah. So, do you have any questions you want to ask any three of them? Well, this is the first and pleasured time that I can talk to my big brother, Skip. Skip, how do you handle things like that? When your homies is out of control sometimes as of backbiting as far as... As far as... And you believe in them and they calling themselves your brothers. Man. I'm really hurtful as Bubba said. And one of the things that I had to do is become at peace with myself. It was about maybe four or five months ago. One of my homegirls got shot. I'm at the hospital. And one of the younger homies took a swing at me and he missed. And that moment when he missed, and I know he's a fighter. I know that he's one of them beast type mode dudes. I realized that he really didn't want to hit me. You know, and I became at peace with it because he had the opportunity to come and he didn't. He wants to talk. So, it let me think to myself that these guys envy me. They really want to hit me. They really want to be me. And one of the guys who was very vocal and adamant about Skip don't do nothing. Skip ain't this. He asked me, he said, hey man, let me go to work with you. When you go to work, let me go. And I'm like, man, so that's what the hate is about then, brother. I said, all the stuff you said about me, let me just roll with you. And I realized then that, you know, I'm thinking back to my childhood. If I didn't understand something and I'm looking at somebody, man, it's easy for me to hate them because they look just like me. And I'm not hating them because I really don't like them. I'm hating them because I can't. I can't do what they're doing or I don't know how and they're not taking the time to show me. So, you know, I'm at peace with myself, brother. So, what I do is I don't attack. As Bubba said, you know, back in the days, I was ignorant. I probably would have tried to shoot everything that moved, you know. But I know that's not the way because then I would be one of the ones who was killing my own homies. And it'd be out of ignorance, man. So, I look for peace with inside myself, brother, and I bring it with me wherever I go. Yeah. Well, I commend you. Well, I commend you. You just know in New York, we look up to you and I pass your word. I see you on TV a lot, man. In New York, I watch you, man. I appreciate it, bro. I got a contact for you. You know what I'm saying? Yes, sir. Appreciate it. I got a lot going on. It's like breaking rules, man. It's like you take a flash or something and then people just snatch it back. You know what I mean? Because they don't really know the outbringings of it and the real upbringing of what you represent. You feel what I'm talking about? Yes, sir. Well, let's educate them. That'll stop a lot of it. Once we educate them, brother, ignorance and fear is our biggest enemy. Yeah. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you, Shooter, for calling. You know I love you, mama. Okay. You know I love you, mama. Love you guys, too. Talk to you later. Can I add to what Skip was saying on that subject? Yeah. Because the biggest problem, you know, what I think he's really searching for is he got to be real with himself. Because if he out there living that lifestyle. And he trying to find honor amongst them thieves, he in the wrong place. So by him seeing that there ain't no honor amongst thieves, it's God giving him a message saying you in the wrong place from the get-go. So you need to just shake those people all together. Exactly. I wouldn't say shake the people. Turn around and educate them. I mean. So let me not give up and move from my community. Let me stay and improve my community. And that's what I mean. What I mean by shake them is do you start from, start just like me. Like, you know, I can't, you know, I didn't. What I dealt. I dealt with my homeboys. Unfortunately, the first case I got out with, like, you know, the guy tried to get at me and, you know, thought it was going to be a win situation. If he whooped me, then that justified what he doing. But, you know, God show favor and I end up whooping on him. He didn't want to do it, but, you know, it came to me. And the second situation, I just forgave and moved on. And then when the people, they try to bring me and pass with them, I just said, man, God bless them. You know, just stay out of my way. You know, and hopefully they learn from their mistakes too. And I got to look at the bright side of it. I got my second chance. God gave me favor to come back out here and do what I need to do. And I got to disassociate, disassociate myself with him. But like he said, I still go to the neighborhood and I lead by example. I'm still going to be me. I'm not over there hanging on the corner, passing blunts, pushing the sack. But, you know what I mean? Trying to, trying to get into that lifestyle with him. I just go through there, you know, show my presence, you know, embrace the people that I, that I love and respect, you know, and just keep it moving. And then those people see and start asking questions after a while. Right. And then you open the door, you know, to be able to have a dialogue with them and then invite them to things and give them an eye opener. So, I mean, you got to, what I said about leaving them, you just got to go do you. You got to get yourself fixed first. Right. Because how I ended up back in prison, because I was fixed, but I didn't know how to apply that focus I had on the yard to the streets. And I let all them old influences spin me and I went back. That was a distraction. Exactly. Okay, caller. Yes, this is, this is Paul Boy. Can I give a shout out to my big homegirl, Bubbles, and my wife, Sandra Pleasant. You're crazy. And Skip is in here too. Hey, what's happening? What's going on, man? I met this young lady in here, man, who wouldn't tell me her daddy name. I told her I knew who it was. And she say, every homie ain't your homie. Yeah, they're my babies. I had to work. I couldn't make it. I couldn't make it today. I'm making one day soon for y'all. Oh, Sweezy. And I was with you too. How y'all taking care of the kids and, you know, doing what y'all supposed to do, you know? Sweezy is in here. What's good, Beezy? Sweezy. What's going on, man? Man, lounging, man, enjoying life. Me too, me too, me too. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you for calling. Okay. You're welcome. I'll talk to y'all later. Okay. All right. Sweezy, do you have anything to say about anything to add to what Jaime and Skip said? And the thing is, it's all fun and game until reality kicks in. It's fun hanging. All that is fun. The partying is fun. But then when it comes down to doing this jail time, these camp programs or going to these funerals and all that, then it's not fun no more. And cats want to take a step back and start talking and doing too much. Like, there's consequences, man. It's not fun like you see on TV with Hollywood and all that stuff. Oh, gee. Why is sometimes that somebody has to have one turn? I'm like that Empire stuff now. Oh, I can't mess with that show. She a snitch. Can't do it. Look, see, here we go. Reality TV. Now, this one I think is a good one. Because we face it. And I see it in the neighborhood every day. How, let's say, Skip has a lot of kids. A whole lot of kids. A basketball team. A basketball team. She said the dog pound. But it's things that happen in the neighborhood. Let's say how Skip just said his age. He's 51. He's 51. But how. When we came up, it's like we worked for our reputation. We was out in the street. We was putting it in. We was putting it down. And how these youngsters come up that don't know nothing, haven't done nothing, but they claim in our neighborhoods, but they living off the reputations of their daddies, their uncles, their cousins. So, really, they not. They not real gangsters. I mean, how do we let these kids know? Well, your kids know. You just told us that your daughter was good. They graduated from school. And they not out there in the park trying to hang and drink. And they saying, oh, that's whoopty whoop, son. That's Skip's son. You know? I mean, how do we stop these kids from trying to emulate what they see in the park? Like, what happened with the kids from our neighborhood and watching us? And how they can get out? How they got caught up? How do we show them this is not the way? Don't watch nobody. Be like you said, have your own identity. Be your own self. I mean, how can we reach the kids? How can we tell them today? First of all, you got to be there. Everybody from my neighborhood now in their 20s and early teens, they my homeboys and my homegirls. Sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, cousins, all that. And they not there to raise none of them. They over there living they life. Getting out the way. And they keeping them all out in the way doing what they need to, you know. They out there running amuck thinking they got it all figured out. They leading the pack. You know, it's the blind leading the blind. So first and foremost, you got to be there for your child. You got to be there for the you. You, Skip? Skip Lewis Yeah, well, let me just do a disclaimer, because I do have three that are following the negative footsteps. You know, I got one that's in prison now. I got one that's at Second Half Park every day. And I got another one that's out in New York. I got one that's in the park every day. I got one that's in the park every day. I got one that's out in Compton hanging on Avalon somewhere. So I do have those who follow the negative footsteps, even though I'm working hard at trying to direct them in the right direction. But as you said, I got 12. So three out of 12, you know, are working. And the rest of the rest of them, you know, I'm doing my best at rearranging. But I think one of the things that happens is, I think back in the days, it was cute. You know, I used to I used to take pictures a certain way. I stand a certain way like I was on the yard. And I had the pigtails. So I had my son with long hair and he'd had a pigtails and and you know, there's certain colors I wear. So I make sure he wore them colors too. And you know, I kind of asked for it. What did I think that was gonna happen? You know, and then I argue I argue with Kenny with Monster all the time, right? Because he thinks that his kids are the most ignorant as of all right. And I'm like, nah, brother, they was following you. And he said, man, I ain't do that. And I'm like, you did do that. You did do that. You did do that. I know. Kenny argue back and forth. And I say, man, I understand where your boys are coming from. Because the same porch they sitting on is the same porch we sat on the same porch. Your mama want us to come in the house. Same porch. You wondering why they sitting on this porch? It's what we did. I know that they're watching, you know, and it's a cycle. It's a cycle that has to be broken. And if it's not broken with straight A's and getting on the honor roll, then we're looking for the same thing to happen with our children. And subconsciously, though. So now, Sweezy, since you heard Skip and Jaime, I know you're going through your own personal issues and I know that you're a new father. So what are you going to do? I'm not going to say what would you do since you're here. What are you going to do to change and break the cycle? And first, you got to unlearn what you learned. It goes back to breaking the psychological chains of slavery and the foolishness. You got to cut the foolishness out. Like a lot of stuff is seen on social network. And it's cool. It's like it's viewed on TV and different things. Everything is cool. You got to like certain things out. Whatever you put in is what you're going to get out pretty much. OK. I think the question for me of the day is how do you differentiate? Did I say the word right? I don't know what that word is. Differentiate? Differentiate. I thought that was defriend like on Facebook. I was like, well, I'm tight. So, you know, I know what I mean. Homies, how can you tell who your homies and who's not your homies? And this day and age, that's a commercial. Oh, my God. That's. Oh, we're good. Oh, OK. OK. How can you tell? OK. I mean, because we all live in the same community and and and Jaime Jaime Jaime and his geographical neighborhood, they they they from that community and then you're from another different community. But just because we from the same community don't mean that I'm supposed to trust everybody in there. How do you handle those? How can you tell who your real homie is and who's not? Well, my real homies been very, very good. They've been very, very few. I grew up being hated. You know, everything been been backstabbing you. You like skin. You got good hair. You know, I grew up inside. Grind me out of watch. You know, I feel like I'm the bumpy face, do to you know, I didn't I didn't look at myself different from him. But, you know, as soon as you see, you know, as soon as they you know, you get into it, they want to hit you in the face and all that stuff. So I grew up, you know, with eyes against me. And and coming from. I came to watch when I was eight years old. I was a little bit older. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. Oh, I know. everything that I've been through is everybody got a different story. You know, and it's so many reasons why we do what we do and why we don't do what we do. A lot of people, kids now, like if you was hard on the streets, you raised your kid up to be square. You sent him to the private school, all that stuff. So now that person got older, and now he want to get involved with that lifestyle because he's feeling too square. He got something to prove. My daddy was this. Or just caught up in what he see day to day because the majority rules. At the end of the day, the majority rules. And right now, the majority is negativity and nonproductive people on the block. That's why we got 15-year-olds being shot out there. We got babies, 8-year-old babies getting killed. You know, you got people that's non-affiliated like me riding down the street catching five shots in my car. Random for nothing. You know, so people need to go back and grab them kids. Kids mean anything under 30. Go grab your babies and educate them. Go hug them. Go hug them. Go hold them. Go post up with them. Don't leave nowhere. You know, don't leave them nowhere. Like what I tell Skip and everybody I deal with on the front line doing this gang intervention, gang prevention, I'm banging peace, man. I'm out here for the long haul. My life on the line for this. If we got to go in front of some guns, I'm trying to do it. That's right. Because if you don't stand in front of them guns, then that 8-year-old baby going to get shot. My daughter going to get shot. You know what I mean? So we got kids to graze up, and that's that next generation that we got to save. And we got to stop hiding in the closet, hiding in the house, and running up top down to Victorville with cheap rent. Stay down here and raise your, you know, change the face of your community. Don't run from the community. Skip? I don't really understand the word differentiate, so I'm going to go ahead and think of it like this. It's not a word. It probably is. No, it is a word. I'm just saying that I don't use it. You know, I got the 11th grade education. But one of the things that I do is I, I realized that even growing up, as Jaime said about survival, but I made a choice. I became distracted. And the distraction was I wouldn't wear my glasses. I couldn't see. So I decided to choose a negative lifestyle. And in choosing that negative lifestyle, I hit the streets instead of hitting the books. And hitting the streets and running with certain people, and I knew what they were into, then I put all my hope and trust. Let me tell you about being loyal. I used to call every day. I used to call the big homie, Monsters Brother, every day and say, what we doing? What we going to do today? Now imagine the loyalty in that. He said, we're going to ride our bikes to LA High. Now, okay, we're here. Don't leave. Here I come. Right. And so that's, that's, but that's ignorance. Where I'm letting someone else dictate whether I'm going to be dead or in jail at the end of the day. That's, that's, that's big loyal. But that was a decision. So I can't even blame the survival. I can't even blame, you know, like Jaime said, is, you know, this, because I could have said, Hey man, I'm at home chilling. Or I'm going to go to school or I'm going to read a book or I'm going to try to get a job. You know, but instead I look to see where y'all going. Don't leave me. Here I come. You know, after we had moved away, my mother moved to Inglewood and I'm still calling like, where y'all going? Don't leave. You know, I'm about to catch that bus down Crenshaw. I did that too. So here I come. And so, you know, so, you know, I got to realize it was a choice I made. It was a decision I made to be a part of the foolishness and stick with it. And give it my all. And, you know, there was a guy who was in jail with me, in prison with me when I was in prison. He asked me would I die for my daughters? I had two little girls and I said, yeah, I'd die for them. And he told me to calm down. He said, the same effort and energy you talking about dying for them, would you live for them? He said, are you willing now from this point, now that we had this conversation, are you willing to live for them same daughters? He said, how hard is that going to be for you to live for them? And I was like, man, shut up. But that was because I couldn't process it at the time. I couldn't, I didn't figure out what I'm going to do. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't do with that. Once he dropped that nugget on me, I was like, man, I want to hear that. But really, that's what I needed to put in my soul. Like, man, I need to live for these same people that I'm ready to die for. Exactly. Sweezy. He pretty much just hit it on the head, but it's more so like for me, it was wanting to fit in more so probably getting caught up with cats. I grew up around and just hanging out, you know, but man. Every homie ain't your homie. Do you feel like? Do you feel like all your homeboys from your hood, your community? Some of these dudes don't even know. That's the thing. Like, you know, no, they're not. I mean, even in the household, sometimes family ain't family. So how can you expect anything outside of that? Yeah. Yeah. That's the thing. People expect different outcomes from things and you always got to break it down and look back from the beginning. You know, siblings don't get along. So how do you expect to get along with others? I know. Because we. I know. Oh, Oh, Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh to start from from Jaime's end again no we're gonna start from his end Sweezy is there anything you would like to tell the young listeners that are on here as opposed to like back to the topic well I basically the the bloods and the crips thing it's I find that doing the work intervention work I had went and spoke with Big Mac from from Hoover she asked me to come speak they gave a event and and when I went to the to the to the place I'm looking and it's like nobody in there it's like everybody had on all blue and she told me to tell him who I was today no who I who I used to be and who I was today so so when I told him who I was everybody's mouth dropped like no she didn't just say that and then I told him who I was today and I also let him know that the person I was before would not have hardly been standing in this room with you guys I wouldn't even came across that street right there to come in this setting with you guys and at the end of at the end of what I was saying at the end of the it was more of them coming at me talking and laughing and then my own people which was like one or two other people in here and I found that these these same two women right here I rocks and rolls with them it's like I could trust them I could depend on them more than I could depend on people from my own community Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh and then you come home to your own community and they throw rocks at you. They don't hear you. Why? You know what? I'm working on that because I find myself arguing and cussing and fussing and that ain't cool. But I mean, on a real note right now, we're giving ourselves a solution. Because we're asking ourselves, what do it take? And it take us to crisscross. It take me, the blue side, to go to the red side. The red side go to the blue side because they're not going to hear us because they're too busy looking at us for whatever conflict they got with us, whatever rider stripes they think that we got. And they're not going to hear that. But when you see somebody opposite side that you never had a chance to talk to because you was too busy shooting that, you find out. I've been in prison with dudes that we was gunning with. And I didn't tell them who I was until later. And then they was like, but you cool though. I said, exactly. Exactly. That's the point I was trying to make before I identified your tattoo on your neck. You know, you can't identify me like that. Right. And so it was a learning lesson for everybody. And right now, that's our solution. Right now, I'm going to have to come over there. You're going to have to go to my side for people to listen because they're not hearing us when we go inside our own element. But the main thing is stay consistent with your walk, with your talk. Stay consistent. Even though they throwing rocks, even though they burning hoops and saying jump through it, whatever it is, just stay consistent. Because for me, that's what's important. Mr. Tony Muhammad told me that if I ever stop and think about not doing this work, he said, well, then Skip, you need to check yourself. Don't check the people. The people stabbing you in the back. Check yourself if that's bothering you. He said, because the bigger you get, the more powerful you become, the more powerful your enemy, the bigger the knives that are going in your back. He said, so check yourself now. And I said, all right, let me shut up. Not ask that question no more. I never looked at, I mean, I'm starting to get more attacked. And what I say now is, man, now I know how Skip felt. You know, but I'm not as humble as Skip. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it because I feel convicted after I do it. I was convicted before. Go ahead. But I wasn't convicted for no crimes. I always got done. That's another story. They say you're not doing nothing right if they're not talking about you, though. Well, that's deep, too. That's what I'm telling you. And then think about this. Think about what they did to Jesus Christ, man. They drug him through the streets. They hammered him to a cross. And, you know. I mean, just think about all the people that came before you. They said that the Prophet Muhammad was crazy, went in a cave and talked to himself. You know, I mean, look at, man, they chased Moses and his whole entire people. Look what they do to leaders, man. Look at Martin Luther King Jr. did not make 40. He didn't make it to 40 years old. Malcolm X did not make it to 40. Mecca Evers did not make it to 40. George Jackson did not make it to 40. All these people were killed because they want to lead their people. And don't think you can't lead because of your negative lifestyle, your past. Because you're not going to make it to 40. Because, you know, look what they did with Malcolm X. He became a strong leader out of prison. And I think we could, well, I'm going to ask L.S. and Snoopy, too, to get them in on conversation. We could really identify with that right here. No debates. No getting vicious with it. But you could tell about how you yourself, L.S., has tried to change and how the stones are coming up against you. And Skip and Jaime, they just told you how to deal with it. So how do you feel about it? How are you going to start handling things now that you in here with these young men that have told you what to do? What are you going to do different? I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing. I don't argue. I don't feed into that. It's BS. Why would I feed into BS? What am I benefiting from that? Since you talked to them. Why? Why? Well, I stress myself out. I'm not going to stress myself out. I'm going to continue my journey. Either you're with me or against me. Most of the time, they are against you. Yeah. They've always been against me. You got to walk away and just keep walking and don't look back. That's what I have to do. And she got a perspective on a woman's side because females have been a lot of death and destruction on our end. You know, they've been the reason why we've been shooting at each other and influenced to do that negative stuff behind relationships. So just motivated by whatever they putting in our ear. So, you know, we sit up there and act like we strong men and we do what we want. But at the end of the day, we led by other entities. We're the backbone. Well, it's the influence. You're the influence. So if you told men that, you know, no more sagging, we're not having it. Everybody who ain't working, man, I'm not going to date you. You'll see how many people pull their pants up and get a job. Oh, yeah. That's a pet peeve of mine. Pull your pants up. And get a job. Yes, sir. Go to work every day. I didn't feel that. I'm not getting my daughters every day. None of that. Sandra, you got daughters here that we're going to hear from in a minute. But do you want to say a little something about how you grew up and how you handled the hood life and every homie at your homie? Yeah. I was born and raised in the West Adams area. Right there in Brighton. And, you know, once my kids began, they want to wear red. Mama, I want red. I want to do this. I want to do that. I did leave the community. But I didn't move that far. But I had to put my foot down. Their father was in the feds. I didn't know what else to do, where to turn to. And I was all alone. So I was raised doing everything, the negative things. I have brother, you know, my brother who I followed behind. He did this. He did that. So I was with him. I was with him, whatever he wanted to do, my homeboys. But once I grew up and I realized that this is not the path I wanted to take, I had everybody. Some of my homegirls was like, you know, turning their nose up at you. They don't want to be your friend because you're trying to live a better life. And I didn't look back. I kept on going. I kept on moving. My life changed. Everything changed around me. And I raised my daughters now to be women, not to be bad, you know, not to be thoughts, not to be none of that. My daughters are in college. And that's the way I'm going to raise my last two girls. Okay. So now we have. Every week here in the last couple of weeks, I've tried to have kids in here. And my thing is I like working with the kids. I could deal with them better. Ages like from five to 17. And what I try to do to give back is two kids at a time. It just asks them what their dreams are. What do you want at their age? What could I do like right now to help you? What do you want to do? So I have two young ladies in here right now. She could come to you and she could go over there with Jaime. Talk to me on that mic. And so we have a couple of minutes left. Heaven, what do you want? What are your dreams? Talk your dreams. Tell us. Riley, what are your dreams? What do you want to become? I want to be a doctor. Want to be a doctor? Yeah. You got to go. You got to do what? Yeah. I go to school and you got to study hard. You got to tell the people what you need to do. Don't be shy. How are you going to get money for a scholarship? Having if you don't talk to them? I might say we all. I thought that was. Okay. All right now. Okay. Raleigh. Okay. Raleigh. Raleigh. What? What can I do for you? Before? Before the summer is over? What would you like to do? Would you like to go somewhere? What would you like to do? Tell us where you want to go. Where you want to go? And we have you only got two minutes. Come on. Heaven, what do you want? Tell us your dreams. What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor to the mic. Speak into the mic. Well, they're going to be the shyest doctors we going to have. They ain't going to talk loud. Is there anything you want to do when school is out? Is there somewhere you want to go? Is there a gift you want? What is there? What? What? What could we at swag talk do for you? Is it a doll you want? Is it? Well, I'm going to Magic Mountain. Then I come home. I'm going to go to Magic Mountain. Disney. Let's go. My doll. You want a doll? So which doll? An American girl doll. An American girl. And where you want to go? I thought you were going to Adventure City. Adventure City. You want to go to Adventure City? You got to tell the people you want to go so they can call and help you get there. Hold on. Tell them. Yeah. Say yes, I want to go. Where you want to go? Where you want to go? Shake their head, yeah. For all you can say, shake their head. You got to say where you want to go. We should just set up a camp, summer camp for these kids. Hey, you know what? That'll work. That's doable. Mm-hmm. That's doable. Bubbles know the people. I just had like a revelation. Bubbles know the people. I got a camp. Oh, Camp Giddy Up. Camp Giddy Up with Glenn Turman and his wife. Right. Because Bubbles know the people. Bubbles went and they made so much fun of Bubbles being on that horse, hollering and screaming. While we were speaking, that's what I seen. A camp, swag camp, summer camp. Yes, indeed. Camp Giddy Up. Y'all can make that happen. Yeah. So Bubbles, you'll get in touch. I'll see if I can get in touch with Joanne, Glenn's wife. Okay. That'll be great. And see if we can set it up for swag. With second call, we got- Oh, these grown people. Yeah. I forgot. We support swag, you know. I know you started this. I've changed. I've changed. I've changed the name. What's the swag stand for? We're the protege of- What is it? It's Skip with all girls. Which means those 12 kids are going to turn into about 12 moms. Oh, man. Man. Okay. Before we close, Sweezy, is there anything you would like to tell the young listeners? And I'm quite sure all of them are your Facebook. You want to bust a rap? Let's have a rap off with you and Jaime. It's a different rap style. Right. These are the best. These are the best. These are the best. Stop trying. There's no way. They say I'm rapping like Pac, Common Knob, even Luda. Don't get it twisted up. Them penitentiaries will school you. I done been around cats who was humble. You're still a whore. Even been to army spots. Be all you can be yours. Where they claim to sell rocks, spent women in bus guns. And when it come to mail packets and visits, they gets none, huh? Uh-huh. That was high, man. Okay. Politically incorrect. You sure? Okay. Next. I'm up. Time to make my joyful noise. Submission to God has given me poise. Redemption is my truest choice. Reformed from being a spliff. Twist a lick. A swig of duck figure. Don't split a drug dealer. Only to name a few. Prayer warriors in my corner since day one. Big part of me making it through. Giving praises to the holy and only begotten. The reason my soul ain't rotten. These are my seeds I sowed through. A kingdom of kings who learned to grow through. I'm a remaining gulf. Then it's faith and works. Bringing the ministry to the turf. Forever from lying and screaming. My Lord, my Savior, for whatever it's worth. Amen. Amen. Amen. Skip. Skip. I make beats now. I can do some more. I can do some more. I can do some more. I can do some more. I can put a lot of Ohio players and something together. Take a word about how nice your tune goes. The old school. Yeah, I can play the keyboards. How about that? All right. I want to thank our special guests. Bobby Buck. Hi, Bobby. Hey, Bobby. Bobby. Thank you. Man. Yes, sir. Thank our little bitty guests, Riley and Heaven. Thank LS for being here on time. I was on time, y'all. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us. Thank you for having us. Now you want to talk. It's time to roll. And Snoopy, anything left you got to say you want to say? Man, thank y'all for listening for real. Right. Calling all the way from New York, too. Appreciate that. We on our way out there, too, with that King Amongst Kings mini tour, you know, being the rare breeding gospel gangsters. All right. New York? Yes, sir. New York. I'm hoping we can get Skip to go with us in July. Let's go. What it take? I'm driving now. Oh. Let's go. Okay. You can take the scary people. I could do that. Right. I'm driving. I got this thing with heights. I'm petrified of planes. Okay. But seriously, though, I appreciate the opportunity to unify because it's a positive thing. It's other positive entities. We positive entities that's coming and connecting with you. And unification is the biggest thing to make this thing work. Thank you, Jaime. Appreciate it. Well, I'm trying. Thanks to Skip Townsend for opening the door. Keep up the good work. We support you. Where's the little protege? God first. Without him, nothing's possible. Binky Mac on the track. Iceberg the great. Mr. Los Angeles. I'm here with the sister that's working against gang violence. You got Miss Bubbles. Miss Spring. Lady Slick. And Mary the therapist. And Miss Mary the therapist, man. She got that cop for you. She wants you to sit down and tell her about. How you feel. She wants you to walk around. Feeling good about yourself. I mean, I need all the G's. YG's. OG's. WG's. Triple OG's. Watch over. Can't make it happen, man. This is our community. Our main goal is to reach the young children. That are followed by the TVs and media. Specialized to the commander for the elite gang intervention. This is our community. We're operating in the operating room. We're operating in the operating room. Special shout out to Skip Townsend for opening the door. Like I said, these ladies are here to help. They're here for gang interventions, domestic violence. Shout out to those who support us. They're here for the mothers who lose their sons to jail and or death. So if you with the movement, please check these sisters out. Like I said, Ms. Bubbles, Ms. Spring, Ladies Slick, Buds, and Mary the Therapist. V. Sisters working against gang violence. V. Sisters working against gang violence. V. V. V. V.