A roof escape, a fire truck ladder, and a truth he’d never said out loud—this conversation with Sayola starts raw and only gets more revealing. We trace his route from Kensington and Allegheny through placement, where discipline, reading, and routine flipped a dangerous trajectory into a durable foundation he still uses today. He breaks down how coming home to nothing sparked a stack of honest hustles—construction, culinary prep, McDonald’s shifts—and why he drew a hard line against hard drugs after watching what it did to family.
From there, the story becomes community. Sayola turned his downstairs into a studio, vouched with parents, fed the young bulls, and filmed wherever the vision fit—even convincing a campus security guard to let the team shoot inside a library. We zoom out to Philly’s creator ecosystem: reposting for algorithm fuel vs building original work, showing up outside to earn trust, and the case for a real coalition of platforms that coordinates rollouts like other media hubs do. Gatekeeping gets a nuanced take—talent opens doors, character keeps you in. If you don’t have a plan, product, or paperwork, he’d rather help you get ready than take your money and waste your moment.
Battle rap runs through it all. Surf’s early cosign to tap in with Easy, the Trenches events, and the crucial difference between what shakes a room and what hits on camera. Respect for veterans, health scares that teach the culture to care, and a reminder that being present in the building still matters. We close with books, a forthcoming poetry collection, and a sharp lens on truth vs reality—why reading gives language to instincts and answers that were waiting all along.
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