Off the Record

Whippo 0:10
What's good everybody? Welcome to WKNC HD-1 Raleigh. We are a student run nonprofit radio station based out of North Carolina State University. I am DJ Whippopotomous aka Whippo. And I'm here today with podcast host slash producer Money Gang Jae. How you doing man?

MoneyGangJae 0:30
Im doing good how about you man?

Whippo 0:32
Good, good. Glad to have you man.

MoneyGangJae 0:33
Oh yeah appreciate the opportunity man.

Whippo 0:35
Yeah, you already know. Love to hear what the locals are working up. You want to do a quick introduction, tell people who you are?

MoneyGangJae 0:42
Well, I'm MoneyGangJae. I'm the owner and founder of Money Gang Podcast, you know, something I've been doing since 2018. And now you know, we're starting to get a you know, a little bit of reach and, you know, working on a few projects are coming in 2022 with a YouTube show and everything. So, yeah.

Whippo 1:02
Nice. Nice. Yeah. So um, the first thing I want to talk to you about was the podcast, the money game podcast. Yeah. So, I guess How did that start?

MoneyGangJae 1:11
Well, this started, you know, around 2018. Around that year, I had lost my mother to cancer.

Whippo 1:18
Im sorry to hear that man.

MoneyGangJae 1:20
And she, I remember, she always told me like, you know, she felt like, I should be like a debater.

Whippo 1:24
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 1:25
You know she liked my voice and stuff. Like my speaking voice. Okay. I was always good with like, Public Speaking of stuff. So I just, you know, I had a lot of knowledge about, you know, hip hop, you know, in sports and stuff. So I just thought of my own podcast, and I started to see grand gain of fan base. And, you know, do some serious here.

Whippo 1:41
You said that started in 2018.

MoneyGangJae 1:43
Yeah. 2018.

Whippo 1:45
Were you staying out here then?

MoneyGangJae 1:47
Yeah, I was staying out here, in Windail.

Whippo 1:51
You used to live in Mississippi, right?

MoneyGangJae 1:53
Yeah, I used to I just got back. I spent some time up there and stuff, you know, doing a podcast and everything.

Whippo 1:59
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 1:59
Getting out there on that type of level locally and stuff.

Whippo 2:01
Yeah. That's dope. Yeah, so do you have a team you work with?

MoneyGangJae 2:08
Well, yeah, I got this guy named, you know, Shawn Doug. He got his own podcast itself. Yeah, we work together to collaborate on a lot of things. There's a Real Carolina Mixtape, is the next thing that we're working on, and you know, it's definitely gonna be something special for North Carolina. We went for independent artists.

Whippo 2:26
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 2:27
Yeah. So

Whippo 2:27
Yeah, there's a whole lot of that going on right now, especially with the end of the lockdowns and all that I see a lot a lot of local artists ready to show what they've been working on, you know what I'm saying ?

MoneyGangJae 2:38
Yes, definitely. So we just decided to, you know, take part in that and, you know, just help everybody out, local level as far as artists.

Whippo 2:50
So, what are you most passionate about, about the project?

MoneyGangJae 2:54
The project? Because I know, it's a few songs that are gonna be standing out. You know, and I know a lot of independent artists that I haven't got a chance to reach out and get to this type of, you know, fan base, but I'm putting it all together, it's coming out in 18th.

Whippo 3:09
Okay. Oh, that's September 18? All right. The Real Carolina Mixtape. That's what he's talking about.

MoneyGangJae 3:15
Real Carolina.

Whippo 3:16
So you're saying that there's gonna be multiple artists on there?

MoneyGangJae 3:19
Yeah multiple artists from North Carolina from the to 252 to the 336, the 919. We're bringing it all together.

Whippo 3:28
So you've been moving. So what's your process? Like you said, you produce it, so what does that look like?

MoneyGangJae 3:37
Yeah, it's been so we came up with idea, like, in May. So you know, we're just finding like, different artists been reaching out to me, you know, I told him about the project, been curating the music make it sound like smooth playlist.

Whippo 3:49
Okay, nice. Nice. And when did you start working on that?

Probably like June. Yeah, June. It got pushed back a little bit, we were supposed to drop it last month, but we started getting some more tracks from people. So we wanted to work those in.

Okay. How many different artists you think is on there?

MoneyGangJae 4:06
I would say probably like between 8-9 different artists, but some of the artists got multiple songs out there. So yeah, finished the project.

Whippo 4:14
Yeah that's dope. So have you heard the summer in the Carolina Music Festival? That happened in Raleigh about a month ago now?

MoneyGangJae 4:22
Yeah I heard about that.

Whippo 4:23
Yeah, I went out there and I discovered a lot of new local artists I was really really glad to as well. Yeah, they had local artists all from North Carolina on one big stage 12 to 12 that like 24 sets and it was just cool to be exposed to the local art like that.

MoneyGangJae 4:39
Yeah that's dope.

Whippo 4:40
There's definitely this is definitely movement out here people definitely there's a demand for it for not just music but for local music people wanting to represent their people you know?

MoneyGangJae 4:51
I feel like with most like local artists and that music you know, they're still hungry. It's a different side when they're still hungry, got something to prove. It's always good music.

Whippo 4:58
Yeah. And I feel like In the past, there hasn't been the right art infrastructure out here to really put people on. But now with the internet evolving just with the scene I see is evolving to there's just a lot more support out there. And we don't need these big labels for artists to be successful anymore.

MoneyGangJae 5:14
The artists can be the label now.

Whippo 5:16
Yeah, exactly.

MoneyGangJae 5:17
Accesible United masters and everything so. Now they don't need the labels no more.

Whippo 5:22
Yeah, facts. So, yes, I was looking into Mississippi. I was just wondering, What's your favorite food out there?

MoneyGangJae 5:32
Well, mostly in Mississippi. I like you know, Mexican, seafood. I prefer one of those two you. We got a lot like, a lot of good southern stuff.

Whippo 5:43
Right, right. Right. I saw that. Y'all have some Cajun food out there too?

MoneyGangJae 5:47
Oh it's definitely good like gumbo and all that stuff. It's good.

Whippo 5:50
Nice. Nice. Yeah, I was looking up, have you heard of a Mississippi mud pie?

MoneyGangJae 5:55
Nah I haven't.

Whippo 5:56
It's a, I guess it's like a chocolate pie with like cookies and graham crackers. I don't know, looked good. I'm a pie guy, though. You said he moved out here in 2018?

MoneyGangJae 6:08
Yeah, moved out here in 2018. All came from, you know, the Bertie County area or thr 252, that's where I originally came from. I would say, you know, that is definitely different from living out here in the 919 area.

Whippo 6:20
Yeah, yeah. Well describe the differences. What was it like there compared to here?

MoneyGangJae 6:24
Obviously, you know, it's like a small town, small towns that make up a county. Out here, you know, it was different, you know, Raleigh in the city and everything going on yeah, it's different. So it's like more country I would say,

Whippo 6:36
Okay, what's the music scene like out there?

MoneyGangJae 6:40
Music scene, you know, we got some some talented artists and those the ones I'm trying to focus on the Real Carolina mixtape.

Whippo 6:45
Word. Okay. Like Mississippi artists?

MoneyGangJae 6:49
Nah I think this time around we're gonna focus on Carolina, but the next tape we do we're gonna have somebody from surrounding states and everywhere.

Whippo 6:56
Oh okay so y'all gonna expand, I see that. So you also talked about sports on your podcast, right?

MoneyGangJae 7:04
Yeah, yeah.

Whippo 7:05
I guess what's the sports like in Mississippi, y'all got any teams you follow out there?

MoneyGangJae 7:09
You know, Mississippi, I think JSU you know Deion Sanders being the head coach.

Whippo 7:13
Okay.

MoneyGangJae 7:14
Brung a lot of attention to that team. And they just they just won a game today this season opener. So I think Deion being there. Him coming around changing the culture was a good look for Mississippi.

Whippo 7:23
Yeah that's dope. Well now we're talking about sports. What are your favorite team?

MoneyGangJae 7:29
Lakers.

Whippo 7:29
Okay.

MoneyGangJae 7:30
And don't laugh at this one, the Cowboys.

Whippo 7:33
No I have to I'm sorry I'm an Eagles fan bro. The NFC East. It's funny, honestly.

MoneyGangJae 7:40
Anybody can win at this point.

Whippo 7:42
Yeah, no doubt. Definitely. There's some new pieces on on the Eagles and on the Redskins, or the Washington football team here. They got kind of a brand new team. They got Fitzpatrick on there, and a couple new receivers, but it's gonna be interesting to see how it turns out.

MoneyGangJae 7:59
It's interested in the NFC East. You never know who gonna win.

Whippo 8:04
It's just funny, man. So who were some of your favorite artists growing up?

MoneyGangJae 8:12
Favorite artists growing up? I would say like, as a kid. I was Jay Z. Naz. Eminem. You know, just to name a few, 50 cent.

Whippo 8:22
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 8:23
And you know, as time progressed it's Lil Wayne and stuff like that. I think, you know, I came up in the right time to

Whippo 8:31
Yeah?

MoneyGangJae 8:32
And that's how I helped shape this podcast, because the eras I saw music versus seeing how it's changed.

Whippo 8:38
Like with the internet and all?

MoneyGangJae 8:39
Yeah I remember all that like the MTV countdowns, and when it was 6:00, and.

Whippo 8:44
Let me ask are you a millennial?

MoneyGangJae 8:45
Yeah.

Whippo 8:46
Yeah, I feel like a lot of millennials, kind of like bridge the gap between the past generation and Gen Z. Like they seen life without the Internet. And then they seem like come up with internet. You've got different perspective.

MoneyGangJae 8:59
You come to me and like the music I listen to. I always say Jay Z, and Lil Uzi Vert, so everything in between.

Whippo 9:05
Okay, yeah, that's dope. What about now who who are some artists that you've been following real closely and are looking forward to hearing more from?

MoneyGangJae 9:14
Yeah, I will say Isaiah Reshat.

Whippo 9:17
Oh, yeah.

MoneyGangJae 9:17
And yeah. Obviously, Kendrick Lamar, he put out some stuff, you know, and you know, I will say Schoolboy Q.

Whippo 9:25
Yeah. Actually, yeah. I used to listen to Schoolboy Q growing up too. Kendrick's coming out with a new album soon, right. Is there a date on that yet?

MoneyGangJae 9:34
Not yet. Everybody's looking.

Whippo 9:36
Yeah, that song with him and Baby Keem was pretty crazy. Honestly. I started following Baby Keem last year and yeah, he he goes off.

MoneyGangJae 9:47
Definitely yeah, his project is dropping on the 10th I think.

Whippo 9:50
Oh, for real Okay. Gotta look out for that. Yeah, he gets me going and he gives me energy.

MoneyGangJae 9:55
He's got good work out music.

Whippo 9:57
No doubt for real. So what direction are you trying to take your podcasting in?

MoneyGangJae 10:08
I think now you know, since I've been at it for you know, it's going on four years, and I just want to, you know, get it on a North Carolina, like local level and put it to the forefront, you know, what other projects that I'm working on, you know, as far as trying to get like a label and things like that.

Whippo 10:23
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 10:23
So, you know, I think this is just the first step with the podcast trying to you know, let everybody know, it can be at home for local artists or local, whatever you send me like, just.

Whippo 10:32
Dope, so have you been interviewing local artists in the past?

MoneyGangJae 10:35
Yeah I've interviewed a lot of local artists. Models. So.

Whippo 10:40
Yeah the whole community? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we definitely need that out here that that definitely helps propagate their growth. Last of my questions, but um, yeah, so. So with the, with the podcast, when did you start realizing that is really starting to grow when they start popping off?

MoneyGangJae 11:07
I would say like, the next year 2019. Then I start seeing, you know, comments and reviews of people. You know, and you know, that's when I started seeing me getting like a fan base, so to speak.

Whippo 11:17
Yeah. Yeah. What was that like?

MoneyGangJae 11:18
It was overwhelming and no, you know, people feel like I do people you know, I use my voice to you know, people listen to me, on the way from work, or wherever they listen to it, like a lunch break. So, it was always overwhelming. And they're like, okay, I can keep doing this. I can stay in to this.

Whippo 11:33
That's dope. So without producing what, when did you start doing that?

MoneyGangJae 11:41
Well, this would be the first project that I like, curate and everything executive produced. And like, always had a good ear for music and, you know, knowing what the average fan would want to hear. So yeah, that's my role as patient like the A&R and getting it, you know, making sure to track listeners right and everything.

Whippo 11:59
Well, you want to ask a quick, where's Isaiah Rashad from?

MoneyGangJae 12:03
Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Whippo 12:05
Okay. What are some local artists out here that that you're looking forward to seeing grow?

Unknown Speaker 12:12
You know, I would say Big Malley you know, she signed on the lable with Da Baby.

Whippo 12:18
Oh, word.

MoneyGangJae 12:19
But I don't think she got that fan base, but I liked her style. Big Mally, you know, I think she, she from the 919 area.

Whippo 12:26
Oh, dope. Yeah, one I've been falling real closely is Tia Kareen out of Winston Salem.

MoneyGangJae 12:32
Okay. I haven't heard of her.

Whippo 12:33
She got a different flow. She got the hard lyrics, but it's very melodic very smooth. And yeah, yeah, it gives me energy.

MoneyGangJae 12:42
She the main reason we made the Real Carolina is to show North Carolina breeds talent there's a lot of talent.

No doubt, no doubt.

You know, even the people who made the artwork to you know, everybody involved, honestly. So.

Whippo 12:55
Yeah, I'm actually the local assistant music director at WKNC. So I've been trying to network and connect with local artists. So I can, I need to get clean edits as the hardest thing. It's hard to get clean edits around here, man. But we have been trying to connect with the local artists just just to help build that scene. I have a DJ set every Monday at 2:00, and every other week I play it's called Locals Only, just play local music and try to shout out where they're from and what they're doing. And I'm actually from Virginia, so I play a little bit of Virginia and North Carolina. But yeah, the local scene is moving out here.

MoneyGangJae 13:33
Most definitely.

Whippo 13:34
Definitely trying to tap in. Actually just went to the Fruit, and it seems like they're doing a lot to support local artists out here too like, most of the venues are like local artists, like they have art shows and, and concerts and all that. And that's, that's one thing I can keep my eye on. So what would you say your secret to success has been? Whether it's with the podcast producing or both?

MoneyGangJae 14:07
I would say you know, just being passionate about it, that's what I think overall. That's what keep it going, just me being passionate for hip hop or podcast, nothing, that's where that's what it is.

Whippo 14:19
Yeah, you gotta love it, right? Yeah, I feel that. And for any kids or young people who are trying to come up doing something similar you what advice would you give them to help them find similar success that you have?

MoneyGangJae 14:31
I will just show you know, just write out your plans and just stick to your guns, try you know, write out your goals and try to achieve them.

Whippo 14:38
Writing them out is huge. Not- I believe like that helps manifest it but also just it's good to see it on paper and just see where you're going and you can always change it, you know you don't have to stick to it.

MoneyGangJae 14:48
Feels good to check something off.

Whippo 14:50
Yeah lists they bring me up or they can destroy me too. Sometimes I look at my list and I got one thing checked off. Yeah, what else? Is there anything else you want to talk about?

MoneyGangJae 15:06
And I just wanted to give a shout out, you know, like my staff. Rocco, Shondel, Damo, Wig, everybody you know, that's been rocking with me.

Whippo 15:15
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 15:15
Helped me with this process, of course my family know everybody that believed from the beginning. You know?

Whippo 15:22
Facts, facts. And so you've been working with some of those people on the Real Carolina mixtape?

MoneyGangJae 15:28
Yeah we've been working on with it, with the Real Carolina with the podcast, you know everything.

Whippo 15:36
So I got a couple other just random questions just to help people get to know you better. If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be? I'll give you my answer first, so you can think on it. But straight up, I think I would want to teleport bro. It just makes life a lot easier, man, and cheaper. No more flights. No more gas. Don't have to worry about a DD, I don't know. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't want to teleport and drink.

MoneyGangJae 16:06
I think I'd be around a Superman lane, be the strongest.

Whippo 16:11
Super strength, classic.

MoneyGangJae 16:12
Everything. Laser vision.

Whippo 16:13
Yeah. Okay. Okay. The whole package? Hell yeah. And one other one, what would you say your spirit animal is? Or like, if you could be an animal, what animal would you be?

MoneyGangJae 16:31
I would say like, probably a lion

Whippo 16:34
Yeah. Okay, why is it?

MoneyGangJae 16:36
Because, you know, I feel like you know, like, I'm a competitive person. I think I come from like, my sports background and stuff.

Whippo 16:43
Oh, yeah.

MoneyGangJae 16:44
I feel like that is my jungle and I'm taking everybody out and I'm-

Whippo 16:48
Okay. Okay. Yeah, I see that. You play sports what sports do you play?

MoneyGangJae 16:53
Yeah, in high School in high school. I played basketball for a long time.

Whippo 16:57
Okay, nice. That's why you're so deep in NBA then. Are you more of an NBA or NFL guy? Or is it split?

MoneyGangJae 17:02
I would say a split.

Whippo 17:04
Yeah.

MoneyGangJae 17:04
I would say it's split now but it might tilt when the Lakers start back in.

Whippo 17:09
I'm not gonna lie. I don't follow the NBA too close how are the Lakers doing right now? Or this offseason?

MoneyGangJae 17:14
Offseason put on Russel Westbrook.

Whippo 17:17
Okay.

MoneyGangJae 17:17
They added some solid pieces off the bench and you know, veterans. So I think you know, we can get back to the finals again. And then not have that whole bubble aspect of you know.

Whippo 17:25
Right right, they didn't make it right. Yeah. How did they do last year?

MoneyGangJae 17:31
We got knocked out Phoenix, Phoenix went all the way. You know, they lost Milwaukee in the finals. I think-

Whippo 17:37
The Suns? They're good now?

MoneyGangJae 17:38
Yeah.

Whippo 17:39
Oh, I saw them play, it was like three or four years ago, and they were out. I went to see LeBron play them. And like, there's hella LeBron fans out there and barely any Suns fans, but guess they turned around.

MoneyGangJae 17:50
Yeah. Devin Booker, Chris Paul, they got some good young guys over there. I think that was the chip, they needed to be the champions in the first round, all the way back, but next year we'll them again.

Whippo 18:01
Yeah, I like their colors too, love their uniforms. If I had to be a NBA fan or a fan of a team, I probably just go with the Hornets. I don't I do love their colors too, and I like to be close to my favorite teams too. It was a struggle living in Virginia Beach, we really don't have any professional sports teams near us. I mean, the closest is the Washington football team, but I mean, I don't wanna root for them.

MoneyGangJae 18:28
They've been talking about having a basketball team in Virginia for a long time, but they never did.

Whippo 18:32
I heard about that. Actually, I think they were talking about actually building a stadium in Virginia Beach where I'm from. But yeah, that kind of slipped through the cracks, we needed though people are ready for that.

MoneyGangJae 18:45
Oh, yeah, most definitely.

Whippo 18:49
Yeah, so that's about all the questions I have. You want to plug, plug all your projects real quick, where people can find you?

MoneyGangJae 18:58
Oh yeah on Instagram MoneyGangJae, Twitter MoneyGangJae. Real Carolina coming out September 18. I'm resuming season four, the podcast very soon. And we got different projects coming. Like I said, 2022 we starting a YouTube show.

Whippo 19:14
Right? Right. We didn't talk about that actually want to touch on that a little bit.

MoneyGangJae 19:18
So now I'm teaming up one of my guys, you know, Shonda, he know, another female. And we're doing like, you know, like, hip hop, like, debate show about whatever, going on and we got to a female moderator.

Whippo 19:31
Oh, she's gonna moderate, she's like the ref? Hell yeah. No, that sounds fun.

MoneyGangJae 19:37
So that's where we got kind of working on trying to build out for 2022 that's where we're gonna be doing.

Whippo 19:41
Yeah, it's not too far from now. Now, it's crazy. This this year has been moving right or at least for me.

MoneyGangJae 19:47
It's like it was the beginning of the year.

Whippo 19:49
It's different.

MoneyGangJae 19:52
Facts.

Whippo 19:53
But yeah, man. I really appreciate you coming on. Yeah, I guess that's it. You're listening to WKNC 88.1 HD-1, Raleigh. Thanks for tuning in.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai