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00:00One on five, one on Bounce, Detroit.
00:01Still back.
00:02Fit Pop and R&B.
00:03It's your boy Showtime, the czar.
00:04Got a special guest in studio with me, man.
00:06This guy stays working in and out of the state all the time, man.
00:10My guy, Rod Thomas, is back.
00:11What up, though?
00:12What's the deal?
00:12What's up?
00:13What's up?
00:13What's up, Detroit?
00:14Welcome back to the show, man.
00:16You've been grinding, man, since the last time I saw you.
00:18Yeah, for sure, man.
00:20For sure, man.
00:20You was out in Philly.
00:22First of all, let me back up.
00:23Happy New Year, first of all.
00:24I'll just jump right into the interview.
00:25Happy New Year.
00:26Happy New Year to you.
00:27And happy belated birthday, too.
00:30Happy New Year to your daughter, man.
00:31Capricorn's all around.
00:31Did you say your dad or your grandfather was a Capricorn, too, man?
00:34My step-pops.
00:36Man, Capricorn's all around, man.
00:37So you got the vibe, man.
00:39You know what I'm saying?
00:40How old your daughter turned, bro?
00:41She turned seven yesterday, man.
00:42Okay, well, shout out to that young queen right there, man.
00:44Happy birthday to her.
00:45I want to talk about you ending up 2025.
00:49Okay.
00:49Okay, you was in Philly.
00:51Yeah, for sure.
00:52Talk about that show you was involved in.
00:55So I was out in Philly.
00:58I was on a performance I had with some of the Philly legends.
01:03That's what it was titled, Philly Legends.
01:05It was called Legends, you know what I'm saying, itself.
01:08But some of the people who performed was Benny Siegel,
01:12Inez, Cassidy.
01:14Man, it was so many.
01:15I saw Reed Dollars was on there.
01:16Reed Dollars.
01:16Yeah.
01:17You know what I'm saying?
01:17And you know yours truly.
01:19Yeah.
01:19You know what I'm saying?
01:20Came all the way from Detroit.
01:21Did my thing.
01:22What was that like being in Philly, man?
01:24What's the, I guess, cultural differences between Detroit and Philly,
01:27if there are any?
01:31A lot of people out there, they supportive.
01:33I'm not saying that we don't get it in our city,
01:35but a lot of people out there, they real supportive.
01:39Shout out to Freeway.
01:40You know what I'm saying?
01:41Shout out to Freeway, too.
01:42And my dog, Kev.
01:43Nice.
01:44And Big Sev and Twan that's out there.
01:49You know, those are all the people who, you know,
01:50who I tap in with out there in Philly.
01:52They show nothing but love, bro.
01:54But the love is always there, bro.
01:56They real supportive, like I said, man.
01:58I see why, like, going there back and forth,
02:00I see why artists from Philly blow up so big
02:03because everybody's so supportive.
02:05Nice.
02:05You ran into Benny Siegel and Freeway.
02:08Yeah.
02:08Two hip-hop legends, if you will.
02:10Yeah.
02:11What advice did they give you, if any?
02:13Um, so I ran to them on two different events.
02:17Okay.
02:18Uh, because I go to Philly quite often.
02:20Um, shout out to Rachel Washington, too, out there in Philly.
02:23But, um, the advice they gave me was to stay focused
02:26and, uh, stay true to myself.
02:28Is there music coming from y'all, too?
02:30I saw you kind of hint at it, but I ain't want to...
02:32Hey, man, look, all I'm going to say is...
02:34Or y'all three, I should say.
02:35Not collectively, but just in general.
02:37Like, do you have some stuff in the works with them
02:39or thought about it?
02:41Can you talk about...
02:42All I'm going to say is, it's an album coming soon, man.
02:46It's an album coming soon.
02:47That's all I can say.
02:48But we cooking up, though.
02:50We definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:51Album coming soon on that.
02:53You were featured on Artists We Got Our Eyes On in Detroit, right?
02:58You were one of the names that were on there, man.
03:00Talk about that.
03:00Does that...
03:01What does that mean to you as, you know,
03:03someone who the city is watching
03:04and they're saying, like, this guy's up next?
03:06Okay, so it means a lot to me.
03:09And it came as a shocker, to be honest.
03:13Oh, you said that?
03:15I got a call from somebody like,
03:16hey, man, you kind of going viral right now.
03:20And I'm like, me?
03:21Like, all right, how?
03:21Like, what you talking about?
03:22They was like, man, you was featured on
03:26Michigan 2026 Artist to keep their eyes on.
03:28Yep.
03:28I'm like, dang.
03:29Then I looked at the lineup.
03:30It was some big names on there.
03:32You know what I'm saying?
03:33You had Sautababy, Skillababy, KurtzDollar,
03:38EastsideYJ, D-Nail, YB, Settrends.
03:41You know what I'm saying?
03:42It was a lot of guys on there.
03:43And your name was on there.
03:45My name was on there.
03:46And what's crazy is I've been doing music for a while,
03:49but I've been going the hardest I've ever been
03:50within the last year and a half.
03:52How do you think that is, man?
03:53What was the, I guess, battery that got put in your back
03:56that you was like, okay?
03:58I'm going to say shout-outs to Big Hurt.
04:01You know what I'm saying?
04:01Big Hurt, legendary Big Hurt.
04:03He tapped in with me.
04:05He was like, hey, man, what's going on?
04:07What you doing with the track that we did together?
04:09And I'm like, I ain't really.
04:10He's like, man, you should get back to it.
04:12And at that time, I kind of was dealing with
04:13the loss of relatives, so I wasn't even motivated to be.
04:17But the fact that I was just like, you know,
04:20that call was more so like, man, get it together.
04:22Shake out of it, whatever you're going through.
04:24So I was like, all right, if I'm going to do it again,
04:26I'm going to just give my all and not hold up.
04:29So, I mean.
04:30Big Hurt reaching out to you, man.
04:32How does that affect you as an artist, man?
04:35Because somebody like that, they don't have to,
04:36but they was like, you know what I'm saying?
04:37Hey, man, they motivated you to get back into it.
04:39What does that mean to you as an artist?
04:41Uh, shit, that meant a lot, bro,
04:43because I know he don't really, you know,
04:46kick it with too many people.
04:48So the fact that he even considered
04:50even tapping in with me like that,
04:52not saying tapping in, but, you know,
04:54reaching out to me in regards to that,
04:56that was huge, bro.
04:57Especially by him being a hip-hop Detroit icon,
05:00you know what I'm saying, lyrical,
05:01you know what I'm saying, hands down.
05:03And decided to come, you know what I'm saying,
05:05just let you know.
05:05I mean, just to say like, you know what I'm saying,
05:07you got it.
05:08Like, don't give up on yourself.
05:09Because the track that we did, you know,
05:11he told me, he said, man, that's,
05:12you know, that's a nice track.
05:13You got to do something with it.
05:14Talk about it.
05:15How did that track come together, man?
05:16And when can we expect you to drop that?
05:19The track came together,
05:21we knew some mutual people.
05:24Okay.
05:24And then we just ran to each other in person
05:26and then everything else was just a conversation.
05:29We hit the studio together.
05:30It wasn't like no, I sent them an email or whatever.
05:34We was in the studio together.
05:35Like, we built the chemistry on it
05:37and, man, we put it together.
05:39Does that matter to you as an artist,
05:41being in the studio?
05:42Because you can feel a different vibe
05:43as opposed to doing email, man.
05:44Yeah, because it's like, to me,
05:46I feel like when you're in the studio
05:47and you putting a feature together with an artist,
05:50that makes it more organic.
05:51The ideas can bounce off each other.
05:53And that's way different from somebody like,
05:55hey, I got a track,
05:56and they be like, I'll send you over my, you know,
05:58email or whatever.
05:59It's kind of like...
06:00Do you prefer it that way to be in studio
06:01or is it just like...
06:03I feel like, you know,
06:04the chemistry can be built better for the track
06:07when you're in the studio together.
06:09You can bounce off more ideas.
06:10Got you.
06:11You know what I'm saying?
06:12You're also always active in the community, man.
06:15Talk about the importance of staying active
06:17in the community,
06:18talking, you know,
06:19to the kids, to the youth,
06:20and all that good stuff.
06:22Yeah, so recently I was at King High School.
06:24Yep, saw that.
06:25And I was speaking to the children there,
06:27and I also did a performance there.
06:30That's very important to me, man,
06:32because I had times with myself
06:33to like,
06:34my transition with rap,
06:35I used to rap like gangster hip-hop
06:37and I switched to the bar with Positive Lane.
06:39Mm-hmm.
06:41Man, it's so,
06:43it's so like,
06:44crucial,
06:45like, looking at how the neighborhoods is,
06:47and it's like,
06:48the kids don't really have mentors.
06:49Right.
06:50You got what I'm saying?
06:50Yeah, yeah.
06:51So when I know,
06:51like when I was coming up,
06:52it was people coming to my schools,
06:54it was people trying to tell me right from wrong.
06:56Mm-hmm.
06:56I listened to it most of the time,
06:57but most of the time I wasn't listening,
06:59but I see the result of me not listening,
07:01I paid for it.
07:02You got what I'm saying?
07:03Right, right.
07:03So when I go to these schools
07:05or if I'm doing anything in the community,
07:07I always let kids know that they are important.
07:09Mm-hmm.
07:10When I look at them,
07:10I see my kids,
07:11my nieces,
07:11my nephews,
07:12but the main thing I tell all the children I speak to is,
07:16you're going to be a kid once,
07:17you're going to be an adult forever.
07:18Ooh.
07:19You know what I'm saying?
07:21So that's just the reality of the situation.
07:23You're going to be a kid once,
07:24but you're going to be an adult forever.
07:25So just, you know,
07:26watch how you make the decisions you make.
07:29You talked about the importance of mentorship.
07:31And you think,
07:32and you say that they don't have it as much.
07:34Why do you think that is, man?
07:35Is it like,
07:36because you hear the word Y-N,
07:38they try to stare away from them like,
07:39ah, I'm going to let that,
07:40I'm not going to mess with that.
07:41Um, yeah,
07:42it's like to me,
07:44you know,
07:44this is just my personal opinion.
07:46I feel like when I was coming up,
07:48it was like a lot of,
07:51if you was doing wrong,
07:53but you was a good person,
07:54the neighborhood
07:55shagged you away from that.
07:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:57Hey, don't be doing what we doing,
07:58go to school type of thing, right?
07:59I feel like the blockage came from when,
08:02um,
08:04you know,
08:04you know,
08:05you know how to,
08:06you know how to,
08:06you know,
08:07streets navigate or whatever they say,
08:08whatever you into,
08:10you know,
08:11don't indulge yourself type of thing.
08:12And I feel like once people started indulging
08:14with whatever they was doing,
08:16they threw off the mindset
08:17and they started caring less
08:18about what was taking place.
08:20Do you want to do more programs
08:22involving kids, man?
08:23Cause like I said,
08:24you going to talk to them,
08:25people don't want to talk to kids
08:27nowadays, man.
08:28So would you like to do more of that?
08:30Man, absolutely.
08:31Number one,
08:32I'm a father first.
08:33Right.
08:33You got what I'm saying?
08:34I got four beautiful children,
08:36two girls,
08:37two boys.
08:38I got a lot of nieces and nephews,
08:39little cousins,
08:40and I'm hands on with all of them.
08:42Nice.
08:42So when I see kids in the neighborhood
08:44or kids at these schools,
08:46I keep myself in the mind frame of
08:49when I went to prison,
08:50I know the damage that,
08:52well,
08:52I'm going to say this.
08:53I wanted to stop the cycle.
08:55My father was in prison.
08:57I know the pain that it caused me.
08:58So when I went to prison,
09:00I had to reflect like,
09:01that's the pain I'm causing my children.
09:03So when I see other kids
09:04and stuff like that,
09:05I know that they got mothers in prison,
09:06fathers in prison,
09:07uncles,
09:08people who they care about.
09:09So I just try to let them know,
09:11like,
09:11you still important.
09:12Hey,
09:12look,
09:12the thoughts that you have,
09:13I had those thoughts before too.
09:15So,
09:15you know,
09:16just know somebody got your back
09:17and they rooting for you.
09:19Does having four kids
09:20affect the type of music you make,
09:21man?
09:22No.
09:23You said you switched it up
09:24from the gangster rap to the,
09:25but I know sometimes
09:27you can make that type of music,
09:28but that doesn't necessarily
09:30affect who you are anymore.
09:31It's just the reality that you live.
09:32So with that,
09:33it was like,
09:33when I was making that type of music
09:35from that perspective,
09:39my youngest three wasn't born.
09:41You got what I'm saying?
09:41My oldest was,
09:43but then it was like,
09:44the older that they got,
09:45it was like,
09:45I just switched it all the way up
09:47because I was like,
09:48I'm a role model.
09:49You know what I'm saying?
09:50Like to your children
09:51or your nieces and nephews,
09:52you a Superman to them.
09:53If anybody bothered them,
09:55they're going to be like,
09:56I'm going to get my uncle.
09:56I'm going to get my uncle.
09:57So they think you can beat
09:59the whole world up.
10:00So I was like,
10:01let me just go ahead
10:01and put it in that perspective
10:03for everything that I do.
10:04Because what you put out there,
10:05you would get it back.
10:06So, you know what I'm saying?
10:07Right, right.
10:08You got a show coming up this Sunday, man.
10:10Let's talk about that for a second, man.
10:11Oh, yeah, yeah.
10:12Okay, so the show
10:13that's coming up this Sunday
10:14is going to be,
10:16it's put together by AIA.
10:22And it's a collective of artists
10:24from all over.
10:25California, Canada, Chicago, Ohio, Detroit.
10:30You know what I'm saying?
10:31Something everywhere.
10:31So that's dope.
10:33That's pretty dope.
10:34They give artists opportunity
10:35to come perform, do their thing.
10:37It's going to be dope.
10:38That's this Sunday too.
10:39Club Society.
10:40I see you working, man.
10:42I'm going to come back
10:42to the event real quick.
10:44But I want to,
10:45because you mentioned that
10:45it was artists from all over.
10:48Yep.
10:49I see you working
10:49with a lot of artists
10:51all the time, man,
10:52from all over the place, man.
10:53Howard, what does that do for you?
10:54Is that an inspiration
10:55to you, man, to keep working?
10:56Because styles is different.
10:57Yeah, yeah, for sure.
10:58So it's like trying to combine that
11:00with how you do as a rapper.
11:02Is that difficult?
11:03Is that a challenge to you?
11:05Do you like that?
11:05Talk about that for a minute.
11:06All right.
11:07I really just move off
11:09the vibe of the individual.
11:11Got you.
11:12I love music, hands down, right?
11:14So if I run across a person,
11:17they might make jazz music.
11:18I love music.
11:19So I love jazz music.
11:20So I can relate to the way
11:22that they made the song
11:23or whatever, yada, yada.
11:24I'm just not easily moved
11:26by people who be super arrogant
11:28or they feel like they better
11:30than the next when all of us
11:32is equally the same.
11:34Performing in the city again.
11:35Yeah, yep, for sure.
11:36Let's talk about that, man.
11:37What is that like performing
11:38in the city, performing
11:39in front of people,
11:40you know what I'm saying?
11:41They probably have seen you perform
11:42or never seen you perform
11:44and talk about that.
11:46So I'm glad you said
11:47that last part.
11:48Every time when I do go perform,
11:51I always, whether I see people
11:52in the crowd that recognize me
11:53or not, I always perform
11:54like it's my first time
11:56because for some people,
11:57it's their first impression
11:58that they're getting.
11:58And I was taught
11:59you can't get a second chance
12:00to make a first impression.
12:01That's a fact.
12:02So I always just do it that way.
12:04And what's crazy,
12:05the last time I performed
12:06at that spot, man,
12:07it was a guy that was there.
12:09They had drums on the set.
12:10And I was like,
12:10hey, who knew how to play
12:11these drums?
12:12Went live just like that.
12:13I ain't even know this guy.
12:14He ain't know me.
12:14And we just created history
12:16right then and there on the spot.
12:17That's nice, man.
12:18That's fire.
12:19But that's this Sunday.
12:20Then on the 23rd,
12:22I'm going to be out there
12:23in New York for the pre-Grammys, man.
12:24You know what I'm saying, man?
12:25You always move it around.
12:26What made you want to go to the pre-
12:28I mean, it's the Grammys,
12:29but what made you want to go to New York?
12:29The pre-Grammys,
12:30you know what I'm saying,
12:31my sister, Mysterious,
12:32a.k.a. Misty Blocko.
12:34So she was, you know,
12:36she used to rap with,
12:39you know what I'm saying,
12:40Diddy and everybody.
12:43She now signed with Rick Ross.
12:45Nice.
12:46That's fire.
12:46And she a Staff Records member.
12:48You got what I'm saying?
12:49So she was, you know,
12:51me, her,
12:51and a group of,
12:53you know what I'm saying,
12:54guys, Staff Records.
12:55Shout out to Nugget,
12:56you know what I'm saying,
12:57the Staff Records.
12:57But everything that she doing
12:59with her success,
13:00she always reach out to us
13:01and be like,
13:01Hey, look,
13:02we got this going on.
13:03Like, you know what I'm saying?
13:04We got this going on.
13:05So she like,
13:06Hey, let's go.
13:07Pre-Grammys, let's go.
13:09Is Grammys a thing for you?
13:10Like an ultimate goal, bro?
13:11A lot of artists,
13:12they don't really care about that,
13:13the accolade, man.
13:14So is that something
13:15that you would like to have one day?
13:16So for me,
13:18I'm motivated by,
13:20you know,
13:21the people who look up to me
13:23in a sense.
13:24Got you.
13:24So if me going to the pre-Grammys
13:27or anywhere,
13:27as long as my voice being heard
13:28in a positive perspective,
13:30you got what I'm saying?
13:31Because I ain't motivated
13:32by the money aspect.
13:33I'm motivated by,
13:35you know what I'm saying,
13:35the people who I can reach
13:37with my voice.
13:37You know what I'm saying?
13:38Right.
13:38Why doesn't money motivate you, man?
13:40I mean,
13:41coming from,
13:41you know,
13:42from prison
13:43to doing what you're doing now,
13:44most people would be money.
13:46So the thing with that is,
13:48man,
13:48money can come and go.
13:49You got what I'm saying?
13:50Like,
13:52it don't move me
13:53because I had,
13:56you know,
13:57I had large,
13:58large amounts of money before
13:59and I was still not happy.
14:01You know what I'm saying?
14:02So it don't,
14:03I think that was, bro.
14:05It's the mindset that you have.
14:07Like once you,
14:07once you,
14:08once you create a good space
14:09in your mindset,
14:11you rich with that.
14:13You got what I'm saying?
14:14And then I don't value money,
14:15so it always come to me anyway.
14:17It's something that I don't really,
14:18you know what I'm saying?
14:18Right, right.
14:19As long as my kids is good,
14:21I'm good.
14:22You know what I'm saying?
14:22Ain't nobody around me starving.
14:23Ain't nobody around me,
14:24you know what I'm saying?
14:25Got to do nothing outside of it.
14:27You know what I'm saying?
14:28I'm good, bro.
14:29I'm never motivated about no money.
14:31Nice.
14:31Now,
14:32something I seen you do
14:33that,
14:34I wonder if you want to do more with,
14:36what's his name?
14:37Reggie Bebe from,
14:38Oh.
14:39Did some skits, man.
14:41Yeah, man.
14:41We're going to see Rod Thomas
14:42do a little bit more acting
14:43in 2026, man.
14:45Look, man,
14:45shout out to D-Nell,
14:46YB-Centriz,
14:48and Eastside YJ.
14:49Hey, man,
14:50hey, look,
14:51that'll be dope.
14:52That'll be dope.
14:53Yeah, yeah.
14:53I thought that was pretty good, bro.
14:55That'll be dope.
14:55It felt very natural.
14:56He came all the way from Chicago
14:58to come out here.
14:59Yeah, he came all the way from Chicago.
14:59Yeah, for sure.
15:00For sure.
15:00What was it like,
15:01you know,
15:02doing this skit?
15:02Was that your first time ever acting?
15:04Man.
15:05Y'all got no scripts, right?
15:06It's just
15:07off the top of the head.
15:08Yeah, yeah,
15:08we was freestyling.
15:09Nah.
15:10But,
15:11no,
15:11that was like
15:13the movie aspect.
15:14Like,
15:15I've been in some short films,
15:16you know what I'm saying,
15:17here and there,
15:17but the comedy part,
15:19I never really,
15:20you know what I'm saying,
15:20and then
15:21my dog Frog,
15:23you know,
15:24he shoot movies too.
15:25He got
15:25a couple of them
15:27coming out right now
15:27that he working on,
15:28you know what I'm saying.
15:29And actually,
15:30you know what I'm saying,
15:31give a little,
15:33come on,
15:33come on to the mic real quick.
15:34Come on to the mic real quick.
15:36Tell the people your name real quick, bro.
15:37Yeah,
15:37my name Frog,
15:38that figures, man.
15:40Okay.
15:40Yeah,
15:41like Rob was saying,
15:42man,
15:42we got a couple new series
15:45coming out,
15:46a couple new movies coming out.
15:48Shout out to my boy
15:49Fig Panamera,
15:50JT Bigger,
15:51Fig was just here,
15:52we linked up.
15:53We got a new series
15:54coming out called
15:55Back Doors and Chalk Lines.
15:58Y'all can go
15:59check it out
16:00on Instagram
16:01on Frog F Figures
16:03on Instagram
16:04and JT the Bigger Figure
16:05on Instagram.
16:08Go download it
16:09on Trap Flicks.
16:10Rod,
16:10you in all those projects too?
16:12Doing some acting, man?
16:12Yeah, man,
16:13you already know.
16:14You're in your acting bag.
16:15All right, man.
16:16Get my dog in there.
16:17Nice, nice.
16:18Yep.
16:18All right,
16:18last thing I want to ask you, man.
16:20Yep.
16:20New album,
16:21new project,
16:21when can we expect it?
16:22What's the time frame, bro?
16:24Like,
16:24what's going on?
16:25Okay,
16:26so new project
16:27I got going on
16:28is the idea
16:31came from,
16:32you know what I'm saying,
16:33my big homie Nug.
16:35We was having a conversation
16:37about something
16:37and we was talking
16:38about a quarter.
16:40And you know,
16:40a quarter got the face
16:42and then it got the backside.
16:43So he was like,
16:44man,
16:44with everything you've been
16:45through with your life,
16:45going from this to that,
16:47two sides of every story.
16:49Damn.
16:49You know what I'm saying?
16:50That's hard.
16:50So shout out to Nug.
16:51We got Nug in the building.
16:52Hey, Nug,
16:53when the project dropping?
16:54Yeah,
16:54the project coming out in March
16:56along with everything else,
16:57the mixtapes,
16:58the movies,
17:00the videos
17:00and everything we doing.
17:02We shooting for March
17:03because we trying to buy
17:03ourselves a little time.
17:04But we will be in New York
17:05at the pre-gramming award
17:06doing it with Misty Blanco.
17:08And shout out to Showtime.
17:10I'm out.
17:11All right, well,
17:12Rob, man,
17:13you know I love
17:13when you come through, bro,
17:14because you always doing something, man.
17:16You stay doing positive things
17:17in the community for the kids.
17:19You stay dropping positive music,
17:21so, you know,
17:22it's always love here, man.
17:23Man, I appreciate you
17:24always having me, bro.
17:25Listen, all that acting
17:26y'all doing,
17:27you know what I'm saying?
17:28Yeah, you say you need to see.
17:29Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:29What's up with it?
17:30Yeah, you need to see.
17:32All right, say less.
17:33All right.
17:33205, what do we call you?
17:35No, I got you.
17:36Dang, dang,
17:37nothing but a word.
17:37All right.
17:38Listen, Ry Thomas, man,
17:39it's 205,
17:40when the bounce.
17:40Peace.
17:41All right, we out.
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