Inside your ear and out your jaw.
The doctors be telling me, they was like, man, you have the angels sweating. Sometimes they don't even give people the chance to get up there before they pop.
They'll see you walking out like nope.
Fire 'em up.
Yo, what I do?
It's okay if you have all them boxes checked off. But do you have the it factor?
Why do you need three phones?
Man, I do wish you the best in your future endeavors. Holler at you at the end, man. Y'all make some noise real quick, man.
From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spanel, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Fun is in full bling with 7s Scratch-offs from the Hoosier.
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So many ways to play. So many ways to keep bringing the fun, the power of play. That's what the Hoosier Lottery believes in for all its players, local communities, and all of Indiana as the only lottery named after its people. Hoosier Lottery is all about bringing Indiana new daily ways to have a little fun.
And when Hoosiers play Hoosier Lottery games, more than $8 billion goes to help good, important causes. That's how we all win. Keep the fun coming with the new 7s Scratch-offs. Go get yours now at a retailer near you. Must be 18 or older to play. Please play responsibly. My guest today is Corey Tibbs Jr. He's professionally known as CeeJay2Kold.
He is an Indianapolis based content creator and the founder creator of Pop the Balloon, which is a popular community building series that started right here in Indianapolis. Yeah. He's also a rapper who just released his sixth. Album. He's built a strong digital community with creative episodes and live shows that bring people together for fun, social connection, and entertainment.
His work in video content and live events has grown into a grassroots cultural phenomenon that has spread across the country. Today we're gonna be talking about his journey from downtown Indianapolis all across the country, hosting live events, selling out shows, getting over, I mean. Millions and millions of views on YouTube.
Tens of thousands subscribers, followers, the whole nine yards. It's a really, really interesting story that I'm excited to dive into. 2Kold. Welcome to the show.
Yeah, I like how you said that, man. Hey, for real.
There we go, boss. I'm with you, my
boy,
man. I'm really excited. What I want to know, right in the, you know, 20 minutes that we've been hanging out, getting ready to go for the show.
You're a little bit of a video nerd. Yeah. When it comes to it. You like I am. Yeah. Have been checking out our setup. He knows a thing or two about content. Where did this all start? Where was the first piece of digital content that you created?
I mean, I definitely was a kid, you know what I mean? I used to dance.
Yeah. I used to like dance and stuff, so like I used to like want to be like Chris Brown and Michael Jackson and shit, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. This actually might be before I started rapping. You feel me? Yeah. I've been dancing since I was like three.
So were you like, like videoing yourself dance?
Yeah.
Now,
yeah.
Like was this like Vine, like that time
even before, this is my space. This like,
oh
yeah, this it is like, it's like way before like
Yeah.
Still Facebook though too, like, but it, yeah, we, it was on YouTube too though, you know?
No way. So what was the first thing you posted online? Like what was the first video that you posted?
I can't really say, 'cause it's so long ago. Like,
yeah.
I probably posted my first video at 10 years old.
No way.
Nine years old. I was on YouTube uploading my own dance videos, like just dancing. Anyway, like I wish I could find that YouTube, but like
where, uh, where'd you grow up at?
I'm from Haughville, but I've spent times of my period like grow, uh, growing up in like east side, west side.
But mainly, mainly Haughville though. West side, west side of Indy
on the, on the near West side. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Before we get into, I wanna talk about obviously everything you've been doing. Yeah. Yeah. But like, talk to me about growing up in Haughville. Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, I feel like, um, I mean, dude, I'm a.
28-year-old white guy who lives in Broad Ripple. Yeah. Like, I don't really know what it's like growing up there. Talk to me about what it was like to
grow up in Harlem. I, I be seeing your content. 'cause you, you be talking about like a lot of like Indiana, um, landmarks and like the popular spots that I never heard of.
I be excited when you be asking people, what's the hidden gym in the Indian? I'm like, Ooh, I'm about to go there. Yeah. You know what I mean? For real. I like when you do that. Let me give you a little insight about Ville. Man. Ville is, it's a hood man. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's Trey, it's dangerous, but it was fun growing up.
You know what I mean? Like
what made it fun?
All the people like, yeah, it, it was just like, it's like, okay, like say for instance, like I would spend my summers there, right? My grandma still. My, my family owns homes in, in Haughville?
Yeah.
Both sides. So like, my dad's side is from Haughville and my mom's side is from Haughville.
Yeah.
My mom and dad are both from Haughville and, you know what I'm saying? They met in Haughville dating in Haughville and during the summertime, we all know like when we get up, we get dressed, we going to the park. You feel me? Like we going to the park, everybody gonna be there. You feel me? Like Yeah, we could walk around.
Like, see, I was hustling. Like I, I go like, like this. I was used to go to, uh, Phillips 66 on 16th, right across from Long's Bakery.
Yeah. Yeah.
I go there and I'll pump gas for a dollar. You feel me? Let me pump your gas for a dollar. I go to the Kroger. On, uh, on, what is that? Uh, Michigan right there. Uh, I go to the Kroger, Michigan Street and I lemme take your groceries to the car for a dollar.
You know what I'm saying? Or what, you know what I'm saying?
So you were hustling?
I was hustling, bro.
Wow.
From day one.
So like, okay. So I'm from a small town, northern Indiana, and I have a lot of pride in that. When you say I'm from Ville, is that like a place that people are proud? You're like, Hey, this is, this is a part of our identity that I'm excited about?
Yeah. Like when it come, when it comes to like, you know, uh, the black culture in Indianapolis, like, a lot of people will be like taking pride in the hood. They from, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like you, you got Brightwood, you got Haughville, you got Post Road over there, you got, you got different spots. That's, you know, maybe classified as dangerous, but like, it built us to who we are today.
Yeah. And it like, like is that a, is that a misconception? I mean, obviously there are. You know, dangerous parts of it. Of course. Yeah. But like growing up in there, did you feel like it was dangerous and like you couldn't be out at certain times? Or is it like, hey, don't, if you're an outsider, you don't want to be in there.
I don't know. Like, tell me about that dynamic. Is
there, is there a treatment? I mean, I mean like, I mean like I don't realize how traumatic stuff was till I grew up and be like, dang, I was around that. You know what I mean? Like just walking around seeing like, we call 'em fiends or like just drug addicts just walking around and just.
And we, we, we, we thinking it's normal, but we might, yeah. We might mess people might mess with 'em. People might, yeah. You know what I'm saying?
Where was the moment in your life that you realized, oh man, maybe that wasn't a normal way that everyone grew up. Like
probably after I got shot?
No. What? Wait, you got shot?
Yeah.
Tell me about that story.
I got shot in the face.
What?
Yeah, bro.
How old were you?
I was 19.
What were you, what was going on? Tell me the situation.
Long story short, bro, it wasn't over no street, nothing. You know what I'm saying? Long story short, it was just a group of hating, you know? Yeah. And it was just a conglomerate, you know, like I, I, I always had like that personality that you, you can love it or you can hate it, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah. And when people tend to like, hate who I am, they like tend to go far.
Yeah,
you feel me? They tend to go far.
So like
attempt,
did it like graze your face or like go inside?
It went inside my ear.
No way.
And out my jaw.
Inside your ear and out your jaw?
Yeah.
How did you I
know. Yeah. The doctors be telling me, they was like, man, you had the angels sweating.
Damn.
Yeah.
And how long was recovery from that?
I was in a coma for three days. I woke up and when I woke up. I'll never forget, I was like, yo, because I knew exactly what happened. You know what I'm saying? I knew exactly what happened. I knew where I was at, knew what I was doing, knew what was going on. So when I woke up and I remembered everything, and I'm like, I ain't like I ain't dead.
Well what happened? 'cause I didn't know what happened or where I was.
No
way. Feel me way. I didn't know what happened. So yeah, man, I woke up and I'm like, oh yeah. Like I, I know who, I know what happened and what went on type deal, you know what I mean?
Did that change your life?
Oh, yeah.
Wow, man. Yeah. 19.
Mm-hmm. And you got shot in the ear, out the jaw. And like, how long did recovery after that take?
Physical recovery, like, I was in a, I probably was in the hospital like for. 30 days.
No way.
Yeah.
So, so from there, where along this journey then did you start to put out music and make videos? Like how did you get into the online creator space?
I was always a part of it, man. Yeah. Like, like I was always a part of it. But when you, like when you growing up and you got like, no kind of, I didn't have like no people like, Hey, let's. What people did say, like spend money on, uh, I guess I wasn't ready to spend money on what I was supposed to spend money on.
I was too worried about shoes and Jordans and, you know what I'm saying, looking fly and
yeah,
shit like that. Maybe too much to where I look back and be like, man, I could have bought a camera. I could have bought this. 'cause what always tell me backwards, being consistent, you know what I mean? Ah, like once I learned the, the, the power of consistency.
Which wasn't until recently. Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's when I took it. I was like, oh,
dude. And everyone says that. They're like, oh, you just have to be consistent. Mm-hmm. And it's like, and like you're like, that's the stupidest advice ever. Like what do you mean you have to be consistent? Like, no, but it's like, it's not consistent for a week or a month.
Yes. It's like
your whole life.
It's like a year.
Yeah.
Like post, you know, multiple times a week for a year and good stuff will happen.
Facts, man, I, I be telling, I be telling, I be telling people like them cliche. Statements like you just said, like consistency of just key and all that. Dive deeper into them cliches, because like, it might sound like surface level, but like don't give fooled.
It is really like that, you know? Yeah. Like you wanna be consistent like bro said, like I always tell people three reels a day for 30 days straight. Can you do that? At least
three reels. And it also, it really pushes you to make consistent content, like make content that you can create consistently. Like if you were trying to wake up every day and just like.
Turn your camera on and create three reels. Like that can be kind of challenging. Versus if you think more strategically and you're like, oh, like I'm gonna do this long form interview that's gonna turn into six reels. Mm-hmm. That I'll put over a week and then mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Then, you know, then we have a live event or whatever it is, and you dribble that in.
Like there's a, there a lot of the best creators, even like moderately growing creators. Yeah. There's a method to the madness
facts.
So where did you start to figure out and like what kind of content? Were you posting when you really started to take it seriously?
A good league, a good, good transition, how you did it.
I like that. You like that because I was just about to, I'm just about to tell you that, uh, I start, I, I turned 28 in 2023.
Okay.
When I turned, but mind you, top of 2023, remember we talked about them investments I made, I made one bad investment. I realized it wasn't what I thought it was, and I studied a little more.
And then
what was the bad investment?
I mean, it wasn't necessarily bad, it just wasn't what I. Thought I was getting, it was the camera and the Mac trying to do my own music and set up and stuff, but I had like the wrong. Equipment. Yeah. Yeah. Had the wrong stuff for what I was trying to do.
Yeah.
So I'm like, okay, that's more for maybe pictures or something, you know what I'm saying?
So now I studied and I got into Sony.
How were you studying? I feel like a lot of people
YouTube videos,
just watching a bunch of YouTube
videos on YouTube and reading a lot. Reading a lot into like the specs and
like Yeah, like forums and that kind of stuff.
Facts.
Yeah.
Facts.
I feel like a lot of times too, if, if you want to be.
Successful in this type of space? Any, any, whether it's podcasting, videos, music, a lot of that you can read and research and like do, and then it's like taking what you're learning and putting some action behind it.
All you gotta do is do it.
Yeah.
All you gotta do is start it.
So you got your right setup.
So then you ended up getting
Yeah. Did you On, on, on New Year's Day 2023. I bought two cameras.
Okay.
I, uh, I bought another Canon 'cause I'm, I'm gonna do pictures and videos and I'm gonna get a Canon for a picture. I'm gonna get a Sony for video.
Yeah.
And uh, I sat back after I bought that, I sat back like a month with the cameras and learning the cameras.
You know what I mean? I'm taking courses. I'm doing one-on-ones with popular videographers in the city, like one-on-one, like. Counseling, mentorship kind of sort of like, teach me what do you do, because I know this stuff, but I wanna know for real. Like, it's a difference between like, okay, you listening to something 'cause somebody telling you something, and then it's a, it's a difference where you listening to something because you're about to do it, you're about to put it into action yourself.
So I'm really, really tuned in on what I gotta do. So once I did that, man, uh, I really just started behind the scenes. I, I really was like. I'm starting to shoot videos for people, you know? Yeah, because I bought the camera. So
you were doing work for other people?
Yes.
Okay, I got you.
Yeah. Yeah. I bought the camera to shoot my own music video
around two years ago.
Was when you really started consistently posting on the Kickin It With 2Kold? Uh, yeah. YouTube, right? Yeah. And you were kind of like reacting to videos. That's
how I started,
like just doing reactions. That's how I started. So you set up the camera you'd watch, which this is like a crazy phenomenon.
Yeah.
I like the fact that people on YouTube wanna watch people watch videos. Yeah. Or like. People wanna watch people play video games. Yeah. Like streaming.
Yeah.
Or even like now you think of like streamers, like Kai Cenat. It's like, I don't really know what he does. Yeah. He just sits there and
on the stream.
It's the personality man.
Like that's crazy.
It's the person you sell. They told me this early, like once you sell yourself, like sell your personality, they, uh, follow anything you do. I mean, you gotta real em man with who you are.
You have to almost treat the camera like an ex, like a, it's another person friend in your
group.
Yeah.
Where it's like, yo, now we're talking to you guys. No facts.
No facts, facts, facts.
And it, it's kind of like awkward at first. Yeah. But then it becomes more normal. Mm-hmm. Uh, so you were doing reactions. Where was the first video when, when you started then, you know, two years ago on the YouTube channel that you really got some traction on?
Man, soon. Soon as I start doing the reaction videos, bro, it took off like the first video. I like one of the first ones 'cause they, it was going slow. I was like, I was talking about like aliens and like reacting to aliens, reacting to like just viral stuff I seen on the internet.
Yeah.
And I didn't have really no direction, you know what I mean?
Yeah. I was just going reacting to whatever I saw, but. Uh, you know, everybody loves 6ix9ine, man, you know, like 6ix9ine is like, he's, he's a
viral Well, they, they feel some way about him, right?
They love him. I know, right? They say they hate him, but you gotta love him when you keep watching him. But, uh, yeah, so he, he had did a song with Kodak Black, and it's like the first time somebody collabed with him.
Uh, in a, in a rap community after he snitched. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And you know, they don't play that. So I was like, I'm about to react to this. This is Kodak Black, one of the most street gangster rappers, and he is doing a song with a rat. So I'm about to react to it and see what the song, like 25,000 views.
Yeah. And then, and then, but then here's the thing. You put out a few more and they don't get that many views. Mm-hmm. But you keep going.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And that's the key too, of like, you just have to keep going facts. And then you get another one, maybe a few weeks or a month or so later. It somehow you start to end up in the, like dating.
Space scene, Uhhuh. Wh where did this idea come from? Because today you, the biggest thing that you host is Pop the Balloon. Mm-hmm. You do shows all around the country. Mm-hmm. You sew out, like people go out there and they're funny. They're
Yeah.
Kinda wild. Yeah. Like, it's just like, I mean, it's a, it's a cool experience to watch.
Um, but where, how did you end up on the, like dating show type content?
Yeah, so like, I, I put in that YouTube when I came in with my two year plan when I turned 28, bro, I, I, I was like, man, I. I said it out loud. I'm like, it's a two year plan until I'm 30.
Mm-hmm.
Feel me? Like I need to, it is either I'm gonna get this my, all this one last time.
Like I'm gonna give it my all, like everything I got, you know what I mean? Or I'm gonna go back to school and go nurse, go to nursing or something like that. Because I was already doing nursing in high school, you know what I mean? Like, I was like, my mom always told me that's like, you know, but I, I was just doing that for, for money.
I, it wasn't really like my passion, it's just 'cause it's a lane that I know it's gonna be. Secure that bag. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Which is what I'm, I'm trying to provide for my family, so I'm, I'm trying to get that bag, even though I do like helping people.
Yeah. When you were 28, did you, had your family already started?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. My oldest daughter's 12. My youngest daughter is six
months. Wait, I'll do, I'll do the quick math. Your oldest daughter's 12 now? Mm-hmm. Are you 30? Mm-hmm. 30. You're 30?
Mm-hmm.
Okay. That's a, that's an 18-year-old. Mm-hmm. You had a, you had a kid when you were 18. Mm-hmm.
17.
17.
Mm-hmm. I was still in high school.
No way.
She came to my graduation.
That's kind of cool.
Yeah.
But also like it would be less acceptable for you to just be like playing around on YouTube with a family. And like kids that you have to provide and take care of.
And we got a family channel too.
No way.
Yeah, we got a, the Tibbs family channel. I ain't been active on it lately 'cause we, we, we had a little rocky last year, but we about to get it back.
We about to get it back. Right. Though,
I'm gonna give this two years. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna give it my all. Mm-hmm. Or I'm going back to school. Mm-hmm. And you end up going with.
Giving me my all,
giving you all,
I jumped right into YouTube after I had that conversation. Right. Right into I said, I'm gonna get on this mug.
I'm gonna drop a YouTube video every day. That be my goal, really. My goal is to drop a YouTube video every day.
At some point during that, you get into the dating type, show you smart content. Yeah. Right. Where and, and it starts to work for you. Where did you start? Like how do you host your first one of these?
Yeah.
Where you were doing some like reacting to. Dating type content. And you found out that people like this. Yeah. Tell me about what got you into Pop the Balloon.
Okay, so boom. So I, my whole journey, I'm, I'm, I'm doing reaction videos. I'm not only doing that, that's something I'm doing sitting at home.
When I get home from a long day, I'm also working a nine to five.
Yeah. Yeah.
Working at a job that fired me actually for doing content.
No way.
Facts, after they fired me is when I took off with Dr. Moon.
Well, hey,
so isn't that sometimes it's a documented journey like I was doing, I, I, I got fired and I made a vlog, and I was like, I just got fired from my job.
It's my progress. Did
they, did they say that your, they just didn't like your content or that you, they didn't want you to post
content? Man, this is what it was, man. Like I was, I was just starting to create such a big buzz in my city. Like I started a podcast. I didn't know it was like really a podcast.
Like, mind you, I'm, I'm doing business. So like I'm learning a business. Yeah. So I start interviewing local artists, uh, local business owners and like shedding light on they career and, you know, uh, and they business and, but I'm charging for 'em. You know, so I'm making money off the interviews I'm making now.
Local artists wanna get they music reacted to, so I'm charging for that. Mm-hmm. Okay. Now I'm getting money off, so now I'm like, this is a business. So I'm treating it as such because I got kids and a family to feed. Yeah. So like, I can't just do this for free, for everybody that want me to do what, interview with them or want me to do a, a, a reaction video.
So I just kept going with that and, uh. And eventually, like I, I just got behind the scenes of a lot of production. I start filming funerals. I start filming.
Start filming. Funerals.
Funerals, man. Yeah, man, I was tough.
Respect. Respect.
Nah, that was tough. I ain't gonna lie. That was a tough one. I filmed the funeral, I filmed fundraisers, I filmed, like I was filming Mike Drop.
I was doing everything, music, everything You could think of the camera. I was diving into it.
Yeah.
And it just started to grow my platform and I just started to put my own content within it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, for myself, and it just started blowing up. And I had did like a, uh, I had did like a reel and it's crazy.
This is what they fired me for. I did a reel that, uh, it was like, uh, when you are a content creator with a normal life, and like I had just filmed myself, like riding on the, uh, the pallet jack and uh, like putting boxes on the pallet jack. And then it'll transition into, uh, me going home with my kids and playing like games with the kids and stuff like that.
And, uh, they came back like two days later and, and it was crazy 'cause I'm like, people were starting to like around the job and they was like, I think I seen you on TikTok. Like, I think I seen you on. And like, so people started to know me around the job and it was like, oh, he does this and he's on this.
And so somebody seen it and reported it to. The, the, the people like he on his phone? Yeah. 'cause they were strict on phone policies and stuff. Oh,
okay. Yeah. So then you end up getting fired from that job. Then everything starts to really, really pop.
Everything starts to change.
Where did you start to host A lot, like live events
fired End of May 24.
You were making a little bit of
money. Uh, my, you so good man. In the midst of me getting fired, I just got fully monetized on YouTube. Fully this after nine months long, hard worker reaction, videos, interviews, just trying to get them watch hours up.
Yeah. You gotta get, 'cause it's like
4,000, Speaker: 4,000 watch hours.
4,000
and how many, how many subs?
Uh, a thousand. A
thousand subs. Mm-hmm. And 4,000 watch. Yeah. So
it's hard to get 4,000 watch hours. You know what I mean? That's not easy.
No.
It's people are gonna really need to watch your content.
Yeah. It, like, you are, you're going to your friend's house, like, Hey, turn this on, turn this on, get
this, and, and you can't, like, it's, it ain't no five minute videos.
It's like, no drop 10 minutes, 30 minutes. You know what I mean? Drop, drop longer videos to where people can be intrigued. But I, I end up making it with my, my podcast and my reaction videos carry me to get monetized.
Yeah. And so, month one. Like you just, you lose a job, you get monetized. But like month one on YouTube, no one's making like.
Shit, honestly, to It's
horrible, man, man. Month one. I'm, I, I mind you, I'm getting all my money. I'm getting, I'm working on a normal job. I'm basically making the same amount on my normal job as I'm making filming content for other people and doing podcasts and reaction videos. So like I'm matching the income Yeah.
Already before they fire me.
Yeah.
So when they fire me, it's like, all right, I got a little cheese on me right now. I'm good, but I'm monetized as well, so let me leverage my platform. And that's what I did. I asked them, I said, what y'all want me to do? Y'all want me to do Pop the Balloon? Or 20 vs. 1?
You heard the 20 vs. 1?
No,
20 vs. 1 is more like. It's like you get one person and you get, you get, you get one man that's looking for a match.
Oh, that's, that's like The Bachelor or like Bachelorette.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's,
that's what, you know, that's what I have.
That's what you need. That's you, that's
what I have experienced.
Yeah. That's
what you need,
man. You know, like every, every like. 28-year-old, like sorority girl, like knows about The Bachelor,
right? Yeah. Facts, fat facts. So, so that, it was that kind of scheme where it was like Pop the Balloon or Find Love where it kind of gives a equal opportunity for each person to shine.
So explain, Pop the Balloon to people that might not understand what it is.
Yeah. It's a dating show. Um, it is kind of similar to speed dating. Mm-hmm. Like you get, um, I like to match the numbers. I like to come with seven girls or seven guys, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I, it's element of surprise is key. Nobody knows who's here or what's gonna happen.
Everything is natural. Nobody is scripting anything. We have rules in place of course, but nothing is scripted. You place one, uh, sex out with me.
So you like put seven seven guys next
with me? Yep. They gotta come out there with me and then you hide the other seven.
Okay.
And then like you bring that hidden seven out one by one.
Now every time they come out. They walk up to me and now it's showtime. All right? You get your name, your age, and what you do for a living and present it to these women. You're presenting yourself to these women. You know what I mean? Yeah. And if they don't like you, or if they don't like what you say, they pop, they balloon.
Okay.
Now, when they pop, they balloon, they gotta say why they popped.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know what I mean? And that's where the show starts to become my own kind of flavor.
Yeah. Like I remember seeing one where it was like she was a, like a manager or something at Wendy's or whatever. Yeah, yeah. And she was like, I just don't like the way I just, and they could be like pretty mean.
Yeah. Or like pretty, maybe not. I mean, some of it's mean, or some of it's just like very blunt.
Mm-hmm.
And like that's the kind of content that people like wanna watch.
Mm-hmm.
It's like, I mean, it's like a YouTube version of reality tv.
It's real and it's real because like, guess what? People at home are saying the exact same thing, and when they're watching it, they're like, man, that girl da da da.
But
yeah,
you know, she just said what you was thinking.
Yeah. So tell me about the first, the first event you put together.
Yeah. Yeah. The first Pop the Balloon, we shot it end of June, um, end of June
of 25,
24 of 24, as soon as I got fired. So a month after me fired, maybe two months max.
Yeah. Yeah.
We put together the first pop the ball.
What, what was the venue?
Uh, it was Midwest Leak. Have you heard of Midwest Leak?
No.
Yeah. Midwest Leak is like a, a media hub. It's legendary in Indianapolis, mid Midwest Leak ran by Le’Deana Brown. I was looking for a location to shoot it at.
Yeah, yeah.
So I had made a status and was like, everything I I, you asking me, bro, I just make a status.
Like people just giving me direction and like, that's why my platform's built from the people, because I listen to the people. Yeah. You know what I mean? So they would just come in certain spots and, uh, Le’Deana Brown was like, you can't do it here. And I went to her location. She had just opened up her location.
She really, uh, it's the Midwest Leak Reading Room is really like a library and the event center.
Mm-hmm.
So, uh, and she had just opened it and I'm like, alright. Um, I went to go look at it. I said, yo, this is perfect. She had like a studio in the back with a door that's hidden and then you got like a stage and you got like this big open space.
That's really what I require is like a big open space and some kind of hidden room. That's really is really much it. Yeah. And some chairs from my audience. And uh,
so did you have an audience? The first one
I. Kind of sorta like, 'cause people like I was just, I was just putting it together. So everybody who wants to sign up, I'm like, just come on.
You know what I mean? I'm about to do it. And nobody knew what we was about to do. Uh, two camera men offered to come on, and I'm like, all right, come on. And I got my own camera. So it's a three camera set up. You got the main camera in front of me. You got the floater, the secondary camera, and you got my camera on the tripod with the wine angle that just get everybody pops.
It never moves. It's on the tripod. So everybody there, we, we come in, we like, all right. I think this, we figure out the setup together. This how she go this, boom, boom, all right, yep. We gonna have a walkout from right here. We going, boom, boom, we gonna do this. And you know, we bought water, we bought food, like snacks and stuff.
And then people start pulling up, like the ladies pulled up. I had the ladies out there. I had all the guys back there. It was a great, and when I think about. A great turnoff for the first episode. They bought support. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's how the audience was there. 'cause they bought like support
people.
And are they all, are they all like single people? Mm-hmm. Like the seven and the seven
Uhhuh? Yeah.
Okay. So you get seven single guys. Seven single.
Yeah.
And you're like, okay, did you have guys lined up first or girls line? The
girls lined up
for the first. So the girls lined up out and you like walked one by one.
The guys out.
Yeah.
Okay, so like take me through the first, like, you know, your action. I do think a big piece of this is making them all feel comfortable facts so that they can create good content facts as well as a good experience for the live audience
facts. And that's why it's a big part of my job is to connect with the people, bro.
I'ma always keep reverting to that because like I can give every task. To everybody around me, my assistant, everybody. But when it come to like the casting and talking to these people, I gotta do that. You know what I'm saying? Because they need to feel comfortable talking to the host and not thinking that, oh, he's the host.
We're not gonna see him until the showtime and we're gonna have to go through this person, that person. No, you can, I'm talking, you got my direct number?
Yeah. Yeah.
Text me, let me know. I'm get, I'm make sure you good. Make sure you comfortable what we can do to make you feel comfortable. Yeah. I, I value people that come on my show.
Yeah. You know what I mean? And they value and respect what I do. So that is key, is making people feel comfortable. Yeah. So when, when they do come on the show, um, that first episode, you know, they, they talked about how a lot of people dressed because people just like put on anything. You know what I mean?
And, uh, I mean, I tell people to get fresh and stuff like that, but like, you know, that was my first episode. So I, I don't, everybody fresh is different. You know, some people got a different style, but that's what people look at when you're on camera. They look at how you dress, how you talk, how you sound. I always tell 'em it's a word game too.
It's about what you say.
Yeah.
And how you say it. Can you come up here and be smooth or you want to come out here and be mean or blunt and you know, off rip just evil. You know what I mean? And I can't control that 'cause I don't know what they're gonna say. I can delegate it once it's said, I'm all, come on now.
Come on, ch ch. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. But so the first guy come out and he walked out. And, you know, we, I, I make everybody get round of applause. You know what I mean? 'cause I want them to feel welcomed.
Yeah.
Yeah. I tell my audience this, when they come out from behind there, make them feel welcome.
Yeah. Yeah. Because they've been back there chilling. They waiting. We need to embrace them. How we embrace the people that's out here. And come out and we get right to it, man. We get right to it. They don't, the thing that makes it crazy is like, they don't even, like, sometimes they don't even give people the chance to get up there before they pop.
Like they'll see 'em walking out like, nah,
fire 'em up.
But it's like, but like that's also how people really are in the real world. Like if. If someone walks by and you like, don't find them attractive mm-hmm. You're like, you're popping your mental balloon there.
Facts.
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they made matches.
My goal is to really get people to date.
But you didn't sell tickets to the first one, right?
No.
So how were you making
that second one immediately?
Yeah. How were you making money off of, like how did you turn it into a real business that was rocking and rolling?
As soon as I put that episode out, I put it out two days later.
After we shot it.
Oh, no way.
I'm put, I'm shooting, I'm filming on Sundays and we're releasing on Tuesdays. Still to this day.
Heck yeah.
But I mean, once we did tour, we got, we got, uh, a head on episodes because we start doing two shows in the, like, we'll go to Flint and shoot and then go to Detroit the next day, bro.
Flint. And that's crazy.
I know you keep saying,
okay. So how many did you do in Indianapolis before you started branching out?
Probably 50
50.
Yeah, like
how many have you done?
76.
You've done 76 episodes of Pop the Balloon
and it'd be, I'm doing two episodes this Sunday, episode 77 and 78.
We're at, where do you go?
Mid
Midwest Leak.
Still at Midwest Leak.
That's my home studio.
That's sick.
Yeah,
and I mean, like, to put it in perspective, if I look on your, your channel, you know, like from a popularity standpoint, I mean, this is an hour and 39. The first, the the most viewed one ever. Episode 17.
Mm-hmm.
An hour and 39 minutes.
It's got 268,000 views. Next 1, 220 7,000. Next 1, 217, 204, 1 94, 1 92, 1 91, 180 5. I mean, come on. And these are long episodes. Yeah, I got,
I got a three hour special too. I got a couple three
hour specials. You got three hour. Did someone find love in the three hour spec in the Atlanta edition? Two hours and 15 minutes.
Fire. Atlanta's fire
like, and what about it is so. Captivating. Like why do people, why can't people kick their eyes off
this intensity? Yeah, it's so real. You're already don. You don't know what kind of person you about to get. You don't know who you about to get, man. And then, you know what else made me stand out from the jump?
Now we ain't even say this. This really like put me ahead of all the other popping balloons. This was separated me. I did themes.
Oh,
I did. No, like my third episode I did was like, uh, it was a content creator, entrepreneur edition. Oh, the fourth episode I did was studs and femmes LGBTQ+.
How'd that go?
Oh, it went, yeah, the, the eighth episode I did.
It was poll. Yeah.
So you're just doing interesting. Yeah, like interesting theme.
The sixth episode I did is six episodes, silver Fox, 40 plus. Oh, they love that one. They love
that. That's crazy. You were finding. 40 plus.
That's what my audience consists of.
No way.
Yeah, it is. 35 plus is like my core audience.
From the moment you posted the first pop, the balloon, did it just blow up the
moment?
Literally
first one, 10 K, first thing on YouTube,
10 K. First. What, and at the time you didn't have, I mean, you had a couple thousand subscribers
maybe
I was, I, I had like 2000 subscribers.
And you got 10 K views on an
hour
long.
10. 10 views
hour. Yep. And, and I, and I seen that and I seen that dollar amount the next day
just because the content was so good.
Yeah. It's wrong man. And it's, you know what else? People love to support their hometown. It's nap Town.
Yeah. And when you bring on that's 14 different people who probably all know a hundred people.
I just told people that. Yeah. I'm like, they're bringing these, that's why the key to successful businesses is bringing people in. You know what I mean? Because you, the more people you give opportunity, the more you, you, when you shine your platform light on somebody else.
Yeah.
And I'm doing that with 40, 50 people at a time.
Yeah. You know what I'm saying? From the audience to the cast To my production.
Yeah.
To everybody in involved. Yeah. And then they spread it to they closest two people like, and then they spread it to they, and then, you know what I mean? And plus my platform already built.
Yeah,
for all the years I've been working.
So you, you then started selling tickets to the events
Second episode.
Did, did it sell out immediately?
Uh, nah, I didn't sell out. Uh, we, we said, we said it did. 'cause we was just only selling like 25 tickets. So they, we did sell like the 25 technically. Yeah. But we didn't, we didn't reach the capacity of the building.
When did you really start to like, sell a lot of tickets to these things?
Quick. Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah. Like, shit.
And is it like the people that buy tickets to the audience, they aren't like on. Screen.
They are.
They're they are or aren't.
They are.
Well, but they're not like up there popping a balloon.
I got a audience take section in the episode.
Oh,
so I include the audience.
You're like a modern day, the like Bob Barker and the price is right baby.
They me saying Jerry Springer sometimes for the way the show be going, but yeah.
Modern day. Jerry Springer. Can you believe? That it's like gotten this popular. Are you like, I dunno, how do you feel about this whole thing?
It's been a year and a half or so.
It felt like I just, just started like it's so much opportunity that it's so many. You're talking about. Turn my head left that phone over. I got three phones.
Why do you need three phones,
man? DM dms. I got my dms is flooded, my phones is flooded. Well first. My, my, my first phone had something happened, so I had to get another phone.
Yeah.
And I had already put that number out and then I just had already a backup phone. Like my backup phone is just like, if I'm using these phones, I just call something on this phone. It's just like a call or text phone. That's crazy. The other two phones is like, both got 600 unread messages right now.
Dang
that I gotta go
through just of people, of people that want to be, yeah,
people that, people that want be on the show, people that want to sponsor the show. People that want to sell, sell, uh, give me, gimme merch or send me stuff.
Oh,
people that want, give advice. People that want to, you know what I'm saying?
That genuine wanna send a good message. Yeah. People that want to, uh, collaborate and work. People don't wanna bring the organization onto the, onto the show. Like, shout out Queen Vibes. Queen Vibes is a, a organization, um, in Indy, but based out of Florida and in other five other cities with like a group of women that like give back to the community and um, like just be on real, like Queen, uh, uh, movement.
Yeah.
Boss Movement. And they got their own organization and they reached out and it was like, I wanna do a Queen Vibes episode. And I'm like, 'cause casting is key.
Yeah,
if we don't cast, there's no show. There's no show, there's no audience, there's no, it's, you know what I'm saying? It starts with the cast.
That's why I treat the people so delicately.
Yeah.
Because we gotta get these people on here, but they wanna be on here. They're filling out applications and stuff. So they reached out and I was like, can you pro, like, are you gonna provide all the women? And she provided like seven, eight women. And they all was in unison and, and.
And did a, a certain caliber of Yeah. They, they treated, they, they, they was just, it was a great episode. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's organizations like that, that wanna work with me. And even communities, like I did a, a skater episode.
Oh.
You know, the skating culture in indie is crazy, like skating culture in indie, like, people love to skate here.
Really? People love to skate. I would've
never guessed that.
Yes. Like, and that's one of people's favorite episode is the skater's episode. Wow. Episode 32. A lot of people will be like, like that episode,
I mean. The fact that you've put out 76 episodes mm-hmm. In since June of 20, so coming up on two years.
Mm-hmm.
Like, you're, you're working, man.
Yeah. We, we shot, we, we film every week and haven't had a week off.
Yeah. Well, I mean, one, that's insane. Yeah. But do you also have family? Mm-hmm. How are you balancing? Working a lot, like leaning into all this momentum and growing
Yeah.
With being a good member of your family.
Yeah, man, it's a lot, man. Uh, it come with a lot of, uh, bumps and, and turns and, and ups and downs, but I finally have a grasp over it now. Uh, it is just been a, a lot the past year with just all the momentum and just trying to balance everything.
Yeah.
You know, like a lot of people come to me and expect so much from me.
You know what I mean? But I'm so tuned in with self. I can only give you what I know. I can give you.
Yeah.
I just delegate it differently now.
Yeah.
Um, I got my family in the crib. We in the crib by the time I work from home. I work from my computer. I work from my phone, so I'm at home most of the time. Yeah.
Unless I'm on tour, which is the weekend, but I'll be back home.
Well, talk to me about this tour you are taking off, uh, in February, and you're gonna be on the road till June,
June.
Where all are you going? Where like what can people expect?
The first stop is DC we gonna be in DC February 7th and it already sold 128 tickets.
And you still have some time before you're gonna be out there? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And like just 'cause from people that follow you,
people that follow me, people that just want to come to the show. Have
you already casted it and everything? Wow.
All the cast is already sent. I try to get like when it comes to the tour.
I like to be 30 days in advance for everything.
Yeah. Yeah.
So like each date, like, okay, so it's February 7th, so by January 7th I got the venue locked in. All the contestants locked in, uh, uh, uh, food vendor locked in. 'cause I got a food vendor, I got a bartender. Like we, we, it's a event, like we wanna make it.
Um, I'm starting to add in like picture booths, like we just adding on different amenities. I got meet and greet packages. They get a, uh, a hard copy printout picture with me, but they gotta get the package. You know what I'm saying? Uh, I got a backdrop like everything is it, be it, be moving, bro. It's like its own world.
Yeah. So you're going to DC mm-hmm. And then you're gonna be, I mean you're, what all places are you hitting throughout 2026
DC, Baltimore, Virginia, Louisville, Vegas, LA, Philly, Brooklyn, New York, Nashville, Chicago, Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, Detroit, the Bay, Miami, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chattanooga.
Tennessee, Phoenix.
That's crazy.
Yeah,
dude, that's nuts.
Facts.
I mean, what gets you excited when you're thinking about going to all those places?
Man. Meeting the people, man. Seeing how they gonna do on the show. See, uh, experiencing they culture in they city.
Yeah.
Really tapping in what they creators. Yeah.
Like let's go to they podcast, let's go, let's see who's popping over here. Let's, you know what I'm saying? Let's collab. I, it's a, it's a powerful platform that could be utilized.
Yeah.
In multiple ways. You know,
that's pretty crazy in 18 months to go from posting reaction videos on YouTube to now selling out shows and going on a tour and getting millions of views on YouTube videos.
Wild. I know you're, you have some, I mean, other stuff you're working on, right? Yeah. You just dropped an album. You have some new business ventures that you're working on. Yeah. Tell us what we can expect to see, uh, coming from, from you in 2026 and beyond.
Yeah. Yeah. Nah, for sure. I mean, I'm about to do a, uh, a new competitive reality TV series.
I'm shooting auditions for it this Saturday,
a new competitive reality TV series.
Okay.
What
is it? Yeah, it's gonna be called QOTC, Queens of the City.
Okay.
So, um. Indianapolis edition. Now. I named it that because we can scale it and go to Chicago edition. Detroit edition,
yeah.
Flint edition. You know what I'm saying?
I'm, bro, you
really, you really tapped in on Flint, bro.
No, I love, I I love the underdogs because they, it, it, I relate. 'cause that it's like a underdog. Indianapolis is an underdog city. You know what I mean? Like they sleep on us. That's why it's called Nap Town.
Yeah,
right. You know what I mean? They sleep on us.
They, we underdog. So when I find another underdog city,
yeah.
I like the
So you're saying Flint is like an underdog, like Indianapolis. That's
fair. But they population way lower.
What? What can we expect from QOTC?
QOTC, man? What we gonna do is we gonna highlight. Real boss women, we not, we not going, we not gonna do no ratchet fighting all that.
I know people want to see that, and that's what people want, but that's, uh, leadership and ranking can cause competition and drama naturally just by showcasing leadership and rank. So what we gonna do is we gonna get some queens with a little public notoriety, uh, to, to help judge the showcase and, uh. We don't do the auditions this Saturday and it's gonna be three, three phases to the audition.
Yeah. You know what I mean? The first phase, 'cause this going, this going, it is gonna be out. By the time this come out, the first phase is going, they ain't not gonna know that they walking into an automatic photo shoot automatically. You know what I'm saying? Now one, you gotta be a queen. You know what I mean?
And when I say queen, I mean like I'm looking for people that's. Business-minded women, no business-minded, goal-oriented, and know what they want and, and, and ready to go to a next level.
Yeah.
I'm willing to put my platform and invest some of my own personal money to help get one of these queens to the next level and, and help 'em with brand development and help 'em just build their whole platform, even if they got a business already.
Even one of the challenges during the show is gonna be, let's see who can come up with the best. Business plan, and then let's all work towards the business plan and invest in it and then
yeah,
do it like that. Wow. And this is so many challenges of how we get to that point. How,
how long will it take you to shoot the whole show?
I just be sparking with ideas. Like when we, when we spark the Pop the Balloon idea, we did it on, we, I made the status on Wednesday, we shot it on Sunday. I made this status on Monday. We're gonna shoot it on Saturday. I'm gonna have it out by Wednesday. So once we put it out, I'm gonna be going on tour. But after we put it out and I see what it do, I said, I'm gonna get rid everybody 30 days to get, get all the information, all the ladies that was chosen.
30 days. Get your life and get everything together. We gonna set out on the production side, we gonna set all our rules and map out all the episodes strategically. And then we gonna put a game plan towards it once we see, at the end of the 30 days after we shoot this, at the end of 30 days, we have like set film days and locations and everything locked in.
Huh?
Looking from the outside in, you know, having, I dunno, 60 something thousand YouTube subscribers, tons of followers, millions of views. People might be like too close to living the life, you know? Mm-hmm. Talk to me about. What's going on? And, and just how this crazy whirlwind of 18 months has been. Yeah.
You know, trying to balance family life, trying to keep the business going. I mean, you, it is, you know, like 600 people are texting you asking for something from you. Like that's a lot to manage. It is.
It is. It is. It is. It's a lot. But see, when you tapped in with self man, like when you really in tune with yourself, you feel me?
It's millions of views and all these subscribers and a lot of love and a lot of support, but it ain't millions of dollars. You know what I mean? So, and, and my, my goal is to keep working towards that. You know what I mean? Because the more I can leverage. Monetarily or financially, the more I can have the freedom to create.
Yeah.
The more I won't have to keep, oh, we gotta do this every week and I can just put money over here and that works over there and put it over there and that works over there. And just branch off ultimately into my own network.
Yeah.
To where we're doing local reality TV show is right here in Indianapolis.
That's sick. Starting right here in Indianapolis. You feel me? That's
sick.
We gotta see this day-to-day life of Indian real life. Mm-hmm. Not what we recorded and then posted. No day-to-day life. Indianapolis from real bosses, though. People that got real life stuff going on. A, a question for me, like when I do the auditions, they gonna have to answer this.
What does your day look like from sun up to sundown, you know what I mean? And another thing like, like I'm into TV and show beds. That's what I'm realizing, like I'm into TV entertainment. Show biz when it comes to that. I just, I just get that Hollywood mindset a little bit. 'cause I've been to la they a little different out there, but I get that, I get that Hollywood mindset to where like, it's okay if you have all them checked off.
You got, you're a boss, you're a queen, or you got this business going, you're making a lot of money. But do you have the it factor to be on tv? Do you have a storyline? So in order for me to figure that out. What's the most traumatic experience you ever had in your whole life and how did you overcome that?
That's gonna gimme, you're
like, you're like full on like job interviewing these
people, bro. What? Yeah. That's gonna gimme insight into they story, into they life in one or two minutes, and I'm gonna know then, oh, she got a story I can build off of and, and we can create something off of that.
Yeah.
Or she don't got a story, she's stuttering.
She don't even know who she's, you know what I mean? I need women to know who they are.
Yeah,
for this, for this show.
Wow, man.
Yeah.
That's crazy. That's super cool.
Some shit, man.
You're, you're really, when you think about content and if you had advice to rising content creators on how to. Develop better content, grow their brand, get more views, go viral, all stuff.
What advice would you give to young and up and coming content creators?
I got my own, uh, quote that I came up with. Don't steal it. I'm gonna patent it. Uh,
I will not steal
it,
not you. I'm telling them, don't,
don't steal it, don't
steal it. But, um, consistency will create your own path. So like, I've, like for instance, let's just look at what we talked about about me.
I did reaction videos. I was consistent with it. I worked the job. I was consistent with it. I did interviews. I was consistent with, I was filming funeral consistent with it. It just kept opening up doors,
bro. Filming funerals is still crazy. I,
I know,
right? I know, right. But hey, it's like, it's all, I think, yeah, like I always say momentum creates opportunity.
Yeah. Like, like motion, like just keep taking steps forward. Had you just given up on the reaction videos 'cause only 50 people were watching or whatever, then like you never would've gotten
here. You definitely gotta know that just because you get low views and low likes, you definitely can't, you definitely can't stop 'cause of that.
It's some videos I still ain't deleted, they ain't got over 50 likes or whatever. It don't matter. Like it don't matter. 'cause are you posting it for them or for you?
Yeah. See that's the other piece too. From the first, you know, 20 minutes of us talking like it is clear that you love. Content and you love from all aspects, right?
From the editing and filming side of things to the development and the storylines and you know, casting the whole nine yards. You gotta love that. If the reason you get in front of the camera to post on YouTube is like, 'cause I wanna make a million dollars and get a bunch of followers, it will more than likely not work out for you.
We can see right through it.
Yeah,
I see right through that. I can spot it like you got it naturally, you know what I mean? Like, you, you know what you're doing, how to say it, you know how to flow with a conversation. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Like, because, because I've truthfully like, like, I mean, not to.
Talk about myself or anything, but like I love having conversations with individuals, especially ones that have different upbringings backgrounds. Yeah. Like. We're both creators.
Yeah.
But like the, what you're doing and how you've developed it is so different and so interesting to me.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, that I just find it fascinating to get to sit down and pick your brain.
And that's why I wanted to come over here a little. Uh, I, I, you gotta tell the people I hit you up multiple times, bro. I, I was sitting up multiple times to get me on this, and I'm
like, bro, well dude, I'm excited about it. And, and it's like we're in the similar boat too. Yeah. Where it's like people start reaching out and all of a sudden it's like, even today we talked with.
A 10-year-old who is the number one swimmer in the nation. Right, right. And then we talk to a creator who's, you know, filming Pop the Balloon BBW edition. Like that's kind of wild Facts. Facts, but no dude, and I'm, I'm pumped. Yeah. This has been awesome. And it's cool to learn, I mean, different creators in our, in our city, city, in our state that are putting on, in, in different ways.
Like you might have to maybe do like a Fort Wayne or a South Bend or No, because
you said you were from, where you
from? I'm from up near South Bend.
Yeah. No, they, they want me to, uh, they ask for Fort Wayne a lot. Uh, they asked for Fort Wayne. I've been, I've been to South Bend. Uh, I did a couple events down in South Bend.
They want me to organize one down there too.
Here. Here's a question for you, dude. How many white people are coming on the show?
They be coming.
No way.
They be coming. Like, they be, they be on there, but not like super, like,
all right,
not like a lot.
Tell me the truth though. You walked me out there. How quick is my balloon getting popped?
Uh, I like walk out the door and I give 'em like
yours personally,
dude. I'm like, I got like a bow tie on and I'm like, glasses up.
They gonna fuck with you bro. They gonna fuck with you, bro.
That would be kind of funny.
They gonna fuck with you, bro.
They
ain't gonna lie to
bro. I mean, if anyone goes and watches the clips, like sometimes they're pretty savage.
Yeah, they are
like. They can be real mean. I would love,
but they don't, they don't never say nothing mean to the white people, but like, they just be like, only thing they'll say about white people is they'll be like, I, I like black people. I don't like, I don. That's a nice way to, I I don't go date outside my race.
I don't mess with you. That's the nice way of saying that, right?
Yeah.
Who, what's been the most memorable moment from a Pop The balloon show?
I got a couple that had a baby off the show. That made a match. They made a match. The hat's crazy. No, no, this what happened. They made, they both was on the show, right?
They made a match with two different people.
Okay.
Realized they was the wrong match. So they went and dated.
Oh God. What
they dated, they moved in and then they had a baby together. What,
when was this?
This recently? They probably just had the baby now. I was just wearing the 600 text messages I gotta get to and call her back.
You had to say, Hey, congrats
facts.
That's crazy. Congrat, you
can see this now.
Congrat you, I mean, that's, that's pretty wild. Is there a content creator that you. Who, who makes videos that you love? Like is there someone out there that you've seen that's just like, and it could be a totally different industry, totally different topic, right?
Right. But you're just like, man, they're a good creator.
I like the traveling food guy. Uh, guy
Marcus.
Yeah. Like he, he, he makes his videos like, and I just love food, so I like watching his videos. He, he has a nice voice. He know how to word things. Yeah. I like, uh, The Most Precious Jewel. This is all local, by the way.
I'm going, I'm just gonna stick to local. I got one Detroit, uh, creator that I like. Rich Flex. Shout out Rich Flex. She be, uh, she's a woman who, uh, draws a beard on her face and like, uh, she, she imitates like what she's seen growing up with all her brothers and like, she's like a comedian and like an actor and just be walking up to like all the famous people.
And she meet. She's quick. Yeah, she's quick.
That's
sad. But, um. Rich Flex in Detroit. And then you got, of course you got Diddy in here. You know, I don't wanna big Yeah. I don't wanna leave Diddy out of there d be doing this thing. So I, I seen him from the jump. I seen him was early. Yeah. I seen him grow. Like, and I, I like seeing, watching people grow, man, like Indy on the Map.
You heard Indy on the Map? No,
I haven't.
It's like a, uh, you know, we got vlog, uh, channels here that, that like, um, not vlog, but like vlog, like that posts. Popular stuff that's going on around the city as far as in like possibly drama. Yeah,
yeah.
You know what I mean? And just controversial. Like, like a shade room.
Like t, like TMZ,
like arb. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Facts. Facts. Shout out Indy on the Map for that. That's crazy. And then, you know, you got, uh, you got, you got like the young comedian, funny people, like jj. You heard of jj? Yeah, jj. He real funny. Uh, you got, uh, Lil Christian, Christian going crazy.
I'm talking about like millions of views, like they be going through. Good for that. Like, yeah. I like, I, I like a lot of people that's, that's coming. I support and encourage everybody who doing content, man.
So, so Indiana's definitely. You know, we said it earlier, a lot of people sleep on it, very over overlooked.
Um, but as you're traveling around, if you could scream it from the rooftops and tell everyone something about Indiana, what's something the world needs to know about Indiana?
It's a pot with a lot of different flavors and seasonings in it right now. You know what I mean? Like it is, if we talking about some, some beef stew, like it is, a lot of it is a lot of shit going on, man.
Like, it's just like a lot of emotion out here, you know, like it's, it might be, it might be overlooked or whatever, but. It's a lot of hustlers and, and people that's really chasing something out here.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Okay. This is your opportunity to share with us a piece of the state that you love.
What is a hidden gem in Indiana?
Shadow Lounge.
Shadow Lounge.
Shadow Lounge. Right there on, uh, right down the street from where we at right now, man, on uh, 54th and Keystone across from the McDonald's man. Uh, it's a Black-owned. Bar and lounge. Uh, but it's really like, it's really elegant.
The shadow lounge
and it's, the food is so freaking good, bro.
Chef Tia up there. Shout out Chef Tia. Chef Tia used to cook at, uh, chicken scratch.
Oh.
So when I first had chicken scratch, I was like, who made this? This is fire. And then like they have their own little thing going on business wise. And now she's up at Shadow Lounge, but she's not the owner. She used to cook.
Baby Dookey. You know who Baby Dookey is?
I, I can't say I, I crossed paths with Baby Dookey.
Yeah, Baby Dookey is like, like he, he like, he be doing his thing, man. He get, get money type of guy, you know what I'm saying? And he done made a lot of investments, been in the mix, in the nightlife, in the club life in Indy and he created a, a a a A space for.
For everybody to come and have a good time. Here's some good music, some good food, good drinks. They got good drinks. They just start serving oxtail too.
I just saw, I was on menu on
certain days. Yeah,
yeah. They've got the braised oxtails. Yeah. Limited availability. Friday to Sunday. Yeah. 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Yeah.
Man.
The lamb lollipops.
Yeah, but I, I, I recommend the Cajun pasta. Uh, Alfredo or whatever. Yeah, the Cajun, yeah. The Cajun seafood. The
Cajun Chicken Pasta
Facts.
Wow.
Facts.
Shadow Lounge.
Yeah. Shadow Lounge.
I'm, I'm, I'm gonna have to go check it out.
Got to.
Must be 21 to enter. So has it right on the website.
Facts. Yeah.
Uh, this next question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for you, why do you call Indiana home?
It made me who I am, you know what I mean?
Like it's, I'm a part of Indiana, you know, and it is in me. Yeah. Like I can go to all these different cities and it's just not, it's not home. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, this is, I, I can bend these corners. With my eyes closed. You feel me? And know where I'm going. I, I'm familiar. Yeah. It, it is, it is. My family's here.
Like, it's just, it's a, it's a lot of familiarity that just makes it, yeah. Home. When you born and raised in here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I like how you do Indiana and not just Indianapolis. I'm so Naptown, you feel me? Yeah. You, you from South Bend and like the other cities. But you know, we be big on like Naptown, so Big Indy in Indianapolis, so, yeah.
Yeah. I like to, to cover the whole thing, man. If people can support you, if they can follow along, how can they do that? Where should they find you? How can the community and the listeners best support you?
Man, please go to Kickin It With 2Kold YouTube and smash that subscribe button, man. Hit that thumbs up button, man.
Let YouTube know we the biggest in this man, biggest YouTuber in Indianapolis. Also, what you can do is you can go to 2kold.com. For all tour updates, all Pop the Balloon updates, and my new merch line just dropped by the time this dropped. My new merch line will be out. We got the Naptown balloon tees, the for real tees that I wish you the best in your future endeavors tee and the new tee that y'all been asking for the first-timer tees.
So, yeah, y'all tap me in, man, 2kold.com.
I wish you the best in your, on your future endeavors. That's crazy.
That's like, it's like a, it's like a, you know, like when you, I always wonder how do people come up with like they slogans or what, what they, what they say is, you know how you come up with it, bro.
It is what naturally you keep saying over and over and over and over. Yeah.
I wish you the best in your
future. So every time somebody don't make a match.
Yeah. I
say. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find enough love here today on Kickin It With 2Kold. But I do wish you the best in your future endeavors and we gonna Holler at you at the end.
Man, y'all make some noise for her real quick, man. You know what I saying? I saying? Yeah.
Yeah. Alright, so there it is. Well. Huh. Listeners today. We had a fun episode learning all about Pop the Balloon, all the fun stuff you're doing. Yeah. 2Kold. It was a pleasure, man. Great hanging out with you. And to all the listeners out there, I wish you the best on your future endeavors.
You gotta say this real.
Yeah. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state.
Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spanel, thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.
