UPROXX Studios Chief Visionary Officer will.i.am seems to always have a dozen balls in the air, whether he’s helming Uproxx’s Visionaries interview and performance series, making a new anthem for the Los Angeles Dodgers, or popping up on the ASAP Rocky album that just debuted at No. 1.
He’s also the co-founder of the AI-powered collaborative communication messaging platform FYI. There’s an accompanying podcast, Culture FYI’RS, too, and on a recent episode, the guest was Jarret Myer, co-founder of influential hip-hop record label Rawkus Records and UPROXX Studios.
In a chat with FYI Chief Growth Officer Julie Pilat, Myer discussed growing up in New York in the 1970s, an environment that was gritty but creatively fertile. He also talked about founding Rawkus Records in 1995 and how starting as a music industry outsider emboldened him to take risks. He summarized his point of view:
“It became really clear to me that if I was going to do things exactly like everyone else, I was just going to lose.”
will.i.am himself also made a surprise appearance, and among other topics, he discussed selling out. His perspective: “What really is a sellout is if you are selling music to sell a substance that kills your community. That’s a sellout. You’re poisoning the community with god knows what addictive product. Selling crack to me is the biggest sellout because you’re killing people. […] How do you go from being very critical of somebody doing a product but praising the drug peddler?”
Check out the full episode above.