2 Chainz on the Decisions That Changed His Life

Baby, this is Keke Palmer

Keke Palmer sits down with 2 Chainz for an intimate conversation about his journey from high school struggles to becoming a New York Times b

Key takeaways

• 2 Chainz shares how he used effective communication to resolve a delivery issue with Porsche, resulting in receiving a Cayenne truck instead of his ordered car.
• The rapper reflects on the role of supportive teachers who helped him return to school after being caught with drugs in high school.

Main topics

• Memoir and Legacy
• Parenting and Fatherhood

Notable quotes

The decisions may shape your life, but it's your character that shapes every decision.

Conclusion

The episode provides a profound look at how personal values and intuit

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Today I'm sitting down with the one and only 2 Chainz. You know him as the Grammy award-winning rapper behind some of hip-hop's biggest records. Right now he's on tour with Lil Wayne getting ready for a new album this fall and over the years he's become so much more than that. an entrepreneur, investor, filmmaker, husband, father, and now a New York Times bestselling author. In his memoir, The Voice in My Head is God, amen, he reflects on the people, beliefs, moments, and decisions that shape the man he is today. We're talking about the decisions that make us, the ones that don't always make sense in the moment, but somehow end up becoming the reason our lives look the way they do. So let's get into it with my boy. Speaker 1 (0:43) Baby, this is Geeky Palmer. Speaker 2 (0:44) And baby, this is Titty Boy. No, it's like 2 Chainz. Y'all know. If you know, you know. No matter what we're doing in the car, just chilling. Pop on Amazon Music, sit back and listen. Life, love, sex, science, covering it all. Especially the bad, cause money always involved. No matter what it is, we gon' make it make sense. Nothing else to do but kick it with the homies and kids. So grab you a drink and a snack you enjoy. And get into the vibe that only won't Speaker 1 (1:07) get you. Speaker 2 (1:07) You know it's Speaker 1 (1:08) your Speaker 2 (1:08) girl. This is Geeky Palmer. Speaker 2 (1:22) You look great. You Speaker 1 (1:23) too. Speaker 2 (1:24) It's so good to see you, Speaker 1 (1:25) man. It's Speaker 2 (1:25) good to see you, man. So good. What's up? What's up, Virgo? Speaker 1 (1:29) Virgo. Virgo's in the house. Speaker 2 (1:31) Man, Virgo all day. I feel like we both get very Virgo. Yeah. I Speaker 1 (1:36) mean, it's that energy. Speaker 2 (1:38) Mm-hmm. How you been? How's that lake treat you? Speaker 1 (1:41) I can't complain. You know, God will get mad at me. Speaker 2 (1:44) Okay. You going to be here for a while or it's a quick in and out trip? I Speaker 1 (1:48) came here for you. Speaker 2 (1:49) Man, I'm so glad that you came to the show, man. It's a long overdue, man. We sat down in a minute. Speaker 1 (1:54) I agree. It's good to see you, though. Speaker 2 (1:57) It's good to see you, too. Well, I'm going to get into these pre-show pull-up questions first. I already know that your Zodiac is a Virgo, but do you know your big three? Like, you know your sun, but do you know your moon and your rising? Speaker 1 (2:08) Uh-uh, that's that new stuff. I mean, it's not new, but that's the new conversation that I'm hearing nowadays. You know what I mean? People start talking about... You know, I'm this, but I'm really this. So then when they started doing that, I kind of got lost. What's yours? I know Speaker 2 (2:24) mine. Mine is I'm a Cancer rising, and then I'm a Sagittarius moon. Make Speaker 1 (2:29) it Speaker 2 (2:29) make sense. Exactly. So pretty much they be saying that the moon is like how people feel you, how you show up. And then the rising is kind of like, you know, that's like your internal, like that's how you feel about stuff. But then the sun sign, the Virgo, that's like who you grow to be. That's how you operate into the world and how you, you know, how you, you know, activate yourself. How Speaker 1 (2:50) do Speaker 2 (2:50) they get Speaker 1 (2:50) the mathematics? How do you get this equation? Like, is it based on your birthday? Oh, my Speaker 2 (2:54) gosh, I love how you're talking. It's so system driven and patterned. You know what time you were born and you know what city you were born in. That's how they do it. They do the mathematics of the time you were born. Added that to what the moon and the sun and stars were doing at that actual time in that actual city. And then that's how they say, according to what was happening in the stars, these are the kinds of things that you might naturally be like. Isn't that crazy? It's too much. Speaker 1 (3:19) Just bored. People just out here bored. Just out here bored. Speaker 2 (3:24) Literally. Literally. Okay, what is your love language? Do you know your love language? Are you into that kind of thing? Speaker 1 (3:30) I love love. So love Speaker 2 (3:32) languages, they say like... You Speaker 1 (3:34) just laughing at me? This is old. I don't mean... You're not old. What is it? What's love language? So Speaker 2 (3:40) love language, what they say basically is there's one on how you receive love, like the things that you identify most as loving. So you might really identify it as loving when somebody do stuff for you. That's like acts of service or if somebody spend a lot of quality time with you or physical touch. But then it's also like... What feels most loving to, or how do you show love? You might show love differently than how you receive love. Speaker 1 (4:07) That's facts. I guess my love language is time. Speaker 2 (4:13) You like spending time, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Speaker 1 (4:15) time and obviously affection and different experiences. Speaker 2 (4:27) Yes. Yeah, I Speaker 1 (4:29) want to, because when you become somebody that. People admire or look up to like us. Then the money is everything, but it's not the only thing. And so experience just kind of fills in the void of what. Speaker 2 (4:47) I love what you're saying with that, because sometimes when people have money, when you get money, you haven't had money. You assume that the money is going to make the experience. But actually. It doesn't. It's like what you decide. It can make an add to it. But like sometimes you might do something more unique, you know, when you don't have a ton of cash because you're being more creative. Speaker 1 (5:06) Absolutely. Speaker 2 (5:07) You know, Speaker 1 (5:07) absolutely. But also when you got money, you can get the villa, you can get the jet skis, you can get the chef. Speaker 1 (5:13) But when you do that, that adds to the experience, though. You know what I mean? It fluffs the experience. So it's all about experience. I think that's love for me. Like, even sharing the experience with anybody. I know a lot of times when I've traveled around the world, I would see something and I would want to bring somebody, like a friend or a partner or someone. Like, man, I want somebody else to experience this. So, yeah. Speaker 2 (5:35) Yeah, yeah. Sometimes it is. You know, like they say, it ain't nothing if you ain't got nobody to share it with. Speaker 1 (5:41) Thanks. Speaker 2 (5:43) This I can't I don't even know what you would say because it doesn't seem like something you'd have an answer to but who would you Speaker 1 (5:48) Let me get this one right who Speaker 2 (5:51) would you want to switch lives with and why I just can't imagine you want to switch lives with anybody That's why I feel so Speaker 1 (5:56) cool. You know, my God really took his time with me. I think about the conveyor belt It's this conveyor belt And he made me. Speaker 2 (6:06) And Speaker 1 (6:06) then it broke. Speaker 2 (6:08) Okay. Speaker 1 (6:09) And then, like, they fixed it, but they couldn't make no more me's. That's how I really see God. He was just kind of taking his time with me. Speaker 2 (6:18) Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 (6:19) And then, like, broke. And then, you know, but he was finished. Or maybe he wasn't finished. Speaker 2 (6:25) Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 (6:26) But it's just like I'm very comfortable in my skin. I Speaker 2 (6:30) feel like somebody shoved him. When he had a little bit of crazy in his hand, it was like, oh. Speaker 1 (6:34) He had a little bit. He Speaker 2 (6:35) overdid it. He Speaker 1 (6:36) put a little bit more sprinkle on you. I could see that, too. If you know, you know. Speaker 2 (6:42) Last one is, what is your secret talent? Is there something that you can do that we would be just like, whoa? Speaker 1 (6:51) I mean, it's not whoa. I think I can cook. I can. Speaker 1 (6:58) I got a garden. Speaker 2 (6:59) What? Speaker 1 (7:01) Yeah. Not a Speaker 2 (7:02) green thumb. Speaker 1 (7:03) Yeah. I'm thinking about my garden now because it's been raining in Atlanta. And that rainwater different from that. You Speaker 2 (7:08) said I'm thinking about my garden right now. Speaker 1 (7:10) Yeah, that rainwater different from that hose water. Speaker 2 (7:13) What you got growing over there? Speaker 1 (7:14) Right now I just got some banana peppers, some bell peppers, cement. I have some. Swiss chard. Speaker 2 (7:23) I Speaker 1 (7:24) have some sweet. The Speaker 2 (7:25) fancy Speaker 1 (7:25) greens. Yeah, I do have some fancy greens. I got kale too. Speaker 2 (7:29) Yes. Speaker 1 (7:30) I Speaker 2 (7:30) love that. It takes a lot of patience. My dad has a garden. It takes a lot of patience to get out there and make something grow. Speaker 1 (7:39) But it's so cool to know that. Speaker 1 (7:42) That that's really all that takes is really you know, I mean it's really once you it's not as hard as people think but once you take a seed and plant it and it grows Speaker 1 (7:56) and fruits or vegetables or whatever comes from it. And for a long time, I hadn't been doing it this year, but for a long time, the first thing I would do would go to my garden and take something off of it and eat something from my yard. What do you Speaker 2 (8:09) think the key would be to gardening? What are some of the maybe underrated kind of three things that you'd need to do to make sure that it grows? Speaker 1 (8:18) It has to stay watered, obviously. You have to have... Speaker 1 (8:23) Good soil to the guy that comes over my composite is like he probably makes his own soil out of Cow manure and a few other things but sure Speaker 2 (8:32) things Speaker 1 (8:33) like that You know what you feed the plant and all that but it's really not that hard like It's interesting. It's not interesting, but it's sad that so many people are You know don't have anything to eat. You know I mean that we are here. Yeah, I Speaker 2 (8:48) grew Speaker 1 (8:48) up in a Speaker 2 (8:48) food desert We only had like liquor stores and you know, Speaker 1 (8:51) but you can take one Speaker 1 (8:54) Anything. You can take one potato and make multiple potatoes. One apple, make multiple apples. If you really think about it like that. Speaker 2 (9:01) Yeah. Speaker 1 (9:02) Like okra. I mean, like during the fall. I love Speaker 2 (9:04) okra. Me Speaker 1 (9:05) too. See, that's Speaker 2 (9:06) how Speaker 1 (9:06) I know you're a Virgo. Because when I say okra, people look at me like I'm crazy. But my okra be busting. I Speaker 2 (9:11) love okra. Speaker 1 (9:12) Man, I go get mine, saute it on top with my little olive oil. And I hit it with, I mean. Come on, Speaker 2 (9:18) hit it. Speaker 1 (9:18) On the way out, I just hit it. It's light, though. I hit it with some. like a teriyaki type of sauce on the way out, though, when I'm finna put them on a plate. Yeah, I do the saute. But then I got them cut. I got the okra in there with the banana peppers and a couple other greens out my yard. So I got this little healthy dish I do. Speaker 2 (9:37) So you could cook down, like now, I heard you mention all the vegetables. Are you vegetable for? Are you big on fish? What are your kind of, like, if you made a plate of something, what would it be? What's the flavors? What is it going to be like? Speaker 1 (9:48) My next thing is I'm getting a lake built in my yard. It's probably going to cost me about. 30,000, 40,000. But let me get a lake. And then my plan is to obviously stock the lake. And then one day only have a meal that's from my yard. That's my dream. So the fish, and I don't eat beef or pork anyway, so I'm not missing anything. I don't either. Yeah, so my dream is to stock the fish, I mean stock the lake. Go fishing one day. Do the whole, you know, do the whole thing. It takes it Speaker 2 (10:20) back in a day. You know what I mean? Getting into that agriculture. I Speaker 1 (10:25) mean, I got a hundred acres and that's my way of popping my s***. Speaker 2 (10:31) 100. Okay, we're Speaker 1 (10:32) going Speaker 2 (10:32) to get into all of this. We're going to just go at the top because everybody knows you as 2 Chainz, right? We all know you, love you. But I don't know that everybody knows. Everybody Speaker 1 (10:41) know I love me? Is that what you just said? Speaker 2 (10:43) No, everybody love you. Speaker 1 (10:44) Okay. I do love me too, though. No, everybody love Speaker 2 (10:48) you. Okay. But I don't know that everybody knows Tahid. Speaker 1 (10:52) Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:53) That's your first name. Tahid. Did I say it right? That's close. I ain't do it with the accent. I said it wrong. It's Speaker 1 (11:01) there, though. Speaker 2 (11:02) But you've been introducing us to that person, I think, for the last, you know, what, some odd years. We starting to really get to know you and your world. So who is Ty'E? Speaker 1 (11:14) I'm a Virgo. I enjoy long walks. Speaker 2 (11:18) Come on, Hedge Profile. Speaker 1 (11:22) I enjoy long while. I enjoy sports. I enjoy family. I enjoy entertaining. Speaker 2 (11:32) Yeah. I Speaker 1 (11:33) enjoy being on stage. I enjoy dressing. I enjoy having a bunch of fragrances that I can't choose from on a day-to-day basis. I enjoy having... Speaker 1 (11:46) Vehicles that I can't decide on which one I'm going to drive. I heard you contacted Speaker 2 (11:50) the CEO of Porsche to get you Porsche. Speaker 1 (11:53) Yeah, that was back in the days, but it worked out for me. Speaker 2 (11:55) That's crazy. Because what is the deal with Porsche or Porsche? How are you doing? Is it like it's very private? So the process of getting one, is it very like? Speaker 1 (12:03) No. So this was like this was let me let me rewind this. This is a few years ago. It's about it was about 2010. OK. And they were introducing a four-door Porsche, which you see them all. You see them everywhere. So this is before the four-door Porsche came out. They were like, we're about to bring out a four-door Porsche. It was like this. And so I had already, I was on like my third or fourth. you know, type of car. Collection of cars. Yeah, yeah, Speaker 2 (12:30) yeah. Speaker 1 (12:30) And so I went down, they told me, they got this photo of Porsche, they gave me the book, and they said that, I was a little concerned because I'm 6'5", and I'm like, you know, I couldn't actually get in. They like, no, they did the Porsche, and they, however they explained it, he said that they, that a 6'5 person could actually sit in the backseat of this Porsche. So when I heard that, I'm like, I'll never be in the backseat. I know I can, I know I can drive it. So, man, I done called, I done ordered this. I done put this Porsche on my American Express. Yeah. And I'm like, I done bought this car. Black Speaker 2 (13:05) car. I done Speaker 1 (13:06) bought it. Took Speaker 2 (13:06) all that power. Speaker 1 (13:07) Yeah. And I bought this car. But you know American Express, they want their money in like 30 days. But I needed a little time to get it. But my car never came. Speaker 2 (13:21) Wait a minute. Speaker 1 (13:22) My car never came. I bought this car. I Speaker 2 (13:24) keep Speaker 1 (13:24) asking about this car. They're talking about it's on the ship from Germany to over here. So some lady gives me a number or email and said, you can try to call. I mean, email this person. You probably won't respond. I emailed this person, this man, this man responded. He's like, I'm sorry that you haven't received your car yet. Like, he gave me like a Cayenne truck. It was like, he sent me somewhere like, I didn't even know. It was crazy. He sent me to, it was like a place. I get there, they got this truck. They like, they just gave it to me. I leave with a Porsche truck. That's Speaker 2 (13:59) fabulous. Speaker 1 (13:59) Yeah, so I had this Porsche truck for like two months. I think it's mine. I'm doing everything. It's my car. They call one night at night. Boy, your car here. Rest in peace, my pop. He with me. He on some swindler. He on the same thing I'm on. I let my car there like, bitch, I'm like, pop, need you to take me up here to get the Porsche. We going to leave this because we don't know. I got this Porsche from. The guy been emailing not from this lot and it so I don't want to confuse you I'm gonna keep this Porsche. Speaker 2 (14:28) Yeah We Speaker 1 (14:29) go up here and get this car. We go up and get the car. They like what a what a truck it I Play crazy. Come on. Yeah. Oh Y'all want me to bring the truck up here cuz I'm thinking I need to take it back to where I got it from Well, we need that truck boy, you know I mean and anyway I end up getting the car giving them a truck getting some free luggage or something like that But that's when I started learning what just, not even started, but just how important communication and business was because it was business and it was about, like, just taking a chance, reaching out, and I ended up getting a little favoritism out of doing it. Speaker 2 (15:05) Come on. It's the follow-through of it all for me. Speaker 1 (15:07) Yeah. She Speaker 2 (15:07) should have known. She mentioned that to a Virgo. I'm going to email who you're getting gamed. I'm going Speaker 1 (15:11) to have to email the person that gave me this car. I don't know if I should just drop it off. I'm like, well, stop the cab. Bring that car. Bring that truck up here. So, yeah. Speaker 2 (15:20) So, I mean, Let's look at your life today. I mean, you're touring with Lil Wayne. You got new music coming out. I can't wait for that. You wrote a memoir called The Voice in My Head is God. Incredible title. I'm actually low-key jealous because it's like very, very Speaker 1 (15:33) that. Speaker 2 (15:35) You're raising a family. You're doing your podcast. I love the podcast with you. Hey, Lil. You know, I got me a son. Speaker 1 (15:42) Yes. And I Speaker 2 (15:43) just live for you, your son. Oh, man, Speaker 1 (15:45) it just lit you up, too. It's so cool, right? It's so cool. I have a little piece of you. Speaker 2 (15:50) And it's just your little homie, your little road dog. You get to see and support this person on who they're becoming. You know what I'm saying? And they give you so much. You know what I'm saying? Speaker 1 (16:00) Halo was, not was, but is, someone that I just used to brag about all the time. Probably used to make it awkward because I just knew he was ahead of his time. Halo. Speaker 1 (16:14) Basically, he basically potty trained himself. He has never. This is something that I think might look like it's small. Halo has never peed in the bed, wore a pull-up. He went from a diaper to some Paw Patrol drawers. They Speaker 2 (16:31) love that Paw Patrol. I Speaker 1 (16:32) tell him, don't pee on Paw Patrol. He be like, I ain't going to pee on Paw Patrol. That was all I had to tell, dog. I ain't going to. What? I'm like, bro, you can't mess that up. He like. And he just, he's been talking since he was like, saying four sentences since he was like 18 months. He used to walk around the house and be like, two Speaker 2 (16:53) chains with the ponytail, Speaker 1 (16:55) just to be messing with me. I used to be like, boy, get out of my face, boy. And then I said, man, I got to do something so I can highlight. Speaker 2 (17:03) How Speaker 1 (17:03) intelligent he is and how like our relationship like as a in this space like black father with his family period, you know, I'm saying and we've been doing it for about five years. We're going on a going on a 50th episode. So I can't say that it's been. Speaker 1 (17:23) overly consistent, but every time we've, we're starting to do them every week now. But of course he's a child. He's 10 years old. He has a lot Speaker 2 (17:30) for kids. I mean, as a kid entertainer, it's best to break it up. Speaker 1 (17:33) Yeah. But you know, he plays AAU, you know, he's on, he's out for, for summer school, but school and all of that. So, but we have so many people that want to be on the show. Like, like LeBron just said, he's going to come, but just so many people that want to sit down with me and him, chop it up about life, fatherhood. sports or whatever so i'm happy that god blessed me with someone like halo because he's like really my best friend right now like i'd be i mean i