Ep 638 - Beef Raised Right (feat. Mason 'Bric' LaDue)

Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast

The episode features Mason 'Bric' LaDue, a former music industry figure who transitioned from the Texas hip-hop scene back to his roots in c

Key takeaways

• Mason 'Bric' LaDue moved from a high-stakes music career back to ranch management in Leon County, Texas.
• The early 2000s Texas rap scene relied heavily on an independent mixtape hustle involving wholesale CD sales.

Main topics

• Texas Hip-Hop History
• Mixtape Hustling

Notable quotes

Cattle is probably the most honest protein because it's like, you want to see what I'm feeding it? Go walk outside.

Conclusion

A compelling narrative about finding purpose through returning to one'

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Wild, wild, wild west. Speaker 3 (0:01) Yeah, I remember when I opened for Shane at the Link, we did like two sound checks. I was like, good to go. I trust these sound guys. I got up there and just every fucking word I said was like times eight. Just right back, I would say something and it would echo like eight times into my ear. It's Speaker 2 (0:18) got Speaker 3 (0:18) to Speaker 2 (0:18) bounce off so many things in there. Yeah, well, Speaker 3 (0:20) it just felt maddening. And then I'm like, you know, I'm like the sound guys right to my right because it's like you're in the rounds, you're moving around. So I like, you know, I'm doing like a minute. I'm like, they'll figure it out. My trusted sound guys. I turned to look at them. They were like this. Just arms crossed looking at me like, look, pissed at me. I'm like, what the fuck, man? This fucking guy is supposed to be a professional? It was the funniest shit in the world. Just arms folded. Just like leaning his chin down. I'm like, man, you couldn't be less interested in this right now. I had Speaker 1 (0:48) to hold the mic like down here the whole time. Speaker 3 (0:50) You trying to shut that dough? Speaker 2 (0:51) Yeah, I'll get it. The first thing I always do on tour is go meet the sound guy. Yeah. Anything, man. How you doing? I'm glad to be here. I heard a lot of good things about you. I should Speaker 3 (1:00) introduce you. Mason Ledoux. How Speaker 2 (1:02) you doing, guys? What Speaker 3 (1:03) do you go by? Mason? Brick. Mason. Yeah. Brick is Speaker 2 (1:06) such a sick fucking name. Yeah. It was a happenstance how it came about. Yeah. Speaker 3 (1:11) Take me back. Give me the whole. You have a really sick story. I don't know if. I've been ponged around. You could biography mog a lot of people. I Speaker 2 (1:20) probably could. It's pretty sick. Speaker 2 (1:24) But all by mistake, too, all by just bouncing around. No, no real plan. That's how you do it. I mean, you know, I grew up in the Dallas area in Texas. And well, I grew up in the rural area of Texas and Dallas area. Went to school like middle school, high school, suburbs of Dallas and just kind of had like a real, you know, like multifaceted, you know, upbringing as far as seeing exposed to different like rural life, cowboy life and then suburb life. Speaker 3 (1:52) Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:53) you know i'm 43 so i was a you know columbine happened my sophomore year in high school yeah 9 11 happened my freshman year in college so like a lot of like cultural impactful stuff internet came about so i just had a pretty cool upbringing and it just it just bounced me around In the music business. Yeah, wait, so Speaker 3 (2:14) how did you start? Did you start on the ranch or did you start in the suburbs? We Speaker 2 (2:17) all grew up out where I work at now. It's in Leon County. That's where my whole family is from. And it's just super rural in the 80s and 90s. It was obvious that school and all that, like raising kids was going to be pretty tough. So like my parents, my dad had a family business in the Dallas area. And so we just kind of relocated to the suburbs. And that's where I grew up the most of, like, my childhood and all that. And basically split in time, you know, like school, then every weekend or holiday, you know, head to the ranch. It was my great-grandparents' ranch. Speaker 3 (2:51) It's a big ranch. Speaker 2 (2:51) Yes, it's quite large. We've done a little bit more expanding from what they have. They had a little bit more of a homesteading aspect. Speaker 1 (2:59) But, Speaker 2 (2:59) you know, that was kind of the lifestyle back then, too. You know, the chickens and a garden and cows and just the whole thing. Speaker 3 (3:08) Dude, it's, I mean, not to obviously try to be an imposter. I read Lonesome Dove the first time this year. Speaker 2 (3:13) I Speaker 3 (3:14) was convinced I was a cowboy for like. That's a good, that's a rite of passage. Speaker 2 (3:17) I feel like it should be government mandated that you, every American family watches. It may even get your citizenship. Watch. That's your point. You have to watch Lonesome Dove on VHS. Speaker 3 (3:32) Not Speaker 2 (3:32) DVD. Speaker 3 (3:33) I mean, that's not a hard sell. I Speaker 2 (3:35) mean, why not? Speaker 3 (3:36) No, I mean, that's also what I've heard, especially when I've worked with Mexican guys. They get disappointed when they come here because they think we're all cowboys. Speaker 2 (3:43) They think Speaker 3 (3:44) we're like for real. Speaker 1 (3:45) They think we're like Slim Jim and Brim. Speaker 3 (3:47) They come here and they're like, you guys are like weak and effeminate. No, not all of us, man. Come Speaker 1 (3:52) on. Speaker 3 (3:53) I mean, coming from Mexico. Seeing Cowboys then ending up on like a liberal college campus, you must be like... It's all psyop. I got tricked. I got tricked. We're in North Korea right now. So you did, you were in the Dallas area. So how did you get into kind of the, I think you're kind of underselling it. How did you get Speaker 2 (4:12) into Speaker 3 (4:12) the whole music thing? Speaker 2 (4:13) So in high school, I was a little bit of a rabble rouser, you know, didn't really follow a lot of rules and all that. And it would send me down. you know, I had an efficiency for weed. So it would send me to places where the weed was. And I ended up fellowshipping with those fellows and getting into business with them. And, you know, you are hanging around the boys. I was with the boys quite early in life, you know, fellowshipping. I think like my- You Speaker 3 (4:41) did a Speaker 2 (4:41) fellowship of the nugs. I think like the, yeah, truly, truly. And back then that fellowship was a secret society. Yeah, man. Because weed was super taboo. Especially in Texas. Texas, it was bad. Speaker 3 (4:51) Even I grew up in the Philly suburbs. Even then, it's like you would go to jail for like a pound of weed. You were going to jail. Speaker 2 (4:58) Yeah, it was bad. And so I became the liaison. You know, I was the goldfinger. Nice. So that kind of integrated me into like, you know, more like- I became I was also obviously growing up in the 90s without a huge rap fan just by default for sure and so that kind of put me in the mix of being in the urban developed areas to uh get my flower and um and I was like what are y'all listening to and it was like chopped and screwed like screw music and Speaker 3 (5:27) I Speaker 2 (5:27) was you know a white kid essentially from the suburbs I had no idea but I just knew that was the coolest sound I ever heard and it was all local like Dallas Houston music And I didn't really know the difference. It was just independent. The only way I knew it was kind of like less put together. Yeah. You know, like less like, you know, it was kind of like crappier quality CDs, crappier quality sound. And I was like, oh, this is like cool, like local. So then I became kind of prideful of it being like from Texas. And I just got super into it and, you know, made friends with a bunch of people that were doing it. And one of us, two or three of us would always. go down there and hang out. They started doing concerts. They started putting out mixtapes, doing shows. Speaker 3 (6:10) Who was they at this time? Oh, I'm sorry. Speaker 2 (6:11) So this would be Dirty South Riders, which is Big Tuck and Tom Tom, which are considered Dallas legends nowadays. One of my best friends is Tom Tom. He had a song go on the radio like 2006. And he was just off to the races. Yeah. The Texas music scene was largely independent in the early aughts. And so there was a lot of money to be made in the mixtape scene. There was a lot of places for, at this time, you know, 19, 20-year-old young squire trying to hustle up whatever, infatuated with money and taboo. It was the perfect blend for me to get into it. And, I mean, you're buying CDs wholesale, $2, $3, and selling them for $10. Yeah. I mean, and we were hopping out at gas stations. But y'all want this mixtape. And I mean, Oh, that's crazy. It was just a crazy hustle. I Speaker 3 (7:04) didn't Speaker 2 (7:05) realize you would enlist the Speaker 3 (7:06) help of other people to sell your mixtape. Speaker 2 (7:07) Oh, big time. That was the biggest with all these mom and pop CD stores. Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:11) It Speaker 2 (7:11) was just like this big tape trade going on, you know, and I would, you know, I'd get, I got in the mix with Tom cause his song was on the radio and we were off to the races pretty early, like 2003, 2004. How old were Speaker 3 (7:23) you doing this? Speaker 2 (7:23) Uh, I was like 20. Damn, so you're just getting blazed and hustling, chopping, screwed mixtapes? Speaker 3 (7:29) Yeah, Speaker 2 (7:29) yeah. That's a dream. That's a fucking dream, dude. Coming from a town of 158 people. And then going to a 5A high school. I went to a 5A high school, which out here, that's like, my graduating class was 800 people. Damn. Which I think there's even bigger schools. I don't think there's like 6A out here. Even 7A. Big schools out here. And football schools. All this derived from football. Speaker 1 (7:54) So anyway, Speaker 2 (7:54) so just got in the mix and then became friends with Paul Wall in Houston, Slim Thug. And it's all based on making money together. Yeah. Selling CDs, doing shows, putting things together on the music scene and, you know, meet them everywhere. And, you know, Paul is just one of those guys that's just the friendliest. Heard he's the man. He is the coolest bro. One thing that's a constant in my life is I was supremely blessed to be around people who were super solid. Speaker 3 (8:23) Yeah. I Speaker 2 (8:24) had, I was putting my neck out there and I could have got. How Speaker 3 (8:27) so? Just Speaker 2 (8:28) like, I mean, just high risk activity. Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:30) You know, Speaker 2 (8:31) and just be, I mean, the rap game kind of turned in for a while. Like it was, you know, it was domestic warfare at certain points. Like we were running security detail. It got pretty wild. You know, it's just high stakes shit. You know, it's just high stakes shit going on. Were Speaker 3 (8:48) the stakes more like there was a bunch of money? It was kind of like a gold rush in terms of the money? What would that be like? I Speaker 2 (8:53) think it was the culture at the time was like getting money off of being kind of. Well, I mean, like Tom's song, the first words in Tom's song that was his first big hit was, I'm going to do something bad to you because you a motherfucking hoe. Speaker 3 (9:08) True. Speaker 2 (9:08) So here I am going around doing these concerts. The whole concert turns into a big fight. Like, you know what I mean? Like, there's videos of me and YouTube fighting my Speaker 3 (9:17) ass off at these shows. And what, people would hear that in the crowd? Like, no, you won't? Or just like, Speaker 2 (9:22) when they come to town, we're going to see. Oh, Speaker 3 (9:24) yeah. And like, Speaker 2 (9:25) Tom's group, like, we were known, like, back then, we would go to the club to fight. You know, we would go to the club and be 30, 40 deep and just be like, man, I got some shit to get off my chest. We're just going to play. It's like little John. Speaker 3 (9:41) I knew I was going to be supremely jealous of you this whole time. Speaker 2 (9:44) We're going to the club during like little scrappy headbuses is playing. Yeah. Like, come on. And then the whole club starts fighting. And then they start playing like Lovers and Friends by Usher trying to calm everybody down. It was a war zone. That's crazy. But, like, man, it really, like, accelerated me, like, as far as, like, you know, earning my stripes, as chauvinistic as that says. But it just, like, proved, like, you know, I'm just with it. Like, if you're wrong and I'm your boy, we're both wrong. Yeah. We're going down together. Fuck it. Yeah. You know, Speaker 3 (10:14) and so. Well, let me. So. did you gravitate towards more of like a business? Like you're a producer, right? So you, did you kind of take, it was just appealing Speaker 2 (10:23) to me, the money hand over fist and the pop culture blend. It was just appealing. And I just had the personality. Like I'm a people person. I can put people with people. I'm a dot connector. You know, I can fix the, I'm, you know, your gold finger, Speaker 1 (10:37) right? I'm Speaker 2 (10:37) the man. So like, I was like, it just, I just was able to be the man. Where they can't be the man because they're being the artist. Right, right. So, like, it just works so well. And then, so Tom had another song go on the radio, like, 09. And that's when we were doing, like, they used to have these, like, car show circuits where local radio stations would pay you in radio spins to perform these car shows for free. So we'd be like, hey, you know, 10,000 spins or whatever for your song that's on the radio, come perform for free. And it'd be these huge, like, convention center car shows. It was called like Los Magnificos. It was like a low rider club. Yeah. But it'd be like 10, 15, 20,000 people there. It's a huge thing. And you don't pay to Speaker 3 (11:18) put your music on. Yeah. And so it's this Speaker 2 (11:19) big like business thing with the local radios and you got to play fair and you can't smoke weed in the convention center. You know, it's this, all this like bullshit, like, you know, like kind of mandatory shit you got to do in the industry. And we would meet guys like, you know, that we were familiar with. They would also have songs already like Wiz Khalifa. And that's how I met Wiz was through these car shows. He had a song. Tom had a song. We all loved weed. Weed was taboo. Yeah. Didn't know where to find it. I'm the man, you know? And so we just kind of, it just all just formed through like a fellowship, a true, you know, like matter of fact, me and Paul. our group chat for the longest was called the underground lean network. Speaker 3 (12:02) Oh yeah. So, but take me back to the lean. When did the lean hit? Was a lean already on the scene? So Speaker 2 (12:07) lean Speaker 3 (12:07) was Speaker 2 (12:07) part of it like already. Yeah. And it was cheap and it was just kind of like something we did. Yeah. Speaker 3 (12:12) And Speaker 2 (12:13) then it became more expensive and like, I don't drink alcohol. Yeah. Speaker 3 (12:16) So Speaker 2 (12:16) I'm smoking weed and this is like delicious drink pops in front of me. It makes me fall asleep. Here we go. Yeah. It is delicious. It is very delicious, or it was. I haven't done Speaker 3 (12:27) it in quite a while. Did you get into all the weird things, the different color leans and how the yellow lean is like... I Speaker 2 (12:33) stayed pretty purple drank. You Speaker 3 (12:34) were purple drank the whole time. That's good for you. Speaker 2 (12:36) And then I weaned Speaker 3 (12:37) myself off the red drink. And then once Speaker 2 (12:40) it started getting tricky, I was just kind of like, you know, fuck all this, right? You know what Speaker 3 (12:44) I Speaker 2 (12:44) mean? So I definitely, I mean... What's the most you ever poed up? Oh, man. I was an everyday sipper for two or three years. I got up to 300 pounds. And it's the soda that kills you. Speaker 3 (12:56) It's the soda. I always hear about the lean-to. A Speaker 2 (12:58) liter Sprite. I'd do a liter Sprite, put four ounces in a liter Sprite instead of coffee. Yeah. And then smoke a joint and then wonder why I got a bad attitude. Yeah. I don't know why I can't get shit done Speaker 3 (13:15) today. Speaker 2 (13:18) Look at the baby bottle. Yeah. You haven't shit for like a week. Does the lean Speaker 3 (13:23) constipate you? Speaker 2 (13:26) Shit. I don't remember shitting. So I guess so. Yeah. Fuck. I mean, but it was like. I don't want to like say it was pretty prevalent. Yeah. So like, I think you at that in my era when it was cheap and available, you Speaker 3 (13:40) had Speaker 2 (13:41) to make a decision to not be a lean sipper. Yeah. Speaker 3 (13:43) Yeah. If Speaker 2 (13:44) you're, especially you're in the, I mean, everybody walks around with cups and everybody, I mean, but it was also a crazy charge if you got caught because there's this dilution dilution rule on the book. Cause like some tweaker try to dump a bunch of speed into like two gallons of bleach. They. And so the rule is you dilute it. That whole... So if you get caught with like a liter Sprite and you might have four ounces... They weigh it all up. You're the kingpin on paper. I Speaker 3 (14:14) knew this like... She was like a little hippie chick and she had taken a tray of brownies she made to like one of those like Tennessee hippie festivals. She was in Tennessee. The cops got her and charged her with like five pounds of whizzers and brownies. It's actually Speaker 2 (14:30) a super antiquated rule. It's a law or what they call statute that all the legal beagles follow. And, you know, if it wasn't to deal with like a severe opiate, it probably should be reversed. I don't want to be a proponent of people getting away scot-free with having a shit ton of drugs. Like it is a somewhat a victimless crime. But Speaker 3 (14:52) if it is. Speaker 2 (14:52) 80 % soda. It's like, that's recreation. And plus, it's like, come on, I'm definitely not sharing this shit with nobody. Yeah, Speaker 3 (14:59) true. There's no distribution going Speaker 2 (15:01) on at all. Damn, Speaker 3 (15:03) so it was just, how long was that period of just? Speaker 2 (15:06) For probably like, I mean, I was into the music scene early in the Texas, probably like, you know, from like 02 to 06. And it was. all in the mix and then they started trying to play with it and like you know it got real popular and then the whole justin bieber you know he was actually a real big reason why they got rid of that shit at first got rid of what the brand the activist brand he got caught with lean or something like that did he really totally blew the roof off of the whole operation And so it got so bad. You say Speaker 3 (15:36) blew the roof off. It just got a lot of attention or you say it just Speaker 2 (15:39) made it nationwide pop culture popular. Yeah. Speaker 3 (15:42) I didn't realize Justin Bieber. Speaker 2 (15:44) Yeah. It wasn't, they didn't, the lean industry didn't have the bandwidth for that, for the Bieber rub. It didn't have the bandwidth for the Bieber rub. That's crazy. Yeah. I want you Speaker 3 (15:54) to get caught with. Speaker 2 (15:55) I think he just kept fucking up a bunch. I remember Bieber's bad boy era. Yeah, and it was lean. His bad boy era was fueled by activism. Who gave him Speaker 3 (16:04) the Speaker 2 (16:04) lean? He was best friends with a Texas rapper. I did not know Biebs was sipping like that. Yeah, so this is all kind of rumored and inhuman, but it's also out there. I'm not revealing it. Oh, yeah, my bad. Speaker 3 (16:19) But, no, but, yeah. I mean, it just makes him even cooler, honestly. But, Speaker 2 (16:21) yeah, I mean, but that just shows you how, first of all, how. Also explains a lot. Explains all of his, Speaker 3 (16:27) like, nasty stuff he got in trouble for doing. Yes. He had a lean head. Speaker 2 (16:30) He had a lean face. Like, it's totally understandable, you know. Remember he got into it with the football player on the street? Chad, was it Chad Johnson? I Speaker 1 (16:39) forget. Speaker 2 (16:40) Oh, he got into it Speaker 1 (16:41) with Speaker 2 (16:41) those? It wasn't. No, it was. No, it was the other dude. He played for USC. Keyshawn Johnson. Did he really? He got it because he kept speeding down his road. Keyshawn was like, damn kids. He just had lean attitude. And lean gives you bad attitude too. Really? Yeah, he just had lean-tude, man. That's funny. I'll never forget. Speaker 3 (17:00) I remember because it was like in Philadelphia it came way later. No. Philly, it was the start. That's where it started. Oh, yeah, it was the pancakes and Speaker 2 (17:10) syrup, they used to call it. Dude, all the Philly rappers when Texas, like Beanie Siegel and all them, were like, y'all just now doing that. We sent that shit straight out of the bottle. Yeah, Beanie Siegel probably was the first lean rapper on record. That's funny. Because that Speaker 3 (17:23) is, that's the North Philly. It was the Percocets and Lean. It was pancakes and syrup. Yeah. I thought it was after though. No, they were first. It Speaker 2 (17:30) came from there. Yeah, because up there, it used to, the brand was called Bar. B-A-R-R-E. And I think there's like Philly slang that they call it Bar only or something. Way old school. They call it Bar. That's interesting. Speaker 3 (17:42) I had no idea. I always, I always accredited it to Texas. Well, Philly was copycat. We did it better. True. Who did the double cup first? Speaker 2 (17:49) I think we did the double cup because it's so fucking hot down here. True. The double cup is to save the ice. Speaker 3 (17:53) Yeah. Also, to sip it straight out of the bottle is kind of... That's Speaker 2 (17:56) pretty Speaker 3 (17:56) crack. That's Speaker 2 (17:57) insane. I Speaker 3 (17:58) remember just once, I remember I finally got my hands on a big pint of lean. I was so excited to sell it. And I gave it to my friend's house. He drank all of it. Or like enough of it. He drank enough of it and just crashed his car into a hill. Yeah. Yeah, it's just like Speaker 1 (18:13) yeah, dude. I fucked up. Oh Speaker 3 (18:15) shit so fucking sick Friday Saturday night You Speaker 2 (18:18) just have people fall asleep at red lights after the club just like yeah Speaker 3 (18:21) dead asleep at the gas stations They used to cut it with corn syrup So people... Speaker 2 (18:26) K Speaker 3 (18:26) -Row. Yeah, K-Row syrup. That's Speaker 2 (18:28) what Speaker 3 (18:28) I was going Speaker 2 (18:28) to Speaker 3 (18:28) put it with, K-Row syrup. Got K-Row in your cup. Yeah. Speaker 2 (18:31) Adelaide. Speaker 3 (18:33) They said if you undid the thing and it was crusty, it was all K-Row syrup. Or Speaker 2 (18:37) if you flipped the bottle over and had the little residue of the needle getting pulled, bro, people were so full of shit. Crackheads are