In Part 1 of this two-part series, Talk to Me Michele sits down with comedian Big Vino, who takes us on a raw, real journey from his early days on the streets of Newark, New Jersey, to becoming a sought-after comedian.
Big Vino opens up about his decision to leave behind the street life and the challenges he faced. We’ll dive into his unique comedic style, built from real-life experiences, and his surprising knack for marketing, turning everyday ‘petty’ moments into unforgettable stories.
Join us as we kick off this candid conversation and get to know the mind behind the laughs. You won’t want to miss it!
[00:00:09] Talk To Me Michele.
[00:00:25] Welcome into the Talk To Me Michele podcast. I am your host, Michele 1L, good people.
[00:00:31] I hope everybody is doing well drinking your water and minding your own damn business.
[00:00:36] That's how we like to do around here. But today I've got a great episode because I have got a guest who turned a whole new chapter in life.
[00:00:44] From street life to having a thriving comedy career. When I first met Big Vino, I'll admit he rubbed me the wrong way.
[00:00:51] I thought he was petty. And y'all know I'm petty too. But I just knew this man's petty after observation was on a whole nother level.
[00:01:00] But over time, I saw something else. Not only is he a natural on stage making people laugh from his own real life experiences,
[00:01:09] but he also has a genius approach to marketing that pulls you in.
[00:01:15] So in this episode, I'm going to be talking to him about his story, his journey out of the Newark streets, and the brilliant way he has turned even the most pettiest moments into comedy gold.
[00:01:29] What up, though?
[00:01:31] Hey, you can't wait a more plans fuck up sometimes. Look.
[00:01:36] Yo, I don't know what the hell is going on. Like I said, I got emotional. The damn shit dropped. And I said, okay, let me see if we back on point.
[00:01:43] So I'm sure that was my brother intervening so I wouldn't be getting too foolish of his. How you doing, Vino?
[00:01:49] I'm okay. I'm maintaining, you know, I'm moving with the grace and favor of the Lord and hoping that the mission is understood and the mission is held to.
[00:02:02] Yes, it is. Yes. I'm loving the backdrop and the lighting you got going. It's got a very mystique look that you got here going on.
[00:02:11] Right. Like the Batcave Loki is where I meditate and get myself right.
[00:02:20] Before I even get started.
[00:02:22] I do want to start this interview first by saying, because I looked at the title and I kind of understood where this might go.
[00:02:29] Yeah.
[00:02:30] I want to say this first and foremost.
[00:02:34] Anything y'all hear tonight?
[00:02:36] The names have been changed to protect the guilty. Okay.
[00:02:39] Okay.
[00:02:41] Just, just saying that.
[00:02:42] I'm just putting that out there.
[00:02:45] And I'm going to put my disclaimer out here.
[00:02:47] I am only the host.
[00:02:49] I asked the questions.
[00:02:51] This guest will answer as he pleases.
[00:02:53] I will not be held liable in any form, shape or fashion.
[00:02:58] Okay.
[00:02:59] So look,
[00:03:00] I'm going to plead the fifth.
[00:03:04] Plead the fifth on my brother.
[00:03:05] We're going to get started with that.
[00:03:06] Plead the fifth.
[00:03:07] But right now you got a lot going on for you.
[00:03:10] You are doing standup.
[00:03:12] Mm-hmm.
[00:03:13] You co-host a podcast, most valuable podcast with Victoria said it.
[00:03:17] Yeah.
[00:03:18] You got merch going.
[00:03:19] You got, you got quite a few things going, but you also got a background going on because it wasn't as, you know, a situation where you just grew up and I knew I'm going to do comedy.
[00:03:30] Coming from Newark, New Jersey.
[00:03:32] What was that upbringing like?
[00:03:34] Uh, first of all, shout out to the brick city.
[00:03:38] Uh, that's one of the places where like, I like to tell people, like everybody always say if you could live in New York, you could live in, no, if you could live in Newark.
[00:03:48] You need to live somewhere else.
[00:03:51] Like, cause this is not a place to really, you want to grow.
[00:03:53] Like I love my city.
[00:03:55] You know what I mean?
[00:03:55] I'm always going to love my city.
[00:03:56] I'm always going to go back to home team shit, but it's one of them cities where you could walk three blocks in one direction and end up in the wrong neighborhood.
[00:04:07] You ain't even know what I'm saying.
[00:04:09] I tell people on my specific neighborhood, when I walked out my front door, I had crips to the left of me, bloods to the right of me and the prostitutes worked in between.
[00:04:22] Damn.
[00:04:23] So that's what I've walked out into every day just to get to school.
[00:04:28] Like you see, you see, like they, one of these gangs is going to get you or you need to learn how to pimp these hoes so that you can keep them all together.
[00:04:36] Mm hmm.
[00:04:37] And I kind of like a little bit everything.
[00:04:40] So it's a wild existence is this when you grow up in North, you, you understand adult situations way sooner than you probably should.
[00:04:50] Yeah.
[00:04:51] Um, it's just, it's wild.
[00:04:54] It's a wild existence.
[00:04:55] It really is.
[00:04:56] I mean, but now that you're growing up, you're trying to get to school, you got to go in, you know, in this atmosphere to school.
[00:05:03] Was that part of the lure that got you involved with, you know, doing some street shit?
[00:05:09] No, no.
[00:05:11] I mean, I did it like it was a family thing.
[00:05:13] A lot of my family was, was, was plugged in and connected and shit.
[00:05:18] But, um, what really got me into it is my mama.
[00:05:21] Like I learned the game from my mom, my mother, my, I learned how to pimp from my mother.
[00:05:25] My mother was a pimp.
[00:05:26] My mother was out there.
[00:05:28] Um, but it was one, one, one month.
[00:05:32] The rent was, was a little short.
[00:05:34] And she said, man, I know you out here.
[00:05:35] Got a little something going on.
[00:05:37] I need a little help.
[00:05:38] Yeah.
[00:05:39] Like we out here, like, this is really what's fucking going on right now.
[00:05:42] My mother, you know, for a while, she had a great job.
[00:05:44] She was a correctional officer, but then that shit got into some shit because she did some shit, you know, and shit went left.
[00:05:51] Yeah.
[00:05:52] So it couldn't work there no more.
[00:05:53] And then, man, it was the hustle full time.
[00:05:56] It was by hook or by crook.
[00:05:58] It was getting jobs where you can.
[00:06:00] At the end there, she finessed her way into a city job.
[00:06:03] You know, I always thought she had some shit on the mayor, but you know, who am I to judge?
[00:06:07] I don't know.
[00:06:10] Who am I to judge if she had some dirt on the mayor?
[00:06:13] So she finessed it into a city paycheck.
[00:06:15] But it's okay.
[00:06:18] It's okay.
[00:06:20] That's the game.
[00:06:21] Me and my mom used to have that line with each other by hook or by crook.
[00:06:25] We used to say that by hook or by crook.
[00:06:27] If we got the scam scheme for Nagel to get some shit together, we go get it done.
[00:06:32] Yeah.
[00:06:32] But you know, that's kind of what forced me to like learn it.
[00:06:37] Like, and then it was like one month I'm just helping with the rent.
[00:06:41] Next month I got the rent.
[00:06:43] And then now this is the habit, nigga.
[00:06:45] Where's your piece of the rent?
[00:06:46] So it was like, you gotta get money, nigga.
[00:06:48] Yeah.
[00:06:50] Yeah.
[00:06:50] And I didn't see.
[00:06:51] And you know what?
[00:06:52] The fucked up shit is people be like, why you ain't just go work at Wendy's?
[00:06:56] Why you ain't go work at...
[00:06:58] They won't hire me at fast food places.
[00:07:00] I'm a fat nigga.
[00:07:01] They will not hire me.
[00:07:02] I come in like, can I work the fry?
[00:07:04] They like, oh, bitch.
[00:07:07] I could never get a job at a fast food place.
[00:07:10] Never.
[00:07:10] At all.
[00:07:13] It just wasn't gonna happen.
[00:07:14] I would have probably went and worked a legal job, but they wouldn't hire me.
[00:07:19] They just looked at me like, you wanna work here?
[00:07:22] Kinda bullshit you up too fast, nigga.
[00:07:27] You just go be in the back eating all day.
[00:07:29] And I just, so I was like, fuck it.
[00:07:32] And I bought a little, I bought a little 50 clip.
[00:07:36] Me and like, me and a couple of my homeboys, we bought a 50 clip.
[00:07:41] 50 clip is 50 pieces of crack.
[00:07:43] We each had 10.
[00:07:45] We said, let's all just get it.
[00:07:47] Let's get it.
[00:07:49] Let's get it.
[00:07:50] And we each walked up.
[00:07:51] We marked the corner that we was going to work.
[00:07:53] We said, yo, you hear?
[00:07:54] Yeah.
[00:07:54] We got it, but, and we sold crack.
[00:07:58] We sold crack at the team.
[00:08:01] And we each made about $75 off that first batch of crack.
[00:08:08] 75 off the back of crack?
[00:08:10] $75.
[00:08:11] We stayed out there for eight hours.
[00:08:12] It was, it was just a little bit better than a minimum wage job.
[00:08:16] Right.
[00:08:17] Exactly.
[00:08:17] But you know what?
[00:08:18] If you would just already, I wanted to ask how old you were when you first really got
[00:08:23] into that hustle.
[00:08:26] Well, I had done dumb little shit for like my cousins.
[00:08:29] Like, hey, go take this over there.
[00:08:30] So I always understood what pitching and slinging was about.
[00:08:35] But when I actually took off on my own, about 15, 16.
[00:08:41] Mmm.
[00:08:42] That's when I like got my own, like we, like I said, we, we all got a pack.
[00:08:45] And we, after that, I was like, I need to just get my own shit.
[00:08:48] Cause my corner clucking more than these niggas corner anyway.
[00:08:50] So I could probably do something extra.
[00:08:55] You know what I'm saying?
[00:08:58] And then I started learning how to work the phone too.
[00:09:01] Like I got onto the phone game way before everybody else be like, yo, call me, beat me if you want me to come in.
[00:09:07] I'll come to you.
[00:09:09] Right.
[00:09:10] And I don't need to be standing out here all day.
[00:09:12] If I'm moving, like I figured it in cause I'm good at with numbers and mathematics.
[00:09:16] I figured if I'm moving the time that I'm sitting there waiting for somebody to come, if I'm in transit to the sale, that's the same amount of time wasted.
[00:09:26] I'm just in transit.
[00:09:27] And I know at least I'm going somewhere and I'm not stuck somewhere where they can just get me.
[00:09:31] Right.
[00:09:33] You do have to have that kind of knowledge.
[00:09:36] If you're going to move like that, man, I mean, you gotta, you know, when, when it's cool to move and how much to have on you.
[00:09:41] I mean, about how long did you have to go ahead and just keep on grinding that way?
[00:09:48] I evolve real fast because I was, I was like one of the first niggas in high school with a cell phone.
[00:09:57] I was the first nigga with the Motorola.
[00:09:59] I wasn't the first one with a phone, but I was the first one at week way high school with a flip phone.
[00:10:05] With the Motorola flip, we like, yeah.
[00:10:08] Yeah.
[00:10:09] Call me after seven.
[00:10:10] I got free nights and weekends at seven.
[00:10:12] Yeah.
[00:10:12] I know the mother niggas at nine.
[00:10:14] I got it at seven.
[00:10:16] That's how I was moving.
[00:10:23] So I mean, from 15, 16 years old, you're doing the street hustle.
[00:10:28] Was there anything that, you know, you was already in the mix.
[00:10:32] Was there anything that basically, you know, you saw that you probably wanted to elevate a little bit more in the streets.
[00:10:39] Did you want to come just, just stay as it is?
[00:10:42] No, 15, 16.
[00:10:43] I thought I'd be dead by 18.
[00:10:45] I thought I'd be dead before 18.
[00:10:46] I had a lot of niggas dead dying around me.
[00:10:49] People would get shot and killed every day.
[00:10:50] There was a whole gang war going on at that time.
[00:10:53] Niggas was dying every day in North New Jersey.
[00:10:57] Like we was, it was like, it was to a point like, after a certain hour, get off the streets.
[00:11:03] Don't even, it ain't even worth it.
[00:11:05] Parties ain't worth going to a party.
[00:11:06] Like there would be team parties.
[00:11:08] You know what I mean?
[00:11:08] We can't even go to the team parties.
[00:11:10] So I never thought I would make it like I had family members that came up to me on my graduation.
[00:11:16] I never thought we'd be here.
[00:11:19] Damn.
[00:11:19] So what are we going?
[00:11:20] You going to college or something?
[00:11:21] So what's happening?
[00:11:22] Like we never planned for my, everybody knew I was smart.
[00:11:25] Everybody knew I had great potential, but I was, I was running around.
[00:11:29] Yeah.
[00:11:30] So it was like, yo, 18.
[00:11:33] We'd be lucky if we see this nigga 18 college.
[00:11:36] I ain't had no college fun.
[00:11:40] And the crazy part is I've got like an 1180 on my SATs.
[00:11:43] I could have got a scholarship, but I ended up going to college for a semester and a half.
[00:11:50] But like, I learned that going to college was just, it was about who you met in college.
[00:11:57] Like I learned how to be a better criminal in college.
[00:11:59] Cause I met mob niggas.
[00:12:01] No, I did.
[00:12:01] I met, I met, I met, I met some mob niggas and I met their kids and then, you know what
[00:12:07] I mean?
[00:12:07] So I got introduced to them and like, I learned about the bookie life and I learned about collecting
[00:12:12] for the mob.
[00:12:13] And that shit was, that shit was way more money than you standing on the court again, somebody
[00:12:18] like, yeah, you can sell some dope, but don't make that your whole life.
[00:12:22] Right.
[00:12:23] Let's get some other shit going.
[00:12:24] Let's collect.
[00:12:24] We're going to take bets.
[00:12:25] We go, we go open up a bookie.
[00:12:27] You only need real talk.
[00:12:28] You only need about 350,000 open a book.
[00:12:30] You got to be able to cover the first week's bets.
[00:12:33] Okay.
[00:12:33] You either win or you lose, but most of the time you're going to win because people are
[00:12:36] degenerate losers.
[00:12:39] No, that's, that's just what it is.
[00:12:40] People are degenerate losers.
[00:12:41] Even when they're winning, they're going to put that money that they won back into losing
[00:12:44] back in there.
[00:12:45] Yeah.
[00:12:46] That's the one thing.
[00:12:47] Yeah.
[00:12:47] It's almost, it's addictive when people get, you know, that, that itch where they got
[00:12:50] to put some money on the table and they always have, you know, maybe one shot that
[00:12:55] they get a little something off the top, but they got to put it back on the table.
[00:12:58] Yeah.
[00:12:58] Put it back in there.
[00:13:01] So now we got to go on to the transformation that you had because you have decisions to
[00:13:06] make.
[00:13:06] You went to college for a minute.
[00:13:08] You met some other folks that, you know, elevated the game.
[00:13:10] So what was it that said, you know what?
[00:13:13] I need to switch up and I need to get something else going.
[00:13:17] Uh, first of all, let me just say, it was a long process coming out.
[00:13:23] I don't want everybody to think I just flipped the switch.
[00:13:25] Like I didn't do it till I was like 30.
[00:13:28] I, well, the process didn't begin until I was like 30.
[00:13:32] Um, I hustled from 16 until like, like I can say officially I stopped at 33 because that's
[00:13:40] when I moved to Virginia and retired.
[00:13:43] But that's when I, and then two years I dicked around, like didn't know what to do with my
[00:13:47] time and efforts and then found comedy at 35.
[00:13:49] So there's a big gap of just fuck off shit.
[00:13:56] And it was a lot of shit that happened in there.
[00:13:58] Like I part of transformation began when my girlfriend got murdered.
[00:14:04] So I was like, oh shit.
[00:14:07] She was pregnant.
[00:14:08] You know what I mean?
[00:14:09] So that, that, that hit me real hard.
[00:14:13] You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:14] So that fucked up my head and I started first, it caused a mental break.
[00:14:19] I had a whole mental break.
[00:14:20] I, I really went like Howard Hughes hermit status and didn't leave my house for like six
[00:14:26] months.
[00:14:26] Like I'm just in the house.
[00:14:27] I'm getting everything all I'm moving reckless cause I'm making drug deals out of my house.
[00:14:32] I'm going, wow.
[00:14:35] I'm in there like just out of pocket.
[00:14:38] Right.
[00:14:38] So that happened.
[00:14:41] And then, you know, when I finally got back out there, cause I came back out because somebody
[00:14:46] questioned if I was still me and if I was still that, and it was a stupid reason for coming
[00:14:51] out, but my ego drew me out.
[00:14:52] And then I was back out there again for a minute.
[00:14:54] And then I turned up, turned it up like fucking, I ain't got shit to lose.
[00:14:57] Then it took my baby, took my lady.
[00:14:58] You know what I mean?
[00:14:59] I fucked this shit.
[00:15:00] And I was out there and then I stepped it up even more and I like upgraded.
[00:15:05] So I went from a trap house in the hood to a motherfucking penthouse apartment downtown.
[00:15:10] And I'm like, okay, now I'm good.
[00:15:12] I got cars and different bitches houses.
[00:15:14] And I'm, I'm just moving.
[00:15:16] Wow.
[00:15:17] It was like the whole city.
[00:15:18] Know my name.
[00:15:18] They know.
[00:15:20] Yeah.
[00:15:20] Oh, the night he chilling crew.
[00:15:22] But then I, I like started realizing, like I'm sitting in this penthouse and I'm like,
[00:15:30] I don't really got nobody I could like kick it with like that.
[00:15:33] Like, I got niggas that I fuck with, you know, niggas I say what's up to, they cool.
[00:15:39] But like my real friends, few and far between, like I'm scrolling through a phone of numbers
[00:15:47] of niggas who are dead, literally dead in jail for, for, for, for decades.
[00:15:53] They're not coming home for, for a long time.
[00:15:55] Like they might make it home, but they might really die in jail.
[00:15:57] Like, and I'm just scrolling through a phone of numbers of niggas who ain't active and I
[00:16:03] don't got nobody to chill.
[00:16:04] I couldn't call a nigga and be like, Hey, you want to go catch the game?
[00:16:06] You got some drinks or something?
[00:16:07] I got all the money in the world.
[00:16:08] I don't got a lady that I really love or fuck with.
[00:16:11] Like I got some hoes and they serve purposes, but I don't, I don't got nothing.
[00:16:18] Oh, you got everything in the world and don't got nothing.
[00:16:24] I'm a die like this.
[00:16:25] Like, this is crazy.
[00:16:26] Okay.
[00:16:27] No, I first want to extend my condolences for your loss.
[00:16:31] And I also want to ask, is that the reason you may have possibly built up a wall for, you
[00:16:38] know, if there is a woman out there that has a genuine, authentic interest and it might
[00:16:44] be a challenge for her.
[00:16:45] No, actually it's done the opposite.
[00:16:48] Okay.
[00:16:49] It actually helped me to drop the wall.
[00:16:53] But cause I'm very open with, with women.
[00:16:56] I'm very honest and I'm very emotionally intelligent.
[00:17:01] I, in that moment, the, the day she went missing, we had been at the house all day.
[00:17:08] We've been making love.
[00:17:10] We was having a good time, smoking a little weed, had a little drink.
[00:17:13] She went out to go work.
[00:17:15] And I wanted to tell her at that moment, like, this is what I wanted to say.
[00:17:18] I wanted to say, fuck work tonight.
[00:17:21] No matter what you, I'll give you whatever you make at work.
[00:17:24] Stay in.
[00:17:24] We, we have the night.
[00:17:25] We want some Chinese food.
[00:17:26] We chill.
[00:17:26] We go out and have a drink.
[00:17:28] Fuck you working at the spot tonight.
[00:17:31] I should have said that.
[00:17:33] I love that woman.
[00:17:34] I loved her so much.
[00:17:36] I never got to tell her.
[00:17:37] I loved her.
[00:17:38] I never, those words never passed out my lips.
[00:17:40] So now when I do be in situations with women and I, I love no, I care.
[00:17:45] I really do.
[00:17:46] I don't want to say I love because I don't want to scare you, but I do kind of love
[00:17:49] you.
[00:17:49] Like I got love for you.
[00:17:50] It's real.
[00:17:51] Like I open up more.
[00:17:53] I'm faster to open up because of that, because I don't want to miss another opportunity.
[00:17:57] Like I should have told her to stay.
[00:18:00] She'd be alive right now because whatever happened that night wouldn't have happened
[00:18:04] that night.
[00:18:05] Yeah.
[00:18:06] You dig what I'm saying?
[00:18:07] So I don't like that.
[00:18:09] Like, that's why I'm heavy on telling people how you feel immediately and speak in your mind
[00:18:14] and don't, don't be biting your tongue because you might not get another opportunity to do
[00:18:17] it.
[00:18:18] You might never get another opportunity to say what you mean and then live like that.
[00:18:24] Say what you mean, mean what you say.
[00:18:27] Stand on that shit.
[00:18:28] Stand on business.
[00:18:29] But yeah, about that.
[00:18:31] That shit fucked me up.
[00:18:33] I'm like, I be trying not to think about it too much because it gets, it was hard for
[00:18:39] me.
[00:18:39] Like, I even went to funny shit.
[00:18:43] Even when I thought she didn't like me and she thought I'd like she was talking shit
[00:18:47] about me.
[00:18:48] The shit she was talking was actually fly.
[00:18:50] I was like, when I tell you about me, fuck YouTube is like, I love you, girl.
[00:18:54] I should have said I should have loved her.
[00:18:56] I should have loved her more.
[00:18:57] I really should have.
[00:18:59] That's all she ever wanted in this world.
[00:19:00] Somebody love it.
[00:19:01] And I dropped the ball a little bit.
[00:19:03] So I don't want to do that ever again.
[00:19:04] So I'll be honest with women.
[00:19:06] Yeah.
[00:19:06] I really do.
[00:19:06] Yeah.
[00:19:08] And like I said, even though I know it was a loss, but I'm sure she knows, you know,
[00:19:12] even though you never had a chance to verbalize it to her, I'm sure she knows.
[00:19:17] But with that challenge of dealing with life, you're in the penthouse by yourself and you
[00:19:23] got everything you got.
[00:19:25] You know, you said right now you're alone.
[00:19:27] You know, you're in the penthouse by the time.
[00:19:28] So what was the, you know, the action between that tragic moment to you moving forward to
[00:19:36] the stage?
[00:19:38] That was a process too.
[00:19:40] I just knew I had to get out of there.
[00:19:42] I said, I told, I used to have a friend, one of the girls I used to work with, I used
[00:19:47] to tell her all the time.
[00:19:48] I said, yo, don't let me die in the city of North, please.
[00:19:53] Please do not let me die in the city of North.
[00:19:55] You got me pouring the cognac up.
[00:19:57] I'm, I'm, but I said, don't let me die in the city of North.
[00:20:09] And I was swore to her.
[00:20:11] I would not die in the city of North.
[00:20:13] And if I kept living there, I was going to die there.
[00:20:16] Yeah.
[00:20:17] You know what I'm saying?
[00:20:18] I was like, I got to get out of here.
[00:20:21] So like, I don't got a lot of living, like actual people who share my blood at the time.
[00:20:26] It was my mother, my sister, my, my mother, my two sisters and my grandmother.
[00:20:31] And then I have an uncle and I got a bunch of cousins that, you know, are his kids.
[00:20:36] So they were the only ones that were living away from New Jersey.
[00:20:41] So I called my uncle.
[00:20:41] I said, y'all got to come down and just, I'll get one.
[00:20:44] I broke it down to him the whole situation because he knew about his knucklehead nephews in North, but he didn't really understand what it was.
[00:20:52] も spaasiness till one time some shit hit the fan.
[00:20:55] Like, I ain't gonna talk about it, but some shit hit the fan.
[00:20:57] and feds kicked in at the house
[00:21:00] and niggas are sitting in the house with a quarter million dollars.
[00:21:02] Oh, hell no.
[00:21:03] Niggas are sitting in the house with a quarter million dollars,
[00:21:06] a whole bunch of birds of cocaine, all this dumb shit,
[00:21:08] and niggas are like,
[00:21:10] if you had $250,000,
[00:21:13] why the fuck didn't you call me
[00:21:14] to help you get that shit right?
[00:21:15] We can make that shit look good.
[00:21:17] And I was like, well, that was
[00:21:20] an oversight.
[00:21:22] That was an oversight.
[00:21:25] That was definitely an oversight.
[00:21:26] Niggas are sitting in the house with money
[00:21:28] and they should not have been.
[00:21:34] So I called Unc and I explained to him my situation,
[00:21:37] told him what I had,
[00:21:38] told him what I was trying to do,
[00:21:40] told him like, look, this shit is clean.
[00:21:42] It's clean.
[00:21:43] I just can't, I can't spend it.
[00:21:45] It's clean money.
[00:21:47] I just can't spend it.
[00:21:49] I need to figure out my life.
[00:21:50] I'm going, if you don't want to bury,
[00:21:52] like I told him straight, I said,
[00:21:53] you'll bury your nephew in the next seven years
[00:21:55] if you don't help me, please.
[00:21:58] And I had to break down as a man.
[00:22:00] The first time I really like,
[00:22:02] as I was doing that shit,
[00:22:03] broke down and said to a man,
[00:22:04] like, please,
[00:22:05] like help me to get it straight.
[00:22:07] Like, I need your help as well
[00:22:09] because my mindset is fucked up.
[00:22:12] Like I've grown up here.
[00:22:14] Like you got your kids
[00:22:15] to fuck up out of here.
[00:22:17] Me and my sisters,
[00:22:18] we had to stay here.
[00:22:19] Right.
[00:22:20] We were here.
[00:22:21] We, we like,
[00:22:23] everything that is gork and grimy
[00:22:25] and brick city is,
[00:22:26] is what we,
[00:22:27] what we've been through.
[00:22:30] So I told him that shit
[00:22:32] and he was like,
[00:22:34] all right, I'm coming.
[00:22:35] Yeah.
[00:22:36] He was like,
[00:22:37] release yourself for all your loose ties
[00:22:39] and anything that's dirty
[00:22:40] and just bring your ass.
[00:22:43] And that's what I did.
[00:22:45] I, you know,
[00:22:46] I signed over three cars
[00:22:47] to like three different bitches.
[00:22:50] Like the cars were in their name.
[00:22:52] I just put the down payment on
[00:22:53] and I was paying the monthly,
[00:22:54] but the car was in their name.
[00:22:56] So I said, yo, look,
[00:22:58] this is your car now.
[00:22:59] You don't,
[00:22:59] it's not going to be me stopping by,
[00:23:01] coming to get it.
[00:23:02] Just pay the bill, finish it off.
[00:23:03] You only got like maybe what?
[00:23:04] 10 more payments on it.
[00:23:05] And it's yours.
[00:23:06] Yeah.
[00:23:07] So finish it off and do your thing.
[00:23:09] I taught you how to get money, bitch.
[00:23:10] Go ahead.
[00:23:11] And I, that's how it was.
[00:23:13] That was the conversation.
[00:23:14] Like these women still have these cars
[00:23:17] to this day.
[00:23:17] This is 10 years later.
[00:23:19] Now you're still driving around in 2003.
[00:23:21] It's not a bitch.
[00:23:22] What are you doing?
[00:23:26] You know what?
[00:23:26] I'm a back there.
[00:23:27] I'm a back up a little bit
[00:23:28] because you mentioned
[00:23:30] you used to manage these women.
[00:23:32] Yes.
[00:23:33] Well, I like to say facilitate.
[00:23:34] I used to facilitate.
[00:23:37] Okay.
[00:23:39] Now my curiosity is okay.
[00:23:41] I know you was around it
[00:23:43] when you was trying to go to school.
[00:23:44] So how did you decide,
[00:23:46] Hey, let me go ahead
[00:23:47] and get some livestock.
[00:23:52] Well, the crazy part about it is,
[00:23:57] and you know,
[00:23:57] y'all probably hear this
[00:23:58] and think it's rhetoric,
[00:23:59] but we all get chose.
[00:24:02] You get chosen for this game.
[00:24:03] You don't choose to do this game.
[00:24:05] You get chosen for the game.
[00:24:07] You know what I mean?
[00:24:08] It's like,
[00:24:10] so back in my hood,
[00:24:11] where I'm from,
[00:24:12] I was a big,
[00:24:13] I was known for the hands.
[00:24:14] I could throw them.
[00:24:15] I could rumble with the best of them.
[00:24:17] And I gained the reputation
[00:24:19] for moving around spots.
[00:24:21] And so when it came to being around the club,
[00:24:25] I first got put on at the club
[00:24:27] when I came home from jail
[00:24:28] and I needed a job for probation.
[00:24:32] Like probation officer
[00:24:33] was being a real hard case.
[00:24:35] And she was like,
[00:24:36] yo, where you working?
[00:24:37] You need to have a job.
[00:24:38] Like I said,
[00:24:40] I couldn't just never walk in the Wendy's
[00:24:41] and be like,
[00:24:43] let me get one of them aprons.
[00:24:45] Yeah.
[00:24:45] So,
[00:24:47] it's after I came home,
[00:24:48] I did a couple months
[00:24:49] and I come home
[00:24:50] and all my niggas take me
[00:24:51] to the local spot
[00:24:52] and we in the spot partying
[00:24:53] and we,
[00:24:54] yo,
[00:24:54] we home,
[00:24:55] make more shots,
[00:24:57] bitches come over here,
[00:24:57] dance,
[00:24:58] shake it up.
[00:24:58] And we in there just partying
[00:25:00] and like some little niggas
[00:25:01] was about to fight
[00:25:02] and started some shit
[00:25:03] and I'm like,
[00:25:03] hey, yo,
[00:25:04] not tonight.
[00:25:05] I'm home.
[00:25:06] And I just shut it down.
[00:25:07] Like the fight shut down.
[00:25:08] So the owner of the bar was like,
[00:25:10] who's this motherfucker?
[00:25:11] I could just shut down
[00:25:12] a fight with his words.
[00:25:13] Like,
[00:25:14] right.
[00:25:19] He was like,
[00:25:19] yo,
[00:25:20] would you come work security for me?
[00:25:22] So I was like,
[00:25:23] nah,
[00:25:24] but then the PO kept pressing me.
[00:25:26] So I was like,
[00:25:28] I,
[00:25:29] and I told him what I need.
[00:25:30] I said,
[00:25:30] yo,
[00:25:31] I'm not going to be here every night.
[00:25:32] I'll be on the weekends,
[00:25:34] but you tell my PO
[00:25:35] that I'm here four to five nights a week.
[00:25:36] You pay me this much money.
[00:25:38] I don't need her thinking
[00:25:39] I'm making a lot of money.
[00:25:40] And like,
[00:25:41] I got carte blanche at the door.
[00:25:42] I run the door.
[00:25:44] My nigga,
[00:25:45] if I say my niggas get in,
[00:25:46] my niggas get in.
[00:25:47] Right.
[00:25:48] If I say it's $20 tonight at the door,
[00:25:49] it's $20 tonight at the door.
[00:25:53] So he's like,
[00:25:54] I got you bad.
[00:25:55] You don't get it cool.
[00:25:57] So it actually was a female.
[00:25:59] Well,
[00:26:00] I don't like to tell her name because
[00:26:03] her boyfriend was really like the talking dude,
[00:26:05] but she was the owner.
[00:26:06] God rest his soul,
[00:26:07] man.
[00:26:08] God rest,
[00:26:08] man.
[00:26:09] Capitone.
[00:26:10] Capitone.
[00:26:10] That was my guy,
[00:26:11] man.
[00:26:11] So fucking,
[00:26:13] I started working at this club and
[00:26:15] I knocked out a few niggas in front of the club.
[00:26:17] It is what it is.
[00:26:19] Um,
[00:26:20] so the girls started feeling real extra safe around me.
[00:26:22] Like they was,
[00:26:23] they was like,
[00:26:23] yo,
[00:26:24] you.
[00:26:24] And then,
[00:26:25] you know,
[00:26:25] it started simple.
[00:26:26] Like,
[00:26:26] Hey,
[00:26:27] I'm going to go do this.
[00:26:28] Can you take me over here?
[00:26:29] And it was like,
[00:26:30] you thought I was dumb,
[00:26:32] but I know you just went and sold some pussy up in that hotel.
[00:26:35] You told me to just wait here for 25 minutes.
[00:26:37] I know what you just did.
[00:26:39] Give me $50.
[00:26:40] Wait.
[00:26:43] Give me an extra 50 for waiting out this bitch.
[00:26:48] So it started like that.
[00:26:50] That's how it started real simple.
[00:26:51] There's a couple of them was like,
[00:26:54] yo,
[00:26:54] I choose you.
[00:26:56] Like my first one,
[00:26:56] she was like,
[00:26:57] I choose you.
[00:26:58] Um,
[00:26:58] like when she was Kevin Rush,
[00:26:59] like I choose you.
[00:27:00] Now look,
[00:27:00] this is what's about to happen.
[00:27:01] I'm about to go jump in this car.
[00:27:03] If I'm not back in 15 minutes,
[00:27:04] you know,
[00:27:05] the plate,
[00:27:05] you come looking for,
[00:27:06] I'm gonna tell him to come park over here.
[00:27:07] But if I'm not dead,
[00:27:08] look like.
[00:27:10] So I was like,
[00:27:12] all right.
[00:27:13] And she went,
[00:27:14] what's the date came back,
[00:27:15] gave me the money.
[00:27:16] She's like,
[00:27:16] I don't want to do it again.
[00:27:19] And so at the end of the night,
[00:27:20] we sitting there with like 1700.
[00:27:23] This bitch was in and out of cars all night.
[00:27:25] And she was fast too.
[00:27:27] She was knocking me off in like 15 minutes,
[00:27:32] like 15 minutes.
[00:27:34] She was coming back.
[00:27:35] Wet wiping everything.
[00:27:37] Going out the window.
[00:27:39] Pop a piece of double mint gum.
[00:27:40] And that's why I came up with the joke.
[00:27:42] When I started telling the joke,
[00:27:44] double mint only work when you chew two pieces.
[00:27:46] That's when double mint gum work.
[00:27:47] You got to put a pick still on your breath.
[00:27:51] You need another piece of gum.
[00:27:59] So she was coming,
[00:28:01] wipe down,
[00:28:02] boom,
[00:28:03] boom.
[00:28:03] Throw a little bit of Victoria's Secret spray on it.
[00:28:05] She back out there on the track.
[00:28:07] I'm like,
[00:28:07] okay.
[00:28:09] Okay.
[00:28:10] And I'm just counting the money.
[00:28:11] I'm like,
[00:28:11] oh shit.
[00:28:12] This is,
[00:28:13] this shit,
[00:28:14] what's up?
[00:28:17] And you know,
[00:28:17] I'm naive.
[00:28:18] This is my first time pimping.
[00:28:19] So I'm like,
[00:28:20] I wonder how much of this is mine.
[00:28:26] I was just moving.
[00:28:37] I didn't care.
[00:28:38] I was young.
[00:28:38] I'm like,
[00:28:38] I'm getting money.
[00:28:39] She's sucking all this dink.
[00:28:41] She's giving me the money.
[00:28:43] Yeah.
[00:28:43] Oh my God.
[00:28:45] Yo.
[00:28:46] So I'm good.
[00:28:48] Yo,
[00:28:48] just the way you reiterate the stories that you went through,
[00:28:51] man,
[00:28:51] it's just the spin you put on.
[00:28:53] I know it's real,
[00:28:55] but at the same time,
[00:28:56] dude,
[00:28:57] why am I laughing at this?
[00:28:58] Because you got a way of putting it on that story.
[00:29:01] No,
[00:29:02] because it's because you know,
[00:29:04] it's true.
[00:29:04] Like,
[00:29:05] and the funny part is,
[00:29:06] cause I'm like really living this.
[00:29:08] And like,
[00:29:09] it's,
[00:29:09] this is all new to me.
[00:29:10] Like I didn't go in there.
[00:29:11] Like I never,
[00:29:12] like in what I did,
[00:29:14] I never put my hands on any females.
[00:29:16] I never,
[00:29:17] I wasn't one of them smacking bitches.
[00:29:19] We're my money,
[00:29:20] bitch.
[00:29:20] If you don't want to,
[00:29:21] you don't want to fuck with me.
[00:29:22] No,
[00:29:22] go ahead.
[00:29:22] Peace.
[00:29:23] It's so much easier to release them.
[00:29:26] It's so easy to release.
[00:29:27] That's why I feel bad when I lost my girl,
[00:29:29] because it's like I was playing a tough role.
[00:29:32] And I wasn't being concerned.
[00:29:34] Yeah.
[00:29:35] I wasn't,
[00:29:35] I wasn't like,
[00:29:37] yo,
[00:29:37] where is she?
[00:29:38] something's wrong.
[00:29:39] I was playing the fly pimp shit.
[00:29:40] Like,
[00:29:41] I don't,
[00:29:41] I ain't sweating no bitch.
[00:29:42] I'm not going,
[00:29:43] I'm not going to get crazy about all this.
[00:29:46] I'm not dah,
[00:29:47] dah,
[00:29:47] dah.
[00:29:47] And I was just like,
[00:29:48] I should have been concerned.
[00:29:50] Something really was wrong.
[00:29:52] Right.
[00:29:53] She didn't come back.
[00:29:54] She told me she was going to come back.
[00:29:56] She had never done that before.
[00:29:58] Mm-hmm.
[00:29:59] But I be thinking like,
[00:30:01] Hey,
[00:30:01] you know,
[00:30:01] I'm,
[00:30:02] I'm used to women leaving.
[00:30:03] It is what it is.
[00:30:04] You know what I'm saying?
[00:30:06] You out,
[00:30:06] mama,
[00:30:07] I get it.
[00:30:07] You got places to be.
[00:30:09] I don't,
[00:30:10] I don't hold nobody.
[00:30:11] I don't,
[00:30:11] I really like,
[00:30:13] I got a rule.
[00:30:14] And I say this to all the women.
[00:30:16] The moment I feel like I'm bothering you,
[00:30:18] I won't.
[00:30:19] Mm.
[00:30:20] If I feel like you got an attitude when I call it,
[00:30:23] what's up?
[00:30:24] I'm going to be like,
[00:30:26] I'm going to know how you sound busy.
[00:30:27] I'll talk to you later.
[00:30:28] And then I won't call back.
[00:30:30] That's what I think.
[00:30:31] I think I was a former man in my,
[00:30:33] in my former life.
[00:30:35] I'm not going to even lie.
[00:30:35] Cause I had the same damn attitude.
[00:30:37] I'm like,
[00:30:37] if I hear it,
[00:30:38] if,
[00:30:39] if you're not even chipper,
[00:30:41] why am I calling you?
[00:30:42] Why is you not happy to hear from me?
[00:30:44] I'm happy to hear you call me.
[00:30:46] Like,
[00:30:46] what's up?
[00:30:46] Yeah.
[00:30:46] What's going on?
[00:30:47] Even if I was just mad and cursing somebody out in traffic.
[00:30:51] What's up,
[00:30:51] baby?
[00:30:52] No,
[00:30:52] I'm just saying,
[00:30:53] cussing out this fuck ass.
[00:30:54] You know,
[00:30:54] he's about to get fucked up.
[00:30:58] He don't even know who he's fucking with,
[00:30:59] but how you doing,
[00:30:59] baby?
[00:30:59] What's it?
[00:31:00] What you doing?
[00:31:01] What color paint are you wearing right now?
[00:31:02] Hey,
[00:31:03] I'm,
[00:31:04] I'm,
[00:31:04] I'm cool like that.
[00:31:11] That is wrapping up part one of my chat with comedian,
[00:31:14] big vino from the streets of newer to the comedy spotlight.
[00:31:18] And he's shown us the power of reinvention and finding laughter and even the
[00:31:24] roughest parts of life.
[00:31:25] And I've never thought I would go from being a skeptic to a fan,
[00:31:28] but big vino story and his unique way of sharing it won me over.
[00:31:33] So don't forget to follow and support his journey.
[00:31:35] At big vino comedy on Instagram and make sure you check out his YouTube
[00:31:40] channel as well.
[00:31:41] And if you want to support the content on this show,
[00:31:43] please do so by visiting buymeacoffee.com backslash talk to me,
[00:31:49] Michelle with one L so you can purchase merchandise or you can make a
[00:31:53] donation to keep on supporting the content.
[00:31:55] Make sure you follow me on all social media at talk to me,
[00:31:59] Michelle.
[00:31:59] The YouTube was what I need y'all to do.
[00:32:01] I need y'all to go to the YouTube because I'll schedule live stuff and
[00:32:05] we be having a blast over there and make sure you share the podcast.
[00:32:09] If you don't mind and leave a review,
[00:32:11] I really appreciate it.
[00:32:13] I thank you guys again for listening.
[00:32:15] And so until next episode,
[00:32:17] peace.