All right. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the channel. I'm here today with a very, very special guest, American rapper, extraordinaire, 24K Golden.

What's up, Chad?

Uh, I missed the market open, market closed today because I was sick. I was supposed to go to his concert last night. Also missed that because I was sick. But we're live. We're here and, uh, we got some stuff to talk about with Mr. Golden, which is his actual name. How you doing?

I'm good, man. Yeah.

So, this is going to be really fun. I've been a fan of Golden for a long time. Some of you guys might know him. Some of you guys might not know him. Some of the people that are older here probably haven't heard his music. If you're more millennial, Gen Z, early 20s to sort of mid30s, you probably know his music. Uh, Mood is the song that kind of went crazy viral. Two billion streams on Spotify. And, uh, I hit him up one day. I saw you follow me on Twitter and I was like, "Bro, let's let's break down your portfolio." And he was like, "Let's do it." So, we're here.

We're here. This has been a long time coming. Um, I've been a fan of you. I was following you for like months and months before you even hit me up. and uh you definitely gave me a lot of games. So, I'm glad we can come together and discuss and our thoughts on investing in music and all that [ __ ]

You know, the cool thing about this is it's full circle for me cuz like I wanted to be a rapper.

I really wanted to be a rapper, bro. I wanted to be a musician. Michael Jackson died in 2009. That's when I learned about like the art of performing and that's when I really fell in love with music. Um I was big on Eminem and Lil Wayne back in 2008 to 2011. And then I tried to rap. I tried to sing. I like applied for some talent shows. I didn't have any talent. So ended up becoming a speaker. Went the debating route. And I guess it's kind of helped with like live streaming. But you got to do it. You got to live the dream. So

yeah,

let's just start off with uh what has it been like the past five years becoming 24K golden?

Well, I like to think that I was always 24K golden. I just had to like peel back the layers of onions to to share it with the world. So last five years, it was what 2020 that was when Mood came out. It was I think July of 2020 and I was 19 at the time and I had already had a couple big songs before then like Valentino. Yeah. Like what brother?

That's my boy Tanner. He's he's like one of my good friends. So

So yeah, Valentino and City of Angels. Those are like my first two big songs. But when Moo dropped, it

blew everything crazy out of the water. Like,

and um it's always funny. People ask me like, "Did you know that was going to be a hit song?" And I always tell them like, "Honestly, no. I just knew it was a song that I liked."

Yeah.

But yeah, that song changed my life in so many different ways.

But so, so co is when it actually cuz 2019, I think it came out, right? No, no, no. It came out in I made it like within the first month of COVID.

Okay.

And like uh well, it was in April, so a couple months into co and then we put it out in the summer and then

it's very rare that like a song blows up that fast.

Yeah. Yeah.

Especially when you're not like a Drake or a Taylor Swift or somebody. I had some songs, but like I was still relatively

new to this [ __ ] Yeah.

So, okay. So, so did you like were you in the studio thinking it's lockdown? I need something that like fits the vibe of being stuck at home or it was kind of just random. You were right. Like how did

So I was So I did that song with Ian Dior

and it wasn't we weren't even supposed to make music like that day. Like we were kicking it at his apartment. We were playing uh

this in the Bay Area.

No, this was in LA. I've been in LA already at that point.

But we were playing Call of Duty uh gun game 2v2. No, Gunfight 2v2. And um the homie Omare was there. He's a producer. And KBZ was there. He's a producer. and Ian's boy Ryan who's an engineer.

Yeah.

And while we're playing Call of Duty, um Omar starts playing this guitar riff in the back.

And I do this thing where I freestyle over. If there is music playing, I might there's a 90% chance I'm going to freestyle over it.

Yeah.

And uh he starts playing this guitar riff and I just say, "Why you always in a mood [ __ ] around acting brand new?"

And he's like, "Yo yo, that's fire. Like, go record that." So he lays down the guitar. I go lay down the hook. I write it in like five minutes. Like yeah, it was so effortless. I was in flow state for sure. And uh then Ian goes and does his verse and I do my verse and KBZ does the drums and we're like, "Yo, this [ __ ] is tight." And I think that was

that was within one night that happened.

Yeah, that was within like a couple of hours.

Okay. So then So then when does Tik Tok pick it up? Is this like March, May?

No. No. So it comes out in July and

All right. Summer. Right. Right. Right.

We we dropped a snippet of it the day we shot the video. It got like 100,000 views in like a couple days. And this was pre-re too. So people were really the algorithm wasn't like pushing the reel directly to you. People were like sending it around to their friends.

And then uh it picked up steam on TikTok within like a couple weeks. There was a dance. Um there was all these different trends going and I was just like, whoa, [ __ ] I think we I think we got one. But getting a number one song is like it's like winning the NBA championship like the finals. Like

it doesn't

it's like finding a stock that can 10x. Like it's not easy.

You might get once.

Robin Hood at $7.

Yeah. It's you don't know if you're going to get that again.

Okay. So that song goes crazy and then you build on that momentum with Valentino and all these other hits that you have. Um what has it been like over the past five years? because there's obviously a euphoric high just like there is with a stock and then it kind of dies down a little bit and you settle into your career. So, how's that been like?

Oh, well, I mean honestly when it was going craziest was probably like the sim it was it was simultaneously like the highest point in my life and the lowest point at the same time.

Like I was always a very like happy go-lucky kid

but I think I had this idea in my head of like once I get this big song or once I'm like achieve these things that I set out to achieve everything will be fine. Yeah,

that getting there and realizing like, oh [ __ ] everything is not fine. Like, there's still things I have to work on. There's still things I want. It was kind of like

How old were you in the song environment?

I was 19 when it went number one.

19.

That's two billion people listening to you at 19.

And and keep in mind, it's also co too, so I didn't get to like fully experience like all the great things that should happen when you have a number one song. There was no tour. No,

there was there was no parties there. I mean, there was parties, but it was like there was there was I think I was in the crib in my boxes playing 2K the same way that I was before I had this number one song. So, those two things like I had to hold both of them at the same time. So, it definitely took like some adjustment like you said to get used to like, okay, well, like now what do I want to do? Now, what is my life?

And um hey, because you don't want to be the one hit wonder. you want to find the next one and you want and then then you want to get in love with the craft like

you know you find a stock it does well but now you don't want to be the guy that just found one stock now you want to research what it means to be an investor you know so that you prove it's not luck

yeah exactly and you know I'm lucky enough that you know I I do have three multiplat I mean a hand at this point maybe five multi platinum songs and like a platinum album and I'm able to tour and like do all these things but um yeah you can't be number one forever Drake's gonna drop or Taylor Swift's gonna drop and someone else is going to bump you and you got to settle in and figure out like, okay, well, if I'm not if I had to figure out if I'm not doing this to be number one every time, why am I doing this?

Yeah. Yeah.

And for me, it's cuz this is what I [ __ ] love.

No.

And like my focus is not I don't feel the pressure as much anymore to like everything I do has to be number one. But it's more like what do I have to say? What do I want to create in the world that doesn't exist? And just trust that someone in the world is going to resonate with it. And you can speak more artistically once you have a little bit more of the credibility without the pressure of having to make it.

I because I already proved myself. I'm already in the history books. You know, now I just get to kind of like have fun and experiment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. So, let's talk about your portfolio. We're going to have uh the chat roast the portfolio.

Okay.

And we're how should I pull this up?

So, I I'll just put up a Google doc and you tell me the portfolio itself and then I'll just write this up here and you guys can say yay or nay. How many positions you have in total,

bro? I have way too many [ __ ] positions because listen, I've been investing since I was in fifth grade.

Okay. Wow.

So, I have I have [ __ ] that I bought [ __ ] years ago that went up and down and stayed down. Like, I was I was I was on Wall Street Bets in high school.

Yeah.

And when like the whole medical marijuana stock thing ran up, I should have [ __ ] sold it because now those positions are down and it's all horrendous. Uh I transferred it from I was um what the TDM trade bought this

Schwab bought TD trade.

Yeah, but there was a company that I can't even remember what it's called but before TDM so TD I had some [ __ ] brokerage where you were still getting charged to

No. Then TD bought that then Schwab bought TD but I transferred everything to Robin Hood and got my little like bonus uh earlier this year. So we'll go in one by one. Let's go by what I hold the most.

All right. Yeah, let's start off with uh your top holdings, I guess.

So, my top holding in

Yeah, you could just say

VTI. Okay, fair. Play it and safe.

VXUS.

VXUS. Okay.

And then Nvidia.

Nvidia. We'll talk about that. Some bullish headlines after hours on that.

And then V, which is kind of redundant because I be a TI, but [ __ ] it. Uh, then QQQ.

Okay. Heavy tech ETF. I like that.

And then Google.

The Googs. They got so disrespected all year, man.

So disrespected all year.

We woke a sleeping giant. And then hims.

Oh, you're gonna make a lot of people happy with that one.

I hope so. Uh, then Apple.

Okay.

Then Hood.

Hoodie.

And then NBIS.

Nebus. I still don't know how to [ __ ] spell Nebus. Is it Nebus? I

uh then Meta and then JPI.

J covered calls.

Yep. Uh Oaklo.

Oaklo.

Tesla.

Okay.

ASTS.

Oh, you're gonna make a lot of dude. You got some of these cold stocks. People going to be happy.

Microsoft

ENS.

I like that one. Oracle. They got earnings this week. That's a big one.

O. Realy. This is Oh.

Oh. All right. So, these are all your top holdings, you would say.

This is my top. What is that? 10 20 or something like that.

Okay. So, then we'll move on to I guess like

How many is that? One.

Yeah. Top 20.

Then we'll do I guess like the mid part of your portfolio.

So,

okay. We'll just call it second part.

Wait, I might have [ __ ] up. I think I missed Oh, I missed Costco right after Oaklo. I have a friend who is gonna uh who's gonna hate you for that after Oaklo Costco.

I have some good stories with these two. So as we go through Okay. So then okay after OB then the next one is uh Next Air Energy NE.

Okay.

Then Berkshire

Birkshshire.

Uh then SCD

dividends.

Then Rocket Lab.

Oh, you made a lot of people happy with that one.

Uh then Palunteer.

Okay. And then Maine.

Maine.

Uh, it's like a real Ty like a RE.

What's it take?

Oh, I should know that one. Yeah, I've

uh Then CAT Caterpillar Construction. Uh, Figma, LMT, MP, TSM, uh, URNM, uh, SMR, Intel, uh, XLC. So many [ __ ]

I know. He's a hedge fund manager here. Like

uh what's next? Walmart, Ionic, Kors, CCI,

CCI. I feel like you don't have a girlfriend because you have commitment issues. And these stocks, these stock, like these many, I think we can tell where your commitment issues.

Okay. Well, I just broke up with my girlfriend, so way to rub it in. Um, but this is why I'm here because I need you to tell me what the [ __ ] I can get rid of. Um, what else? CCI, uh, Bed Bath, Body Works, BBWI, uh, RXRX, Recur, Regin, DraftKings.

I think I think those guys are dead, bro.

Yeah, I know. Ton of them. Um,

I really think they're dead.

Wait, what's it at right now? It's at 35 and I bought it at like between 15 and like

Okay, that's reasonable. Yeah, you might as well keep it. Uh, Shopify.

Okay, Tanner will like that.

Amcor,

I love that.

Boeing, Cisco, uh, Aervironment, AVAV, SLB.

Oh, wait, what's your average on this one, bro?

I'm like [ __ ] 18 bucks.

It's just fun to let to let sit back and let the world bid over it, you know?

Yeah, cool. Whatever. Works for me. Uh, Coinbase, Snapchat, uh, Granny Shots ETF,

Tom. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Disney, uh American Tower, AMT, DVN, Qualcomm, AMD, US Food, USFD, uh Circle, Data Dog, Kratos, KTOS, Roblox, Ford.

Bro, I'm like, I need your help. Altria, uh what is it? Mo. Yeah,

I like that one.

Uh, Northrep Grumman.

Uh, I forgot their ticker. Oh, NC. Yeah,

this one. Laser Photonix. L E.

This is a quantum name, I think. LC.

Damn, they make lasers or some [ __ ] Uh, Johnson and Johnson, Transdime, TDG, uh, SPHB, Grab.

Okay.

UN, RJ, you URJ,

URJ,

ASML, Gemini, American Airlines, MongoDB, uh, Oxy Accidental Petroleum. I don't even know what some of these are. IIPr I think they own like Topgolf or some [ __ ] I went to Topgolf three times. Uh ASX bullish.

Kathy likes that one a lot.

Philip Morris. Oh, if Kathy likes it, I better [ __ ] say um

it's just PM. Yeah,

PM. Yeah.

Okay. I think that's like 100%. What else do we

We We have like 10 more.

Okay, let's do last 10.

Okay. CNQ. I was in Canada. Some guy gave me a stock tip in the gym. I was like, "Yeah, [ __ ] it. I'll put a thousand bucks in there." Uh, VKTX VR T VR T L A R S E C O P T U C E L H

C E Celsius. Okay. AM on

uh LAC Path, BBIO, Soundhound, ABR, uh what else I have? Oh, I mean, Esco, but I have like 40 bucks in there. Like we're we're we're at stocks that have like literally $5 at this point.

Um yeah, Escov Osur Ly. I think that was like a referral bonus. Yeah, actually abos.

Okay, that's all of them.

Okay, that's all of them. How many is this? Is it probably 100 plus issues?

It's about 100 plus. We're going to I'm going to put this on a different screen so it's easier to see. Um, no, I think I think I think you just love owning a lot of like All right. So, let me ask you, why do you own so many names? I guess that would you define

the like keep in mind this is like uh how how was that? So, this is like 15 years of stuff,

right? And I don't really like I enter a lot of positions and then I'll exit positions and like keep a couple shares in there for whatever reason,

right?

Um so like I I can break it down more as we go through the list of why or what my like thought was behind that or why do I still have this thing.

Okay, bet. I'm going to

Yeah, it's gonna take up like 10 pages on Canva. Yeah, let me make oldest normal.

Okay, [ __ ] it. Let's just start with these first. I'll share this screen and then we'll keep on. All right, so how many girlfriends though? That's that's a better question. Okay, so let's start off with your your top ones. So I guess uh and and guys, if you have any questions in the chat, put them in the chat and we'll we'll ask them. But let's start off with with these. So, um, Nvidia, when did you start buying that one? How do you think of kind of the AI revolution? What do you think about this whole AI bubble thing? And

so, I think I guess why do you hold it?

The first time that I bought Nvidia was maybe like 2018, 2017.

Okay.

And my dad was like, yo, like my dad is the one that got me into investing. And he was like, yo, I I put because I was on a custodial account for the long time. He was like, I like this company. They're like making these graphics cards which didn't have the same use case that they did now. Um but um he was like computers are going to be bigger so you should probably have some of this. I was like okay all right.

And did your dad work in the computer world or anything like that?

I mean no not not at all but he just like is an avid researcher

of stuff. Also do you have a USBC charger?

Yeah. Yeah. Right here. There you go. Let me tap in. So that was the first time I bought it. And um I think my cost my average cost is like what is it 94 bucks now.

I added a lot um when it had its like first initial runup and then when it had that big dip down to like the 90s I added a [ __ ] ton more.

Deepseek.

Yeah. Yeah. when the Deep Seek thing came out because I was like,

"Okay, I think this is a overreaction by the market and like

wow." Cuz Deepseek basically just made it cheaper to run these LLM, right?

100%.

So the thought the thesis was like, "Oh, well,

more demand, not less than that."

Yeah. So that was my thing, like this people are still going to need to buy these cards and

if it's making it more accessible, they're going to be more people that needs these that need these.

Yeah.

So that was my thought on that.

Okay. So this whole like AI bubble thing and like you know the world kind of resting on Nvidia shoulders, how are you you thinking of like does it make you want to sell your Nvidia or does it make you

I mean no not really. I I think it would be foolish to expect that any stock is just going to go up forever. But I think the way that things are going, AI in some shape or form is going to be a big part of the future of the world, right?

And like ju just because there was a a dot bubble doesn't mean that the internet didn't revolutionize the world, right? It's just in the moment there were some, you know,

there were some shitty tickers. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, but I don't think Nvidia is a shitty ticker and I I do think Jensen is like a really great leader. So, I I put my faith in, bro.

Okay. So, let me reshare this on chatbt to make it easier. So, okay. So, Nvidia is there. Then the ETFs um like are those like your largest ones where you just feel safe that your money every month goes into those and you don't have to worry too much.

Yeah, I do like like I have like recurring purchases for I think what is it? V now it's I started with V, but I switched to VI. So for VTI or VTI. So VTI uh VXUS V and then like one of the uh I think JB or whatever the

cover

dividend one. Yeah. That's just like yo I'm can put this money in here every

whatever the period is and know that when I'm 65 I'm not going to be broke. So that is like the foundation of my portfolio.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that makes sense as well. Okay. So then let's talk about the googs.

Yeah. This one disrespected all year. Uh, your music is on YouTube which is owned by Google and it has billions and millions of views. What was your thesis when you bought Google?

So, I first bought Google like when I was probably still in like middle school or high school or something like that just because I was watching YouTube. I was searching it. Um, and obviously as I got older and like I could grasp more about

my my reasoning on why I buy something changed.

Yeah. It it got to a point where I was looking at all the things that they owned like Whimo for example and like how they have especially with AI they have all the data they have the most data and I think that's why things like Nano Banana Pro are so good because whoever has the best training is probably going to have the best

and it's going to be the most personal lens.

Yeah. If if there if you had a personal assistant that knew everything about you, what you like, what you dislike, where you want to go, it it can predict things for you that you're going to love before you even know you love it.

Yeah.

So, that was my thesis on them. I added a lot of Google this year. I think in like 130s, I I put a pretty shot a pretty big clip into them and it was it was it was stagnant, bro. It was it was definitely like

Okay. So when it was stagnant, what were you would think when you saw, you know, everything go into the meta in particular, right?

Yeah. I mean, what in general my whole thing is like a aside from what I try to do is think like, okay, what can I hold for because I'm 25, right? So my time horizon is a lot longer than somebody that might be in their 50s or 40s even. I don't have any kids. I don't really have any I don't plan on having kids anytime soon. So, I have I have so much liquidity and like a long time horizon. Like, what what do I think is going to be

bigger and better 10, 20, 30 years from now? Yeah.

And I feel like Google is one of those companies.

Okay. Um, Hoodie.

Yes.

Let's talk about this one. So, when did you start buying Mr. Rocket?

So, I first bought Hood when it IPOed

around like 10 bucks. Was it 13 bucks? 10.

Yeah. Around about the time. Yeah. So I I think I I can look at my trade history on here, but that one got screwed for three years basically.

And Exactly. And when the whole GameStop thing happened, I was one of the people that thought, "Oo, this it's it's the the backlash is going to be heavy. I don't know what is going to happen." And the uncertainty scared me. So I sold

I think Yeah, I sold all of my hood. And then I got back in around

You also did a podcast with Vlad.

I did. Shout out Vlad. Um, crazy.

I think I got back in around whenever I did that podcast. But let's see. Because my cost basis on Robin Hood is what? 97 bucks.

So, I've been buying up from

See, Hood is the one name that I've been buying regardless of the price. Not recently, but when it was 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 up to 120.

Just kept buying.

So, I bought 20 shares at 38 and I sold my shares at $10 like a [ __ ] dumbass.

Yeah. Um, and but then I started buying again in like the 70s all the way up to 117 was my last.

Were you impressed this year with like tokenization and the credit card? Is that I know it's probably just in your feed. Yeah. Popping up like

Well, I follow you so I see all the updates.

That's also true. I I sh it pretty hard. But

but yeah, I was impressed. I I think that when I'm talking to my friends and like about investing and stuff, everyone's using Robin Hood. I was using Robin Hood more than I was using Schwab and I didn't own any and I thought that was stupid because the user interface was so much better. Like like when I'm on Schwab I feel like I'm looking at the DMV terminal from the other side like like I don't know Charles but yo you gota get with the times brother. Um

I agree dude. I I was on my uncle's Vanguard a couple weeks ago and I was like what is this?

Yeah.

Genuinely no one my age or younger which is where all the baby boomer money is going to is going to use this. We're just not.

No.

And like just even looking at like the market cap now, what is it? Uh

I think about 120 billion around 130.

There's no way that it's not gonna at least double like at a very bare minimum.

I agree.

So yeah, that was my thoughts behind that one.

Okay. Hims.

Hymns. Yeah, I you put me on to him.

Okay. Um especially with like the [ __ ] ompic uh revolution and like all

them just having a cheaper version of it compounded.

Yeah. Having a cheaper version. [ __ ] is losing their hair out here like yo what this is the looks maxing generation like and this is where the easiest place to go is to get it. And I think with peptides and stuff like that if they can incorporate that into their like catalog of products it's just going to go through the roof. Okay. Apple.

Uh, Apple.

I I feel like Apple you've had for a long time.

I've had Apple. That was like one of the first stocks I'd ever bought.

Okay.

And I remember when it had this run up to like

it was like two splits ago or three splits ago. It ran up to I think like 900 bucks or something like that.

Yeah.

And I was just looking at it like that was that Apple is a stock that got me really into investing.

You know, so many people have that same story. So many people.

How long have you been using an iPhone? cuz I've used this since 2010.

I mean, iPhone. I didn't get an iPhone until I was in like seventh grade.

But it was your first kind of phone.

No, my first phone was from Metro PCS. It was a Huawei, which is banned now, I think.

Yeah.

No, it wasn't even it was like a It was like the shittiest like Android smartphone you could get. And I remember I used to play Fruit Ninja, but it was so bad that it would be in like half speed. So, it's like I could see all great high score, great high score at high, but I had an iPod touch at the same time like um we were using iTunes. Like I remember my my dad got his first MacBook and like we're like minds blown.

Could you see yourself going to an Android?

No.

No.

No.

Me too. I have debates about this all the time. I'm like even if they have a better AI assistant, I don't think people are leaving.

And I think Android does have a better product. like, but I'm so bought into this ecosystem of Apple. I I just hope that they like have some more innovation that, you know, we came to know and love from them. Uh, but yeah, love Apple. Uh, I've been buying it since fifth grade. Um, and just adding more whenever I felt like it was undervalued. I got a bunch in what's it at right now? Like 280 something.

It's It's surprisingly hit all-time highs. Uh, even though, you know, most people counted them out this year. This was one of the Mac 7s I picked in my ETF. So, this is a friendly competition I have with my friends.

Apple's the only Mac 7 I have there.

Yeah.

And it's up 40% from the lows, which is pretty crazy,

which is great. So, my average on that is like a buck 17.

A$17?

Oh, no. 177.

Yeah. Now, yeah.

I was like, damn.

No, I wasn't alive when it was a dollar.

I was like, that's early. Um, okay. Uh, Meta, is this a recent pickup or this has been for a minute?

Um, Meta was more of a recent pickup. It was another one of those where I like kind of shhat on it and then it ran up and then I was like I had some FOMO so I fomoed in. Um, so my cost is like 644 but

is Instagram part of I mean I'm assuming you're on that app.

I am on Instagram. I am on Instagram a lot. Probably more than I should be.

Why? Why? I mean, just for like work and then you get in those like reals uh doom scroll

loops and

Tik Tok is is been overflooded with ads now. Like

I I I counted the other day and I went like 12 scrolls all with a like a shop link in there of some [ __ ] hair care or some [ __ ] push-up board or whatever.

It's like Chinese [ __ ] from

Teeu. Yeah, white label Teeu. It's the new like FBA Amazon finesse. Um, so I I like Meta in that regard. And then also just seeing how it's one of the like few founder companies still that's in like the Mag Seven and Love or Hate Mark. Um, I don't know. He's done some really great things and like, yeah, Meta was a flop, but like he's going to keep shooting and he's pushing for he's pushing to like position himself in whatever is going to be next. He was kind of late to the he was pretty late to the AI thing, but he's spending like a [ __ ] So, we'll see if that actually converts.

And are do you think the glasses are a thing or glasses? Yeah.

Okay. So, you're bullish on

I like the glasses. Do I think everyone's going to use the glasses? I don't know. But the new iteration with the screen inside, I I I bought a pair of Google glasses uh in like 2019 after they were discontinued just cuz I wanted to try it out. Now, I could never figure out how to get them how to get them to work.

Yeah.

So, I never used them and I like broke them the first time I I actually went out the house with them. Uh but I think the May the the Meta Ray-B bands are like the sleekst form of that, right?

Like you're not going to look like a dweeb with those on. Okay. So, let me ask the chat this question. We'll get into some of the other tickers we have, but um looking at all of these, if you had to cond I'll put you on the spot. Let's say we're going to condense it to 10 tickers.

Oh, 10.

Yeah. I'll just put this on my notes app right here on my phone. If you had to pick 10 out of all the and in the chat as well, guys. If you had to condense, so take a minute, look at all these names, because I have around 10 to 12. I think most people in the chat have 10 to 12. I have a friend named Steve. He probably has a couple hundred more positions than you. So, you're like a mini Steve here, but uh if you had to boil it down to 10, because I think as a as a portfolio manager, it forces you to to to figure out conviction, but also balance massive upside with safety.

Yeah.

How would you buying the 10 at the current valuation?

The 10 that you have from your

Okay. So, if I was selling everything and keeping 10, right?

Correct. Correct.

Um I would probably go VTI.

Okay. So, that's your safety.

Yeah. And then I I don't I don't think you need V or the other one.

No. Or VXUS. No. Yeah. Because the chat's pretty comprehensive. Um I would go Nvidia.

Okay.

I would go Google.

Okay. So, we got two Mac 7s. And then uh

I would go Oh, this is so [ __ ] hard. I mean, it's easier to decide what I wouldn't go with. I'd probably go Robin Hood. Um,

I keep Oaklo.

Oh, so you like did you get this one early?

Yeah, I bought it for like $10, bro.

Dude, I had a friend. We were in a coffee shop in the Bay Area. He said, "Buy Oakland." It was $5 and he's like a VC. So, he's like, "We got into the private round. We think it's going to do well." I was like, "The [ __ ] out of here. Some [ __ ] nuclear stuff."

That's That's my best pick I've ever made.

I mean, yeah. [ __ ] $10 to 190. Not bad.

So, what is it? How many more do I have left?

You have five more left.

Uh, I'll probably do Tesla. Do you have Oh, yeah. You have

I do have Tesla.

Okay.

Um

Nate, he's not picking Nebius.

I'm I'm kind of thinking Nebius, but it's like if I only had to pick like the I feel like the upside is potentially massive

with Neb. But yeah, it's just

But it's like who knows, you know?

Like they if if all this AI [ __ ] kind of gets some of the life sucked out of it, they would be probably hit.

Yeah.

One of the hardest.

And they might dilute the [ __ ] out of everybody, too. Yeah. Um, Microsoft. It It would be very tech heavy.

But I don't blame you for that. I really don't. If you had to pick Ken for the rest of your life, I do not blame.

Oh, this for the rest of my life.

Well, I mean,

for the foresee.

Yeah. For the

Okay, then. How many do I have left?

Three more.

Three more. I probably go him. Uh, Costco.

Okay. Why? Why? Why Costco?

So, the reason I bought Costco stock when I went to I went to USC for a year before I dropped out. Yeah. And I was in the Marshall School of Business.

Okay.

And I knew that I didn't want to keep going to class after I signed my deal.

Yeah.

But I was on a full scholarship. So that means

Why? Why'd you get on the scholarship?

It was a marriage scholarship. Yeah.

Kind of smart, I guess. Um

and uh

I had free food and free living. And I was in LA and I needed to be there to make music work.

So I figured out I could keep that as long as I kept one class. And the one class that I chose was called link, learning in international commerce or something like that.

And you learn about um businesses in another country. Yeah.

And at the end of the semester, you get to go

visit that country, take a trip there. Yeah.

So I picked Japan because I always wanted to go to Japan.

And when you're an anime guy?

Love anime. Yes.

I love it. And when we went to Japan, uh we were taking all these tours of these different companies and we ended up going to Costco and they we got to meet with like one of the [ __ ] heads of Costco Japan and he was telling us how big Costco was in Asia. Yeah. China, Korea, Japan, and that whenever they opened a new store, there would be a line of hundreds if not thousands of people.

We saw that earlier this year.

Waiting to to go check out [ __ ] Costco.

Yeah. And as soon as I get back home, I'm like, and he was telling us about like we're opening this many stores and like um in the future and like we're planning on really leaning in on Asia. This was 2019. You took this class?

This was Yeah. 2019.

So where was Costco stock during that time?

2019. That was 300 bucks. Round about

So around 300 bucks.

Yeah.

So So I'm like, whoa. I never even considered that this would be a thing. And then since then, like I've gone on to like listen to like the founders podcast about Costco and everything. And I I I haven't added to my position since then. It's just balloon.

It's just tripled on you.

Yeah.

Especially during co and I feel like it's the only like retailer that people enjoy going to.

I I agree with that. So what do you think about the fact that it trades at a higher PE than Nvidia? Like

it's like a 55 or something P. I don't know why it does that. I really can't tell you why. I I don't know why everybody else loves it so much. Um but it feels like one of those like backbone kind of like safety

recession happens. It's going to be okay.

Yeah. You know, people like discounts like there there's always going to be a need to get things instantly even with, you know, Amazon next day delivery.

Um

Okay. So, you have one more.

Okay. What do I have on here? Let me see.

I noticed you don't have Amazon on this list.

Oh, I do own Amazon. Did I Did I not

Oh, yeah. I missed it after Google. Okay, then I'll probably put Amazon. Yeah, [ __ ] it.

Okay, so the top 10 is VTI, Nvidia, Google, Hood, Oaklo, Tesla, Microsoft, HMS, Costco, Amazon.

You know what's so crazy about this? I think that we're talking a lot about portfolio planning into 2026. You've got four Mag Sevens. It's hard to not have a portfolio of an average of 10 names that not have at least 40% of the max on it. It's just hard.

Yeah.

How do you not like how do you not even I'm thinking of it going into next year. How do you discount not being long one of these names and take a risk on a smaller name which could have way more upside than Microsoft but it's freaking Microsoft. It's Amazon. Amazon's up 2% this year.

Yeah.

Right. Like why am I going to be afraid to take a bet next year?

I just bought a bunch of Amazon too because I feel like it could have that Google thing happen where it's been stagnated. I know they've been spending a lot of money and that's been like hurting their balance sheets, but it's probably going to pay exponentially over time.

Uh, how do you think about Palunteer in general?

I I have Palunteer. I bought some at like 22 bucks.

Wow.

Um, and I wish I [ __ ] bought more. That's all I can say.

Do you have any thoughts on Karp as like I'm sure you've seen clips of him and stuff like that. You think he's kind of just like one of those CEOs who like doesn't care about anything?

I don't know, man. It's like he he got like the like he's like a more frenetic like lucky Palmer in a sense of like yo I'm going to do what I'm going to do and you're going to have feelings about it. But he's very self- assured.

Yeah.

He's like I don't know. It doesn't really worry me. Um he doesn't seem like he's cr he's not crashing out. He's just like moves around in his chair a lot. Like

Yeah.

What do you think?

Well I I I just think having spoken to the guy many times that's who he is. He's dyslexic. If you read the book about him recently, there's a lot that he talks about around his dyslexia. And I think it's just funny because over the past couple days, people on Twitter were making fun of him for moving in his chair. And I'm like, this guy built a $450 billion company and people want to make jokes that he's moving in his chair.

I mean, that that's the thing. Like, people are always looking for a reason to try and hate or like be a naysayer or a contrarian. And if that's the best you got is that he [ __ ] moves around in his chair a lot.

Yeah.

So what? Yeah. Uh Elon, how do you think of him as a CEO?

Man, that that one has been like a an interesting ride. I was also in Tesla pretty early like pre FSD like probably in 2017 2018.

Oh, wow. You were, dude. So you were like, were you keeping up with the markets at that time or it was just because you had that custodial account, you randomly

No, every every morning I would like almost every morning I would look at before I went to school, I would look at it with my dad and like talk about like, oh, this is doing good. This is down today. Like and we just kind of just chat.

Your dad really got you into this.

Yeah, he really did. Yeah. And um with Tesla, like I I remember I went to this auto show in um in San Francisco. Uh and this was before they had the Model S, the Model 3, and it was just the Tesla Roadster. Yep.

And I was like, "This is [ __ ] sick." So, I've always been a fan of their design choices. I like how Elon is like, he's gonna [ __ ] push the [ __ ] forward. He's going to say some crazy [ __ ] and I I I don't think there's anyone in the world that I agree on everything with, but he's either going to like change the world as we know it in drastic dra dramatic ways. Yeah.

Hopefully for the better, or he's just going to crash out.

Um, but I I mean,

I I like the I like the full self-driving. I like the idea of the robo taxi. I don't know how I feel about the robots yet. Um,

do you do you see that future for Optimus as like a $20,000 robot being in everyone's house and selling billions of those? Because that to me, I think is the next big scurve if it happens because

totally. It just depends on how good it is, you know? Because if you're going to take longer than I would take to [ __ ] unload the dishwasher or to fold my clothes, then it's just like a show pony. But if they're able to make it good enough where it's like it could do it better than me or faster than me or then it's worth the money because how much is a full-time housekeeper salary, you know?

Yeah. Yeah.

$20,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to that.

100%. Because I do you pay for like chefs and housekeepers and stuff like that.

Um I'm not that bougie. I uh I I cook rarely but I postmade a lot and I do meal prep.

Okay.

So, but uh I get my house clean like once or twice every week. Do you have like a you have a condo or a mansion or how do you

I do like a condo. Okay. I I um

I don't want to really buy any property

because I feel like especially in California with the fires, the crazy insurance prices. Like with with rent, I know that this is the max that I'm paying every month with home ownership, the mortgage, and the that's the minimum you're paying every month.

So,

I think a lot of people hate this take, but it's funny because I'm 28, you're 25. I have the same exact I'd rather rent. And people hate hearing that, but if you really dive deep into it, it's not that crazy of a take.

No. Like, I'm sure you've seen like the New York Times rent to own calculator. I'm like, yo, I'd have to stay in this place for like 20 or 30 years to to to make it. I have to buy a home and stay there for 20 to 30 years to make it.

And you're traveling so much.

Yeah. Like, so what's the point? And like, my building has security. I don't have to worry about anyone breaking in. Like it's they collect my packages. It's it's just so much more convenient and whatever money I'd rather just put it into the market because I think that's going to go up more than my the value of my house would.

Okay, this is a good question. Why don't you own Spotify stock even though you're an artist? I think let's get into the music business side of

So Spotify's had a great year. Um I don't know. I just never really felt compelled. I I use Spotify, but it's like streaming is actually I think for the first time gone down a little bit uh in this last year.

Yeah. I mean, there's been a lot of talk of this year has not had that hit album that kind of like really I don't know, just music's been kind of a little flat this year. And and I think it's it's different than like like it's it's it's if you would have told somebody 60 years ago, 40 years ago, that you can have the entirety of the music library of the world for $10 a month, they would look at you crazy.

Yeah.

Um but it gets to a certain point where like I think very soon everybody that wants to be a part of that is going to be a subscriber. the growth is not as they want to get to a billion monthly activives. I think they have 700 million. So for you, you're thinking it's not as asymmetric anymore.

Yeah, cuz I mean like okay, they want to get to a billion. I think that's doable, but populations are declining. Like where are we going to go from here?

And and the people a lot of a lot of the 700 million people that pay for it, a lot of them are paying like two three bucks a month in India. Yeah. Not paying 15 American dollars.

No. No.

Okay. So let's talk about the the the business of music then. So, I want to get into record labels. You signed your first deal.

I was It was 4 days after I turned 18.

Okay. So, walk me through that because I signed some contracts when I was that age that like there was I I've never told the story online and I don't want to get into it, but I signed a deal to start a company that I was like uh the head director of. I should have had a I should have had a minimum 10% equity stake in, but the guy showed gave me a contract of a revenue share.

And and my dumbass was like, "Oh, I'm getting part of the revenue." So, I'm like,

I own part of it. Yeah,

I did not own any of it. And then we had a falling out a couple years. Not not anything malicious or anything like that, but I just moved on with my life. I should have I should be collecting royalty checks from that business because I was pretty instrumental back in 2017, 2018 getting it started.

Um, and I missed out on that equity. So, how was that situation like for you? And do you think you signed a good deal or a bad deal? So, I was telling you a little bit about this before we went live, but if if you went to like a VC with the terms that these that is standard for the industry, the music industry, like the it's it's it's the craziest deals you've ever heard of. So, I'll give you an example, right? A standard royalty deal in music, just to make the numbers easy, is it's normally like 18%, but let's say it's 20%, right? until you get a 20% royalty.

Meaning every time your song gets played, you get 20 cents on the dollar.

Uh yeah. Every time you get a every time your song earns a dollar, you get 20 cents, right? And how it works is they they advance you. So let's say you get a million dollar deal and you have a 20% royalty rate.

Yeah.

Your music needs to make $5 million for you to be even with the record label.

And that means they've made $4 million. Well, technically what? Uh yeah. Yeah. $4 million

and you are just even with them, right? But you got the advance, which is why they're saying, "Hey, you got your money guaranteed. We took a risk with your music even being streamed in the first place."

Yeah. But if I said, "Yo, I'll give you a million dollars for 80% of your company and you don't see any money from that until you pay me back my million dollars."

It' be a horrible deal.

Yeah. It would be an awful deal. Um, and now, you know, there's the labels are doing like less. So, there's more leverage for artists because they're like, I know you're not, this isn't 19, this isn't 2005. You can't just put me on MTV and then I'm going to be a [ __ ] star. Yeah.

A lot of that groundwork and like marketing and everything has to come from the artist side.

So, but but with that being said, when I signed my deal when I was 18, I didn't have a huge song. I had very little leverage, you know.

Why did you get signed? Uh, I got signed because I uh

I had this song called Balling Like Share on Soundcloud.

Okay.

And I was like super

Shaq's son, right?

Yes. Yes. This was around the time of Moamba. Yes.

And I figured like, okay, if someone can make a song about a college basketball player, what if I make a song about a high school basketball?

That is creativity, bro. That is getting your [ __ ] out there. And um and uh yeah, so I I put that out and I was like doing all my own digital marketing and everything. And part of that was I would tweet and email and harass blog writers. And this one writer uh for DJ Booth, he dropped this article

um that was like the the the like uh just defending Soundcloud artists and saying like, "Yo, like you shouldn't judge an artist based on the platform they put their music on. You should judge if it's actually good or not."

Because SoundCloud rappers get the whole like they're not serious.

We get a bad name.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And

I was a Soundcloud rapper, too.

You were Okay. My brother. My brother in Orange

didn't work. But

uh and um at the end of his article, he was like, "So I I'm opening this the floor up. If you're a Soundcloud rapper, send me your song. I promise I'll listen to at least 30 seconds of it." So I was probably the first person I was the first reply to that article. I tweeted him Balling Like Sharief. I emailed him Balling Like Sharie. I DM'd him Balling Like Sharief. And he did a follow-up article a week or so later. And he was like, "I listen to these Soundcloud rappers. Here's what I thought." Ah,

and out of all the songs, he spoke the highest of mine. And I guess there was some people in the industry that saw that. Um, I got reached out to for one deal. It ended up following through. But simultaneously, this producer DA got that dope.

I Yeah,

you know, he read it too, I guess. And he sent me an email and it was like, "Yo, what else do you have?" And I sent him Valentino

and he's like, "Yo, this [ __ ] is insane." keep I made that song in high school and I held it because I knew it was so good that it needed some push behind it. You

held it for three, four years.

I held I made it in 2017 and it came out 2019.

2021 I think.

2019.

2019.

Yeah, it came out 2019. So I held it for like almost Yeah. two years. And uh so I come out to LA, we meet, we make more songs and he just got a job consulting at my label now records which is uh part of like the Sony infrastructure. Yeah.

And he hits me up when cuz he knows I'm moving to LA for college and he hits me up and he's like, "Yo, are you interested in signing cuz I'm working with this label right now and they keep sending me people and all I can think about is how much better your music is than everyone else is sending me." So, he opened the door to that conversation. I signed with Records in Colombia. They like flew me out to New York to meet everybody before I decided if I want to sign or not. And I think my advance for that was like $100,000, which was

That was your first deal you signed. That was my first deal.

To you at the time probably was like

it was more money than both of my parents made combined.

Yeah.

And I was 18 years old, you know. So I'm like, yo, [ __ ] it. I'll bet on myself. And I take the money and we put the song out. Valentino, nothing happens for eight months. Then it blows up on TikTok. I realize, oh, this is new emerging platform. What if I leverage my song's popularity to make me popular on there? So I start making videos. I blow up other songs and then that was kind of the start of that.

Okay. So that was the first deal. What was the second big deal?

So the second big deal we did after Yeah. We did a renegotiation and I really wanted to switch it from royalty to a profit sharing agreement.

Okay.

But I wasn't able to make that happen because in their mind they're like, "Okay, we're renegotiating, but we could also not re their their incentive is we want to sign you on for longer. We want more albums. Right.

Um, but they could also be like, "Well, we'll just take the other the last album that you have left and

keep your 18% royalty or whatever it is on this massive [ __ ] banger and we'll be fine." So,

unfortunately, I wasn't able to turn it into a revenue sharing agreement, but I got a nice bump on my royalties, right? And they gave me like, I don't know, a couple million dollars or whatever. Right.

So, so for you it was more so about, hey, let me get this advance and let me invest that money then instead versus trying to negotiate something that's going to be really hard to negotiate. Did you ever think of going fully independent like Russ or some of those guys?

Totally. Especially now. But the thing is like I'm I can't get out of my deal until I fulfill my contractual.

How many albums you have left?

I think I have two albums left or something like that.

Got it.

Yeah. It's kind of crazy because you've heard I mean everyone's heard these stories about like 360 deals and getting trapped in that and all this stuff. Um, but I think the independent route is so much more possible. Like I mean I'm independent. I mean so many times people ask like why don't you sign with like CNBC or Bloomberg or I'm like well it's just more fun doing it myself and I can say whatever I want. I can have whatever guests I want. I can be the personality that I want to be. And second of all, yeah, those guys will offer you a big mo like the the best CNBC hosts make like

you think millions a year. They're making five to 10 now. I mean,

Jim Kramer is making five to 10 making more than 10.

Oh my god.

Jim Kramer has had his show on for almost 20. He's probably making like 20.

Jesus.

But Andrew Ross Sorcin, Becky Quick. Now, but the thing is two things. Number one, they can't invest.

Oh.

Because they talk they talk about the stock market all day. So they can own like the S&P 500, but they can't actually because they get the breaking news early and all this stuff. So they can't invest.

Yeah. And then number two, it's just like

it's boring being in that corporate atmosphere versus being able to do your own thing, you know? Yeah. And so I think like the freedom of going independent is something a lot more people are excited about.

But you got to keep this in mind too. Like for every me that signed for $100,000 and then had success and was able to like build external revenue sources. Yeah.

There's 99 people that didn't, you know, that they took the $100 or $100,000 and thought they were going to have this level of success and they buy a chain or a car or whatever and then that's it. And like I see a lot of these young kids getting signed at the age I got signed, 18, 19, even like in their 20s. And like you have this, they sell you a dream, you know, that we're going to make you into a star. And it just it doesn't always work out like that for everybody. So

I definitely [ __ ] off like a decent amount of money. Like I spent $15,000 on Supreme jackets. And I as my next question like what when when was the splurge when you got rich? like

like but but I I so I very very strongly believe when you get a big bag of money and you're young, you have to [ __ ] some of it off to get it out of your system and like be like, "Okay, well, I did that. Oh, maybe I don't maybe I don't need three Supreme North Face jackets. Maybe I live in Los Angeles and I never have a chance to [ __ ] wear this. That was kind of dumb."

So that the next time that you have it, you know, hopefully there's the next time you don't do that same thing. Yeah.

So, one of the things that I did buy as a [ __ ] off that turned around and became a good investment.

No, I knew what I was doing with the watches, but because I was 24k gold and all the jewelry that I bought at first was 24 karat gold. And this was in 2019 to 20 2018 to 2020. So, I think the gold price was like what maybe like 2400 an ounce or 1,600 an ounce.

It's doubled basically.

Yeah. So, I spent 50 grand on 24 karat jewelry and now it's worth 100 grand.

Yeah.

Which is great. Um, watches, too. I love watches. I'm wearing uh Can you see it in there?