I know you're working on a gang of stuff.
But what's your next brain baby?
- The one that's exciting me the most right now
is I started a podcast.
I started "The Daily Ish" podcast.
- Yes. I like the lack of commitment.
- Yes, the lack of commitment. So, you'll get something
every other day, but once a week,
I have a segment on there called Through the Mud,
and what I'm doing is I'm talking to people that I know
and they're sharing their stories through the mud.
And the goal with that is-- especially the last year,
being such an isolating situation for so many people,
is I want people to know that whatever they're going through
they're not alone.
And hearing other people be vulnerable,
be authentic, share the different type of mud
that they've had to crawl through,
had to dig through to kinda get out the other side,
and what type of insights, wisdom, and tools
they gained on that journey.
I'm having so much fun doing it.
My first interview was with my sister.
- That's crazy.
- No awkwardness at all?
Like, it wasn't, like, talking about deep, vulnerable stuff
with your sister?
- You know what, it was--
it wasn't awkward in any way,
but I learned a lot, you know, to, you know,
as we grow older, you know, your sister's your sister,
but, like, to hear her story.
She's gone through everything from, you know,
she's a cancer survivor, she's had a miscarriage,
you know, she's gone through the ending of her marriage,
and to hear her be so resilient
and enthusiastic about sharing that story,
and knowing that it may save somebody
months and months of heartache
to hear it from her perspective,
hear how she dealt with it.
And, you know, I've been talking to so many people
and finding so many common threads.
So many common threads like gratitude.
Expressing gratitude helps us through hard times.
Finding the humor in things.
Focusing on servicing other people.
And I'm a really big believer
that, you know, we all are living the same stories.
And the more we communicate that with each other,
the more we'll build a connectedness
and a closeness, and the less we'll feel alone.
- That's super, super dope.
While you were talking there, I literally in my mind
was like, I'm gonna steal all of this and put it
in a caption for Instagram. [laughs]
I was like, this is a great Instagram caption,
and I'm gonna steal it from Humble the Poet.
So if you ask people on your podcast
about their experiences and what mud they've gone through,
I wanna reverse and ask you.
So, Humble the Poet, what mud have you gone through
in your life to make you who you are?
- My earliest memory of anxiety
was, you know, playing outside
and then having my sister come up to me
and her just being a year older than me at that time,
so I'm maybe four, she's five, and she's like,
"Somebody beat up Dad."
And immediately thinking in my head
the cartoon version of violence.
Thinking, you know, getting beat up is funny.
It's not a big deal.
And my father, he's a cab driver,
and he drove at nights.
So the rule was don't make any noise during the day,
'cause Dad sleeps during the day.
So we would always play outside.
So I was outside-- I remember this vividly--
and sneaking into his room while he slept,
you know, to see.
And, you know, seeing a really big gash on his forehead,
seeing the different discolorations on his face,
the bruises and stuff like that,
never having experienced that as a child.
And, you know, getting a stomach ache
off of that, and then, you know,
getting subsequent stomach aches
every time he went to work.
'Cause you learn that this happened when he went to work
because he was a taxi driver
and somebody tried to steal his money.
Underneath that surface-- because as children,
we can't process and understand this stuff--
you know, it lingered in there.
And it felt like I'm realizing
just in the past couple of years
how much that had an impact on me
in terms of what I decided to do with my life,
how much I resented the fact that he had to drive a cab
what I wanted to do in terms of my career
to make money so he could retire.
And, you know, it all came back full circle
when he ended up retiring on his own,
you know, success, and, you know,
I had to miss his retirement party
'cause I was out working still,
and realizing that, you know,
I created a chip on my shoulder from his experience,
realizing that that was part of his journey.
- You're, like, deep and smart, eh?
You're, like, a deep, smart person.
- I'm an Instagram caption generator.
- Yeah, you're a generator, bro.
Straight good.
You do--so, you write-- you're an author--
you write--I see you have your books on wonderful display
in the background there, I love it.
- Oh, yeah, conveniently right there.
- Yeah, just conveniently right there, yeah?
I mean, books, music,
all the things--what's the-- what would you say
is the common thread that ties
all of your work together.
- A love of learning, simplicity,
honesty and accessibility.
You know, so before I was a full-time artist,
I used to be an elementary school teacher.
And, you know, the big thing I learned from teaching
was accessibility, you know.
If you're working with a student, if they don't get it,
that's your responsibility, not theirs.
So you have to change the way that you approach it.
And that's what I've been doing with my books,
where the chapters are each very short--
two pages each-- having big, bold quotes
that, you know, understanding that people's
attention spans are changing over time as well,
and make sure that everybody enjoys the experience
of art, too, 'cause art is just adding more beauty
to the world.
Humble, thank you for being on the show.
For everyone watching at home, one of my closest friends,
lease support whenever his podcast comes out,
soonish--I'll make sure it happens soonish.
It's called Humble the Poet "Daily Ish."
Also follow him across socials.
You will not regret it. Humble, always a joy.
- Such a pleasure being here.
- [laughs] Thank you.
- Thank you.