Ep.18 : Passion, Perseverance & Purpose w/ DJ Ben Ha Meen

podcast

Oct 16

In this episode of 'Beyond the Threshold,' I am joined by a Texas native and Howard University alumnus, DJ Ben Ha Meen.

He is a renowned DJ, Music producer and screenwriter (American Gods) and Podcasters (For All Nerds, The Combat Jack Show). He is co-creator of the graphic novel, “Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze" as well as a self published author of the children’s book, “The World Is Yours.”

In this episode he shares:

- Being a Star Wars-obsessed child, attending Howard University and becoming a renowned DJ in DC.

- His unexpected incarceration in Dubai, and how that experience led to his blogging success with 'Please Don't Stare' and his role on the 'Combat Jack Show.'

- Writing his self-published children's book 'The World is Yours, his collaborative graphic novel 'Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze, and the creation of "For All Nerds."

- The significance of perseverance, practice, and creating from a place of genuine passion.

How to Connect w/ DJ Ben Ha Meen

[00:00:00] DJ Ben Ha Meen: One of the greatest things, or, you know, hardest things to do. And one of the best things to do in life is to remain childlike, you know, and to remain where new things can affect you the way that they did when you were a kid, you know? And that, and the only way to do that is just be open to new things.
And so that's why I'm always, whenever something hits me as a grown person, I'm just like, yes.
[00:00:23] Sidney Evans: Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Sydney Evans, and you're listening to another episode of [00:00:30] Beyond the Threshold.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Beyond the Threshold. I'm your host, Sidney Evans, an award-winning audio editor and producer. Uh, for those of you who don't know on this show, I interview black men and women working in media to highlight the lessons and experiences it takes to achieve success in the field.
Um, as always, we got another great. Episode in store. Um, I know I like to give a little bit of a backstory on how, [00:01:00] uh, these interviews come to be. So for this particular episode, uh, I had made a post on threads, uh, basically summoning black men and women, uh, who work in media. 'cause I was looking, uh, for more guests to have on here.
And he was the one, the ones that commented. And as I was saying right before we started recording, actually went through and looked at the people and see, uh, who were the people that looked the most interesting, just genuinely just like kind of a natural reaction. He was definitely one of the ones that stood out.
So, um. [00:01:30] We chopped it up for a bit and, and, and now we here. So, um, I kind of do want to just jump into his story and, you know, how he kind of got going this direction and discovered his passion for media. Um, but to give a little bit of a background on him, uh, he's a Texas native and alumnus of Howard University where he studied film television.
Uh, he's a renowned dj, music producer and screenwriter. He's the co-creator of the graphic novel, Jimi Hendrix Purple Hayes, uh, as well as a self-published author of children's books, [00:02:00] uh, which include the World is yours. Uh, he's also a podcaster himself. Uh, so he's a host or co-host on shows, uh, for all nerds and the Combat Jack Show.
And we'll get, definitely get more into, uh, which each of those entails. Um, but without further ado, I'd like to introduce today's guest, DJ Ben Amin. Welcome to the show, man.
[00:02:22] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Uh, thank you very much, man. Hearing that introduction is really nice. It's always interesting to hear. Some of the things I've [00:02:30] done, and yeah, I'm grateful for all of it.
So thank you for having me here.
[00:02:34] Sidney Evans: Ab absolutely, man. I know you can find a passion and start doing things and you look, you know, however amount of time down the, down the road and you do see all the things you accomplish. So, uh, I guess it's good for people to like, you know, want to have us on podcasts or have us on platforms so we can actually share it and not only share it with them, but so we can, you know, appreciate it, uh, in a way that maybe we hadn't, you know, prior.
So, um, [00:03:00] but as far as you, man, I like to just jump into the story. So can you just share a little bit about your background? I guess what were your, what was your first inspiration, whether it be music or anything within the media realm, and then how you decided you wanted to, you know, pursue it and do this as part of your life?
[00:03:17] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Oh, man. Uh, that's a good one. Uh, well, let's see. Starting off, like you said, I'm pretty much, I was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but my family didn't live there for very long. We moved to Texas when I was three, [00:03:30] immediately to Houston and to Third Ward where I was pretty much, I say born and raised even though, you know, I was three years old when I was there, but I'm pretty much, you know, from Third Ward, that's like my heart and home and I don't remember much about my childhood before.
Star Wars is pretty much how I tell it, how my older sister tells it. She says that I was a really quiet child until I saw Star Wars and then that was just it. I just wouldn't shut up about Star Wars [00:04:00] and that's all. I remember all my earliest memories of revolve around Star Wars. I. Was obsessed with it as a child, I still have the Empire Strikes Pat bat poster that I had from a kid in the other room.
It just defined me pretty much. And so sci-fi and fantasy and all that stuff was really early on for me. And from Star Wars, I was obsessed with George Lucas and I wanted to be a filmmaker. That was pretty much my first, it was either, uh, being a [00:04:30] filmmaker or being an astronaut and being an astronaut kind of went out the window pretty early and then it just turned into being a film director.
That was just everything I wanted to do. And then people like Spike Lee came along and that really changed my life. When Spike came out, I was like, okay, I can do this. I see the path he was on. I know he went to a black school, he went to Morehouse and I can, you know, follow that type of path that I could become a film director.
So after that I was pretty much set in stone on the creative path, and then around [00:05:00] 16 years old, I told this story recently, but I was a very. Long story short, I was a very rhythm less child. Like I said, I was a big dork. I was obsessed with, yeah, I was obsessed with movies and things of that nature. I played Dungeons and Dragons and read comic books from a very early age.
I was not just obsessed with film, but obsessed with reading and learning and all that stuff. So I just did, and I was not into music at all and I just had no rhythm. [00:05:30] I could not snap on beat, I could not do anything that, you know, evolves anything that I do now, pretty much. And then around 16 years old, my dad started getting, and I started getting into music around 16, and then my dad bought me some stereo equipment and we would go out and buy the various pieces of stereo equipment, started, put it together.
So I started getting into that. And then I saw some music videos when I was 16. And one of 'em was dw, [00:06:00] uh, with DJ Premier. And that just, it blew my mind. I, it was like something just changed in my brain when I saw that video. I just thought it was the illest thing of her. And I thought DJ Premier was just the greatest man, or, or pretty much, I just thought that was so cool to be able to speak with your hands through records, through vinyl.
So that was it. I was like, okay, daddy, I wanna be a dj. And he bought me some cheap turntables. I mean, the cheapest Frisbee you could throw them like Frisbees. They were so light. [00:06:30] And I started off and I, like I said, I was completely rhythms. I had no musical intonation at all, but I just studied it. I just became.
Super obsessed. And then I went to Howard University, like you said, a couple years later. And by that point I was already DJing a lot of parties and stuff, but I still wasn't very technically good at it. And then I got to Howard and I was just surrounded by DJs. It was just so many of us. And like my [00:07:00] best friend, who I'm still best friends with to this day is my brother Traumatics.
And he was across the hall from me. So we linked up day one and we are both DJs and then we had a crew of like maybe five, six other DJs who lived in a dorm. So it just became where like you had to get good immediately.
[00:07:18] Sidney Evans: Let me jump in there. Mm-hmm. That's a lot. That's long-winded. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's good.
'cause it gives me, it gives me a lot to bounce off of. Um, and first thing you that came to mind when you said, uh, star Wars is I, [00:07:30] I wasn't, um, huge into movies as far as like. Like, I enjoyed them, but I wasn't like a a i I, I didn't fan out o over 'em. I felt, I kind of felt like just 'cause I was a kid, I was kind of just doing what was in front of me, but I can't necessarily say that I took a strong interest in it at that time.
Mm-hmm. But I do, later in my life, when I came really, really, really interested in media and started doing music and stuff, um, I started going and watching movies from a different perspective. [00:08:00] And for me, kind of like the, the, the, the scores of the films is kind of a thing that stood out to me. So I, I, I said all that to say, I quickly became like a huge John Williams fan.
Jeez. So when you, uh, when you mentioned Star Wars, that was the first thing that came to mind for me. And I think, I mean, he's an amazing, he the, the way he gave life to so many movies and he kind of, and, and yeah. And your mind, but for me, home Alone was the one
[00:08:29] DJ Ben Ha Meen: [00:08:30] Oh wow. '
[00:08:30] Sidney Evans: cause of, because his Christmas.
[00:08:32] DJ Ben Ha Meen: I
[00:08:32] Sidney Evans: would have to go back and listen to that store.
I didn't even know he did it. Yes. Go. That was probably one of the, he did a lot of huge budget, but that was one of like the lower budget ones that he did. Mm. Because for him, he said it wasn't, it was never about how the scale of the production, but it was like his reaction to mm-hmm. The story. Yeah. Um, so that's how he picked his project.
That's how he ended up doing Home Alone. But yeah, John Williams, um, that.
[00:08:54] DJ Ben Ha Meen: I didn't know that one of my favorites other than Star Wars is, uh, catch Me if You Can. He, he [00:09:00] went off on that. I used to listen to that soundtrack all the time. Like, that joint is so ill, I didn't even realize he did that movie, so I'm gonna have to check it out.
Yeah. Oh my God. It's so different than everything else he did. It's like,
[00:09:10] Sidney Evans: yeah, I knew when, when he can kind of go off and, and riff like that, that's when he can, he can, he can, he can do some amazing things, but man, you're in, you're interested in so much at, at such a young age introduced to, you know, film and television that kind of solidified the love just in the media space.
And then, um, you know, [00:09:30] getting into something that's wasn't necessarily come as natural to you, but you had an interest in it, so you really had to learn. That's kind of a contrast. You kind of just hear the story of like, people when they're young, it was like, oh. I discovered this when I was a young and you know, I became a prodigy.
And you know, some people you feel like they're just born with the gift, you know what I'm saying? And sometimes gifts have to be developed. So that's kind of how it was for me. Like I'm more of a natural writer, but I don't, that's not the part that I enjoy the most. I enjoy, enjoy the [00:10:00] technical part. And when it comes to like making beats and stuff, which I'm still learning, um, that did not, I feel like I was like, didn't have any rhythm at all too.
But I really had to learn. Um, like it's more of a feeling like there's tech, it is a, the foundation of it is technical 'cause there's science behind everything, but the creation of it is a feeling, it's a vibe. So once I got outta my head and really just started experiencing it, that's when I started to see improvement.
So I was like, ah, my mindset was just off. Go ahead. Yeah,
[00:10:26] DJ Ben Ha Meen: that's a, that's a real good lesson for people right there, because [00:10:30] that's something like, I saw Dr. Dre said he is like, everybody has music in them. It's just. The ability to get it into the machine or whatever, you know, like he uses machines, but you know, a piano, guitar, whatever type of instrument you're using, that's what separates people.
And it's, but that just comes through repetition. Like you said, you're naturally a writer. I, I consider myself naturally a writer, a filmmaker, like editing things of that ma the nature of shooting, it comes naturally to me, but at the same time. It is through studying and [00:11:00] repetition and practice of anything that you get better at.
And that's what I think a lot of people don't understand. There are no real natural prodigies, man. People are, people just effing practice more than you think they
[00:11:11] Sidney Evans: do. Mm-hmm. So yeah, that, yeah, that, that's a, that's a, that's a good point too. Um, even if you do identify like a gift for a talent, you know, to really hone it, you gotta just practice it.
You
[00:11:21] DJ Ben Ha Meen: gotta work at it, man. It don't, yeah, it don't matter, you know, like Jordan was great, but it's because Jordan wanted to be Jordan, you know, Kobe, you know, [00:11:30] that's why he's one of my favorites is because Kobe, you know, they worked, you know, like the work ethic was so ridiculous that that's what led to that greatness.
[00:11:39] Sidney Evans: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Absolutely, man. Uh, and we gonna get in into more into that, uh, a little later as well, but man, so you, you. Decided to uh, go to Howard. And you did, you did pursue as your major film and television, correct? Mm mm-hmm. But yeah. But you got into the music and DJ lifestyle while you were best part of your actual experience.[00:12:00]
[00:12:00] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah, most of my experience at Howard was at a party experience. I mean, I definitely learned a lot, but Howard is, uh, as rest in peace and my brother combat Jack, I know we'll talk about some more. He once said he wished he went to Howard because it teaches you how to hustle and that's the realest thing ever.
And it's the connections more than anything else. And universe, I can say I distinct. It was one, it's definitely, I have like a few great decisions in my life and that was one of them, you know, going to Howard [00:12:30] University, it's just one of those things where I just, I can't imagine, you know, who I would be without it and how different my life would be.
Just the people I've met there and through the connections I've made over the years from there, it's just unreal.
[00:12:46] Sidney Evans: But yeah, that's a, I guess, yeah, that's a, a good lesson that, you know, yes, academics are, are important, but the real life stuff matters too. So as far as going to college, especially school like Howard, [00:13:00] prestigious, socially, how it, um, you know, as far as just, you know, wanting to live a more progressive life, like to progress in life is a new environment.
Like it's a level of history and things at that school that, but then there's a lot of distractions too because, uh, you know, it's a lot of young black people and it's, it's a major city and it is, oh, oh my God. It's, it's always a, you know what, you so many
[00:13:27] DJ Ben Ha Meen: beautiful people, man, I fight. It ain't right. [00:13:30]
[00:13:30] Sidney Evans: The fight, the, the, the, the fight between, like, I know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I know what's in front of me right now.
And it's, it is, it is hard to say no to all this stuff. So, um, but you know, that's part of the college experience no matter where you are. Just, you know, uh, making mistakes. Um. Being out on your own for the first time and really figuring, having to figure things out and like you said, not having, having not, if you had not gone to Howard, your, your life wouldn't have went in the direction that it went.
So you had that [00:14:00] experience. Like, are you, you know, once you start getting to, to the later end of college, like you gotta start making some, some, some big boy and uh, some big boy and big girl decisions. So like, what was like, I don't know, did you want to pursue DJing? Were you the film and television thing, or is it like, yeah, that got me here, but I don't really think that's the thing, but it was, that was important because it brought me here and now I'm interested in this thing.
Like, are you feeling pressure of like, I don't know, none of these [00:14:30] things are necessarily provided me enough to live off of, but I'm more passionate about it. Do I have to. Do something that I need to do now that I want to, so I can continue to do the stuff that I want to do. Like how does that look at this time of your life?
I mean, that it's the
[00:14:44] DJ Ben Ha Meen: same how it looks right now in my life. That's, uh, it's funny, I tell people this all the time. I knew since I was a child, it was this comic book I read once and it's pretty much haunted me because, uh, it was a character, Dazzler, one of the [00:15:00] Xmen, and Dazzler wanted to be a performer, and she got shown.
Various futures of her life. And one was, you know, living the normal, married with two kids at home with her husband. One was being a performer, one was being broken in alleyway. And that image has haunted me for the rest of my life. 'cause I knew from a young age I knew what I wanted to be and it was never a question.
There was never like, okay, I'm gonna be a doctor or a lawyer. You know, that was just not going to happen. Both my mother's actually an [00:15:30] attorney, you know, rest in peace. And my dad worked for the IRS, so both of them had very stable jobs, nine to five. And I just knew that was not the route for me from so early.
I just knew that was never gonna be me and there was no way it was gonna happen. But to this day, I will debate over, man. I should take some coding classes and, you know, learn to code and do something else other than this because, uh, who knows if this is gonna work out. Even though I've been relatively successful, I've [00:16:00] always had work, I've.
Any new field that I put myself into, I've pushed through and found a way in it. But there's always that nagging feeling in the back of your head. You know, there's always that, man, what if this all goes bad? What am I gonna do? So coming outta school, it was definitely hugely intense. I just didn't even know how to get into the film industry.
That was one thing I would say at the time, perhaps I didn't take advantage of all [00:16:30] opportunities, but I didn't see that at Howard where. Like there weren't internships to go work in studios or things of that nature. I didn't have, uh, any, I didn't know any writers who sold scripts or got into writer's rooms or any of that.
I didn't even know how that worked at the time. Honestly, that was not taught there. We were taught about how to write a script, kind of, I, no, no disrespect to the right film, Stuart Howard, but it's one of those things, you have to know how to make a film before you get there, and then you can learn [00:17:00] things.
But if you don't know, they're not gonna teach you honestly, at least at the time. It was one of those things where you just had to do it for, and I knew how to make a film, you know, I was good at that and I got better at it because practice and study, et cetera. So I just didn't know how to do it. And I was already working in DC as a dj.
I'd been like, by junior year at Howard, I was working in Republic Gardens, which is one of the hottest clubs in dc. Mm-hmm. So I was popping, things were going well. So I just kept doing that pretty much. And it kind of [00:17:30] fell into a trap for a minute where I was just doing well in DC as a dj. And I did that for a minute and just did not really pursue film because I did not know how to, I worked on some shoots with a friend of mine who's now my man, Kirk Franklin.
He's going on to do a bunch of ESPN documentaries and stuff. Shoot, you know, shout outs to that brother. But I did not have any other way to get in, so I just kept DJing a lot. Pretty much.
[00:17:54] Sidney Evans: It's, it's funny, uh, how like at one, probably at one point in your life, if somebody [00:18:00] would've said like, you'll just be a DJ your whole life, you would've been like, oh, I'm, I'm, I'm cool with that.
As long as the money come with it. Like, I can make a living. Nah. You never thought that?
[00:18:11] DJ Ben Ha Meen: No, I disagree. Yeah. Nah. Okay. Nah. Just because I'm, I, I, like I say, I'm someone bruh who just, you know, I want things and I see things, you know, so I've always been, there was always like, even, even let's say during those years when I was DJing a lot, uh.
Mid [00:18:30] two thousands, early two thousands. My best friend, or one of my best friends is Young Guru from, he went to Howard with me. He's Jay-Z's right hand man. And at this time he started, you know, he's up in baseline recording with Jay-Z, mixing Jay-Z. So I would take two of my friends, uh, DJ Analyze and Harry Hotter.
They're both popping down in DC to this day, and they had beats. So I would take them up there and play him beats. I'm like, yo, cats is making, you know. This is the era of beat making where people are making dumb [00:19:00] monies on them. We can get some of that. We got, we got heat, so that's what I mean. I was always a person who was thinking of, I, I sold t-shirts at, in high school.
I shot, uh, yeah. I forgot that I, I still have a lot of this footage to, and we, me and my sister are trying to figure out what to do with it now, but we shot interviews with every artist who came to Houston from throughout the nineties. Bro, we have footage like, so I've always been someone who's like, okay, there's, uh, you know, do [00:19:30] everything pretty much is my thing.
I'm always like, oh, you're interested in it and effing do it. You know? That's how I look at things and I don't, I never wanna. I used to have people tell me, you're doing too much. In fact, you know, you want to do all these different things. And I used to think that was right. And now looking back at it like, nah, you were, you were right Ben, you were, you should always be doing too much.
You know, do as much as possible. Like, you know, and that's just how I look at it. If you were interested in it, learn to do it and do it.
[00:19:58] Sidney Evans: Yeah.
[00:19:58] DJ Ben Ha Meen: It, I I, [00:20:00] I kind of bought into that
[00:20:01] Sidney Evans: too,
[00:20:01] DJ Ben Ha Meen: but
[00:20:03] Sidney Evans: it was, there was a shift and I made that says, man, the more things you can do, the more valuable you are. So I, I'm not saying like when you break it down, so why would somebody tell you that?
But I'm not gonna get into that. Yeah,
[00:20:11] DJ Ben Ha Meen: yeah. No, that doesn't make sense. I get it from what they're saying. But yeah, just to say, I was never someone who would just, if someone had told me, oh yo, you're just be dealing, man. I've already done all this it, bro. Whatcha, whatcha talking about? So, lemme so lemme rephrase.
Lemme so, lemme rephrase the question.
[00:20:26] Sidney Evans: Did, do you feel like you. Got [00:20:30] comfortable doing that at any point, even though you knew there was more
[00:20:32] DJ Ben Ha Meen: there, there. I agree. Okay. At one point, uh, uh, I didn't know that if someone had told me, yo, one day you'll be in a writer's room, I, I might've been like, ah, how bro, you know, I'm out here DC DJing.
I don't know how that's ever gonna happen, you know, that I was definitely, you know, working on production, working on this, doing that. But like, as far as the film side of it, that did feel like a pipe dream at points. Uh, I can't agree there. 'cause I just, I had no clue how, I knew I had the [00:21:00] talent, but I just didn't know how to get there.
[00:21:02] Sidney Evans: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. So how do you, how do you, uh, in that phase of life, like what is your, what was your n next action to be like, okay, I have to, I'm, I'm a little too comfortable, I have to change, I gotta do something bold or lock in even more, or sacrifice something. Like, what do you, what, what was the, the next thing that clicked for you?
It was like, okay, this is the way I'm going now.
[00:21:27] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Well, this where life gets real interesting. Um, [00:21:30] I guess I'm, some of this is public knowledge. I don't know how much, you know, research you've done and stuff, but at one point I was a dj. Now I'm at Love Dream Nightclub, which is, it's unreal. Somebody's doing a documentary on it right now actually.
It is. It's something that was never seen and will never seen again. It was, you know, three to 4,000 black people every week at one of the most elaborate, incredibly beautiful [00:22:00] venues you'll ever see. Yeah. And it's right at the edge of cell phone era. So people aren't standing there taking videos of each other people or just partying.
People are having a, you know, it's unreal. I have mad footage from that stuff too, and it's just, it's stupid. So I'm there having a great time. You know, life is great. Pretty much I am, you know, living it up and then. But at the same time, I'm also, you know, frustrated. I'm probably, if I, you know, remember correctly 'cause that I'm usually frustrated though.
That's just me. But, [00:22:30] um, sitting there like, ah, man, I need to be doing more, you know, at the time I'm shopping beats and all that. It's not, you know, we haven't gotten any placements yet. Some things are about to happen, things are going. And then I got an opportunity to, uh, grow DJ in Ethiopia, which was, I've been working on that for a few years and it finally happened and I go over there and I had a time of my life.
It is one of the greatest experiences of my life. And then immediately after that, I went to Dubai and ended [00:23:00] up getting, uh, incarcerated. So. Oh my God. But I, the laws there are so strict though, and no one knew this at the time and I didn't know this. So that was, you know, I, I was well before futures dj, well before a lot of people who you know, so this is all, you know, and I didn't know.
And so I'm actually thinking about, I'm gonna see about working on a documentary about this myself. But, so that happened. Mm-hmm. So when you talk about, and it was funny because when I'm in [00:23:30] Ethiopia, I'm. This is the beginning of the blog era, and I'm a huge fan of na right.com, and I'm on there every day and I'm sitting there like, yo, I can do this.
You know, like, I know all these people he's blogging about. 'cause I did through, you know, I was either in the club with them or I just knew them through. As I said, I've been interviewing rappers and stuff my whole life, pretty much since I was at 16, 17 years old. So I knew a lot of people, or my sister knew a lot of people, or I'm next friends with Guru, who is, you know, knows [00:24:00] everyone.
Mm-hmm. So
I'm like, I can do this. Why am I on a blog when I could just make my own blog? So I, and again, this is how I am, you know, like I don't think in terms of, you know, why not? I think in terms of yes, why you can, so I registered, this is how it happened. I registered the name, please don't stare.com.
I'm like, oh, got the fire name. Boom, boom, boom. Got it all. And then I went to Dubai and got locked up two days later. So. [00:24:30] Yeah. So for, and my plan was, because I'd made some good money in Ethiopia, I was like, okay, now it's time. I'm gonna move to California. I'm gonna figure out a way into the film industry.
That was what my plan was. And then I get locked up, you know, and I, I had this blog popping, all this stuff. Boom, I get locked up. So I sit there for a while and while I'm, and, uh, basically almost a year to, you know, just to be clear. And so the blog, you know, now write keeps going. Everything starts moving, you know, it's still moving around.
You know, as you sit in time, you know, you're [00:25:00] stuck and things are moving around you. But again, I spent a lot of that time reading, writing, meeting a lot of people. I wrote the, I mean, you meet as many people you can in a prison, but you know, it is what it is, right? I'm still like. Associates and friends with a lot of those people, it's interesting because they're people from all around the world and they were all locked up for meaningless drug crimes, basically.
Right. So yeah, we're all, you know, still, at least I talk to them all on Facebook and I've seen them in various places [00:25:30] around the world. That's just life. So I write a lot. I wrote the poem that led to becoming my children's book. The World is Yours while I was there. So it's a learning experience, you know?
[00:25:41] Sidney Evans: Absolutely.
[00:25:42] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah. As whack as it was, it was also one of the greatest, I've never learned so much in a year, in that year that I learned in that year. So when I get out. I already had, please don't star.com registered. I had everything going and I was like, okay, it's time to get this it popping. And so I [00:26:00] just came home.
It started that blog and I just went heavy. I'm in DC still. I'm at all these clubs. I'm shooting all this footage of all these artists. I shot the first or the only, it's like the main footage of Jay-Z and Jay-Z performing. My president is black for the first time. That really blows up that, you know, my sight starts popping.
Please don't say this is popping. I'm really cool again with na. Right? I know all them. And that's how I get introduced to Combat Jack is through that video blowing up and it [00:26:30] going to Bill O'Reilly and Combat telling me we could sue him. And that's my first introduction to Combat Jet. So when you say what.
Forced me to change was pretty much being incarcerated was something that like, because then after that, when I came home, I didn't really feel too comfortable in DC anymore. So I moved to New York. After that, I had an opportunity to move to New York and I moved to Brooklyn and I've been here ever since.
So that was, when you talk, it was pretty much I was forced to change in that moment.
[00:26:58] Sidney Evans: Yeah. Yeah. Some, [00:27:00] sometimes we, uh, sometimes it happens like that man. Some people like, you know, and it's interesting, like just how, you know, just, just life, man. You may, may look at somebody and be like, man, like, or just look at everybody else's, like, well, I had to be the one to, you know what I'm saying?
[00:27:16] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Like, yeah, I can say that about so many things in life. Like I, I'm constantly, why did I have to be the one? But then other people can look at me and say, look at all this itch that, you know, Ben has done and, and look at all the great things that have happened to him. And [00:27:30] I, I'm sitting here like, well, what about this and what about this and what about this and what about this?
And, but you have. That, you know, it's like you have to count the blessings. Like every moment is a miracle and you have to remember that, you know, no matter what you're going through, it is still a miracle to be on this earth, you know, to be alive. So you just, and it's, it's hard. I, you know, I've gone through things.
This year was a very, very trying year. At the end of last year, I went through some really [00:28:00] tough stuff that just really messed me up and I was going through it. And then I've, I've had some great recovery this year and I learned some really great lessons through it. But yeah, it's been, you know, it's, it's a constant battle.
You have to always fight it.
[00:28:12] Sidney Evans: Yeah. I'm, I'm glad you, uh, we all got stuff going on, man. I just, I'm, I appreciate when people, you know, I, I, the way I work through things works for me and the way other people work through things is what's for them. So, I mean, I'm, I'm glad you just able to figure that out and then you, now you can, you know, I know you just said you going to students recently, but [00:28:30] at that time, like, you know, just moving on to the next part of your life is like, okay.
A lot more perspective, I'm sure. Yeah. I'm just saying an intentionality about what you, what you wanna do next. So you started doing the writing. You, you, uh, you moved to New York. Um, how long did it take you to get your footing there?
[00:28:51] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Uh, it was very bad. I'll be honest. Like the first I, I came home and I'm living in Maryland for, I can't remember how many months, about nine months.
Those were really [00:29:00] rough months 'cause I'd lost everything financially. I was, you know, in ruin. Everyone was looking at me crazy in DC 'cause pretty much everyone knew what had happened to me. I was living alone by myself in Maryland. It was very isolated and I've learned throughout life, it's not good to be isolated.
That is a lesson that is constantly reinforced in my life, is I do much better with a village of people around me. And so I was. Just [00:29:30] not doing well. And then, like I said, I had this opportunity to move to opportunity to move to New York. I moved up here and even then I was still struggling. It was really bad.
Then I was still taking the bus back to DC on weekends to dj and not for a lot of money, just enough to pay my rent. Or I was running around town in New York trying to, you know, hustle bars and clubs and not doing that well. And I was pretty much on the verge of moving back to DC and I'm still [00:30:00] doing, please don't stare.com, it's going, but it's financially not really doing that much where, you know, where I can take off anything else.
And, and then one day I just randomly was. I probably had posted, 'cause I was posting Combat Jack, he'd started the Combat Jack show already. He'd been going for like two months at the time. And so I was posting it on the blog and one day I just was like, yeah, you don't see him have a DJ over there. You know, you doing this radio show?
I don't. I see if he needs a [00:30:30] dj. So I hit him up and said, yo, you need a dj? And he is like, yeah, come through. And he said famously, I can't pay you anything, but you know, come through. And I came through and I didn't know any of them. I'd never met them in person at that point. I dosed combat a bunch of times.
He had a running joke about how I kept ghosting him and he thought I was a Fed. And I knew Dallas because Dallas was a legend and Dallas Penn. And I knew Dallas Penn was a legend. And I posted him a bunch on his blog. I [00:31:00] was a huge fan of his. And a king was there. I don't even think premium Pete was there yet.
He might've been. I'm not a hundred percent sure on that. I think he was, I cannot a hundred percent remember if he was there the first week I was there. But I walked into the room and we did the first show that I was there and I DJ'ed and I was terrible 'cause I didn't know what I was doing as far as radio and all that stuff and all this different things.
But I just knew it was pure greatness. I knew that, I knew Dallas [00:31:30] was a genius already. And then seeing his rapport with combat and just what we were doing was something else. And then I kept going with it. But even when I was, I was starting to struggle with that too. 'cause you know, we aren't making any money.
It's a lot of work. We were, you know, we were up at, we recorded at Wednesday nights at midnight and. It was just a lot. And then a friend of mine, one of my best friends from Houston, my brother Andrew, he calls me up one day and we're talking, I'll never forget, I'm in the Y working out [00:32:00] and I stop and talk to him for a minute and he's like, yo, man, don't ever stop doing the Combat Jet show.
He's like, this is one of the greatest things ever made. You're doing hip hop for 35 years and no one has done this before. This is going to be a legendary thing. And so he said that and I just took it to heart and I was like, okay, I don't care what happens. I'm never stopping, you know, doing part, pushing the Combat Chat show.
And so we kept going and then from there we [00:32:30] launched a fan bro show, which we quickly became for All Nerds Show. And you know, to this day, you know, combat of course passed rest in peace. Dallas has passed. We got, uh, Dallas Penn Day coming up to Saturday, August 30th. But again, like I talk about great choices I made in my life and.
Going to Howard University and Ashton Combat to be part of that show are two of the greatest choices I've made in my life. I am [00:33:00] forever grateful to combat Dallas Premium. Matt, uh, MENA, just blaze a king, you know, interns, uh, jazz, fly, rest in Peace, you know, NY Delight, just everyone who was involved in that show from top to bottom, you know, changed my life.
And, and it really helped me in a way that, you know, I. I can't thank them enough either, because like I said, at the [00:33:30] time I was really going through a huge bout of depression. I was not dealing with life or reality. Well, and combat was just that type of dude who, you know, we'd be on air and he'd be like, yo, Ben, I heard you was locked up.
You know, you dropped our soap and you know, you kinda had to talk about, right, right. Yeah. It was like, it was just like the type of therapy my dad would give me. You know, my dad was that same type of dude who was like, I once, my dad didn't even know everything I'd been through. And one time I broke down in front of him and just told him everything.
And he sat there and was like, well, [00:34:00] you're gonna have to get over that. And that was it. You know, there was, you know, there was no, you know, it was like there was nothing else to it. It was like, Negro, please. He was like, you know, do you know what I've been through in my life? And that's what he was telling me.
And he was Right. You know, you're gonna have to get over that. And he was a hundred percent right. And that was one of the moments where I started getting over it.
[00:34:21] Sidney Evans: Yeah. So, wow, man, that's, um. That's just kind of like a, the reason why I'm kind of speechless is because I, you know, [00:34:30] I went, I went through that depression period in my life too, you know what I'm saying?
So the thing that like, got me out of it, like, it really, it really was just music. And that was, that's really the beginning of how all this started for me, was just that day. And I was just like, a question that I had never asked myself. Like, as much as the music I listened to in my life is, well, not seeking it out, but just being around it, was that like, oh, how did they make this song?
Like, I never asked myself that question. Yep. And I was like, one of my, um, you [00:35:00] know, at my lowest and I just found a way to drag myself to the gym and I'm like, well, I gotta listen to something to keep me going. And that's when I started listening to music. Stuff that I had heard millions of times in a different way.
Started asking questions and then that inspired me to, um, like, okay, playing around in a garage band and. For re realizing myself for the fundamentals of audio. And at that time, that's when I was, what I had mentioned, like I was still trying to think my way into making music. So it was terrible. [00:35:30] But I was learning the foundation of audio though.
Yeah, but that's a way though. It is a way. Yeah. Yep. It's a, it is a, that was a way, and then this, around this time is when I got introduced to podcast, and then I had a friend who was a speaker who had a podcast. The content was good, but the audio sounded terrible. So I started just editing his show. And then from there, I, that's the beginning of, you know, my career and, and audio.
And then that passion turned into a passion for media. And now I'm doing this show and working on a documentary, audio [00:36:00] documentary of my own. So it's like I said all that to say like that, that, that, that low, that pain can like be, you know, what, what brings you outta that can be a catalyst to like. You really finding your, your, your purpose really.
[00:36:13] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah.
[00:36:14] Sidney Evans: Um, and it sounds like what's happening for you in that day? That's, that's definitely what happened to me.
[00:36:19] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah. And now thank you for sharing that. I just want to, to the audience, everything. That's really beautiful, man. 'cause that's like, I love hearing that. 'cause I had those moments in life. I just, this, I [00:36:30] wasn't depressed, but I remember being in high school, I remember again, this is my best friend Andrew, his older sister, um, Andrea picked me up.
I can't remember where we were going, but I remember the van picked me up. I got in the van, I was high as hell. You know, I've been smoking some good ass weed. Uh, and they're playing Dre day. And it's,
and I'm like, oh shit. It's a loop. That's when it hit me. You know? It was like,
I was like, oh
[00:37:00] my God, it loops the drums loop. Everything is looping, you know? And it was just like this moment. Where it all, where I'm like, oh, what? You know, I'm like, and that, I think that's what's when rhythm started unlocking for me.
'cause like I said, I'd already started DJing, but I had no rhythm. But then I was like, oh my God, it's 1, 2, 3, 4. I get it. What? I get what everybody's saying. 1, 2, 3, 4. You know? I get it. The rhythm
[00:37:25] Sidney Evans: caught
[00:37:25] DJ Ben Ha Meen: you, man, and you never let it go. Yeah. And then it was like, and then, but even [00:37:30] later, like I started producing, like I was always the cat who would tell other people because I just couldn't get it.
Like what Dre was saying, I could not put my soul into a machine. I couldn't figure it out. Mm-hmm.
I would
always tell people, okay, here's a loop, you know, chop it up like this, you know, or do something like this, or you know, here's what you can do with your song. Do this better. So I would tell people like that, but I never did it myself until about four going on five now.
I'm not sure exactly when a Serato studio came out and I got my hands on that. [00:38:00] And I was doing a lot of weddings at the time and I was just really frustrated where I, where I was at in my career and how everything was going. I was like, I gotta do something else. And I know if I make dance music, it'll get me to where I want to be as a dj.
You know, I want to be, mm, you know, one of those DJs who's out touring, playing his own music or playing their own music. So that's what I was really working at doing and it just, again, it's the changing ears that I just think is so incredible. Like the way my ears hear music now is so [00:38:30] different than a few years ago than before I started producing.
And that's why I just always tell people, explore these things, man. Don't, you know, never think you can't do something. Just do it, you know, it might be a lot of work. You're gonna make a lot of terrible ish, I'm, I'll make a dope ass track and then I'll make, you know, 20 wat joints in between. And I'm like, damn, will I ever made something dope again?
Yeah. But
yeah, that's, and
[00:38:54] Sidney Evans: oh man, I, I, it's, it is, I'm, I'm literally, this, this is literally the stage where I'm at right [00:39:00] now.
[00:39:00] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah. Making
[00:39:01] Sidney Evans: and producing like, it is, like, you are, you just want to, you, you can't give you, you want to give up so bad 'cause you're like, it's just not translated. I can't articulate it.
And then you catch it and it's like that high mo, that moment is worth all that frustration you had like that. But, and then for me it was just like, when you do make, like, you know, I, I could, I could do decent drums, but it's like playing my own melodies. 'cause I'm not, I don't know how to, you know, so I, I'm just [00:39:30] figuring it out.
And then that first one I did and I was like, oh, that was, I, I feel like I didn't even do that. Like, who did that? I I, I didn't do that. I can't do that. That's the best
[00:39:39] DJ Ben Ha Meen: feeling.
[00:39:39] Sidney Evans: I cannot do that. And then you capture it and you're like, wow. Like it's just a, a appreciation for just that creative process. So, um, and, but most people give up before they get to that point.
[00:39:52] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yep. And no, it's, uh, I was with, uh, my, another one, like I say, Howard, my brother DJ arson and sues the heat makers, you [00:40:00] know, did everything for Cam, Jim, everybody in the world at this point. And I was in the studio with him last week and he is like, man, Ben is a producer. You're, what you're gonna go through is, you know, the first couple years you'll hear something and you'll think, okay, I can sample this, but you won't know how to do it.
And then as you keep doing it, you'll be able to sample anything. Oh, okay. You know, you'll be to chop up anything because it's just, you know, you'll hear it differently. You'll be able to figure out how to do this. And he's so Right. 'cause. There's certain tracks I started on and I, I just like, okay, I want to remake this [00:40:30] and then I could not get it and then I came back to it.
Or like you said, there's tracks. I did from the very first time I jumped on it and I made it. I dunno how to, did I figure out that chop? Like that was, I thinking, you know, I, I don't know how somebody else did that drink and that's not me, but it is you. It's just, again, everything comes through practice and repetition.
[00:40:51] Sidney Evans: Alright, so let's move things along a little bit. Um, and I'm not sure how much time has passed to where you ended the story now, boy, I'm about to jump to, but, um, I [00:41:00] wanna talk about the book, man. Like that's a whole, the, the, as in particular the Jimi Hendrix one. Um, and like, what was the first moment you had like an i the idea to do it or the inspiration and how long did it take you to like actually execute on it and like, what did you learn as far as having to.
Navigate everything that it takes to put out a book, whether it's a novel or a graphic novel, or any type of book. Just [00:41:30] coming out, what I did for a book and then having a physical book in your hand is a hell of a process. So I want to know what that looked like for you.
[00:41:38] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Well, like you said in the intro, I've done two books at this point.
The first one I did was, uh, Jimmy, he, I mean, sorry, the first one was The World of Yours, my children's book, and that was self-published. And that came about because like I said, I wrote this poem when I was incarcerated, and then my friend, again, Howard, my friend Marcus Saline, he's another, he was, he was that, [00:42:00] I talk about him like this all time.
Like he was in, he was in my dorm with me and that was, that dude was who I thought was a prodigy, you know, he was just good at everything. He could dj, he could break dance, he could do graffiti, he could rap. You know, he could produce, oh my God, the beats he used to make off of this old, we had a eight second sampler on this mixer.
All you could do is say, stop, start. And this man would do. It was just insane. He was so gifted. I just was like, I used to hate him, you know? Like I never saw him [00:42:30] practice anything and he would just so good. But then, you know, years later he was like, nah man, I just put in work. You know? He was like, that's all I did, you know, you just didn't see me when, you know, I'd come to your room and be doing it, but that's all I did.
You know? And it is like, he was just that good. So he saw the poem and he was like, yo, this is perfect children's. Put material. Let's do it. I'll paint it. Boom, boom, boom. So we did a little Kickstarter, raised some money, not nearly enough money. I did not know, you know, how much it costs or that I should actually pay [00:43:00] myself with this Kickstarter or any of those things.
Pay myself for Marcus. I didn't think of any of that. So we raised just enough to publish it, and then we published it. And at the time, you know, we, we paid whatever for the copies we made and we did our first printing, which were pretty much al down to, there's only a, I don't know how many, it's less than a few hundred copies left for the first printing now.
And so we've been selling it like that, you know, pretty much out the trunk ever since. So that was a lot of learning about, [00:43:30] uh, pricing and, you know, what things are worth and how to make sure that you're getting paid what you're worth. But it was also a insane experience because I've had people for years now tell me that was their children's favorite book.
You know, I know someone right now, a little 7-year-old who loves it to death, you know? And so it's just, it's so rewarding in that fashion. So that was just, and to this day is just something I'm so happy for and so proud of. And just so you know, overjoyed that we got to do. [00:44:00] And then Jimi Hendrix Trump's about because.
Long and, you know, trying to make it as short as possible. I, uh, I meet this brother Melo Brown on Twitter, I think is when we first met, and this is when I first came home from prison again. And Melo was younger than me, but he just felt like a little brother that I never had. You know, it was like, it just felt like meeting someone who was just like you, you know?
And yeah, so we just, you know, me and Melo just instantly clipped. We were both into [00:44:30] film. He was doing a lot of tech stuff, but we just instantly started talking about script writing. He was like, yo, I have some connections in Hollywood and stuff. I'm again, sitting in DC like, oh, cool. I don't know anybody out there.
That'd be great. So we started writing and stuff and wrote some scripts together and, you know, just be, remain friends. As the years went on and I started doing the podcast, moved to New York, we saw the For All Nerds, and at one point doing for All Nerds we're, I mean, to this day we're still interviewing all kind of luminaries [00:45:00] in the business and stuff.
And I'm sitting there like, yo. I'm interviewing everyone and they mama who runs shows, showrunners, executives, things of that nature. One, these people can get me into the game. And so I just started putting out into the dean verse, you know, Tatiana, my podcast partner says, you said it, you were like, yo, this year I'm gonna get into, you know, a writer film.
And so pretty much every person we interviewed, I asked, yo, how do you get into a writer's room? How, you know, what did up? And the one who it worked out before was [00:45:30] Brian Fuller, who is, you know, creator of too many shows. But at the time, they were working on American Gods. And so they asked me, you know, after they were interviewed, they're like, Hey, I'm looking for writers.
You know what's up. And so I submitted a script, me and Melo. Yeah, me and Melo submitted a script. It was, it was a rush job. So it wasn't very good, but it was good enough where it got us into a meeting with Brian and Michael Green, who is the other showrunner, is also a legend. And we [00:46:00] gave them all these ideas for season two and they were like, oh, okay.
This is great stuff. We have to have them in. And they fought for us because we didn't have representation anything at the time. And we got into the writer's room for season two of American gods. And so Melo and I moved to California. Yeah, man. And it was one of those, like, I'm sitting there DJing and doing podcasting in New York, in Brooklyn.
And then like, you know, we submit the script a couple months, drove by and then [00:46:30] they hit us up like, okay, you got the job And it was, you had to, we moved like that week, I think. I think I moved like later on that week. It was quick. So I was out in Cali and we worked on that for a while. The show didn't really go the way it should of Michael and them got fired.
We left, uh, Meow. Kept working in Hollywood. I had to move back out here 'cause I had a lot of personal things going at at time. So Melo stayed working and did some shows and did pretty [00:47:00] well. And then at the same time he started writing comic books. He started writing the Blade Runner comic book for Titan Publishing and that's joined for a few years.
I'm back in New York. I'm again, I'm at this point in life where I'm thinking, okay, I'm, you know, I've messed up my chance in Hollywood. Me and Melo weren't even talking as much at the time and I didn't think I was gonna write again. I was kind of burnt out too. I didn't really like Hollywood. My experience there wasn't the best.
It's a very interesting place. And so [00:47:30] I'm like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna keep doing this podcast. I'm gonna keep DJing and we'll see what happens. And then Melo calls me up one day and it was so funny because another friend of mine, Isaac Goodheart, who's a really big comic artist, I'm at New York Comic Con fact, this is, I wanna say five years ago now.
And I'm at New York Comic Con and Isaac's like, yo, what you doing with the writing bin? I'm like, uh, fuck writing Isaac. You know, I hate Hollywood. He's like, nah, man, you need just write a comic book. You write a Twop page, trauma book, and I'll draw it. [00:48:00] And I'm like, shit. Well, if Isaac's gonna draw it, you know, I'm have to do it.
So I start coming up with ideas and I go back to New York ComicCon the next day, and I start telling Isaac these ideas. He's like, okay, that's dope. That's dope. We can, you know, pitch that to heavy metal and we'll get it, you know, in there, da da. I'm like, cool, why not? You know? Let's see what happens. And then that night Mellow calls me up and is like, yo, I'm, you know, Titan asked me to pitch on this Jimi Hendrix comma book, and the first person I thought of was, you, would you be interested in, you know, writing this or [00:48:30] at least pitching it with me?
And I'm like, fuck it, Melo. You know, you're my brother. Of course I do that. So. You know, we, uh, came up with the idea and pitched it, and I know that was a very long answer to how I got to, um, pitching on it, and I didn't even answer where it came from. So, yeah. But that's how we started the pitch.
[00:48:54] Sidney Evans: That's how, okay.
That's how you started it. So you, how, like, do you took that, you did that meeting, [00:49:00] like, was that the one, was that the only one you did or No, no,
[00:49:03] DJ Ben Ha Meen: no. It was, um, we, we basically, like Melo was working for Titan and so he had a relationship with Titan and they had been working on this Jimmy Hendricks project for a few years trying to get it off the ground.
It just hadn't worked out for various reasons with various writers and artists. And so the only real idea they had was that they didn't want it to be a traditional biography. They wanted it to have fantasy sci-fi type elements in it. So that was pretty much [00:49:30] all they had. And then Melo and I just had a lot of ideas.
You know, me being a dj, I've had a lot of ideas about black music and about what I call like the river of black music for my whole life, or especially since I got into music Heavy. 'cause I, as I said before, I studied it. So I became a real interested in how black music has evolved and changed. But it's always been what I say as blues, you know, we've always made a variation of [00:50:00] blues music in America and hip hop is just a culmination of that.
So I was just always very interested in that. And so I was like, oh, you know, here's Jimi Hendrix who's part of this river of black music, so I can talk about this idea in this book. So that was my real drive and impetus. I was like, okay, I gotta do this. This is such a perfect vehicle to talk about this.
And, and then one of the pitches we did was that we felt that Jimi Hendrix wasn't recognized [00:50:30] enough as a black man and being part of the pantheon of black music. You know, James Brown, et cetera, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, you know, all those names come to mind, but people don't mention Jimi enough to us.
And so we are like, that's, and Janie Hendrix, who's Jimmy's little sister and runs to his, his state, we had to pitch to them. And so we went to her and we're like, yo, this is what we want us to tell. This is the story we wanna tell. And we went through, you know, a few meetings back and forth with them and, [00:51:00] but they were, you know.
Extremely interested and something I'm really grateful for is that we really, in the end of it all, got to tell the story that we wanted to tell. It's the story that's in the graphic novels pretty much. There's, I, I can't say there's anything that I didn't wanna put in there that's not in there. It's all in there and it's what I wanted, what we wanted to talk about, and I feel that we really told that story pretty well.
So, um, you know, something I'm super proud of and the [00:51:30] process really took about three years.
[00:51:32] Sidney Evans: Mm-hmm. Wow. A three man. That's, um, you touched on a lot, but just the last point is like, we just, you know, accept things in society because there's so much available to us. Like, you know, movies, TV shows, books, all this stuff, and these are, these things don't just, you know.
Happened by osmosis. Like people work on these [00:52:00] things, people grind it out. Like, and for me, the ultimate form of that is like making a movie. But even with what you went through as three year process to do, um, a book, it's a different style of book. It's a unique style of book. And I'm sure that's partly why it took so long is to make sure to get it just how ev you know, that was in a way that everybody was happy with it.
But it, it all started with no, as far as you getting in a writer's room where you know somebody like, you know, like standing up for you, fighting [00:52:30] for you. Um, and sometimes, you know, like in life we, there's a lot we can control, but some things are just out of our control. You can't, you, you can't, you know, select someone to say you, hey, fight for me.
No, they have to choose to do it. You know what I'm saying? Um, and so you just getting that opportunity and then, but the, you know, like you said, like because of your experience as a DJ gave you ideas. To put into the book is like a combination of [00:53:00] everything that you had kind of done up to this point. You was able to put it into that.
So, and I think that's, you know, as, as you know, we've only known, known each other for a short time, but for somebody who, who lived this in is very true to this. Like, that's the most important part. Part of creativity, which goes into all of this, is just like the you part of it. Having, taking that experience all, everything you had and you know, that can fuel you creative and career wise.
And I, I've [00:53:30] seen the book, um, and I know you, you I've seen being, being, it, being promoted, but it looks like it was some amazing work done. You can tell that, you know, a lot of things that turn out to be great things or successful things is. People put a lot of what they went through into it. And I feel like I can just get that, that vibe, that feel, without even knowing the story behind it.
Now that I know the story, it just kind of solidifies it. So I think that's, that's super cool and dope, man. Um, I what, [00:54:00] before we wrap things up our, is there, what's like the next creative thing you like that's sparking you or that you are waiting? Is it, has it not hit yet? Sometimes you're kind of waiting for that revelation.
Sometimes, um, you might be in a moment where you know, it has come to you and you're kind of planning out how you going to take that next step.
[00:54:19] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Mm, that's a good one. Uh, I'm one of those people who has a hard time appreciating anything I've done, so I'm always [00:54:30] like, okay, what's, what am I doing next? And. I, I still didn't feel like I promoted the book enough this year.
Like I didn't go to go to nearly enough, uh, comic cons and things of that nature. So I'm gonna do more of that next year. That's one thing, uh, that I'm gonna continue to do as far as what's next. Creatively, as always, like I said, I'm always doing fall nerd show. I'm always DJing somewhere. I've really become very [00:55:00] focused on releasing music now.
Like I released a couple songs last year, a couple remixes I did. But now I'm to the point where I've really stacked up a bunch of joints and I'm really getting to the point where I'm like, okay, I can make new joints and I can make more great songs. And I'm working with a couple of singers actually right now, to put together some tracks to some music that I've done.
So that's probably my next big thing is during a release, like a four song EP [00:55:30] or, or a short little project, something like that, within September, October or so. And then keep really releasing a, because I have a lot more music stacked up. So I understood, keep releasing music after that and really push this idea and, you know, focus on getting, uh, becoming more of a international tour dj.
So that's really my next goal in life is to do that. And then I have another, [00:56:00] I'm not a hundred percent sure what it's gonna be at if it's a comic book, a movie, or a TV show, but I have an idea that I. I had for a long time. Again, they're going through various permutations and I changes, but now it's, I got a pretty solidified idea and I've been talking to Melo about it.
He like it. So I'm really like, okay, I need to clamp this down. I talked about that documentary I wanna do about my time in Dubai. And then Melo has another movie idea that he really wants me, me to work on, but he's [00:56:30] finishing another movie right now. And then probably by the end of this year we'll start on that.
So, oh yeah,
[00:56:35] Sidney Evans: the, this, oh yeah. You're, uh, you got a lot of things to chip away yet, man. So,
[00:56:41] DJ Ben Ha Meen: and I never feel like I'm doing enough. So it's just, that's, that's just me, man. And like, I'm wearing, uh, fall Nerds. We have our merch out and we're really pushing this. We, we wanna be one of the, because I feel like there's just not enough, uh, really dope like clothing for.
[00:57:00] Cool geeks, you know,
[00:57:01] Sidney Evans: like yeah, a a lot of most 99% of stuff is, is super corny.
[00:57:05] DJ Ben Ha Meen: It's so corny, man. And it's like, it's not even a need to be corny. It, I always hate it when it's like the one, one of my big pet peeves. It's like, it'll be a big picture of Wolverine, it'll be some dope, you know, gem Lee or some fantastic art, and then it'll say Wolverine on it.
Like Negro. I know it's Wolverine, like bru, you know, all you needed was the picture. You just ruined it. And so that's, you know, one of my things, even though I actually have a Doom [00:57:30] shirt that has doom on it, but you know, it's kind of different. But
[00:57:32] Sidney Evans: yeah, when you got cool stuff like this, like the, the, you don't have to do much.
Like the quickness is already built into it. Yeah. You don't have to put something on top of it now you're like undoing it in a way. So, yeah.
[00:57:42] DJ Ben Ha Meen: And it, you're making it corny to me. And so we want that fly ish. So that's what, you know, like I got on. The sis happens design and, uh, you can get our designs@forallnerds.com.
So please check that out. And that's one of, you know, for all nerds is like one of my life missions. Honestly. It's, [00:58:00] it's just something I feel so proud and strongly about. And again, a lot of things in life I've done, I've made money, but a lot of the, I, I made money in other ways 'cause my passions are, they're not always financially rewarding.
Mm-hmm.
But they've been tremendously rewarding in other ways. Like the way that we've changed people's lives with, for all nerds and the way that we've moved the culture even, and helped to just, you know, let people know that [00:58:30] there's a space for them. That there's a safe space for being a geek, for being yourself, for being a weirdo, for being queer, for being out there, for being all these type of things.
That's so important to me. And so that. I'll do that till the end of time for no money. If there is nothing in it, I'll always be doing this mission of for all nerds.
[00:58:50] Sidney Evans: Yes. I, I, I wish I could, uh, broadcast this to the world because I guess tell me when I release it. I am. Yeah. But I know what you mean. [00:59:00] We always want more to hear it.
Yeah. Yeah. But if I can make sure everybody see it, it would, that statement you just made is, um. Because, you know, hustle culture, man, like every, you do not have to monetize everything in your life. Like I, I I promise you, like it is, it can actually set you up better in the long run because I, it, it, I don't, I don't even want to go down that rabbit hole.
But yes, you, you can have hobbies, you can just do things, um, for the good, for, for, for [00:59:30] the, for, you know, the culture, so to speak. Just you can, you can pay it forward in other ways by just, you know, um, throwing money at things. That's not always the best way to, I'm gonna check out the merch too, 'cause I'm, I'm a cop something 'cause that now that because shirt, especially since you highlighted it, um, I'm intrigued.
So I wanna see what else y'all got.
[00:59:49] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Word thank you. Please do. And yeah, for all nerds.com for everyone. And then two things I wanted to say on what you said. One is a lesson I learned from Kara one a long time ago phrase, I never, or try not to make money off [01:00:00] of things you love. You know, and that's, that's always messed with me 'cause I've definitely loved DJing and I made money off of it and I've loved filmmaking.
I made money off it. But what he was saying is like, don't do it where it's gonna corrupt that love. And that's something that I've always, you know, worked, that's staying true to, like, I'm not gonna, I won't make movies for money. I'm not gonna write a comic book for money. I'm not gonna write some nonsense that I don't believe in.
You know, I'm not gonna DJ much. I don't really DJ much. I don't believe in, you know, I do a lot of. You know, these days I do a lot of weddings and stuff, so I'm really just, you [01:00:30] know, making people happy on their happy day. I'm not playing, you know, shoot 'em up, shoot 'em up, type music or that, things of that nature.
And then the other thing for you, brother, is I wanna say is like, one lesson I really learned is I read this book once and one of the lessons I learned from it is you start revolutions by changing one person a hundred percent. You don't start revolutions by changing a hundred people 1%. So it's like, it doesn't matter about, you know, reaching the world, it matters about reaching that one person, you know, or like, uh, the dose of what, uh, take it from [01:01:00] two short, two short.
It was always like, I don't make, I albums for everyone. I'm, I think of the greatest two short fan, the, you know, man who loves two short more than anything. And then I make albums for him.
[01:01:11] Sidney Evans: Oh, okay. You know, or them.
[01:01:13] DJ Ben Ha Meen: You know, and that's like, and so that's how I think, you know, I don't, look, I'm not making for all nerds, for everyone.
I'm not writing Jimi Hendrix for everyone. I'm writing it for specific people to change specific people's minds or to, you know, give people a different thought process, whatever it is. [01:01:30] But I, you know, it's not for everyone. You know, everyone can get to it. But, you know, it's like I want to change the world.
And by doing that, I'm trying to change people, not the world. You know, you gotta start with each person. Yeah. Your influence is much bigger than you think it is, is what I try and tell people. Don't look at them numbers. 'cause I get caught up on, man, I get so sick looking at our YouTube numbers. I just like, yo God, I wish I was Joe Biden.
You know? But it's like, no, you have to be, you know, you gotta start from the grind and you have to [01:02:00] know that, you know, the work is what is important. Not the recognition.
[01:02:05] Sidney Evans: Yes. Uh, yeah. Yeah. That, that's very true, man. I was just looking. Uh, prepping, prepar prepping for this interview. I was, I just took a peek at the podcast.
Listens. I was like, I was like, uh, then I was like, man, what? Just. Just many people was actually in a room. I'd be like, this is a lot of damn people. So I had to put it into perspective,
[01:02:23] DJ Ben Ha Meen: you know, Tatiana said that, like we were talking to a Kickstarter, uh, dude as this, uh, Kickstarter and he has like, you know, [01:02:30] 57 people supporting it and he hasn't made his, you know, goal yet.
But Tatiana's like, yo, if you have 57 people in the. Saying, here's money, you know, you would be bought out. You know, you would think that's crazy. You know, like, here's money for an idea, you have buddy. You know, like, that's crazy. But people don't look at it like that, you know? Yeah. So if you have, you know, 10 listeners, you know, you still gotta think that's 10 people who stopped and listened to what I said, you know, that's hard to do if you walk out on the [01:03:00] street.
It's hard to get 10 people to stop and listen to you for an hour, fam. You know what I mean? So,
[01:03:04] Sidney Evans: yeah, for real.
[01:03:06] DJ Ben Ha Meen: You gonna have to take that, you know?
[01:03:07] Sidney Evans: That's, that's real. That's, that's a good perspective, man. I appreciate that.
[01:03:10] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah, no, trust me, it's something I battle with because I'm constant, I'm always like, ah, you know, but then I'm reminded of those things, you know, when people, you know, I've had people say things like, you know, how much that show is meant to the mind?
It's like, I mean, things that are mind blowing to me just dated the way it's affected people. Like, I'm like, wow, you know, that's [01:03:30] so, it's like I'll never stop it because of that.
[01:03:32] Sidney Evans: So that's, that's the most rewarding thing, man. Um, all right, so last segment. Um, I usually say like the more lighthearted, fun segment, but I feel like we've been, been weaving in and outta that.
Yeah. Nothing was s lighthearted with me. We, we done pretty much, we done pretty much covered all bases, um, on this episode, but, um, always in each with a set, a few questions just to, uh, sometimes we, you know, we touch on 'em in the episode, but just to get an idea of your taste [01:04:00] and what's kind of like the, the soundtrack to your life.
And, um, I made the John Williams reference and we almost went down a rabbit hole, but I wanted, I wanted to save you for the end here. So, uh, man, y'all gotta
[01:04:09] DJ Ben Ha Meen: list. Catch that, catch me if you can. And I'll tell you another one real quick. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The Jurassic World, because Jurassic World, like Jurassic Park, like it didn't, you know, I loved it, you know, as a kid watching a movie and stuff, but it was New York ComicCon like.
This was about eight years ago now. I can't remember, but when you walked into the main hall at one of the, one of the entrances, they had the [01:04:30] Jurassic Park gates covering it. And so as you walked in this Miss Tam, you and that store played and I was like, I felt like a God superhero walking through that joint.
Every time it
[01:04:41] Sidney Evans: is John Williams is something else that score it, it makes you feel like you're flying. Like that's literally what it makes it feel like. Yes. It's just crazy. Yeah. Yo, he's a monster. He, he, he definitely is. So I'm, but uh, later you gonna have to pick one film score. So start thinking about that now.
But, um, first one is, [01:05:00] um, all music is going away. You can only one project you can just listen to forever. Not right now, but for, for eternity and you just had to pick one album, uh, what would the album be? And the reason why I didn't say your favorite, because those are two different questions. Yeah, they are.
'cause you gotta in, in the context of this, you gotta consider long-term replayability. That's the most important thing. And then you have other smaller factors, but very [01:05:30] different question.
[01:05:31] DJ Ben Ha Meen: It's gonna have to be sign of the Times Prince because one, it's a double album. So at least I give myself a little bit more, you know, since it's the only album I have.
[01:05:42] Sidney Evans: Yeah. Not only to miss more songs, but you give you a break from the other ones.
[01:05:46] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yes. And it has a door on it, which to me is de greatest song ever written. And I could listen to over and over again and probably never, well, I would, I would, you know, it would drive me outta my mind if I heard it, you [01:06:00] know, repeatedly for the rest of my life.
But if I could just listen to that album repeatedly, I'd probably, you know, I'd be all right. I take days off and stuff, but yeah, I, you know.
[01:06:08] Sidney Evans: Okay. That's a, um, that's, I think that's a first, not a first, first Prince reference, but first, as far as the, the list. So
[01:06:16] DJ Ben Ha Meen: what else have people chosen?
[01:06:18] Sidney Evans: Um, I mean, we're kind of, most of the guests have been kind of like my age, millennials, I would say 30 to 35.
Couple, a couple ones younger than that, but, um, a lot of, lot of [01:06:30] hip hop. So like, uh. Lauren Lau Hill. Um, that's a good one, I guess. Well, miseducation Fuji. Yeah. Um, 1, 1, 1 person said, uh, it was the first episode of the podcast, actually. Um, it was one of the, uh, who, the wine, like one of the whinings albums from like the late eighties.
Wow. That's a good one. Probably. Yeah. Like I'd already, I know a grandma put you up on that, but, um, or, or, or, or an older auntie. [01:07:00] Yeah. I was never, you just picked that up when you four years old. Nah,
[01:07:04] DJ Ben Ha Meen: I was never a wines fan like that either, but I know they got, I know, I, you know, like you, if you gonna have to hear some gospel, you know, it's like, might as well go for that.
Yeah.
[01:07:11] Sidney Evans: Yeah. That's like the Goat Gospel family. Mm-hmm. Um, all right, we go up to the next one. Uh, that's
[01:07:17] DJ Ben Ha Meen: straight. Yeah. The hip hop would probably be, it'd still be older, but like, if it was something hip hop, I could, I'd take something like damn recently, you know? Yeah. It just hip hop doesn't, I don't know the musicality.
I [01:07:30] need more of it. If I'm, that's all I'm gonna freaking hear, you know? That's all
[01:07:34] Sidney Evans: I need more, a little more, need more balanced.
[01:07:36] DJ Ben Ha Meen: I mean, Lauren is a great one. 'cause Yeah, I can listen to et factor over and over and over again. Like, yeah. That, that, that's,
[01:07:42] Sidney Evans: that's one of them. Just stop everything you're doing to listen songs, man.
Yeah. Um, alright. I, I, I, I wish for the second, but for the second time, we gotta get to the next one, which is, uh, favorite mu music producer. I'm, I'm gonna just, I'm gonna give you the easy ride out. Just say fa and just [01:08:00] say Favorite I You struggle with the last one, so I got you. This is worse.
If you was making a track, if you was the artist who'd the producer be? Let me, let's, let's say that,
[01:08:15] DJ Ben Ha Meen: yeah. The one and only shot GAKA, Humpty Hump. AKA, the piano man. A-K-A-I-I wanted to be a member of Digital Underground as a kid. That was like my. You know, and I met Sha once, and I feel like even then I didn't get to tell him, you know, like, [01:08:30] you are, you know, rest in peace to that brother.
Like you are God to me. You know? Like, I, I just, it, it was, it's everything. You know? It's the musicality, it's the genius of being, you know, rapping the Shot G, and it is Humpty Hump. Mm-hmm. You know, of creating this whole digital underground of all these different members, you know, of bringing Tupac out, you know?
Mm-hmm. He did so many tears for Pac, like that beat alone, you know, so many tears. I get around like shock G Man. Yeah, no. If I was ever, you know, I wanted to be a [01:09:00] member of Digital Underground, so that's a perfect way, like Premier was my God, as a kid, you know, and got me into DJing and still is one of them.
And then there's like Quincy Jones, you know, who's, you know, Quincy Jones, and then Dr. Dre, you know, and DJ Quick, who I think is unheralded. But Shot G. Yeah. Thank you. Fucking quick. Like
[01:09:19] Sidney Evans: yeah, I feel like, would you say Shock G might be like the East Coast quick kind, you know what I'm saying? No, he's West, you
[01:09:24] DJ Ben Ha Meen: know, shot G's
[01:09:25] Sidney Evans: Oakland.
That's
[01:09:26] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Oakland too. Oh, okay. He is West. Oh, okay. Yeah. And that the Him and Quick [01:09:30] are like two of the ones, but, but quick, like if you want, you know, like Shock is my favorite, but as a producer, quick is like, you know, people don't get it, you know, when it comes to quick. Yes, yes. He needs, yeah, he's on that Rushmore like, you know, he don't, they don't get it.
It's like how they don't get even like Timbaland, you know, early Tim and you know, and Neptunes, you know, people don't get, you know, like what they really did, you know, like you gotta put them up there with the Dres or the Dillas, you know, you gotta put quick with the Dilla. And that's what I don't think people get, [01:10:00] you know?
[01:10:00] Sidney Evans: Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you don't know if you are, if you're a purist or from that area, you would know, but most people about Quick. Yeah. And he was one of those type of people, like he could probably. Drink 10 beers and smoke 10 blunts and still do something amazing. And, and not, you know what I'm saying? It is just like, and to make
[01:10:17] DJ Ben Ha Meen: anything like, like the album he did with Corrupt is like, you know, some of them beats are so East Coast, so like, you know, and then he'll make the, you know, he's the, you know, king of West, but he, he's man, quick, [01:10:30] quick as the name boy,
[01:10:32] Sidney Evans: I haven't done that in while.
[01:10:40] DJ Ben Ha Meen: He's just, he ain't right. You know, like, they're like, like I was reading recently, they said he'll start, he'll make a beat and like as he's doing the drums, he's already loaded all his plugins in, so the drums already sound crazy. And he's been doing that since jump, like mm-hmm. He would premix. I'm like, oh yeah.
[01:10:57] Sidney Evans: Like, oh, I can understand that though, because when you, [01:11:00] in the moment, you just want it to hit, you don't want to have to think about none of that other stuff. Yeah.
[01:11:03] DJ Ben Ha Meen: But it's also, how do you think like that, you know, and that, and then, and Gruer is like, nah, bro, like when he, you know, you're mixing board, he'll take stuff apart.
Like, he's like, that dude is a genius. You know, he's like, it ain't right, you know? So I always mention quick, but shot G, you know, it's shock G. Okay. Man. Yeah. To produce the miss that brother. Yeah. All I cry.
[01:11:23] Sidney Evans: That's a new one too.
[01:11:25] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah, I'm sure. No. 'cause he don't, it's like people don't know. Yeah. People don't get it.
How [01:11:30] sick he was like, go listen to do what you like and the piano playing he does on do what you like at the end. He like runs through all the song. He runs through all these different melodies of like, Al be sure he does, uh, bid, bid Daddy ka. That's like way before the roots. You know what I mean? It was like mm-hmm.
You know, that man was, nah.
[01:11:50] Sidney Evans: All right. Uh, next one, last two, next one. Um, favorite film score
[01:12:00] or soundtrack?
[01:12:01] DJ Ben Ha Meen: That's worse. Nah,
[01:12:04] Sidney Evans: I guess that that give you more, the more it gives you, there's too many options now. Yeah. That
[01:12:09] DJ Ben Ha Meen: makes it way worse is when you start doing soundtrack. 'cause I'm from that era, you know, where like them, you know, like the, you know, waiting to exhale above the rim. The Love Jones was good too.
Love Jones. Oh god damn bro. Got boom, boomerang, boomerang got, uh, feels like heaven. Like there is like, man, there's so, yeah. [01:12:30] Damn.
[01:12:30] Sidney Evans: Yeah. End of the Road is on Boomerang Sounds ever. That's not even, and
[01:12:32] DJ Ben Ha Meen: that's not even on that, that's not even the jam like that. And, and it's not
[01:12:36] Sidney Evans: like that's one of the best songs.
It's not even on the album. It's on that soundtrack, you know. So, yeah.
[01:12:40] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Now that for me, people used a Benor Beamer, my favorite, like Outkast is my favorite. Like when you talk about an album I could probably listen to as like at Aliens or Kini and Benor Beamer is probably one of my favorite Outkast tracks and it's on the New Jersey Drive soundtrack.
Like, it's like, you know, and that is like the greatest song ever to me. You know, it's like in my top 10 hip [01:13:00] hop songs. Mm-hmm. On this random ass soundtrack. So I about to say that
[01:13:03] Sidney Evans: was, that's the thing. There was a lot of really good songs on like terrible movies or very mediocre movies.
[01:13:08] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Very, I've never seen New Jersey Tribe
[01:13:11] Sidney Evans: Brother.
I'm over here. Like, I guess I'm about like, I know what that is, but New Jersey Drive. I don't, I ain't, I've, I've never heard of
[01:13:18] DJ Ben Ha Meen: it. I, I know of it, but I've never seen it. But Benzo Beamer is on there. Uh, queen Tifah got this joint in New Jersey that's on there. That's incredible. You know, but I've never seen that damn movie.
[01:13:30] Um, so I'm gonna go, that's too hard, man. But I, I, yeah, it's, it's, doesn't have to be Star Wars, you know, empire Strike bat, just for like, you know, defining my life. And then catch me and then catch me if you can, for being one of them later. Ill ones that. And then, uh, black Panther, a recent one.
[01:13:47] Sidney Evans: Oh yeah,
[01:13:48] DJ Ben Ha Meen: man.
Ludwig, you know that. Yeah.
[01:13:51] Sidney Evans: Low wisdom is he's that guy, man,
[01:13:53] DJ Ben Ha Meen: that, that door, that door that, that shit is like, you know, that's, that's one of them top 10, you [01:14:00] know? Oh, you did that brother. You know? Oh yeah.
[01:14:03] Sidney Evans: I, I know for people who like relisting, you, you gonna hear this a lot when I ask this question. But, but for me, um, I don't know.
It's either between Home Alone or Mortal Kombat because the Mortal Kombat one is crazy.
[01:14:15] DJ Ben Ha Meen: That's, you know, it's funny 'cause I was just, you, I guess it's like the anniversary of Mortal Kombat, so it's like all these retrospectives and I, I was reading with the Dire, I read one with the director and they were talking about the score and I, and just reading it, I've seen it, but I'm like, I gotta go rewatch Mortal Kombat.
[01:14:29] Sidney Evans: [01:14:30] Oh yeah. I rem as a kid. I remember like the music having more of an impact me than the, than the actual scenes like that. Yeah. Just. I don't know. Like they went so it was so untraditional, like, 'cause I think originally they wanted to like put commercial lot style music in it. Mm. And it wouldn't have fit the movie.
Like how they did it is what fits. It needed like something with some tempo and kind of housey and I don't know where, know what genre it is, but it was very like, [01:15:00] kick drama heavy. So that's why I went to Tour's House. 'cause Nice. That's defines of drama. But yeah, mortal Kombat and then Home Alone One as a kid just affect that movie affected me more in a way emotionally than any other movie in my life.
So that's why I have to say that.
[01:15:12] DJ Ben Ha Meen: I gotta see that one again too, because I don't, I don't know the story for nothing, but I, I, you know, I know that movie. And another reason when I gotta add in is the Avengers Man. Because there's something about that, like, you know, and I'm like, yay. Or Lord of the Rings, you know?
It's a lot, man. It's hard, [01:15:30] you know, 'cause Yeah. But Avengers, that's, that's the one for me right now. 'cause. As soon as I hear that, I get so amped, you know, I'm just ready to fight. Like, let's go.
[01:15:39] Sidney Evans: Yeah. Okay. Um, all right, man. Last one. A lot more simple, but maybe not. No. No. Easier. Um, yeah. Favorite TV theme song.
Everybody does that. Look, they gotta dig deep for this. They always ask this. They, uh, yeah. I always did like the longest silence when I ask this question.
[01:15:58] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah. I believe it. [01:16:00] Because there's, you know, it's like growing up it was the copy show, but they changed that every year and it was so, you know, so like, and none of those really, and then there's like s files, but that's not really a, you know, that's more like that.
Yeah. It's that little teaser or whatever. Um, the Wonder Years. But that's like, again, that's a, you know, that's a song, you know, that's just a, it is a song. But that was my show,
[01:16:25] Sidney Evans: man, man. And that I was the only, I was the only kid watching that type of stuff [01:16:30] at that age.
[01:16:30] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Bru. Yeah. You're younger than me, so you were definitely, but I, I was, I mean, I was a kid and I was in love with Winnie, you know what I mean?
Mm-hmm. I was like, oh God. And that's, and that was like the first time I ever heard that song. I remember when the, you know, the show premiered and I was like, yo, this is a jam. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm.
[01:16:46] Sidney Evans: Mm-hmm.
[01:16:47] DJ Ben Ha Meen: I was like, what is this song? This is a jam.
[01:16:50] Sidney Evans: The song is a jam. Definitely. And the, and who Winnie was to you?
Topanga was to me, man, as well. Yeah. I
[01:16:58] DJ Ben Ha Meen: was a little older, but I feel you, [01:17:00] you go, Topanga was something special. Oh, uh, yeah. So I'd say maybe the, but, and then I recently, or not, not even that recent now, but um, the wire.
Okay.
But again, that's a song, you know, it's like those are songs that they use for it, but you know that the Way Down in the Devil and all the different variations of, that's why I Love The Wire 'cause they kept using the same song but different covers of it.
And that's really ill. So that Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely the, probably the Wire for me.
[01:17:29] Sidney Evans: [01:17:30] Okay. Yeah, these, I think these are all f first time responses, so, um, what else do people
[01:17:34] DJ Ben Ha Meen: say for that? I wanna know,
[01:17:35] Sidney Evans: um, one, uh, proud Family was one. I think that was the last episode. Yeah. Um, obviously you gonna get a lot of fresh princes.
I said all of that. Okay. Yep. Um, I think yes. A couple of those have been repeated. Those, the, I don't think that those are the first ones that come into your, but like some people will say like, their favorite, but then they'll say other ones and you go like, [01:18:00] Sanford and Son. That's probably the most memorable one man.
Um, stuff like that. Jefferson's like stuff from, you know, that we watched from old times on Nick Knight and stuff like that.
[01:18:08] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Shout out to Bis Marque. 'cause he was, he was the first DJ I saw do this when he used to DJ and he would play allt them joints. He would run through the Jeffersons through Fresh Prince and it was, you know, that was lit and, yeah.
Fresh Prince, that's another one. 'cause that's like one of them ones. I, you know, again, like one years, the first time it came on, I'm like, oh, this jam, yo, he got a [01:18:30] banger right here. Like for the
[01:18:31] Sidney Evans: theme song. So, yeah. Yeah. I don't even know. How do you like, how you, how do you like start. You know, like just vibing.
But, you know, you gotta make a theme song. For me that just seems like a, would be like a, a block for me. Like, mm. I feel like I, I would feel kind of restrictive, but you know, I guess some are real songs and some are kind of more theme songy, so it's kind of different ways you can do it.
[01:18:53] DJ Ben Ha Meen: The one that used to kill me is because I love The Transformers as a kid and that theme song, but then when I, the movie, the, the [01:19:00] original cartoon, the they, and that might be my, one of my favorites.
'cause it's hilarious to me. 'cause they are like belting it out, you know, they do it like a heavy metal band. So they're like, and I, as a kid, I was like, yo, how did that, you know, like, and then I know it's a chick, you know, but like, right. Like, how did you go into the studio with a straight face, you know?
Yeah. You gonna
[01:19:21] Sidney Evans: be in Key. You gonna be in Key and everything for that check.
[01:19:24] DJ Ben Ha Meen: And I get as a, as a, you know, as a grown man, I get it A chick because I'll, yeah. I'll be in there singing it too. So, and [01:19:30] I'm, I'm
[01:19:30] Sidney Evans: surprised. I just thought, I'm surprised you didn't say X-Men.
[01:19:33] DJ Ben Ha Meen: But it see the Avengers Destiny Moore.
And that's, that's, that's why I say Avengers is messed up to me. 'cause it's like, you know, again, I'm a grown man and this theme song comes out and it turns me into a little kid. You know? So that's where it's like, that's, it's like how I love, like, Tyler, you know how Tyler's one of my favorite artists because I was grown when he came out, you know?
And I'm like, yo, you know, this is like me being a kid again. You know, like I'm hearing stuff or Kendrick, you know, it's like mm-hmm. You hear stuff that [01:20:00] makes you bring you back to, you know, where you fell in love with it. So, yeah, I think The Avengers, 'cause that's like, you know, that ain't John Williams, but it's that feeling.
Mm. Of like, yo, this, you know, it's about to go down whenever that comes on. I know it's gonna be, you know, it's the Avengers.
[01:20:13] Sidney Evans: Yeah. I'm, that's why I'm, I, uh, I decided to like, put this segment end of the show. 'cause I just wanted to get people to leave with that, like, that feeling you have when you were a kid and you're listening this stuff.
'cause most of the time Yeah, this, your responses are going to be from your formative years man stuff. Mm-hmm. It's like you implant into your brain. So I, I, I, I like [01:20:30] reliving that from time to time. So. Uh, yep. I, I'm glad I was able to do that for other people, and that's
[01:20:33] DJ Ben Ha Meen: why I love that. And then I also love, because I, I like to, I think that's one of the greatest things, or, you know, hardest things to do, and one of the best things to do in life is to remain childlike, you know?
And to remain. Mm-hmm. Where new things can affect you the way that they did when you were a kid, you know? And that, and the only way to do that is just be open to new things. And so that's why I'm always, whenever something hits me as a grown person, I'm just like, yes. You know? And I love that I can, because I remember, yo, [01:21:00] when I, when being in a theater for Avengers was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
You know? I, you know, my God, you know, like, holy shit. I just, yeah. I, I can, you know, I remember, you know, and I'm gro and I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm screaming, you know, or even endgame, you know, and, and like, I walked outta Infinity War, complete shock, you know? And in endgame, I'll never get, like, we walked out that like.
Like exhausted because you were crying, you know, [01:21:30] screaming, laughing. So it's that type of stuff I just love.
[01:21:34] Sidney Evans: Yeah. I love it. I, I, I, I'll end with this before I let you share, like how people like mm-hmm. Follow you online and, you know, check out the merchant and pop the book. But, um, you was talking about theater experiences and I've seen a lot of movies I'm not much into.
I'm not like a super hu you know, huge superhero or fantasy type in, so maybe this has something to do with what I'm about to say. But the movie that I remember getting the most reaction from, from the crowd was Ha The first [01:22:00] hangover. If I wasn't there, I would've thought it was something out of a movie.
[01:22:03] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Yeah.
[01:22:04] Sidney Evans: The way people reacted
[01:22:05] DJ Ben Ha Meen: to that movie. Yep. Especially at the end. I remember I went on a date for the one, the picture with the pictures. Yo, that theater. Yeah, that was a moment.
[01:22:13] Sidney Evans: And I went with my mom outta all people. That's crazy. Oh my
[01:22:15] DJ Ben Ha Meen: God. No. Yeah, I went on a first date and it wasn't a good idea either for that one, but, you know, it was fun.
We had a good time. Well actually my
[01:22:22] Sidney Evans: and my mom, she actually took me like, she was like, I wanna go see this movie. Come with me. I didn't even know about the movie, but, um, alright man, we're gonna wrap things up. So I [01:22:30] got one more on that. That's like the, okay. That's like the 40-year-old
[01:22:32] DJ Ben Ha Meen: Virgin with my mom.
'cause I told my mom bought it and she was like, I'm not watching any movie called The 40-year-old Virgin. And then I was like, no, this is one of the greatest things you'll ever see. Like, this is like, this is God's work, you know? And she called me over like two weeks later. I'm like, Benjamin, that's the funniest movie I've ever seen.
Like,
[01:22:48] Sidney Evans: oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that's cool, man. All right, so, uh, before you take off, man, I just want to, uh, make sure you know the con I love the conversation. I love, [01:23:00] uh, glad you was so open to share everything you shared. Um, but from beyond the threshold for me, that's only like one part of it. The other part is, is for us to, uh.
Meet through this, through this platform, establish relationships and support each other. And I hope I would want the listeners to support the people that take their time to come on as well. So, um, how can they, like, find you online? And you mentioned the merch from, you know, for our nerds and obviously you [01:23:30] have, uh, your latest book that, um, I have seen you promote and so please share how people can, um, find you and, and cop those things if they want to
[01:23:41] DJ Ben Ha Meen: word.
Uh, well, uh, two things. One is I've been really working at living my life more in service to other people and being, like I was talking about earlier, about being a village, like having a village around me and part of being a, in a village is to be a villager. So mm-hmm. [01:24:00] What I tell people now is if there's anything that.
I can do to help you, you know, hit me up, let me know and we'll see how we can word something out. 'cause I do a lot of different things as you've heard throughout this podcast. From DJing, producing to podcasting, uh, to writing, to filmmaking, to a lot of different things. And if any of those things interest you or you know, it's something that you would like to talk to me about, you know, you can hit me and you can find me on.
I'm pretty much mainly on for social media, I'm mainly on Threads and Instagram and [01:24:30] both of those are at DJ Benam mean, as well as at for All Nerds on there as well. You can find everything. And then for everything else, you can find it@forallnerds.com, which has our podcast as well as our merch and everything else related to for All nerds.
And then my other website is big dj energy.com and big dj energy.com has pretty much all my music, all of my, everything related to. What I'm doing with music and all [01:25:00] personally, pretty much. So that has, you can get both of my books on there as well. So bit dj energy.com and for on earth.com. And then DJ benam mean.
And like I say, if you need help with anything or just want to chat, talk about anything, I'm always hoping to do that as well. And please hit me up because like I said, I'm really working at, that's something I learned this year is I really wanna live my life more in service to other people. So
[01:25:22] Sidney Evans: yeah, that's, that's, that's profound man.
And y'all, uh, y'all heard it, so please make sure y'all. Follow him. [01:25:30] Put your money where your mouth is. I'll make sure I do the same. Um, and for everybody listening, thank you, uh, so much for tuning in, and we'll cut you the next episode.
Thanks for listening to today's episode, and please don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. If you want to know more about me, visit sound by sid.com. And I'm Sid Evans Jr. On Instagram and Threads. If you want to know more about the podcast, visit sound by sid.com/podcast. And [01:26:00] if you'd like to see and hear more from our guest, subscribe on YouTube at Beyond the Threshold and follow on TikTok at Beyond the Threshold.

Sidney Evans

Ep.18 : Passion, Perseverance & Purpose w/ DJ Ben Ha Meen

Transcript

Ep. 19 : Sound, Spirit & Self w/Morgan Cornell

Ep.17: Faith, Media, & Storytelling w/ Dorissa White