The Joe Budden Podcast - "The Grant Williams Episode"
Episode Date: August 20, 2021The story of Grant Williams is told for the first time ever on the Joe Budden Podcast. Wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn't commit at 25 years-old, Grant Williams shares his story of facing the i...njustices of the legal system and being faced with 25 to life while displaying resilience. He sits down with Joe Budden to discuss how he overcame his mental struggles, the outside world moving on without him and his dedication to obtaining his freedom despite the odds being stacked against him. Grant opens up about how being wrongfully accused has changed his life forever and more.  Become a Patron of the The Joe Budden Podcast for additional bonus episodes and visual content for all things JBP: Tap in here www.patreon.com/JoeBudden
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I didn't do it.
I didn't do it.
I'm just making sure you got it.
But that right there
is why
this was so fucking monumental
to me. I was telling you off air,
all I do is watch
crime shit. Like, I'm like a junkie.
Like, I'm
excessive with the shit.
And I try to put myself in the state of mind of some of the people I watch, right?
And they get to that point where they stand you up and say,
are you addressed to court?
We'd like to hear from you now.
With the families there, victims, niggas that don't believe you,
niggas that think you ain't shit.
And I be like, like yo if i was innocent
this is a trap yeah this is there's no way to like do this tactfully talking for nothing
if you're innocent but if you're innocent you you don't want to offend the victim family you don't
want to you don't want to offend you chill you innocent you didn't do this if people don't
believe you there's no way to get this off, right? So when you say, damn, a microphone.
Yeah, that's a fact.
It's like, that puts it in perspective for me.
You wouldn't want to talk to them niggas.
I've said everything I had to say.
What more do you?
I said my bad, I said I didn't do it.
I would erupt.
Yeah, I'll go nuts. I'll my bad. I said I didn't do it. I would erupt. Yeah, I'll go nuts.
I'll turn up.
In these crime shows I watch, they tell me it's important to not.
To not go crazy.
Even your facial and your body expressions and shit like that.
That's what they tell me.
I don't know if I'd be able to do that.
Did they tell that to you?
Yeah, they told a whole lot to me.
I wasn't listening because I was like, yo, do you got the right motherfucker that did this?
You going to let me out?
That's all I was interested in,
but let me just introduce myself.
I know, I'm going to introduce you.
We getting there.
No, no, no, no, no.
Because I'm going to get into it.
We getting there.
All right, stay less.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm playing a Ghostface track.
I know it's corny.
You got shot my brother out.
Listen, listen.
Y'all niggas can judge me.
Sorry, but that's how we we're gonna at least introduce this thing
I had a shot track
Cued up
But I'm not gonna do it
I'm not gonna do it
Let's do this the right way Mic check, mic check, mic check, mic check, 1-2-1-2. Mic check, mic check, mic check, 1-2-1-2-1-2.
Y'all know what the fuck time it is, B.
But it just happens, you know, when I step approach the motherfucking record.
Y'all know what we do here.
Shout out to the first and last time listeners.
Shout out to the Patroni.
Shout out to the ladies.
And y'all, it's scientific.
My hand kiss it.
Robotic, glistening, optimistic.
You probably pissed it.
Watch me dolly dick it.
Scotty body, competent. Big microphone, hippie, hipp. You probably missed it. Watch me dolly dick. Scotty body,
competent.
Big microphone,
hippie,
hippie,
kipsy,
crispy chicken,
bros,
fuck up a stone,
Ritzy,
chop the old,
sprinkle a little snow inside an Optimo.
Mic check,
mic check.
We got a real special guest
in the building.
A couple of real special.
Yeah,
we got a few.
Yeah,
and I'm mad at that.
We got a few special guests
in the building.
I'm overwhelmed.
Yeah, that ain'm mad at that. We got a few special guests in the building. I'm overwhelmed. Yeah, that ain't right, man.
We opening up talking about it.
Mic check, mic check, one, two, one, two.
Energy and still shut the fuck up, Wig.
Check out the rap, K-Pin.
Summertime, fine jewelry dripping face in your body.
I see my, I see my, I see my.
Almost can't cut that off anywhere, but.
All right, mic check.
One, two, one, two, man.
Like I said,
we got a real special show lined up.
We got real special guests
in the building.
And we got real important conversations
that need to be had.
I'll be your host.
The Dawgs is here.
Oh, my God, man. Oh, ish. You know how we do. I'll be your host The Dawgs is here Oh my god man
Oh
Ish
Ish
Stop without fan out
No no no stop stop stop
Stop stop Yo he can say anything We talked about top 10 lists in the last episode Stop, without fan out. No, no, no, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Stop, stop.
Yo, he can say anything, fam.
We talked about Top Ten Loss in the last episode.
Nigga, y'all was outside.
We was talking.
He sat down.
We got busy.
Yeah, y'all missed it.
Y'all missed that.
We got busy.
All right, so listen to this.
You are the gentleman I wanted to talk to.
Like, this is the conversation I wanted to have.
It was super important to me.
I read the paper as soon as it came out.
Blown away as soon as I read it.
And when we started communicating, I was like, yeah, that's important.
I'm not prepared for your family to come in here.
I'm not.
I, me me personally am not
so
yeah I'll say like
I told Parks man
Shy I don't have to tell
cause me and him
ran around for a little bit
Ghost is in all of our
top tens
here
and
no question
I feel like they should tell you
when somebody in your top ten list
is at least gonna be present
bro
say what I'm saying here
you heard me while out
about the verses
the Ghosts and Ray and he didn't even tell me that Ghostface was walking to my front door no he didn't know is at least going to be present. Savon said he heard me while out about the verses,
the ghost array,
and he didn't even tell me that Ghostface was walking
to my front door.
No, he didn't know.
Yeah.
He ain't know.
Savon back there like,
yo,
that's Ghostface.
Fucking Savon, right?
Hey, yo.
Yo, yo, yo.
That's Ghostface.
So now I'm going to handle
the introduction.
Should I not say Grant?
Tell me.
No, no, you know, Grant Williams is a very famous now.
I'm proud of him.
You know what I'm saying?
You call me Grant Williams, a.k.a. Joseph Sharp, a.k.a. Big Un.
Yes.
There we go.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
We have special guest Grant Williams in the building.
Thank you for coming.
Yes.
Thank you for being here.
Yes.
How you doing?
I'm feeling better these days, you know.
It was a long journey for those who don't know my story, you know.
Wrongly convicted, sentenced to 25 to life.
I was just turned 25 years old.
I can't comprehend.
See, this is...
You know, so...
You just turned 25? I was turning can't comprehend. You know, so. You just turned 25?
I was turning 25.
This is 96?
Yes, and I got sent to 25 to life in 97.
So it was like, I didn't believe it was going to happen.
You know, I figured they'd get the right guy, you know.
And then I started realizing the system that if you've been in any type of trouble when you was a youth,
it's more easier for them to put a crime on you because your lawyer's going to recommend don't take the stand because
you've been convicted in the past.
You know, so you're like more of an easy target.
This is what everybody don't look at.
You know, it's brothers who don't get in no trouble when they put these type of crimes
on them.
But the ones who has been in trouble in the past, you're much, much more easier for talking.
So at the time, you had a jacket?
Yeah, I was convicted when I was younger.
And I strongly believe that because of that conviction, they already had it laid out.
Like, okay, we already know that his lawyer is going to recommend he don't take the stand.
And people want to know.
If you didn't do it, they want to hear you talk.
And I'm like, yo, let me get on the stand and tell my story. Williams, don't do it they want to hear you talk you know and I'm like
yo let me get on the stand
tell my story
Williams don't worry about it
the case ain't strong
listen let me tell what happened
like just to sit there
and be quiet
is
one of the worst feelings
in the world
when you can't defend yourself
already
already you get into
one of the questions I have
when I
watch these shits on TV
where I'm like
if it were me
and I were innocent no matter what i was going
through in the court with the cops and the jury and the judge and all that i would have such a
beacon of light at the end of the tunnel because i didn't do it i would feel like hey y'all gonna
say whatever the fuck you want to say if you go out and go try to find who did then i'll be exonerated but not not that simple nah it's not
that simple you know in the perfect world that's how that would go but unfortunately in the world
that we live in today especially as young black men you know we always talking in different areas
it's just not when the conservation is with a whole lot of things crime everything that's no
good you see a black face you know i'm saying whatever it is it's conservation. It's with a whole lot of things. Crime. Everything that's no good, you see a black face.
You know what I'm saying?
Whatever it is.
It's always, oh, they lead the most in high diabetes, or they do the most crime.
It's always a black face.
It's like nobody else.
But then everybody want to be like us.
This is a, you know, this is a scare that you deal with.
So when you go into that system, you're already guilty.
You've got to prove your innocence.
It's supposed to be innocent know innocent it's proving guilty but it's guilty to prove your innocence you know how aware were
you of that at the time I was I was unaware yeah yeah I was I was unaware I didn't think it could
happen like I said like when they arrested me I was like murder I said this just this right here
I called ghost I was like yo they talking about they want me for murder that happened yesterday.
He was like, for real?
And then I was with my friend right there, born, you know?
Because I'm about to say, even with an alibi.
Man.
If I had an alibi, then I'm really.
You'd be in there feeling big dickish.
Like, yeah.
Yeah, but I'm going to tell them niggas suck my dick.
Yeah.
Especially if I have an alibi.
So that meant nothing.
Nah, nah, nah, nah.
How could all of these things mean nothing?
Well, the reason is because, you know, when they want to put a case on you, especially
you got to remember, I got locked up in the 90s.
You know what I'm saying?
So the 90s was the crack era.
And in New York, it was so much murders that they just couldn't solve more.
So they just was putting them on brothers, you know?
Especially black brothers, Spanish brothers.
It really didn't matter.
Even some white brothers, you know what I mean?
But blacks and the Spanish was the most.
So that's why you see today all these wrongful convictions.
Those is from the 90s where they actually clanned them up.
So when you talk about an alibi, as soon as they put the cuffs on you,
they don't want to hear none of that.
Guilty, nigga.
You're guilty.
They cuffed you, you're guilty. That's it. Tell it when you go about an alibi, as soon as they put the cuffs on you, they don't want to hear none of that. Guilty, nigga. You're guilty. They cuffed you, you're guilty.
That's it.
Tell it when you go to the jury.
So they offer you ridiculous time.
You know, you feel you didn't do a murder.
I'm not taking shit.
I ain't do it.
I'm going to tell you some gangster shit, right?
So one time I'm in the court pens, right?
So I had about a year on rack of sounds.
So I'm like, all right, let me ask this lawyer.
I said, yo, what's the cop out?
So they sent everybody back to Racket Sound, you know, and they left me there.
They was like, Williams.
So let's say the court door is like about 10 feet away.
They opened up the court door and they had the cell open.
I was the only one in there.
So they brought me out.
They said, bring him out.
And when I came out, it was like it was some gangster shit.
I had three, four DAs. You you know they was always fighting against the case I have just my lawyer and the judge was sitting sideways and I said
yo so what's the cop out they said all right well you've been convicted take
12 minutes 25 I said I didn't do it why would I take that why would I take you
know saying that's crazy and they back, and this is crazy.
They said, yeah, we know you ain't do it.
You know, straight up.
So I'm looking at my lawyer like, yo, you heard him?
No.
I swear to everything I love.
My dad pops everything.
He's like, yo, we know you didn't do it.
So we'll go down to a flat 10.
I said, they said, you do eight years and four months.
I said, I'm not taking that.
The fuck y'all think y'all is, you know?
I got offended, you know? And I was, you know, a little immature. I didn't know what the hell was going on. I just didn I'm not taking that. The fuck y'all think y'all is, you know? I got offended, you know? And I was, you know,
a little immature. I didn't know what the hell was going
on. I just didn't think it could happen. Yo, I'm getting
goosebumps because even if I was innocent,
I may have thought about it a little bit.
Nah, nah. That's what they want you to do.
I know, I know. It's by design.
No, I get it. I totally understand.
Ten was like forever for me at that age.
I'm like, yo, ten?
What the fuck? I'm 29. I don't know.
You know?
So next thing I know, maybe about a couple of months later, like I was saying, they was
like bringing the first panel.
I didn't even know what the hell the first panel was.
I tell everybody.
I tell this story all the time.
I turned around.
They cleared the courtroom.
I turned around and looked back.
I thought it was snowing.
All white faces.
No black people. These are jurors. So I'm like, yo. That's the it was snowing, all white faces. No black people.
These are jurors.
So I'm like, yo.
And I hate to say it.
No, at that point, you cooked.
You know what I said to myself?
25 to life.
I knew it.
That was my first thought.
I zoned off.
Were you kept up to date at all between your lawyer with the process of jury selection even?
Was that a surprise to you?
What you mean?
Like when you say the first panel came in and it was all white faces?
Yeah, I was surprised because I never experienced none of this in my life.
I never went to trial.
I never knew about how many challenges you got.
So if you got a murder, you get 23 challenges and the DA get 23 challenges.
So you got a panel of 50 to 100
people coming in. So if you only got
23 challenges and you got majority
Caucasian people, some of them cops,
I got to use my challenges to get them off.
So now when you bring about the third
panel in, when you see a few black faces,
you don't have no more challenges.
And black people don't want to sit on the jury.
They don't.
We find any reason to get out of the jury.
Any reason to not do it.
I thought white people didn't either.
Well, they don't.
They abide by the rule.
They get scared at the little,
hey, we're going to dock your pay.
They get it.
Yeah, they don't, but they do.
Some feel like it's their civic duty.
Yeah, they be proud to do that.
I've contributed my part.
Fam, think about what he said.
I'm thinking about all this no you 25
you got a jacket
you go get some motherfuckers that
cause it's supposed to be
a jury of our peers
you a 25 year old black boy
from the projects
some white lady from Long Island
ain't my motherfucking peer
yep
that's a fact
you know what I'm saying
then they build it up
like yeah he snatched a pocketbook
when he was 12
they be like yeah yeah yeah we gotta get the pocketbook when he was 12 they be like
yeah yeah yeah
we gotta get him
off the street
he did it
yeah he did it
before
we don't gotta hear
shit
you did it
you did it
that's crazy my nigga
well no I know
it's a shame
that you have to
kind of be well informed
on the business
of the court system
to really get your
shit off
like
it's a shame
like this was a surprise
all the shit he said
was a surprise I didn't know I didn't know i didn't know i didn't know but they running
the business still like they got a penis somewhere on somebody did you um i feel like this is almost
a stupid question but i have to ask because you're innocent what was the feeling from like the
families of people that maybe didn't believe you or just anybody that didn't believe you?
Hmm.
Well, you know, a lot of people on Stat Now,
because they was out there that day, it happened in broad daylight,
so they seen what happened.
They seen what transpired.
But, you know, people don't like to deal with the courts.
You know what I'm saying?
Of course, of course.
You know, so that came afterwards.
But, you know, like the family, the victim's family, they came in the court, I believe.
I didn't even know the dude had a sister.
I know her.
So I turned around.
The courtroom was there for me.
My family and my friends basically filled the whole court up.
The victim's family wasn't there because they knew I didn't do this shit.
You know what I'm saying?
So when I turned around, I seen the victim's sister not knowing that that's her sister.
I'm giving her like, you know, what's going on?
And she's looking at me with the gas face like, he was screwing me.
You know what I'm saying?
And I started playing two and two together.
I seen where she was sitting.
And I said, oh, okay.
She want to play this game.
And she live in the hood and she know I didn't do it.
She know I had nothing to do with it.
But I understand now that The victim's family
Wants somebody to pay
You see what I'm saying
Whether they got the right guy
Or the wrong guy
They want somebody to go down
Fuck it
He didn't do it
They locked him up for a reason
But it's real shit
That you gotta deal with
Yeah
You know what I'm saying
So at that point
Someone's angry
Yeah
They hurt
Someone's hurt
Somebody gotta pay
Nah but
That's real shit
Nah I'm just saying But In our hoods because we all come from
basically the same shit right broad daylight somebody get shot i'm assuming yeah yeah somebody
gets shot if the hood know who did it how do you let one of your own go to jail for it yeah stop
this come on that's because i'm not talking about white America.
I'm talking about our hood.
I'm going to tell you how, Ish.
Because you,
just like he said.
Nigga, the hood
will keep a secret.
Yeah, the hood
ain't coming to court.
The hood will keep a secret, Ish.
Who going to be the person
to go to court and say,
yo, it wasn't him.
It was him.
No, you ain't got to say
it wasn't, it was him.
But you got to be like,
nah, it wasn't him.
I was out here.
But then they're going to say
if it wasn't him, who was it?
How you know it wasn't him?
I guess.
That opens them up to too much.
Come on, we know this.
OK, so the lawyer, panel, jury, no, I'm not taking that.
I'm innocent.
I didn't do this.
We fighting this.
Right?
When you find out that you're going down, guilty,
Tavern Lawyer Appealists, I'm out of here.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
That wasn't going like that.
When they said guilty, I went off in the court.
I got the articles to this day.
They were saying that I was trying to escape.
I wasn't trying.
I was just like anybody else that's innocent.
You don't believe it.
I know I'm guilty.
Wait, wait up, wait up.
Yeah, let me out this one.
You know what I'm saying?
Right.
So they all, you know, they all, you know,
restrained me, the officers and everybody in the courtroom got up.
That's how I imagine it would go when I watch this shit on TV.
Yeah, it was like, it wasn't just that quiet, like guilty.
That was it.
It was an eruption in the court.
You know what I'm saying?
Everybody was like, what?
Because it was too much evidence that was displayed at trial that I'm not going to get too much into right now that proved my innocence.
You follow what I'm saying?
So it was a, and listen, I don't care what nobody says.
Racism, strong.
Because it was the only eyewitness.
It was one eyewitness.
And he was Caucasian.
You know what I'm saying? And it was all only eyewitness. It was one eyewitness, and he was Caucasian. You know what I'm saying?
You know what I'm saying?
And it was all Caucasian jurors.
And it all boiled down to who they going with, them or me.
And I seen that shit firsthand.
I don't care what nobody said.
I seen it, and I had experienced it.
And the shit was crazy.
Like, when I heard the guilty, I'm like, wait up.
Nothing added up.
That's the real reason of why I personally think the judicial system is flawed granted it's flawed for many
reasons but when you say that justice will be decided by a jury of our peers i don't ever think
that can be true because when you put humans there all we have is our interpretation of things or our experiences that we yeah yeah
that's it so nah you put these fucking white people it just spells set up it spells set up to
me listening listening to you i get mad watching it i get mad reading it i get mad i've read a lot
of stories about the state intentionally trying to get rid of black jurors for whatever reason
they can yes to win the case that's what you're talking about the challenges.
Yeah, they want you
out of here.
But why do I have to tackle,
granted,
I didn't do this
horrific crime
and y'all think I did,
which is heavy
and overwhelming enough.
Right.
Why do I have to
unpack racism now?
Like it's just so nuanced.
Nah, because your conviction
of the crime
is embedded in racism
no I know
yeah
I know
you wouldn't even be
got cuffed from the rip
one I wouldn't
listen last week
I was telling y'all
that I had some court shit
that went on
where the only reason
I was saved
was because there was
a neighbor
a nosy neighbor
that was recording
and she was
she was kind of,
ooh, buddy,
saved my ass.
But she was kind enough to give me this footage.
It was hers,
but she gave it to me.
And they tried to resist it
in the court,
but you see this.
You see what's going on, right?
Think about that.
They can know you innocent
and got a tape
to prove your innocence, right?
These are people that we hire to protect the service. So and got a tape to prove your innocence. Right?
These are people that we hire
to protect the server.
So they got a tape
that says,
yo, he really ain't do this shit.
We trying to suppress
that evidence
not to come to trial.
Who the fuck
is you serving?
If you know a nigga
ain't do it,
let that nigga free.
Don't try to suppress
the evidence.
Well, that's why I'm listening
to what he's saying.
That's crazy, my nigga. Well, what if that neighbor didn't want to give me the tape
because she ain't like me because i was back next grant williams you know what i'm saying you did
that time came home and hopefully you would have got the tape and it would have proved your innocence
all right so you erupted in the court yeah yeah yeah naturally i can't say rightfully so that was
that was a natural feeling I believe anybody That's innocent
Would say wait up
You know I just couldn't believe it
You know
And yo
I'm not gonna lie
I cried when I was down there
I don't cry
And I ain't cried
Since that court date
Danny two and a half decades
I said that shit
I'm gonna fight these people
You know what I'm saying
I'm not gonna deal with my emotions
I ain't gonna let my emotions
Supersede my intelligence
I'm gonna use my intelligence
And I'm gonna get the fuck out of here
I'm gonna make it out of here one day, you know?
I'm not going to die in here.
When did that come about?
As soon as they put the cuffs on me and I blew dry.
I said, I'm going to make it out.
I always had that determined.
You know, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to get lost in the system
because I was seeing it, and I was seeing it at a young age.
I seen brothers getting stabbed to death, killed.
I seen brothers losing their mind.
I seen their fight was going on and I just refused to be one of them brothers.
You know what I'm saying?
So when they put the cuffs on me and they was putting this crime on me, I was like,
wait up.
What's wrong with me?
Right.
Then when I blew trial and then now I'm up north in the mountains in these maximum penitentiaries,
I'm like, yo.
Bouncing around?
Yeah.
So I'm saying to myself, yo, how the fuck?
One day I was just laying there.
I said, nah, that's not going to be the end of me.
That's not going to end how my chapter ended my life.
Prison and dead, and that's that.
I'm amazed that your journey didn't start with discouragement.
Nah, nah.
I would have started there.
O-Fam, I would have been depressed for about a year.
Yeah, you talking about, yo, no lie, I cried.
I had to cry every hour.
Nah, nah.
Because you know what it is?
It's just like I said before, I'm no stranger to hard times.
You feel what I'm saying?
So I know things is going to get rough, but I wasn't expecting that.
See, that's why I was telling you, like,
everybody talks about what they would have did and all that,
but when you place in situations, man, you don't know what you're going to do,
but you know you're going to go on survival instance automatically.
That's just going to kick in.
That's why as I listen to you talk, listen,
I don't know nothing about the stuff that you're saying,
but as I listen to you talk, I'm trying to play it out.
Like, if it was me.
What you would do, right?
The discouraged portion of what I'm saying would have had to been short-lived for me.
Because then I would have had to get into what he just said, survival mode.
Jungle mode.
Y'all didn't do this.
I'd be an animal, nigga.
You're about to lay up with the animals.
I'm not this person that y'all saying, but it's on now.
Yeah.
So we here.
I ain't going to walk in here and just tell all these niggas I didn't do it.
Nigga, I'm going to eat this food and go to Sleepy's food.
Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh.
And don't you know something, too?
It's like, this is like ghosts.
I used to call them all the time, yo.
Like, Shaheen was born.
Like, this, you know, my family, that's my strength.
You see what I'm saying?
I had to go in there and take the phone and then, yo, yo, you know, I had to do what I had to do.
But that was my strength.
When you hear your family and your people like, yo, you know what I'm saying?
That they're going to stand behind you.
That gives you more strength.
You know what I'm saying?
And it gives you faith that you're going to make it.
You know what I mean?
So I had support.
But I'm the type of person, like, I'm going to do what I got to do regardless.
Because I know at the end of the day, I'm locking
in that cell. I got one, so I
got to do everything to keep my own sanity
first.
96, because I keep getting
into your shoes, right? But let
me try to step out of that for a sec.
Triumph is
96, 90, when? 97.
97.
Nah, 96 is purple tape.
Yeah, Iron Man.
Yeah, I was there for Iron Man.
Bam.
Jesus.
But that's your hope.
But that's your hope.
I know, but I want to highlight that.
Yes, that's the hope because this is where we are in the story.
But let's go back now.
This is 96.
My family is kings of the culture. My my family's kings of the culture my family are the kings
of the culture and this happened and you take me away from this and it's happening now you take me
away from the money the girls the travel there is nothing that can make that up word nothing
last week i talked about last week on this pod, the NBA draft was recently, right? And it was a gentleman, Terrence Clark, who died in a car crash in April, and he was a projected top 10 pick.
So when the draft happened, I was saying how, like, wow, three months away.
Just three months away from generational changes.
Right.
And damn, God, it's different now.
It's different now.
Not to that extent, because you're with us.
But that's got to be the feeling in 96.
Word.
That's some shit.
Oh, y'all trying to come in.
Y'all seen Ice Cream Video.
Y'all seen something that's going on.
And you see my family coming to court. And my family is somebody in the social scene. That's a fact something that's going on. Nah, and you see my family coming to court
and my family is somebody
in the social scene.
Yeah, that's a fact.
We gonna get you, nigga.
Remember how,
remember how,
listen, you hear
Juice WRLD's people now,
some of the people
that was on that jet,
talk about how,
hey, we was coming in
and it's like they knew
we was coming in
because it's customs,
but they was treating us like they knew we was coming in because it's customs, but they was treating us
like they knew we was coming in.
It wasn't a normal,
so he swallowed a bunch of shit.
And that's their story to tell.
But it's just that paranoia of,
are you treating me a certain,
are you treating this a certain way?
I'm being targeted a certain way.
This is not going normal.
How was your first week? Enjoy. Pleasure. certain way. I'm being targeted a certain way. This is not going normal.
How was your first week?
In jail?
Pleasure.
Where were you at? But you was on trial for what? How long you was on trial?
18 months. So you
had already sat? No, no, no.
I was on trial for only
two weeks. What?
But you sat for 18 months.
Hold on, hold on. What y'all don't know
is that,
what I didn't know
and I just found out
was that
my case was solved
in four hours.
What?
Yeah.
I just, I just.
I didn't know that
until the DA said,
you know,
and they turned everything over
because, you know,
that goes into civil court.
But they,
I didn't know that
this homicide
was solved in four hours.
That's,
that's mathematically impossible. Yeah, solved incorrectly in four hours. That's mathematically impossible.
Yeah, solved incorrectly in four hours.
Yeah, meaning that they got me and the case was closed.
What you mean?
They got you. The cops locked you up
and stopped soaking.
It was done in four hours.
Another stupid question. Why?
How could that be possible?
It's impossible.
You lazy cops, nigga.
Same shit happened with the Central Park.
We know cops.
Listen, it's black men here.
We know cops.
What I'm saying is, who the fuck do we call on when we know the cops is copping?
Who the fuck you gonna call?
There gotta be a pecking order.
Dog, we just said that they could find some evidence that literally will exonerate a motherfucker.
And legally, they'll suppress it.
That's a fact.
So who the niggas that you calling on, they the niggas that saying suppress it.
Yeah.
Fam, at some point, it started being about legal instead of right.
The law don't necessarily be right.
Well, that's why I was asking.
So they'll follow the rules of the law instead of following the rules of morality.
That turns into a loss.
You get what I'm saying?
Like, that's the bullshit.
We want to put a W up in this.
Yeah, like, yeah.
Morality don't play no part in this.
No, no, no.
They don't have no conscience to even deal with principles and morals.
It's like, we looking to get our, you know, we looking to make our career go up and off
of Grant Williams with a murder conviction.
It's like, now I got another notch under my belt.
And if you could convict that
innocent, that's hard.
It's easy, but it's hard. So they know
it, that's like a big challenge.
Oh, you got Williams. Oh, yeah.
And they know the deal.
So it's just
that's why I say, man,
mentally, the mind
is fragile. Somebody could go through that and look at the case with Jay like mentally, the mind is fragile. That's some shit.
Somebody could go through that and look at the case with Jay-Z with the kid.
Cleve Brown.
Rest in peace.
Yes, sir.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like, yo, people just ain't, we're not made to be caged.
You feel what I'm saying?
Us as humans, we like to enjoy our freedom.
Animals are made to be caged.
Animals neither.
Yeah, animals don't like to be caged, you know?
So when you put somebody that, you know, at a certain age in their life and you still,
actually, even though I'm 25, I'm still immature and certain.
You're a kid.
You're still developing.
You follow what I'm saying?
Yeah.
So when you put somebody and you put them through that storm, it's like, yo, oh, shit.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, what you going to do?
And I said, all right.
So now it became personal with me.
And I don't worry about inmates going into jail, something happens.
Like, I'm not worried about none of that.
You feel me?
I mean, it's, you know.
But that's, the system was always my problem and my beef.
That's what kept me fighting.
That's what I'm saying.
That shit right there when you wage war, that keep you alive.
Yeah, like, I just slept.
That's your motivation at that point.
I slept all day with that judge turning sideways and they talking about
on some gangster shit
like yeah well we know
you didn't do it
and they listening
like it was nothing
like my life was nothing
I took that personally
that's why I said
for the rest of my life
this is what I'm
going to be doing
advocating the truth
you see what I'm saying
so this don't happen
to nobody
I want everybody
to know the raw day
and there's so much more
that I you know but this but this is really a sad injustice.
And you wouldn't look at me and know that because mentally I keep myself strong.
And by me speaking about it, that's my therapy.
Well, yeah, but I wouldn't look at you and know that because you got to be the flyest nigga from jail.
You look good when you came home um what about a year like what's about a year and a half going now i'm saying
something like that
i appreciate that brother you know so so you up, your family, your loved ones, your network,
give me the sentiment.
How they feel.
You had to be strong because this is your mission to go have,
but how are your people feeling?
I got kids.
They was babies.
How many kids?
Three.
They was babies.
I got two boys and two girls, and they was babies.
And it's like one time I was on Rockets Down,
and my son came, and he didn't want to let my leg go.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm like, oh, shit.
Come on, you trying to fuck us up in here, though.
Yeah, you can't be doing that, my nigga.
Yeah, you can't be doing that.
I'm like crying in front of Ghost.
Yeah, you can't be doing that, my nigga. That's Ghostface. Yeah, you can't be doing that, my nigga.
That's crazy.
I mean, it is what it is.
You know what I'm saying?
I don't like the, like, you know, the stories I got to tell dealing with this is going to be like, nah.
You know?
But that's just a mental scar I have.
You know what I'm saying?
But the thing is, and this is where it's like a total mindfuck for me.
I'm sure you But the thing is, and this is where it's like a total mind fuck for me.
I'm sure you got stories to tell.
The stories that would exist if by chance you weren't here to have stories to tell.
Right?
Like, I'm a dad too.
That's right.
So, it's funny.
It's funny.
We're going to take a break because y'all ain't going to give me to cry here.
But when I drop my son off at like my dad's and then I'll I'll go, I'll hear him cry through the door.
So I won't want to leave.
So I'll call.
I'll start blowing my dad's phone.
He'll be like, yo, man, he's good.
Go, get out.
Why you keep doing that?
I'm like, yo, I just can't stand to hear my baby cry.
I know he's good.
I know you my dad, you got it
but I can't stand to hear that.
So for you to talk about your kid grabbing on and they, man. And you got. I know you my dad. You got it. But I can't stand to hear that. So for you to talk about, like, your kid grabbing on and, man.
And you got to go back to the jungle.
Are you kidding me?
Look, you ain't going.
You ain't going.
He ain't leaving him at school.
You going to the jungle.
Because we all work.
Like, we all come from what we come from.
And we all get it how we get it.
And it might not always be the safest way, right?
So let's say I don't make it home one day.
And yeah, it's fucked up for the people that love me.
But my contribution to my family, to my kids, to my mom, to my dad, to my uncles, to the people that need me, I'm in heaven.
Niggas is fucked up down here without me.
So yeah, he alive.
And you're taking him away from, you just fucked up down here without me so yeah he alive and you taking him away from
you just fucked up black infrastructure
you just fucked
structure up intentionally
it's the same design
that was happening when they took the factory jobs
and went on I mean we can go on and on about this
but when you keep hearing it
right
and this the crazy shit
for him
I can't
in a million years
say how he had to feel
but dog
when you did it
and you sitting there
that's be like
damn I got caught
I got caught
yeah
my nigga
when you didn't do it
and you sitting there
oh man
you full of rage
my nigga
that's a different animal like when you did
it you cheated on your girl all right right damn she caught me when you know you really ain't cheat
though you'll be on fire you'll be on like yo what the fuck did you talk yo yeah yeah but when
you cheated you like damn she caught me but yo fam if you really didn't do it and you got 25 to life and you didn't do it
I watched 50's show
for life right
but I watch it
from the comfort of my home
and
that nigga be going
through hell in there
what
yeah
the Aryans was on him
his lawyer was
pulling a move
he be dealing with it all
he gotta read books
learn degrees
fight that
he gotta fight everything
and I be home laughing
saying yo I done been went to bed I done went to sleep dealing with it all. He got to read books, learn degrees, fight that. He got to fight everything. And I be home laughing saying,
yo,
I'd have been went to bed.
I'd have went to sleep.
Hey,
y'all got it.
But when you're innocent,
But when you're innocent,
yeah,
you're innocent.
You're like,
yo,
I gotta be able to prove it
because it ain't true.
That shit got me so frustrated
because of how slow
everything must move.
That's what I'm getting at.
And even that case, when you're innocent, like going back to the for life shit, every time he found It ain't true. It's got to be so frustrating. It's how slow everything must move. That's what I'm getting ready to say.
And even in that case, when you're innocent, like going back to the for life shit, every time he found something that might help him, they jumped out to pull it away from him.
Purposely, my nigga.
Intentionally.
After six months of waiting to even present it properly or whatever.
You know what I'm saying?
Sorry, you can't present that now.
Oh, we ruled that out now.
Which is to my next question.
Why does this take 25 years?
23 years.
Why does it take- It was like, man. 23 years. Why does it take?
It was like, just like y'all just said, everything I put in the court, they shot it down.
And they was holding evidence.
And they was destroying evidence.
And it's like I had to really push their hand.
And I've been trying it for a long time.
What helped me was that as I was incarcerated, the laws started changing.
You know what I mean?
Okay.
And then brothers started getting out.
Maybe in 2003, they had a case called Martin Tankleff.
He got out.
He kind of opened the door.
He was accused of killing his family in Long Island.
So me, I studied the law.
I learned the law.
I said, man, I got to get the fuck out of here.
This is my all-day job.
Yeah.
So when I started reading, then the state started recognizing that, man, I got to get the fuck out of here. This is my all-day job. So when I started reading, then they started recognizing that, yes, people are innocent
because now the office chain's over.
It's not the same DAs and prosecutors in there no more.
You know, now you're talking 10, 15 years later.
So now people are starting to say, wait a minute.
What the fuck is going on?
So they started doing wrongful conviction units in all the boroughs.
I was just about to say all the different wrongful conviction units in all the boroughs. I was just about to say, all the different
wrongful conviction units, all the different
third-party programs. Yeah, it's
non-profits that started fucking with it.
Yeah, so people, because nobody want, see,
for murder, like, we like looked upon, like,
when you're a convicted murderer,
nobody wants no part of that. Because that's like
one of the worst crimes.
You know, when you got these rape-wall motherfuckers,
they'll rape all day, and they'll go in and out the system.
You know, they so lenient on those type of people.
They let them rape little kids and then they let them out.
You know, they don't even get no time.
Hell yeah.
So now, I mean, they might have tightened up the law now, lately, you know.
You know, but I don't want to get off track with that.
But like, so when you're dealing with this system, and it's like, you got to fight.
Like, I get calls from prison.
They're like, yo, I said, yo, I was in there with a lot of y'all.
Y'all don't got that.
You got to have that warrior spirit.
Like, because they'll make it comfortable.
They'll give you, you can get married and get a trail in New York State.
It's rough.
It's rough prison.
A weekend.
You get a whole weekend.
They lock you in.
You can do all that.
You can have that fun.
And they'll put you in the TV, but it's drama.
So they'll make it.
It's not like if you're in a third world country jail where you ain't eating.
You know what I'm saying?
Everybody's just standing around.
You're shitting and pissing in the dirt or whatever.
New York State will make it kind of comfortable for you.
You follow what I'm saying?
Uh-huh.
And nah, fuck all that comfortability.
I went out.
And that was always my fight and my struggle.
Nothing else mattered. I wasn't the one that's getting on the phone crying. Yo, they did that comfortability. I went out. And that was always my fight and my struggle. Nothing else mattered.
I wasn't the one that's getting on the phone crying,
yo, they did this.
Nah.
I was the one on the phone, yo, Shaheem.
Yo, Ghost, listen, man.
Yo, go do, you know what I'm saying?
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And I never gave up.
And sometimes I felt like my family and everybody was getting,
oh, man, you've been doing that.
And yo, you mind?
I said, I'm never letting this go.
You follow what I'm saying?
That take a lot of what I'm saying that take a lot of
um strength right there alone because I'm me myself and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people
I know I didn't do it but once they come down with that time after a certain point it's like
it's a new reality yeah it's like damn I'm really I'm gonna just wrap my head around it yeah like
yo I'm gonna have to do this And a lot of people would give up.
That's a fact.
A lot of people do, I think.
Yeah, yeah.
These niggas are stronger than me.
Yeah, no, that's a different type of thing.
So you lived in the library.
You lived in the library.
Yeah, I stayed.
I stayed.
You know, I'm a barber, too.
That's why you always see my shit cut, you know?
Ghosts are just telling me to say, every time I call, you're cutting your hair.
I say, yo, man man This is what I do
No no no
I see your first tape
That's a little tape
That's the worst
That's the worst
But nah you know
Mainly I spend my time
In law library you know
Got into a whole lot of shit
In prison in the beginning
But it was like yo
Was it difficult
Getting access to that stuff
Did they try to stop you
From getting access to stuff
Nah nah nah
I mean they would
If you were in the box
But in population
You could you know You could sign It but in population, you could sign.
It depends on what jail you went to.
Like Clinton, they try to discourage you.
Gotcha.
I don't know if you ever heard of Clinton down in the war, but they try to discourage you.
They on some real KKK shit up there, like, no talking.
If I fucking can't talk, how the fuck are you going to show me how this go?
You know what I'm saying?
No talking, Williams.
Yeah, whatever.
You know what I'm saying?
They don't want you to talk
and you don't know shit.
So you're reading a book
that you don't even understand
that language.
You see what I'm saying?
So, you know,
even though they give you access,
they don't.
You see what I'm saying?
Yeah, we're gonna let you in,
but you figure it out on your own.
And that's, you know,
you got some...
Yeah, you're like,
that's like tying one hand
behind your back.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Putting the blindfold on you and shit.
Push you in.
How many different prisons
were you in?
A lot of them.
Yes.
A lot of them.
Prisons,
you know,
you can never be comfortable
in prison
because,
you know,
you could be laying up
and that's the next day
they be like,
yo, Williams,
pack up,
you in the draft.
The draft?
Where the fuck I'm going?
Oh, I don't know yet.
I'm no, listen,
tell me where I'm going.
Now,
everybody's afraid of the unknown.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not the point of me.
No, it's just when you don't know what's going to happen,
you're obviously going to get butterflies.
If you're going into a ring to fight or you get into a fight in the yard
or whatever, naturally you're going to feel, you know,
you know what I'm saying?
So now they're telling you, we're just going to take you out of your house
and we're going to push you somewhere else.
So now you go down there
They shackle you up
And I'm on the bus
For eight hours
And you're further away
From your family
Being able to come visit
Further away from the family
So I try to stay in the jail
Oh like mental shit
Crazy
That's a mental torture
My nigga
Now your moms
Your moms might be older
You know what I'm saying
Your baby moms
Might got a job
Two jobs
Whatever the case may be
They can't travel
Nine hours to see you And a lot of whatever the case may be. They can't travel nine hours to see you.
And a lot of them shits his way up.
They can't.
By design.
Right.
Prison is what I realized is the sign to break you.
You feel what I'm saying?
And take your self-esteem.
You see what I'm saying?
And make you, just like you said, want to go to sleep.
Right.
And it was, you know, people say, oh, what's going on?
So, you know, I was a guy that was, you know, I'm not just having anything.
You see what I'm saying?
I kept myself strong.
Like, yo, so it was like when people remind you of who you are when you call home and
you see people that know you from the streets, they be like, yeah, I'm that motherfucker.
You know what I'm saying?
That's not going out.
So it gives you more strength.
You feel what I'm saying?
Sure. It makes you say, yo, nah, nah. Then I talk to ghosts on my family and he'd be like yo when you get out yo we doing this you know i'm saying always supportive financially whatever
they could do lawyers or you know that's a whole different story you know so it just depends on you
and what you're going to do you know and it's it's hard. Or your support system, like you said.
Imagine if you ain't had them.
Right.
Every mother can't afford lawyer fees.
That's a fact. Every mother can't afford to keep a pill,
and every mother can't afford to even put fucking money on your books.
Yeah, that's what I'm sitting here thinking about.
He had people that would have gone to the end of the earth to get it done,
and it still didn't matter.
Still didn't matter.
Right.
All that money to that trial lawyer, right,
still didn't matter.
Didn't matter.
It didn't matter.
When they want you, they want you,
they're going to get you.
You're done, yeah.
That's it.
Like you said, they was done the minute,
he was done the minute they put the cuffs on him.
This is our guy.
I don't care about nothing else.
I don't care what you can prove.
Don't matter.
So you did all your time,
or you gave something back?
No, what happened was, I had caught a jail case, you know what I'm saying? So when that happened was, they put me for 27 years to go to the parole board, but then I wound up
beating it, so pushing it a little earlier to go to the parole board, you see? So technically,
when I went to the parole board, they got me down as 25 to life.
But being I gave time back, they only
counting the state time. Got it. You follow
what I'm saying? But I don't argue
about the time, you know.
I argue about that in civil court.
Yeah, yeah.
I know you don't argue about that.
Y'all can say, alright, whatever.
Nah, that's crazy, man.
But, you know, it's just a sad reality, you know?
I mean, I try to, you know, have like a sense of humor with it
because I don't want to be up here too emotional
because then we all going to be in here emotional, you know what I mean?
No, you are in, you appear to be in amazing spirits.
You got an amazing story.
I keep trying to stop myself from crying while you're talking.
I'm so soft
yo so
with regards to your case you can't talk too much
about your case right but
you feel confident
that you're gonna
get some it ain't no justice
again my nigga if they take 25
years from your life I don't give a fuck
if they give you 25 million dollars
nigga you took 25 years of my life. I don't give a fuck if they give you $25 million. I don't care. Nigga,
you took 25 years of my life.
I had kids that was babies.
No, you grew up at 25. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I had kids that was babies.
Ching Ching is coming.
No, I'm just saying, yo, dog.
But still,
how old are you now?
I'm 50 right now.
50.
Wow.
Nigga looks great.
You know what I'm saying?
I was sitting here doing, man.
Yeah, I was thinking in my head,
but I'm like,
he said,
did the whole 25
fam like
yo you 50 right
you 50
even if the Knicks
give you 25 million dollars
dog
you don't have no experiences
with your kids
you can't never get that back
right
people in your life
done passed away
you can't never see them
you can't never hold them
you can't never hug them again
all of that shit
you get into one of my
next questions
like
your
your mental fortitude is out of this world never hugged him again. All of that shit. You get into one of my next questions, like your,
your mental fortitude is out of this world.
For real.
But what was one of the more,
what was the,
what were some of the more difficult days in there?
I know for me with the people I know that went up,
yeah,
that's all tough.
Got it.
Christmases and shit like that.
Yeah. Like my dad, when he was in jail. Christmases and shit like that, yeah.
Like my dad, when he was in jail,
he couldn't go to his mom's funeral.
He couldn't go to my grandma's funeral.
Oh, okay.
Like today, that still is there for him.
Like, yeah, I lost the time.
It was fucked up,
but I wasn't there for that.
That hurts.
I know.
Like some of those,
like you said,
just missing the important dates.
Like, yeah, you got to to do what you got to deal with
but well you know the most difficult day was not being there with my kids as they was getting older
you know that would that was every day like i would see them it's the birthday i'm like
damn it's my fucking tall you know so you're going through all of that, right? And as you're balancing that,
you come home to
the
stock market going crazy.
Phones, you can look at each other.
You can look at each other on the phone now.
You went to jail, niggas were walking around with Walkmans.
I was going to ask a question.
Were you, while you were incarcerated,
did J-Pay still exist?
Did it exist yet?
J-Pay is an app that you can communicate and send money to people that are incarcerated,
at least in New York State.
Yeah, yeah.
And I have some friends that are incarcerated.
That's all.
That's all.
That's all new shit.
That's fly to me.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, it's fly.
It's fly.
But you know what was, you know, crazy?
Like, I never seen a cell phone.
Like, you see all these cell phones?
I used to look at a magazine and say, yo, how the fuck, how do they talk on this?
People can't hear you.
Because you're all left with the flip.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Don't start waiting with the gel.
Now it's the Jetsons.
Nigga, we got FaceTime.
That's just what I used to say.
I used to say, dude, be like, yo, you know, I said, listen, man, I waited a long time
for the George Jetson era.
I get out, I want to go through and text Sanji.
You got to watch your work, nigga. Yeah. Bro, that's Jetson ever. I get out, I want to go to Texas. You got to watch.
You got to watch.
You got to watch right now.
That's Jetson shit.
I want to see.
You know?
So,
that's the worst feeling though
when you
living in a world
that you're part of
but you're not.
Cars look funny.
You get inside the car.
Everything is touchscreen.
Cars drive themselves now.
You don't got no key no more.
You drive them to the car.
I'm driving like,
I'm driving this style, you know?
It's all good, man.
But I want to hear about what the re-acclimation process was like.
Yeah, so, you know, when I finally get it, like, ghost, he be like, man, listen, man, you know, I'm trying to learn.
I said, he said, how the hell you know more than me?
Yo, how you know how to do that?
I said, you know what I did? I get on YouTube and watch that shit. Yo, how you work this, how the hell you know more than me? You know what I'm saying? Yo, how you know how to do that? I said, you know what I did?
I get on YouTube and watch that shit.
Yo, how you work this, how you work that.
Yo, you got time.
You ain't got nothing but time to learn.
You know what I'm saying?
We figured Ghost didn't quite learn all the little iPhone tricks.
He know it now.
He learned it.
He know now.
You know what I'm saying?
But, you know, I just was just, I'm always determined to learn new things.
You see what I'm saying?
Yeah. Like, I never want to just, I'm always determined to learn new things. You see what I'm saying? Yeah.
Like, I never want to feel like I'm left in the dust.
So, yo, how did the world, how did the world, outside of your family, outside of your friends,
outside of your foundation, how did the world accept you with regards to jobs, with regards
to, you know, just society, adapting to society, or them adapting to you?
Okay.
Good question. Everybody that know me knew of my situation. Outside them adapting to you. Okay. Good question.
Everybody that know me knew of my situation.
Outside of them.
That's what I'm saying.
Outside of your foundation.
Outside of Ghost, outside of Shia.
The world.
When you step out and these white people looking at you like you a felon.
Or the new young niggas.
Like anybody.
That's a fact.
That's a fact.
It's definitely different.
But for me, you know, I always worked with Ghost.
So I was fortunate in that sense.
To come home to that.
I didn't have to sit in front of him, fill out a job application and say, yo, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
That's a blessing, yo.
Thank God.
That's a year for love.
My nigga, that's a year for love.
That's a blessing.
You feel what I'm saying?
So that's never my problem right there.
But I think that I would have articulated myself very uniquely in front of them anyway.
Well, I would have got a chance
because I'm determined.
But that's never my issue, right?
But as far as
the way people view me
and look at me,
when they...
I know females
when they first see me,
like,
nigga, I know you did that.
Like, they just stereotype me
off top.
I'm like, yo,
until they speak to me
and they get to see,
like, yo, this is a nice dude.
You know what I'm saying?
You feel a light-skinnedness?
Yeah, yeah.
You know what I mean? You feel a light skin? Yeah, i mean you feel a light skin yeah i'm with you buddy you feel like all right look dog i'm a
guy i would have got up in corporate america tell me the girl tell me the girl i would have finessed
them just tell me the girl that looked at you and said nah you did it you committed the murder
no i'm talking about the other part yo you know how to articulate. Oh, that's why.
Okay.
But even as he say it, like, I'm joking with you, but as he say it, I'm looking at him.
You ain't doing it.
I don't feel like that.
Look at this nigga's taper and he's shaved his pants.
Are you looking at me now?
You got to look at when I first came out.
Well, how'd you look when you first came out?
I was probably a little more bigger.
But it's just, you know what it is?
When we come out of prison, I see dudes that come on, I be looking, I say, damn, I had
that same look.
You could just look in their eyes, or you could look at the structure, and it's just
different.
Yeah.
You could tell that they're here, but they like, I'm always on guard.
I can't, like I'm a crowd around me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I want to do shit. So it's always like, ah, boom. Like, go see. He's like, like I'm always on guard. Like I can't, like I'm a crowd around me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because I want to do shit, so it's always like,
like Ghost, he's like, yo, come on the stage.
I stood there for a little while.
My first one to the show.
Nah.
Yo, buddy, I'm out.
No, sir.
You do ice cream without me.
I was like, nah, yo, I got to do the back.
I'm going to keep my back on this wall.
I'm good right over here.
And half of them, I don't even know who the fuck they are.
Because everybody, I ain't changed much.
They're happy to see you.
Not just that, you was 25.
Nigga might have been 12 looking up to you.
And they remember you.
Even if you don't know him, the story has grown.
If you got love for either of these
niggas, then that has... It's a million
reasons why that could have came about.
But that's hard, though.
Yo, listen.
I came out here. I tell everybody.
I say it's easy out here. It's hard
in there.
I'm saying for me.
I'm saying for me because
now I have the power to do what I want to do. You feel what I'm saying for me. I'm saying for me because... It's easy. I'm saying for me because now I have the power to do what I want to do.
Right.
You feel what I'm saying?
And then you don't have that.
You don't have that.
Everything is whatever you need.
A package, you need soap to wash your ass.
You got to get on the phone and call home,
yo, can you send me money in order to buy that soap?
You feel what I'm saying?
It's a business in there.
So it's different.
So I always...
That's why I said prison kills your self-esteem.
That's the thing that's always been shocking to me about when my homies went in and came back and told me stories is like capitalism is still very prevalent in there.
The same way it is out here.
That's right.
Dog.
You know what I'm saying?
The people that got money in there are much better off than the people that don't have shit.
In New Jersey, right?
Yeah.
The governor, the old governor, Christy Whitman.
Yeah.
Her husband Was the
The nigga that you buy
All the clothes from
In canteen
It was his company
The governor
Of the state of New Jersey
Cause you can't wear
Your own shit no more
Right
So when you buy
The Walmart Nikes
The cold Nikes and shit
You buying them
From the governor's husband
With a little markup.
Think about that, my nigga. They selling the cold
Nikes that you could buy for $45
for $140,
$150. The gray sweats
with the no pockets?
They selling them for $35
and $40. The hang joints
that cost you nine beans.
And that's the governor's husband. That's the governor
of the state's husband getting grant money and state money to do that.
I don't want to be like.
These be the billionaire niggas behind closed doors doing all the legislation to send more niggas to jail because I eat more.
Yeah, 100%.
100%.
And that's the system right there.
I don't want to be that guy.
There's an incentive to keep sending when a case like yours
come across.
No.
He's guilty.
And send him up
for the long haul
because there's an incentive there.
There's money.
I make more money off of it.
We need another jail.
We got to pack this one
to show a need for another one.
That's a fact.
Think about that, dog.
That's a fact.
That's sick.
We can't ask for another jail
unless this one is overcrowded.
The jail has to be
at a certain capacity.
Correct. There's an actual contract. No. We another jail unless this one is overcrowded. The jail has to be at a certain capacity. Correct.
There's an actual contract.
No, we ought to make this one overcrowded on purpose because we just bought a lot of land over here.
So we got to show that we got a need for a new prison.
If this one only hold 2,500 motherfuckers, we got to have 2,700 to have them sleeping under cots in the lobby so that now we could go before the board and get a new prison.
That's crazy, son. that's just how that worked that's insane that's just a big business you know i the biggest business i keep trying to like because i'm imagining i'm imagining grant's story
and i keep trying to ask all of these different questions and the thing that is consistent for me that I hear and I see in you is no matter all the
hardship I bring up, there's no deterrence.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You don't hear that?
A strong type of, yeah.
I keep saying, all right, well, what about when the judge first said it?
All right, what about when he brought the jury in?
All right, what about your lawyer?
Because like you said, that's not going to be the end of my story.
Your first week there.
Hey, listen, right?
What about when you didn't see a kid sam you said all right what
about you said you cried once i keep throwing i've cried 90 times asking him questions and he
keeps saying nah nah nigga it's cool now i worked it out gotta be strong i'm like
he wasn't gonna let that be a story hey look no listen i got a lot of pain in me right
but you know what like this is one thing i realized about people like i didn't know i He said he wasn't going to let that be his story. Hey, look. No, listen. I got a lot of pain in me, right?
But you know what?
Like, this is one thing I realized about people.
Like, I didn't know.
I didn't realize.
I don't know no other way to be.
I was never really too much of a really emotional type of guy from the start.
You follow what I'm saying?
So, it's like, even when brothers call me, they be like, your aunt, one thing about you,
you was never down.
You was like, you knew this shit was going to happen. That's the most impressive feat to me.
I woke up the next day,
I had the press conference in front of the court and everything,
and you know what was the best feeling
in the world? I felt free.
I looked at the daily news and seen me and my son.
Front page.
You know what I'm saying? It was like,
that was good for me.
And then my lawyer called me, and he said, listen, Williams, you know,
I had a lot of cases, you know.
This case here is the highlight.
And he says, because of you, you're very inspirational.
You feel what I'm saying?
I feel that.
No, I'm going to keep it a secret.
I feel that.
How did you eventually get free?
Well, they had me go to the parole board and then the da and
wrote to the board yo we opened up this case and then they let me out because i went before and
they said nah two years they said come back before it's in two years i'm sure you must have went a
couple times you must have went a couple times no yeah i went then and then i went in 90 days and
then i went two years and it was like nah so i'm in the parole board because they want you to show
remorse yeah for the for the for like the crime this is a whole different nah, so I'm in the parole board because they want you to show remorse
for the crime.
This is a whole different thing here.
So I'm like, I'm not, because it's public information.
Rob Markman, Jr.: How do you show remorse if you didn't do it?
Rob Markman, Jr.: Hey, look here.
You see what I'm telling you?
It's the same thing I was telling them.
I didn't do it.
I said, I presented the evidence I had that was actually inside the courts.
And I said, I pushed it because you got to give it to them early so they could read it.
And they was just sitting there looking at me like, and they said, you didn't do it.
And I'm like, no, I didn't do it.
You know, they said, so why you seem so much in good spirits?
Like, you know, why are you being bitter?
That's what I still can't understand personally.
I said, because I have faith.
This shit is so fucking disturbing.
You follow what I'm saying?
This is twisted, bro.
And I believe the truth is going to come.
And they said,
you're an amazing person.
Yeah.
I would believe anything
y'all saying.
Bam, I'd have been
broke already.
I said, yo, I didn't do it.
And they looked at the evidence
in front of them
and they was flabbergasted me
and they was shocked like,
oh, snap.
Like, this is real.
We should have looked at this
20 years ago.
Yeah, yeah.
You got to feel
on a parole board like,
yo, I work for some animals
Like this is some bullshit
I'm a part of this
You know what I'm saying
You like I'm a part of this
I'm a part of keeping
A man's freedom away
From him and his family
Now there's two kids
That got records
They in the system
God knows what
They done been through
And what they wouldn't
Have went through
Had he been home
You asking for people
To have a soul issue
I ain't gotta feel like that
If nine out of ten
Of the niggas I come across
Is guilty Nah you do still to feel like that if nine out of ten of the niggas I come across is guilty.
Nah, you do still
got to feel like that.
No, you don't.
No, you don't.
That one matters.
That's not true.
No, you don't.
We're not asking people
to have a soul issue.
We're not agreeing to disagree.
We agree.
We talking about them.
Yeah, we talking about them.
This is just another day
at work for them.
Yeah, that's a fact.
Them niggas don't believe
I'm not getting invested
in coming from them.
Yeah, they're not getting
invested in none of this
It's another case
It was a black lady
On the first one
I had this
One of the worst commissioners
They got commissioners
What they call commissioners
They actually sent
Three of them
And I had the worst one
He was a cop
He was an ex-cop
He was talking to me like
Wait a minute
You ain't tell me
You ain't shoot this dude
You ain't murder this dude
You shot him five times
Now I'm listening to them
Tell a story about Somebody else You ain't even know You know it ain't murder this dude. You shot him five times. Now, I'm listening to them tell a story about somebody else.
You ain't even know.
You know it's not you.
Yeah.
So I said, listen.
And I convinced him.
Like, it wasn't me.
He said, listen.
If you get a letter from the DA's office in 90 days, we'll reconsider your release.
I got the letter from the DA's office.
They said yes.
I went back to the parole board.
Totally different people.
Black lady. Terrible. I said, you know went back to the parole board. Totally different people. Black lady.
Terrible. I said, you know,
I got the reconsideration. She said, listen,
listen, listen. Williams,
I don't want to hear none of that. You're convicted right now. That's court information.
Do you want to proceed
with this proceeding? I can adjourn it.
I said, yeah, go ahead. Let's proceed.
I already knew she was going to end with two years.
She said, okay, well, you caught this guy. I said, well, I did college Let's proceed. I already knew she was going to hit me with two years. She said, okay, well, you caught this guy.
I said, well, I did college.
I got my degrees.
I explained everything to her because, you know, I was educating myself.
He went to college while he was locked up.
I was just about to say, yo, fam, I'm going to keep it a buck with you.
You way more well-spoken than niggas that have been out here for 40 years, yo.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
No bullshit.
So I expressed that to them, and she said,
okay, good luck.
Yeah, good fuck up.
I already knew what time it was.
Yeah.
That's what I'm saying.
To them,
to them saying that two years
is 10 minutes.
Two years is a long time, man.
To them.
Hell yeah.
That's what I'm saying, to them.
Two years before you can come back,
and it might not be me sitting here.
I might be on vacation somewhere.
No, it's definitely not her
sitting there no more.
It's different commissioners.
That's what would really frustrate me. Like, it's definitely not her sitting there no more. It's different commissioners. That's what would
really frustrate me.
You figure over the course
of 25 years,
I'm looking to see someone
with some familiarity
to my case.
Somebody that may be
seeing me sad last time.
Man, even if you do, Joe,
they see so many people,
you're a number.
Yeah, that's right.
You're not a case to them.
There's no personal attachment. No matter how you felt, okay, you're a number. Yeah, that's right. You're not a case to them. You're not a, there's no personal attachment.
No matter how you felt,
okay, you're a number,
whatever, whatever.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Here's the facts.
All right, next.
Sam, your case might have
got on they desk that morning.
They glanced through it like,
oh.
Absolutely right.
So tell me about,
so tell me about your last day.
What, in the jail?
I knew I was about to get out.
You knew you was about to get out you knew you was about to get out oh
now you flipping the bird but i was like this oh man they said you ain't taking everything
everybody i don't want nothing you know a lot of property shit like yo i was up
they had 20 years of property hey these pants are yours
i'm not gonna bring these hey yo the illest shit was I was in the Maxxis for like decades.
So I never went to a medium.
So they was like, man, they going to put you in a medium.
Even that.
Now, listen, I want y'all to picture this, right?
Decades.
You got this bottle, right?
You know, and it's a wall.
Shot, shot, shot.
You know.
I ain't even going nobody.
It's a wall around you.
So you don't see the cars.
You don't see shit.
All you look up, you see is that fucking wall. Excuse my language, y'all. No, no, no. You're good. So you don't see the cars. You don't see shit. All you look up you see is that fucking wall.
Excuse my language y'all.
No, no, no.
You're good.
But you see that wall.
Right?
Picture being like that
for two and a half decades.
You see what I'm saying?
You don't see nothing.
So now they take me
out of that environment
where it's hostile
and then they drop
my classification
and they put me in a medium.
Now a medium is medium
like they got a fence they got people medium. Now, a medium is medium.
Like, they got a fence.
You can see the sun.
Yeah, so I'm fucked up.
So, now, I come, right?
So, I go in the reception part.
I'm there.
I'm on dudes like your own.
What up?
I'm just ignoring them.
All right, what up?
So, now, I got my bag.
I'm looking at the COs look good.
Now, ain't no more.
I'm looking at black.
You know, I'm like, because I went to a hood kill.
You know what I'm doing, right?
First kill.
So I'm like, oh, they got black COs.
Man, she's looking nice, right?
So, you know, I'm not going to talk because, you know,
they be on some bullshit up north.
So I'm just looking, right?
Then this song came on.
I just seen Freedom.
That boot up song by LMA.
Hey.
Hey.
Let me see if I got it
for you
I just was like
yo that shit
I was like
yo I'm going home
yo that's funny
uh oh
you put that on
we gonna be dancing
I said yo
yo
hey
hold on
hey
hey
that shit always
gonna hit that
yo
that's hard
for your record
oh shit he fucking niggas up there yo that is That shit always gonna hit different. That shit always gonna hit different. That's over your record.
These fucking niggas up there.
Yo, that is so funny, this being your release record.
That shit always gonna hit different. Then I heard that song.
Then it was like I was walking off the complex.
People was walking.
I was like, damn, I'm gonna make it out of here soon.
You know what I'm saying?
You feel it.
It's real, man. It's real, man. It's walking fast. I don't want these niggas to take this back. I get saying? You feel it. It's real now. It's real now.
You was walking fast.
Like,
I don't want these niggas
to take this back.
I get to the gate.
I've seen too many movies.
You get to the gate,
nigga be like,
nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, check it out.
So on my last day, right,
you can't run up
and down a complex.
Let's say we all,
yo, yo, yo,
what you gonna do
when you get out?
I said,
watch what the fuck I do.
I'm gonna run down
that damn complex.
You have to shoot me.
I said, yo, are you bugging? I said, watch. They call me, I said watch what the fuck I do I'm gonna run down that damn I said watch They call me
I said listen
Is it time for me to go
Yes sir what's up
I've been waiting here
It's 8 in the morning
I'm like yo what's going on
I wanna leave you know
They said when
You gonna go when they call
Walkways and programs
When everybody go right
I said yeah alright
Carried that fucking
Legal work I had
And I ran down the
The walkway like a mile.
They was like,
hey, asshole, stop running.
No, no.
No, nigga, out.
I ignored them.
I ran.
They said, hey, asshole,
we're going to lock you up.
Yeah, right.
And I ran and I ran.
Everybody was in the windows laughing like,
yo, hon,
and that was the end of that.
Wow.
You know what I'm saying?
Nah, we got to turn booed up up now.
Hey.
Yo, it's so appropriate to me that this was the song.
This shit sound like hope is at the end of the tunnel.
Oh, shit.
It do, right?
Nah, it do.
Yo, that's amazing, man.
That is amazing. Nah, that's even doper that you amazing man That is amazing Nah that's
Nah that's even doper
That you came home to
A job
Yeah
Some family
You know what I'm saying
Like again
I'm sure even when you was locked up
Again I don't really be
Big on the hope shit
But
When you was locked up
The fact that you know
Your people's out here
Moving and shaking
And you gonna come home
To something
Like they ain't fuck niggas.
They here.
They not fuck niggas.
They here with you today.
And your peoples
ain't forget you.
You know what I'm saying?
Like,
your peoples is right there
with you.
And not for nothing,
I don't be counting
no other man pockets,
but I'm sure they,
they aight.
I'm sure they aight.
Yeah,
I'm sure.
I'm sure he was looking aight.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A little icy.
I'm saying that,
you know,
some niggas don't even
come home to that, for real. Nah, for real. Some people come home to just them. little icy. I'm saying that, you know, some niggas don't even come home to that, for real.
No, for real.
Some people come home to just them.
That's what I'm saying.
Everybody forgot them.
Oh, please, man.
This nigga came home to Wu-Tang Docs.
Yeah.
Church A-Legos.
He came home to mad shit.
He had catching up to do when he came home.
Nah, again, that's a blessing.
And I'm sure you can't wait.
Like, you talking to Ghost. Let's say you talk to Ghost once every six home. Nah, that's, again, that's a blessing. And I'm sure you can't wait. Like, you talking to ghosts.
Let's say you talk to ghosts once every six months.
Fuck it, right?
To keep you alive, I don't know if y'all did this, because this might be even more depressing.
But yo, what you been doing?
How you doing?
I'm good.
I just came from.
Even that.
Bro, you putting pictures on your walls like this when y'all was at?
Word.
I can't wait. I can't wait. Like, y'all was at? Word. I can't wait.
I can't wait.
Like, you like, I can't wait.
I can't wait.
That's an inspiration in itself.
That's a motivation in itself.
It's like every whole verse that you've ever heard.
Get the fuck out of here and stay alive.
You know what I'm saying?
Emery.
What he be talking about?
All he want to do is hear his man talk fly.
Right.
That's it.
That's it.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, that's an inspiration.
Like, I'm going to get, y'all niggas ain't going to kill me in here.
Word.
I'm getting out, getting this good box.
My man traveling to every country.
What?
I was happy for him, too.
That's the other pussy, though.
I'm getting that other pussy overseas.
That part.
But see, listen to that.
For me, even that speaks to the no deterrence that I hear in you.
It's all happiness.
I was happy for my brother.
That's real.
In a hole or in them walls,
you might have had to deal with that hate.
That's true, too.
If it's there.
No, I'm sure.
Not hate for your man, of course,
but hate I ain't there.
Hate that this is happening without me.
Even that, for that to get blocked out, man.
Yeah.
This guy is...
No, you're different. No, that's Yeah. This guy. Nah, you different.
Nah, that's what I'm saying.
No, you different.
I was happy for all of them.
I was like, all right, because I was there, so I know.
You know what I'm saying?
No, the fact that you was there make it harder.
I just never watched awards, though.
You hear me?
That would stress me out, like watching the TV awards.
They were like, I'm not watching that shit.
Because I know that.
I'm like, nah, that shit stressed me out.
But when I see the video, I'm like, yeah.
You know what I'm saying? What the fuck I'm talking about? You bragging and shit? Yeah. Yeah, word. Yo, you know that shit stressed me out. But when I see the video, I'm like, yeah. You know what I'm saying?
You bragging and shit?
Yeah.
Yeah, word.
Yo, you know, brothers is moving on.
And you might have had a hard time in there if these niggas was ass.
Like, they was them niggas.
They was them niggas, so everything was cool.
I'm never going to have a hard time.
You feel me?
I'm a man.
Be clear. I'm never gonna have a hard time you feel me I'm a man be clear whether they was ass or not
nigga
I'm good here
that's it
nah that's real
so now
freedom
we out
actually no
before I get to that
you mentioned around
01
02
laws started changing
they started coming up
with different cliques
and just non-profit people
to help, right?
Me as a DACA guy,
huge DACA guy,
inside, did you feel that play
any part in change
in social climate?
Like, I talk a lot here
about the world
becoming more sensitive
with these kids
and just things
that they won't accept anymore.
And these docs are coming out about wrongful convictions in jail.
Did you feel the world change out there with like what they were paying attention to?
Yes, yes, yes.
I did because what happened is you got violent crimes and you got nonviolent crimes, right?
And the nonviolent crimes, remember the Rockefeller lawsuit?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I was in jail, you know, and that was around, I think that was around the time when them buildings fell.
So I've been in there for a lot.
So when I seen that, we used to be like, yo, but how about for the violent?
So then when I seen them grabbing the violent bills and passing them,
and I seen people advocating for people that's, you know, they got violent crimes, they got innocent.
Then I seen the whole world changing for us socially, speaking about it, recognizing it.
And once you do that, that's when change is going to come about.
So, yeah, I seen that.
Your day now, free, starts how?
Like your first thought in the mornings.
For me, I used to be depressed.
So every morning that I wake up, I'd just be happy to wake up.
That's a fact.
I'd be like, oh, we got another one.
We back at it.
All right, rising star.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm a happy man these days.
Is it strange at all?
Is it weird?
Do you ever wake up like, oh, shit, I'm out here.
I still have prison dreams.
I bet.
Like the other day I woke up, I was like, oh, shit, I told them. I said, yo. I still have prison dreams. I bet. Like the other day I woke up.
I was like, oh shit.
I told them.
I said, yo, I just had a dream.
I was back in.
I've been having dreams.
But this time when I was in there, after I got exonerated on TV, it was like I was in
there and they was like, yo, I just got exonerated.
Everybody was happy.
Because I always left good energy in there.
You feel what I'm saying?
So they was like, yo, uncle.
Because they called 10 years old time.
Yo, uncle, you're out. But I was dead. And they was like, yo, uncle, because they called 10 years old time. Yo, uncle, you're out.
But I was dead.
It's like, yo, what you doing in there?
I said, nah, I'm just, you know, coming to check.
I said, I don't know what I'm doing in here.
You know, I'm dreaming.
You know what I'm saying?
But it was never like I knew I was stuck in there still.
Like ever since I got exonerated.
Before that, I'm like, damn, I'm back in jail.
I'm in the yard.
We about to go at it again.
You know, it's always the get up, count, whatever, whatever, you know?
And, you know, I guess I have them
for the rest of my life
because that's the mental scars
physical scars
hell up and all that shit
but the mental scars
is the one
that can damage anybody
whether you're incarcerated
whether you're free
if you're dealing with
some type of mental scars
and you start dealing
with depression
you gotta find yourself
you gotta dig in yourself
and find what's causing
this to happen
it's like I said on TV
right the problem is people deal with the leaves they don't go to the root find yourself. You got to dig in yourself and find what's causing this to happen. It's like I said on TV, right?
The problem is people deal with
the leaves. They don't go to the root.
You see what I'm saying? When you start digging in the root of things,
life will be more better.
Things will be more understandable.
It was deep.
So, you don't have to answer
this because shit is probably in the
works, but
a doc,
I'm sure your phone
is off the hook
for sure
I'm sure people
are blowing it up
this was my first
interview right here
alright
hey
talk talk
appreciate
appreciate that
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news news news news news news news parks loop it up parks loop it up we're going to put that out Nose your bangs. Say Vaughn. Get the time stamp on that.
Parks, loop it up.
We're going to put that out.
Make sure that message is felt.
No, listen.
First of all, I appreciate that.
Thank you.
I'm glad you came.
This is, I'm blown away.
I'm blown away.
I'm so blown away.
I didn't even ask you half of the shit that I want to ask.
Because this story is just. It's crazy. I can't imagine. I ain't even asked you half of this shit that I want to ask because this story is just...
It's crazy. I can't
imagine it. I can't imagine it. I can't picture
it. Thank God you're home. I'm happy for you.
I'm happy for your kids. I'm happy
for Ghost, Shy,
Staten Island.
I got a question for you.
If they were to let you out, right?
Yeah. On your parole hearing
and you had not gotten exonerated,
quote unquote,
you would have been done, right?
Nah.
Oh, okay.
Because I got paroled
and I wasn't exonerated.
Oh, so you got paroled
and you wasn't exonerated.
Nah, I still was like,
yo, what's going on?
Oh, so your exoneration came after
and then COVID hit.
Remember COVID hit?
Yeah.
It still hit. Remember COVID hit?
It still hit.
Yeah, that shit,
Delta is here now.
But it was different, fam.
Yeah, you know,
so I got out right around that time.
Wait, were you in
while COVID was...
No, no, no, no.
I got out right around that time.
So that stopped my proceedings
of me having that press.
But you know something?
Everything happened
for a reason in time.
You know what I mean?
Because if I would have had it
when I first came out,
my energy would have been different. You follow what I mean? Because if I would have had it when I first came out, my energy would have been different.
You follow what I'm saying?
Yeah.
My whole energy,
my vibe would have been different.
It would have been more
on the serious note
to where I always keep a sense of humor
when I'm telling these stories
and I stay away from areas
that's going to bring tears to my eyes
right now.
You know,
but I'm definitely going to tell a story.
It's going to be a whole,
it's going to be emotional, it's going to be funny, but it's real and it's something that happened. You. But I'm definitely going to tell a story. It's going to be emotional.
It's going to be funny, but it's real.
And it's something that happened.
You know what I'm saying?
The exonerated part, is that for us or him?
I don't feel like that's for him.
It's important for him.
It's important to him.
It's for both, yo.
It's for both. You know why?
It's also for me because what you don't know, right?
I made history on Staten Island.
I was the first ever to be exonerated, ever on Staten Island.
And not only that, I got it under a law called actual innocence, which they don't give.
It was one person, Derrick Hamilton Bush, he got it.
So it's like me and his case.
My case has way more flaws than his.
So it opens the door for brothers that's still inside.
And that's why I think you're saying this.
It's the precedent
so now they can go back
case law
and that never happened
case law
you follow what I'm saying
so it's just usually
just looking at the
exoneration on TV
but when you look into the law
they didn't give it to me
after the injuries
and justice are dismissed
they gave it to me
under actual innocence
something they'd never do
you follow what I'm saying
nah that's dope
and that could affect
a lot of brothers oh it is it opens the doors for a lot of people You know what I'm saying? No, that's dope. And that could affect a lot of brothers.
Oh, it is.
It opens your doors for a lot of people.
That's what I'm grateful for.
I have one question.
Do you have any advice for loved ones
of people who are incarcerated?
How you can help while they're in
and when they first get home?
Great question.
Yes, yes.
I believe, you know,
if you have loved ones that's incarcerated,
you know, you should communicate with them because lack of
communication just causes confusion
when somebody's in there and they don't hear from their family
their loved ones they start thinking
yo what happened did they get shot
did they get killed did they you know something happen
to them and then you start thinking all these thoughts
you know what I'm saying so communication
is key and if you could be supportive
financially which that's not always
the case,
it's key.
How much,
how much financially?
I mean,
I guess everything counts,
but like how much does money stretch in?
Well,
money to me,
money helps,
but the communication,
just hearing the voice is priceless.
Like,
cause you know,
my,
you know,
you know,
unfortunately my pops died when I was in there.
So I didn't have that communication with him. So next thing I know, they said, yo, Williams, we're sorry to tell you, the Reverend coming
to say your father died.
My father was in and out of my life, so it wasn't too much of an emotional response for
me.
I would love to see him now.
He was here today, but unfortunately he's not.
So it saddens me when I think about it now, and as a myself. I say, damn, my motherfucking pop's in here, you know?
So when you're dealing with a loved one in prison, you know, the communication, because
you never know when you're going to go.
Right.
You know what I'm saying?
You know, nobody's living forever these days.
I came out here, and a lot of people die.
I'm like, oh, you know?
In prison and everything.
So then when you come home-
You got to deal with that as you come home.
Like, bullshit niggas is dying.
That's right. Yeah. And then when you come home, you know, to deal with that as you come home. Like, bullshit niggas is dying. That's right, yeah.
And then when you come home, you know,
everybody's not placed in the same situation
to have somebody there for them.
So now you got to try to get a job.
And then when you get denied, you know,
you just got to stand by your loved ones
as much as possible, you know?
You know, I kind of understand what you mean by that.
I had a cousin that was incarcerated a couple years back.
And, like, everybody kind of lost contact with him for a while. what you mean by that. I had a cousin that was incarcerated a couple years back and like everybody
kind of lost touch,
lost contact with him
for a while.
And I was there
with his sister
when she had to
let him know
his mom's passed.
And I never heard
a grown man
scream like that
on the phone.
Like that was different.
Like it was just,
she had to relay
that news to him.
And it was somewhere everybody haven't, you know, ain't really.
And then he come home, and shit was different.
Nah, that shit bad enough.
Imagine, you can't touch him.
You can't hug him.
You can't.
And they be assholes, won't let you go to the funeral.
Yeah, they didn't let him go.
Yeah, like, you can't come.
Huh?
They didn't let him out.
That'd be the other shit.
They didn't let me go neither. My pastor's father. I was going to ask, but you can't come on. Huh? They didn't let him out. That'd be the other shit. They didn't let me go neither.
I'll pause this follow.
I was going to ask, but I didn't.
No, I'm just saying, like, they don't.
Nigga, you're a piece of shit.
You don't matter to them.
That's some real shit.
All right, let me try to get this back to a happy place.
No, no, no, we good.
I'm sorry about that.
Favorite food currently now that you're out That you might have missed As you were eating
That bullshit in there
I don't know man
You know
I like
I just don't eat beef and pork
Anything other than that
Is good to me
You know
Not to me
It's bad foods
But you know
You know
I'm with the fish
Yeah fish
Seafood
Turkey burgers
You know
I mean when I came home
I said
Yo you know what I want
I want some Chinese food That greasy chicken And broccoli You know what I'm saying I said yo you know what I want I want some Chinese food
That greasy chicken and broccoli
You know what I'm saying
I said that the other day
I had that yesterday
I want some
I ate that
That shit ran right through me
Yeah
I said I can't
That part
Yes
It ran right through me
Nobody ain't used to that shit
Shit trash
Yeah
No that's crazy
That was one of my good foods
Yo
Tell them right Starks
Yeah You was 25 You ain't know no better This is that was one of my good foods you telling Rice Stocks
you was 25
you ain't know no better
I'm blown away man
I appreciate you thank you
I'm sure some other
niggas will be beating you down for interview
because it's such a compelling fascinating
and intriguing story
but wait I feel like
is there anything that we might have missed
that we need to get out
is there a website
is there a website
is there a website
mrgrantwilliams.com
let's get that out right
mrgrantwilliams.com
all of that
th underscore
real underscore
you know r-e-a-l underscore
big underscore u-n-n yo n underscore, big underscore, you ain't un.
Yo, niggas that come home is going to put some underscores in there.
They can put five of them in there.
Yo, Shaheen, go.
Come on, man.
Hey, no, check it out, right?
I didn't know how to say it.
And it was like I was just trying to put the real big under.
I know. Just say underscore every time I did it under every letter. I'm like I was just trying to put the real big under underscore
every time I did it
under every letter
I'm like
I know
I put an underscore there
and every time I tell
somebody that Instagram
they're like damn
there's some other uns
that feel they're real
I guess
underscore real underscore
big underscore
you ain't un
you know that's it
and that's that on that man
listen
I
I
I gotta ask you
how you doing you here shy I to ask you how you doing.
You here.
Shy, I got to ask you how you doing.
You here.
Like, y'all are here.
Nah, man.
Come on, man.
I'll move.
You niggas is GOATs and legends.
Listen, nah, man.
One of y'all got to move.
Come here.
Nah, man.
Ghost, don't do that.
You're in our top ten.
Don't do that.
Don't do that.
It's not acceptable.
It's not acceptable.
Come on.
Ice move.
Let Ghost sit right there for a second, man.
Just one second.
Only one second.
We don't want nothing.
We don't want nothing.
We already know you hate these cameras and interviews and shit.
We know.
See, now this is what it's supposed to feel like.
This is what, yeah, and this is what it feel like.
Yeah, it's what I need.
Now, Grant, Shy, Ghost,
Ian, don't you never let this happen again
where I don't know that this is the situation.
Shy, don't just come here.
I was out there smoking.
I came out.
I ain't, I don't be looking niggas in the face.
I just gave niggas the fist
and it's you and Ghost standing there.
How are you?
I'm great, my brother. You know what I'm saying? You know how
I am, man. I just don't
push up. You know what I'm saying? We go
way, way back. So I just
did what I always do when I see you.
What's up, baby? And you know what it was?
The beard. You probably ain't recognize the beard and all that. So it took you a second, you know what I mean, to I see you. What's up, baby? And you know what it was? The beard. You probably ain't recognized
the beard and all that,
so it took you a second,
you know what I mean,
to recognize me.
But yo, love is love always, Joe.
Thank you.
Good to see you.
You know I love you.
Likewise, brother.
And thank you for,
you know,
you know what I'm saying,
giving my cousin your platform
and bringing awareness
of his story out there
as well as the big ghost
Dini in the building.
Well, no doubt.
Ghost, right.
Yeah, baby.
You're my favorite rapper ever, man.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I got a fanboy out, man.
You are number one, bro.
Yo, and he not lying, though.
Yeah, I'm not lying.
He ain't lying.
No, he's for real.
He's for real.
I respect that.
I respect that.
Ghost, we just honored
to have you down here, man.
Yo, listen.
I'm just chilling.
I'm chilling. It's good to see you, though. That's it. I respect that. Ghost, we just honored to have you down here, man. No, yo, listen. I'm just chilling. I'm chilling.
It's good to see you, though.
That's it.
Always.
Always.
Always.
It was crazy because they walk in, I'm zapping everybody up, and he had the mask on.
So he's Ghost.
Nah.
This ain't power.
This ain't power.
Yeah, yeah.
Nah.
Nah, Ghost slimmed down a little bit.
All these niggas in great shape.
I gave a power set piece and went outside to smoke.
I came back and that's Ghostface.
I'm like, oh shit.
Now listen, Ghost, I know you hate these interview niggas,
so I don't even have no questions for you.
But one, but one, but one, but one.
Not too long ago, I was surfing the net
and somebody played a Ghostface version of,
I want to say Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic.
Which is how the record
should be. That's how the record should sound.
That's how it should go.
If we know you, that's your bag.
And you killed it. And we don't
have it yet. Right. Oh, I'll get
that to you. Yeah, I need that.
See, that exists.
I don't know why that didn't come out 24 hours
after it was done.
We need that.
Say less.
That's all I got for Ghost. I'm shutting up.
That's all I
got. Shy, Grant,
Ghost, thank y'all.
We love y'all. We appreciate
you. I'm waiting for the
doc. I ain't
mean to say he was going to have a hard time in there.
Your round of
applause, man.
We got legends and goats in here.
It's legend and goat day.
Grant Williams, if you're unfamiliar,
go Google it, god damn it. Hopefully you learned
something right now.
This was amazing.
MrGrantWilliams.com Real Big Un on Instagram. something right now and this was this was amazing Mr. Grant Williams dot com
real big on Instagram
you know
underscore
you know
after every word
everywhere
welcome home
and congratulations
you know what I'm saying
appreciate y'all
yes
welcome home
congratulations
Patronies
we'll holler at y'all soon
peace and love
bye
alright
peace