Overcoming Your Environment To Turn Your Life Around with Mario Canon - 099

In this episode, I'm joined by Mario Canon. Mario is a rapper, actor, and motivational speaker. His tagline is "Creating vibes and changing lives"

Mario has guest-starred as an actor on Fox's Empire and charted at 67 on iTunes with his latest music single.

Additionally, he just received the All Hands On Deck Award in Chicago for his positive impact on the community.

This episode is as real as it gets, with Mario sharing stories about his tough upbringing where he lost both of his siblings to gun violence before turning his life around - allowing him to go from broke and homeless to owning a gym and commercial real estate in a span of just 5 years.

His message on how to create growth and change in places where opportunity and good examples can be hard to find is both necessary and unique. 

Inside The Episode:

• How Mario is flipping rap culture on it's head in a positive way
• How to take the "red pill" and begin creating the life you want
• Why groupthink is the greatest killer of success and how to avoid it
• 2 things that can create massive change
• Incredible real-life stories of overcoming adversity

Connect with Mario

• Mario's Website
• Instagram

Connect With Bradley

• Bradley's Instagram

Transcript

0:32

Hey

Bradley Roth: 0:32

everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Not Most People podcast. This is your host, Bradley, and this is the show for those allergic to mediocrity group think and following the status quo. And before we get into today's full-length guest episode, just a couple quick things I wanna mention. First I have one, ask every episode and whether you are tuning in for the first time. Or you're a repeat listener, I just ask that if you get value out of the show, out of this episode outta any other episode, that you help me grow the show by sharing it with someone who you think will get value out of it. Cuz if you got value out of it, you're gonna know someone else who will as well. So I just ask that you shoot'em a message. If you wanna share the podcast on social media, that's awesome. And if you wanna go above and beyond and leave a rating or review on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're listening, that just takes a minute and is greatly appreciated and helps really get the word out to people who otherwise wouldn't find the show. So that's all I ask. If you don't enjoy the show, don't share it. But that's just kind of the value exchange that I'm putting out there. Put a lot into the show, a lot of time, energy, money, and I won't run ads as long as you guys continue to help me grow the show organically. So that's all I ask. With not most people beyond the podcast, we have, depending on when you're listening this. Listening to this, the Not Most People Summit coming up here soon. This is kind of the biggest thing that's happened with not most people since it began over two years ago. This is gonna be a multi-day event. World-class speakers, lots of networking, unique venues, all kinds of good stuff. And you can learn all about that@nnpsummit.com. And that's really it. Everything else can be found in the show notes. And without further ado, we're gonna get into today's episode. I have Mario Cannon joining me on the show. Mario, welcome.

Mario Canon: 2:23

Yo. Thank you for having me, man. What's going on

Bradley Roth: 2:25

man? A lot's going on. But for those of you who have not heard of Mario yet, He is a rapper, actor, and motivational speaker. He's creating vibes and changed lives. He has guest starred on Fox Show Empire. He recently just charted at 67 on iTunes and just received the All Hands On Deck Award in Chicago for his outreach and community service. So, Really kind of a, a varied resume. I feel like You don't hear rapper and motivational speaker in the same line very often. No. No. So no. So I was like, all right, that's not most people. We gotta have'em on, so, uh, makes it hard, man. Yeah, right. It's kind of the, I get a lot of, I get a lot of flack for that. Yeah.

Mario Canon: 3:07

For which one more? Um, you know, the, the, the, the industry I'm in from the music, because, you know, I do a lot of motivational speaking and I, um, you know, as an artist and, and as a rising artist, you gotta be able to, you gotta deliver that raw stuff, and I'm delivering that raw, but the rawness I'm giving is different. It's totally left field because, um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm empowering people with my music. Even my, even my hardcore, you know, when I, I'll call'em hard, hardcore music or some of my more darker music. I'm still encouraging people to do things that are gonna better their lives and not to make irrational decisions, um, that, you know, that will still their future away from, because right now we, I, there's enough artists out there that are, that are putting out whatever they wanna put out. That's fine. I'm not hating those artists. I, I listen to some of them and one day I hope to work with them, but I'm not gonna change my mission and plan. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 3:57

no, it's cool that you're using. I feel like rap has this associated like rap culture, right? That's about like girls money, cars, like that whole kind of thing. Gang culture. Yeah, gang

Mario Canon: 4:08

culture, you know? Yeah. Right. Right. Now rap is, to me, rap is more promoted for gang culture and death, and then you have. You have the, uh, there's always been about gloating, right? It's all, you know, it's always been about, you know, girls cars and mm-hmm. Money and lifestyle, right? Lifestyle raps, yeah. Lifestyle. Yeah. Con you have conscious rap, but with the, you know, what you see in the media now is mostly is it's a lot of, you know, lifestyle rap and gang gang rap, right? That's what, you know, it's got a dark connotation on it right

Bradley Roth: 4:35

now, so, yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting that you're kind of providing a contrast to that. So was it like, You were like, I want to be a motivational speaker, kind of share this message. And then you got into rap, or you got into rap and then decided like, this is the angle that you kind of wanna take

Mario Canon: 4:52

it. It actually happened. Mm-hmm. Like, literally, like I, I'm a, you know, I'm a, I own a gym, I'm a trainer, right? Mm-hmm. So I'm always like, motivat, I was already motivating people. I started training, like, um, man, I started doing personal training and stuff like eight, nine years ago, almost 10 years ago. Hmm. And like, I was a rapping still, so, so I was helping people get in shape and, you know, helping them feel better about themselves. Like, this is cool, man. You know? Mm-hmm. And so it kinda trans transitioned to the music, right? Mm-hmm. At the same time. And I, and I felt really powerful and empowering people, so I was like, I want, I want to feel like this when I make music as well as me helping somebody training, you know, and get in shape, so, right. For sure.

Bradley Roth: 5:33

Kind of having that alignment across everything, so Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So what is kind of your, you know, motivational speaking is kind of this like, big nebulous term. What is one or two of kind of like your key messages that you like to share through your speaking, through your music? Um,

Mario Canon: 5:52

just, just finding your, uh, your passion and your gift and, and, and learning how to separate those two. Um, and I, and I know, uh, you talk about not not being normal and not following a crowd. Mm-hmm. That's one of the things I really, really, really. Push when I speak mm-hmm. Is individuality, right? Yeah. Yep. And being, being a, being a self figure and being a researcher. So I really push that, especially when I'm speaking to the, the younger groups that I speak with, you know? Mm-hmm. I, I try to instill life in them and I want them to, I encourage them to go out and meet other people, make a new friend every day, and I encourage them to be different. Yeah. Don't follow. It's okay. It's, it's okay to be different right now cause these people you're friends with in your high school, you probably, you probably not gonna talk to'em, right? Just being honest. So you don't, you don't have to be cool right now. Just put into work right now. So,

Bradley Roth: 6:47

yeah. Yeah. It's, I think it's especially important at that young age cuz that's when people really want to try to blend in or to kind of like do whatever the crowd is doing or deems cool and that kind of thing. Um, and then, You know, I think once you get into that, you see kids who kind of change who they are to try and fit in or, you know, whatever it is, and that sticks with them and then they never learn to kind of think for themselves or their individuality kind of fades away. You know, it's, it's like this ripple effect. Yeah.

Mario Canon: 7:20

And get out at the, and guess what, if they and one, once they're pretending. They lose themselves. And that's a lot of times we, we lose our youth as adults to the system. Mm-hmm. Um, their lives, right? Yeah. Or we listen to, they're homeless or they're, they're, they get on drugs cuz they've been, they never had a chance to really fully blossom and truly love and, um, appreciate who they are. If they too busy trying to emulate or replicate or duplicate what's been presented online and, and then social media, right. It's just, it's crazy, man, that you can think about, but I was one of those kids, so, you know.

Bradley Roth: 7:57

Yeah. So I mean, yeah, you're speaking from experience on what you're talking about to these guys. So was there. I'm guessing there was some kind of like turning point, right? Because we were talking a little bit before the episode and you said you kind of grew up and, you know, you weren't really spreading a positive message early on. You were getting into trouble here and there and stuff,

Mario Canon: 8:17

right? No, you know, I, you know, listen, let me, let me tell you this. Mm-hmm. I'm not saying I was just a gangster. Right? Right. I, you know, I'm just saying I grew up in a area that was not safe. For the average individual and I, you know, and you had to write your, watch it back now. I did. I did some street stuff. I was in the streets, right? Mm-hmm. Um, I had my run-ins with the law, but one thing that changed my life honestly, was just losing my siblings to gun violence all around, because, you know, it's not real until it's r until it's real. And when, when lives are, are start, when you start losing lives all around you, that's when that's a game changer, man. And, and, oh yeah. Not only does it hurt you, you're scared. Mm. So, When you're constantly in fight or fight mode, you don't have time to really think and, and, and formulate structured thoughts to get out of a particular situation the right way. Yeah. I'm in the streets. So the turning point for me man, was honestly just losing people I love and not knowing why, like, less violence, man, that man that scared me, man. I don't care how tough, you know, how you, how tough you think you are, man. Mm-hmm. When, when you, if you're, if you're around. Gunshots and you, you lose people you love and you have to see your relatives. Mm-hmm. Not make it past 25. Mm-hmm. Yo, that, that's enough for me. I don't know about anybody else, but I'll tell you what, I don't want to be that, and I don't wanna do that to my mom, you know? Yeah. And I think one of the most hardest moments for me in my life too, was seeing my mom and the grandma in the courtroom. I had no, none of my friends, none of my homies, nobody was there. Mm-hmm. And I was at shackles and I had to look at them and they were the only, and they were just so sad. And I felt like I let down, man, I felt like a failure. You understand me? Yeah. Um, I never want see, see, make somebody feel like that again. I never wanna disappoint people or people I love cause of the decisions I've made. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It hurt him.

Bradley Roth: 10:23

Hmm. So was that moment that you just described, was that before or after you lost your

Mario Canon: 10:30

siblings? I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you. That was before. Hmm. Because even though that hurt, I was so young, man. Mm-hmm. I got right back to the streets. But when I think about it now as an adult mm-hmm. It hurt still. Cause I still remember their eyes, man, when I was in the courtroom. Yeah. I thought I was such a badass. Mm-hmm. And I seen him, man. I was like, and I, and look at me. I'm in a uniform. I'm chained up like an animal. And I was a freaking honor roll student scholarship basketball player, bro. In fact, that was even enrolled into the Air Force. I had a really high score on bat test. Wow. I scored a, um, 80, 85 on an asba test. I scored really high. So you could have done any job, any job. But the problem was I had told my recruiter at the time, I said, man, you gotta get me outta here or else I'm gonna either be in debt or I'm gonna be dead or in jail. When I told him that, man, I, uh, was in jail two weeks later. Wow.

Bradley Roth: 11:37

So you kind of like, you

Mario Canon: 11:38

knew like Yeah, I told him move up my, uh, date to go do basic training. Mm-hmm. I already did maps and everything. Yeah. I said, I said Move me up cuz I ain't gonna make it. Mm. I'm not going to be alive if you don't give me, and it's not like I was just this Billy badass. I was just young, wild, trying to figure it out. I want to impress the homies in the streets. I want to impress the big bros, the big dudes. You know, the guys I looked up to. Mm-hmm. And they were, and the guys I looked up to, they weren't career man. They were, they were street guys. Yeah. They had the love man. They had the. They had all the respect, they had all the women, they had the goals, they had the rims, they had everything I wanted, all that. That's what I wanted. Mm-hmm. I wanted to be loved and respected, and I wanted to be feared. Hmm.

Bradley Roth: 12:25

And you knew it was either like this life or something totally different in a sense with the Air Force. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. I mean, it, it just shows I think how powerful like the environment is. Right. Your environment. Yeah. Because like kids don't just grow up wanting to like. Cause vi like it's not a natural thing, right? Like as kids were pretty innocent growing up and, but like, what a look, you're surrounded, you're impressionable. Like that's, you know, that's what you see. That's what, you know, you feel pressured into certain things. Like, and that goes both ways, right? Yeah. And negative, positive. So, you know, and that's also kind of the danger of groupthink, right? Like in, I said in the very beginning, in the intro, like our. Our, uh, tagline is allergic to mediocrity, groupthink and following the status quo. Right? Because groupthink is so, can be really dangerous, you know? And it sounds like you had luckily just enough kind of like independence or like awareness that you were, you kind of saw where things were headed and, yeah.

Mario Canon: 13:33

Well, save me man was being mobile too, right? Hmm. Like I was, I would leave and try. I, I wasn't afraid to try new things. Yeah, I, I would, you know, I, I was in college. I want to transfer to a different school. I'm gonna try, I'm gonna try to get into school. I don't know if they're gonna accept me because of my, my background. Mm-hmm. But I'm gonna do it anyway. And I, and again, I got into schools in different ci, different towns of cities. And that's when I started meeting my, my friends now that are, that are, that are my lifelong friends who got me into acting, who got me into, um, all these different programs. And I got to see functional families with successful people who look like me. Mm. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Cause I wasn't used to that, you know? Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 14:14

So, so was that kind of like a big turning point?

Mario Canon: 14:17

Yeah, that was too, man. Like, you know, I, I went to school with LaRoyce Hawkins on Chicago pd. I don't know if you know the show, the show Chicago PD on nbc, but my mother-in-law loves that show. Hey. So I'm, I'm actually on that show a bunch of times if you watch some of the older seasons and stuff. Oh, wow. Um, but he, um, he's the one that got me into acting. Hmm. And I did a couple plays and we got a bunch of music together too. He's incredible talent. But, um, meeting people in college man is what really helped me as well. Cause I gotta see other young men doing great things and they, and I had to even, I even changed the way I dressed it, everything when I got this college, you know, I was like rocking the, you know, the gangster stuff and they're like, Know the women wasn't impressed with that man. Right. Yep. I wasn't gonna get him. Yep. You know, a different breed. It was, it was a different ballgame. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It wa in that time, everybody didn't want to be gang and thugs. Like now everybody wanted be gang now, but it wasn't like that then. Right. It was kinda like trying to be street on, on campus. You know? That's what I look, Hey, I, I won't, I can't make this up. I went to school, man. I had gold teeth.

Bradley Roth: 15:27

What school? What school were you at?

Mario Canon: 15:29

I went to a couple. So the first one was University of Illinois and Springfield. Okay. I just recently went back there to speak too. It's crazy. Mm. I dropped and I got low key, dropped out outta there and you know, lost everything cause I was in trouble. Mm. It's crazy how like I went back there to speak and crazy. Oh yeah. But, um, circle. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. They ended up going to school at Heartland Community College in Bloomington, in isu. So, cause they're like, they're like partner, you go back and forth, you can take classes. Right. And, um, Bloomington, that's where I, I got all my friends and changed. I changed my life and it was crazy. So. Mm.

Bradley Roth: 16:10

That was cool. Yeah, man, it's funny, it's a small world. Like both my parents grew up in Peoria. So Fe town. Yeah, Fe Town. I was just in Peoria.

Mario Canon: 16:18

Yeah. I love period, man. I want

Bradley Roth: 16:20

people out there, man. Yeah. I've been there a ton of times. That's where all our extended family is from. And my parents both went to, I always mix it up, but I know at least one of'em to U U r I U of I, one of'em went to Southern Illinois like,

16:33

so.

Mario Canon: 16:34

Um, that's dope, man. Yeah. Puria is a, driving is a cool city, man. They got a lot of culture there. Yeah. I like Puria. Um, it's different man. Mm-hmm. But I, I love Puria. It's pretty cool. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 16:45

my, my mom always jokes that my dad named me after Bradley University in Peoria. Are you serious?

Mario Canon: 16:51

Yeah. That's funny as, that's funny, man. Yeah. So

Bradley Roth: 16:55

man. Yeah. Small world. Kind of funny. And for those of you listening, we met on a hike, hiking up Campbell Back Mountain with first form crew, like you already know. Yeah. Like a month. I had first born baby a month or two ago, so, um, yeah, just small world. We just ran into each other like, oh, you're from here, I'm from there. So, It's just funny how things connect, but again, it comes with trying new things, getting out there. Like I went to this hike, I didn't know anyone, but I met Mario. I met a few other really cool

Mario Canon: 17:23

people. You know me, boy. Yeah. Yep,

Bradley Roth: 17:27

exactly. My bro, my

Mario Canon: 17:28

boy blue. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 17:29

man. Love it. Yeah. And then we'll, we'll, we'll connect out here in Arizona soon too, it sounds like. But, uh

Mario Canon: 17:36

oh, it's over, man. Over locked in. Knock and loaded.

Bradley Roth: 17:41

Yes sir. So, so you went to college and kind of ch a, again, you like your environment dictated kind of your. Your direction in a sense. Right. So you said you met these different people, they got you into these different things, but also like Yeah, kind of like immediately woke you up to like, you know, gang gangster culture on campus. Like that's not the cool thing anymore. Right. And so kind of, kind of, yeah. So

Mario Canon: 18:09

I, I was living a double life. After a while I went, I relapsed. Mm-hmm. I relapsed. I got a real bad, um, alcohol. Mm. Because like a campus and I was with the fraternities and stuff. Oh. And then I ended up, um, going back and forth because, you know, it, it, I was, I was in the life. So like I relapsed. Yeah. And so what happened after that is I started going back to my neighborhoods back of the street again, man. Now I'm a school boy during the day and a street due at night. Mm-hmm. I relapsed, man. And so the, the relapse is when I, I lost so much weight cause I wouldn't eat food. I just drink alcohol and take pills. And, um, I ended up moving down to Missouri and, um, getting a job in St. Louis. And, um, I was again, still living a double life, but that's when all the bad stuff started happening. Gotcha. They started catching up to me, and then I had to make a 360. So I, I took a leap of faith once I, I lost my siblings. I took a leap of faith and I moved to this town. I had nothing. I got anything. I got the wrong way. I lost everything. Mm-hmm. So I ended up, I moved, moved here with whatever money I had from working in St. Louis, and then I ended up, for a minute, I was homeless. Because, um, I had a roommate, you know, and it didn't work out, so I ended up sleeping in my car a lot of times, or just kind of like finessing motels. Mm-hmm. Um, and then it clicked on me. Yeah. Nobody was around me. Nobody wanted to be around me when I was nobody. I, I couldn't count on nobody but my mama. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 20:03

And how old

Mario Canon: 20:03

were you at this point? Uh, man, you know, I don't even know, man. 24, 25. Mm-hmm. Yo, what a crazy moment to sit there and realize I had no furniture. I'm in this freaking, um, I got this studio apartment in this small town, you know, my living room's, my kitchen. You know how it goes, right? Yep. And I guess one room, all I got is a CD burner and I'm sleeping on my floor. So I'm, I'm selling CDs. Mm-hmm. I'm rapping about all this stuff, all this money I got and killing people, all this, whatever. It's rapping some crap. Yeah. And I'm, I gotta start telling my story, man. Cuz people need to hear what they hit, or real, they need to hear me, what I'm, I'm, I'm walking to work. Let me rap about this. This is what I'm really doing. Mm-hmm. You know, I lost all my cars, I lost everything. I'm. So when I start, now, when I focus on this work and building myself and growing, it changed man. When I stopped entertaining people who didn't mean me well, when I stopped trying to fit in, when I stopped trying to fit in mm-hmm. Everything changed. Mm-hmm. When I stopped caring what people thought of me, but really, really stop, like not just the antagonized people, cuz I was smart. I would, I would do stuff. I knew how to get people's attention. Yeah. But I had, I, but I had to, I had to learn how to. Not look for acceptance in, in, in groups. Mm. Not, not try to get into group thinker. Yep. Man, once I, once I did that, bro, that was it. Mm-hmm. All true. You could, you could smell it on me, man. Mm-hmm. I, I was losing friends left and right. They didn't even, they did not, they did not like me anymore cuz I was so sure of myself and they would question me. You really trying to be positive, bro. They'll like, that's all, that's all bs right? You're just doing that for the internet. I said, no, bro, I'm, I'm really trying to make a change. I'm time to change my life, man. Could you just help me? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Just accept me for me, trying to change my life, man. And, um, once anybody that didn't accept me trying to change, kept it moving, that was it. Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 22:18

That was it right there, man. So, so was it kind of like you're, you're in this empty studio apartment and you were at like, kind of rock bottom and you're like, that's it. I'm, I'm changing. Was it like one moment you can remember or was it a gradual overtime thing? I,

Mario Canon: 22:31

yeah, I got you. Watch this. Watch this. Mm-hmm. Working at at and t, my boss. Super cool. All right. Um, you know, I invite him over for lunch. To my apartment to have a beer. Now again, I ain't got no furniture. Now we just going lean up against the thing and drink. You know, I, I wasn't ashamed. Yep. When I got to my apartment, man, no joke. I had that pink sign on my door. My power was off, bro. Mm-hmm. So before he even got to the door, I said, man, And I know he is seen it. Mm-hmm. We, we should just go somewhere else, man. And I was like, man, I can't keep doing this. It's time to, it's time to step up and have accountability, man. Mm-hmm. And make a change. So that's, that's what it was, man. That was the biggest turning point. That's one of the craziest parts right there. Just inviting my boss to have a beer. And my power is off. Could even, I didn't even open the door. No. Opening the door and I walk through that door.

Bradley Roth: 23:51

I think, I mean that's, that's powerful. But I feel like it illustrates that like, we'll bullshit ourselves all day a lot of times, and sometimes we need it to be. You know, kind of publicly exposed. Right? Because if it's just us, we can kinda like push it to the side. Oh no, I'm good. You know? But then something like that where like other people like see like, ah,

Mario Canon: 24:13

man, like this. See it. Yep. This shit was a person.

Bradley Roth: 24:15

Mm-hmm. Yeah. That

Mario Canon: 24:19

creates change. Creates change, man. Humility creates change. Mm-hmm. For real, man. Yeah. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 24:28

man, that was it. So then you went out and I feel like this is just, this is like what you said is such a common thing when people are like, all right, you know what? I'm changing for the better friends aren't on board. It's like, it's like, dude, I'm trying to like do good things and you're giving me crap. Like it just, you know, it's such a crazy thing when you think about it, but everyone encounters that, or most people encounter that.

Mario Canon: 24:54

You know, cuz I, one thing I always did the entire time was I always made music. I never stopped makeup music. So always putting on a product and I was still doing shows, you know, even though when I couldn't pay my bills and some, I just did shows you didn't know that I was broke, but I wasn't even, I was yeah. From the street, you know, you gotta can't, it's, you're prideful, you know, you got pride and stuff. But I, I, uh, fun, fun fact, my car got repoed at one of my shows While you were at the show. Yeah. Hmm. I told all the people that was with me and got stolen. It was a repo

Bradley Roth: 25:37

stolen by the people who you owe the payments. Yeah,

Mario Canon: 25:40

man. But, you know, those are, those are times, man, I never forget, man. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 25:48

Now you probably use those as leverage, right. You're like, I never wanna get back to that. That keeps you, keeps

Mario Canon: 25:54

moving. What? Keep it in my, I keep it with me all the time. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Okay. Got them my pocket. That one. Oh, that happened. You know? Yep. Put that close to my heart. Yeah, yeah,

Bradley Roth: 26:07

yeah, yeah. So you kind of went through this change in your mid twenties. You started to like, you know, you said it, you're like, I'm gonna, Get on the right track, I'm gonna change things. Yeah. You know? Never again. So you started, you know, getting into positive. Like, did you get into like personal, did you start reading books? Did you kind of find mentors? Like what was that journey like?

Mario Canon: 26:29

Mentors, um, yeah, I found the gym. Hmm. And I found my mentors in the gym at first, and then I'll take that back. One of my first mentors, I met him in St. Louis, one of my, he was older, uh, his name was Charles. And he wore suits. He was just this older guy, but he was so sharp, man. He was mm-hmm. So powerful. And he told me, he said, young man, you're bigger than this job. And we worked at, um, we were working at Nordstrom and Nordstrom's a great company, and it, it paid me well. I loved what I did. Mm. Um, his shoes, I was, I had no suits. I loved that place. Like I, I loved Nordstrom. If I ever had to work a job again, I would love to be, do something like that in fashion. Mm-hmm. Um, And he said, get your body right. He said, go down the drugs. Stop doing the pills and the alcohol. He said, cut your friends off. It don't mean you well. Mm-hmm. He told me that. He said, he said, he said, dude, you're talented. Get your body in order. Get your, get your health together. Fix your teeth. Get everything done, man. Stop wasting time. That was it. Hmm. And that stuck with me cuz he was really stern about it too. You know, like, cause I mean, I grew up, I didn't grow up with a father, you know? And Mm. Not, not to take no. My father, cause we're cool man. And my father's cool to say. Mm-hmm. He's a laid back dude, man. You know, don't to talk every day, but we don't have an estr relationship, you know, we're just, we cool man. But I grew up, I did grow up in a, in a, mostly in a single parent home. Mm-hmm. You know, mom did raise me so, Yeah. So I, having that male influences barely me. My, my coaches in high school. Mm-hmm. Um, I coach young man, he really, um, I tried to quit basketball my senior year and he, you know, he didn't let me quit. I was a starter trying to quit, so I said, I gotta get money. Mm-hmm. And I gotta help out at home. Hmm. And yeah, I wanted to quit. Yeah. You let me have it.

Bradley Roth: 28:41

Yeah. So did you stay on the team? Yeah,

Mario Canon: 28:43

yeah, yeah. I ended up getting a couple of JUCO scholarships too, for basketball, but I didn't take them, but, cause I didn't know I should have took them, but I didn't have nobody, like, you know, my coach got for me, but I, no, I had no men directly, like my life to gimme real advice on life. Mm-hmm. For, for a young brother, like, Hey man, you're getting a free ride. Take this free ride and then you can decide if you wanna go to a university. My mindset was, you know, cause I played video games and stuff. My mindset was like, man, I gotta go to D one. If I don't go to the university, people gonna think I'm weak. I'm right. They don't think I'm a failure. Mm-hmm. And the whole time, like, no, I could've saved money and developed myself even more at a junior college. I would've been better off doing that. Yeah. And it would've took me away from my nest. It would've got me out of the, the hometown. Cause one of the, I think one of the biggest things that people. When people have issues with the stand where they were, where they went to high school at a lot and being around the same groups and never really experiencing different things to grow themselves. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 29:47

So you have that. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, I mean, a couple really interesting things you brought up there first about, you know, kind of the father figure and, you know, I give all the credit in the world to single moms and stuff like that, and you can, you can show someone how to be a great person, but like you. You know, as a woman, it's very hard to show a guy how to be a great man.

Mario Canon: 30:08

Right? Yeah. My mom said that to me too. She said that to me. Yeah. She said, I can't teach you how to be a man. I'm sorry. Mm-hmm. I dunno. So, but here I

Bradley Roth: 30:18

am today. Yeah. Well, luckily, yeah, those people are so important. Those mentors, those people you've, you find, like if you didn't meet that guy at Nordstrom, like who knows how much, you know, different, your life would've turned out further down the road or, you know, but, um,

Mario Canon: 30:33

And I met a lot of different men mentors throughout life. Yeah, man. Yeah, you're right.

Bradley Roth: 30:37

You're right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cuz one usually leads to another, right? Like that. Yep. Yeah. One

Mario Canon: 30:41

mentor and you got, you know, yep. Mm-hmm. Yes sir.

Bradley Roth: 30:46

Yeah. So you started to like turn things around. You got mentors, you went and got in shape, which I feel like the gym is kind of like the gateway drug to all other self-improvement. I like that. I just, it's, yeah. Like you, if you go get people, like you're, you're improving yourself. You're developing habits, you're, you know, doing things that are, you know, you're pushing yourself, you're doing hard things. There's just so much that translates into other areas.

Mario Canon: 31:16

Definitely. I feel like if you, um, everybody that's successful, they have some, they have some type of health, uh, or fitness routine. Whether it's gym, whether it's his dining, walking, stretching, yoga, something, they have some type of routine that maintains or improves them, their physical mental health. Everybody that's successful has that. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 31:41

truly successful. Yep. Yep. Yeah. There's a lot of people who would be like, oh man, that guy's successful. And it's like, well, maybe in one area, but if you're not healthy, like. Right. It's, that's that quote like, uh, everyone's got a thousand wishes. The sick person just has one.

Mario Canon: 31:59

Right. I think too, like people now confuse success with money. It's two different things,

Bradley Roth: 32:10

man. Yeah. It's this western kind of definition of it. Yo,

Mario Canon: 32:15

this mother hum can have 200 million. And this dude right here, He only makes 75, 80,000, but he is happy. He, he has a successful family life. Mm-hmm. He's well-rounded. His health's dope. He's got free time. He loves it. And this guy's got all these, all this money he's with, he's miserable with all these cars. He's gotta keep up with all this crap, all these different women, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, he's so worldly, you know what I'm saying? He's not ha he's happy, but, you know, but without this, you take his things away, he's not happy. And

Bradley Roth: 32:49

it's all external focused. Every, all of that. Yeah.

Mario Canon: 32:52

Yeah. How, how much, how many cards you need, how many change you need. Like, I don't even like having, you know, having jewelry, like even, you know, and that's the street side of me, like, A young guy mindset was like, oh man, I gotta buy diamonds as soon as I can get diamonds and stuff. Like, and when I, after I bought em, I thought about that. I was like, man, that was the, that was the young version of me thinking, right? So I was like, well, how can I make this. Work for me and it's like, all right, let Mesure it, let me get insurance on my jewelry so I can protect my assets and then I can use them as assets whenever I need to get funding for business loans and things like that. I can put that on, on part of my spreadsheet or mm-hmm. You know, some, you know, put it on, on my financial sheets and things like that to, to increase my chances in doing things, and if something was to happen to it, then I'm not out of the money because I have insurance on it. Right, right. Yeah. So, but then, but, but I wasn't proud once I had thought about it. I should have did that stuff, man. But I always wanted it, so I was like, you know what? I know better next time. You know, to prioritize their things differently.

Bradley Roth: 33:51

Yeah. So you got into the gym, you got started getting in shape, and then it sounds like the other, other parts started to kind of follow that, like other parts of your life, like getting into everything.

Mario Canon: 34:02

Did man, like that? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Acting. Yeah, because now I don't have a schedule, so now I can go and. Go and be in background in CHI in Chicago. So I would drive up there like at 12. I leave at like one in the morning or two in the morning, and I would go. To Chicago and, and like sleep in my car by a set just to make sure I got there on time, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Or sometimes I would stay with my, my buddies, but I didn't like bothering my buddies LaRoyce and, cause they're already famous and stuff and I really didn't like being a burden to them, you know what I'm saying? Like, I felt like I was a burden sometimes. I don't want to be there. Yeah. Right. Especially being from the streets and being a hustler and always have your own. I never want anybody to feel like they had to hand me anything or be it, I didn't want to be a dependent or anybody. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I was gonna get it my own way, so nobody walked me through the door. You know, I make sure I work for everything I got today, right now. Yeah. No handouts, man. Mm-hmm. And that's fine. And I love, and I love it. Yeah. And, um, it's, it's a, it's a pure grind man. And, and it's, and you appreciate it more when you gotta work for everything.

Bradley Roth: 35:01

Yeah. So, fast forward, like what, 10 years from then when you started to kind of get into that world and now you're acting, you're performing speaking. Did the speaking come more recently? Yeah. Yeah. Once you had kind of more of a story. Yeah,

Mario Canon: 35:19

yeah, yeah. Be because, and it, it became easier. Mm-hmm. It was fluent. Even like Bradley told me that I need to, I need my own podcast. Mm-hmm. He said, I need to write a book. And he said I need to do more speaking engagements. Yep. He straight up checked me, G checked me. Shout to Bradley. Yeah. Hit me with the G check, bro. Drop the bomb. I like, alright bro. You're right. Yep. So I'm gonna transitioning over to that sector. Because I, I really wanna do motivational speaking. I wanna do a YouTube channel. Um, I want to, I actually want to, I wanna do a dating channel for men. Like I see a lot of men now, you know that they lack confidence because of the, the high standards that, uh, social media puts out there. And it's all bs. Yeah. You can walk outside around, see, see the average man, and have anything close to what you see on Instagram and TikTok. It's all fake. These guys are pretending these guys are miserable. They don't have that. They're standing by those cars. They, they don't have those. Dude, live your freaking life. Don't try to compete with these fake people, or, I promise they're not. Yeah, that's not what you think. It's, I'm in the industry telling you. I know. Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 36:27

Yeah. And then there's the whole, you know, war on kind of masculinity and, um, and that, that's all another topic

Mario Canon: 36:34

that I'd go on forever for that. But yeah, so also, you know, I don't know if I'm. I get pinged for saying this, but like what really helped me change too was red pill. So I started reading, I started listening to red pill content over a decade ago before it was like super popular. Mm-hmm. Even like some of the, I watched a lot of the guys that blew up doing it before they even had like 10,000 subscribers on YouTube. I was already subscribed to the programming. I was learning how to use it in real life and translate it over cuz I was, yeah. I was messing up because, you know, I'm learning it and I'm like, you know how a young kid first learned something with one little trick? But he, he tries to do that trick for everything, but he had to break it down and learn. You know, you don't know that man. You know what I'm saying? I was one

Bradley Roth: 37:27

trick. More tools in the toolbox. Yeah.

Mario Canon: 37:29

Yeah. So, yeah, I, I mean, yeah. I'm

Bradley Roth: 37:33

one for, for real quick, for people red pill listening who are like, what's red pill? What traditional. What'd

Mario Canon: 37:40

you say? I said one of the

Bradley Roth: 37:44

original red pillars, man. Yeah. So, so what is Red Pill for people listening who are like, okay, what is like they think of the Matrix, right? Red, red pill, blue pill, like

Mario Canon: 37:55

um, and Red Pill. Explain. It was kind in conjunction with Mick Towel. You remember the Midtown Movement Men going their own way?

Bradley Roth: 38:05

Uh, I think I, I, yeah, I hadn't heard about that in a long time,

Mario Canon: 38:08

but I, yeah, so it was all during that time and all these different things. We had all these guys, like, you know what, so, um, red pill for, for the listeners is pretty much just like being a pretty much what, what the show's about, um, you know, moving away from the group thing. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and going against societal standards. Yeah. Not as much breaking the law. Right. But actually having morality and having sense and morals and structure in your life and not bending and breaking to appease groups. Mm-hmm. So when you become red pill, you become a self thinker. Yep. You become self-aware, right? Yep. Self thinker, self-aware. You're thinking for, you're thinking you're formulating, and then you're aware of your surroundings, and then you're goal oriented. So then once you're goal oriented, you know how to stay focused on your purpose. And that's what Red Pill did for me. And so if you guys wanna think Red pill, red pill is just pretty much red pill as you're pretty much focused on your goal and you're gonna stand strong and firm on that. And you're not gonna follow crowds. You don't care how lonely it is, you're gonna get, you're gonna get there. Yeah. It's

Bradley Roth: 39:15

like a level of awareness, right? Yep. Yeah. It is just like the matrix, right? Like the red pill is like you're, you're awake Now you can kind of see clearly, right? You're. Not just kind of follow like you blue pill matrix, right? All those things is where you're kind of just like in this cycle that you don't even realize that you're in, where you're just kind of following, not thinking independently, that whole thing. Yeah. So, yeah, that's

Mario Canon: 39:41

why I quit my job, man. I, I, I was red part, quit my job, dude. I had just got promoted. When I quit my job. I had got promoted health, dental, just to go be a trainer with no schedule and no guaranteed pay. Are you kidding me? Yeah. You know? Yep. And I got kids at the time. Mm-hmm. Like, are you crazy? No, I'm not crazy. I believe in myself that much. Mm. Over whatever entity was provided with, with whatever supplemental income they could. Yeah. Bet on yourself. Give scraps, you know? Yeah. Whoever scraps that were gonna provide for me to sustain the position at their company. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 40:21

So, So you got into red pill and then that's kind of like the speaking and all that followed, huh?

Mario Canon: 40:28

Yes, man. And yeah, I, I honestly, and I, I'm, I'm so excited to enter into this new chapter of my life, uh, speaking more. Yeah. I wanna do it more. Hmm. Um, I've been speaking to larger and larger groups, man, it's been so fun. Yeah. Inspiring people with my story. Because I tell people like, dude, I'm not a genius. I'm not the smartest guy by bar. I am not dude, with the numbers telling you the definite. I even, I mispronounce words all the time, man. I'm from the, I'm from the ghetto man, from the hood, man. I lived in the projects as a kid. I lived in Gary, Indiana, Memphis, Tennessee, you, but what's fun is I get to be human. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm going to, I'm the studies I'm gonna increase, the vocabulary's gonna increase, the delivery's gonna get better, but. I love being raw and real. Mm-hmm. I love it, man. It's so fun, man. It's great. Yeah. I love making a difference, bro. Yeah,

Bradley Roth: 41:28

I love that because I think all like, I mean, you know, probably better than me, people who come from that kind of background, the mindset isn't like, oh, you can go do whatever you want. It's like, this is either your life or you become a pro athlete or like, you know, join a gang or whatever it is. Right,

Mario Canon: 41:45

bro. It's either you going rap. Or play ball or get in the street. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 41:53

You're like, there's this other option here.

Mario Canon: 41:55

Yeah. Biggie Small said it, man. Biggie Small said it in in his rap man. You know, music used to be so dope, man. I love music a lot, a lot back then, but yeah. Hell yeah. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 42:04

Sure. Yeah, I think that's powerful. Are there, are there other people who, that you look up to kind of have a similar story or peers or anyone that's out there? Kind of with a similar message. Um, I

Mario Canon: 42:19

look up to a lot of people in different ways. Hmm. Yeah. Like poll one person, I person. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just like one individual. Yeah. Um, I gotta collect, like all my mentors motivate me for sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like, dude, like I'm, I, I don't know if they even wanna be name, but those guys are like amazing. Um, you know who you are. Mm-hmm. Um, but far as like this. Like my idols and stuff like that, you know? You know, 1, 1, 1 guy recently became like really fond of me. I've always loved like Tupacs up as a kid. Like yeah, Tupacs have always like, I can't even watch the Dear Mama. Um, by Epic. I can't watch it cause it makes me cry, bro. Mm-hmm. I always thought, you know, I used to always, when I was a kid, I would say Tupac cause my dad. Cause I, you know, I know I didn't have a dad. Mm-hmm. So, So I Tupac's my dad, man. I, I think Tupac's my dad, you know? Yeah. It's funny. But he's one of the person I, I looked up to, um, and now like, you know, following people online and, and different motivation. I'm like Eric, the hip, hip, hiphop preacher. Hmm. Eric Thomas. He's pretty dope. Yeah. I love his. Um, uh, David G is crazy with it. And Andy, Priscilla. Mm-hmm. I follow him. Um, I'll be honest with you, man, I follow Bradley. Mm-hmm. I'm a Brad Leer. Um, so to be on his show was kind of weird cause I was a fan. He's asking me all these questions, I'm like, you know, I'm a fan, bro. Crump moments. I love Ben Krump. Um, that, that's a, that's a powerful, powerful brother. Hmm. Yeah. Ben Krump dope. Um, Laro Hawkins, um, from Chicago PD on nbc. Incredible brother. Incredible brother. And Deandre Tillman, man. He's a, in Chicago. I got so many, I. My manager, Daryl. I mean, we can keep going bro. Yeah. My mom. No, my mom. There you go. Yep. She's amazing. Yeah. Um,

Bradley Roth: 44:23

love her. So is she still close by where you're living right now?

Mario Canon: 44:26

No, my mom, uh, is in St. Louis. Okay. Yeah. Nice. She thinks she 21. Man. She crazy. But she dope. She's so happy. She's like my biggest fan is my grandma. My grandma has all my music on her tv. She probably watches it like every day. That's awesome. My grandma, she's the Mario Can fan. She just, I'm her little grandson. I'd have to take her one of my plaques from iTunes the other day so she can have it in her little, her little, she could show it off to her. Little older friends. Yeah. She's gonna watch, she's gonna watch this. I hope you know about, so awesome.

Bradley Roth: 45:00

Yeah. I can't wait. I love it. And, and people also li like for you guys listening, one thing we haven't even talked about, like now you own real estate, you own a, you own a gym, right? Anytime. Fitness, like you got all like

Mario Canon: 45:12

you're doing it franchise. Yep. Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 45:15

So how long ago did you, you wanna lose something? Yeah. How long ago did you do that? Like kind of actually get your own business like that by the gym?

Mario Canon: 45:22

Yeah. Uh, six, seven years ago. Hmm. Six years ago I started off as a, um, trainer, a manager, and I started, you know, trainer and manager. Mm-hmm. I just bought the guy out, you know, it was in my heart. It was like something that I loved. And once helping people was like, like, dude, I gotta own this. Yeah. It was actually, it actually was, uh, not doing too well that, you know, the guy that owned it didn't care about it. He just, he was gonna let it, he trying to run into the ground. I'm trying to save it, and he's like, I don't care about that spot. I'm like, I'm trying to save it. He's like, no, he'd given up already. He's like, ok, yeah. I was like, well, I'm gonna buy it then he's like, how you gonna buy it? I was like, I dunno. I mean, I got the money somehow. I didn't know how buy it. I just said I was gonna do it. And that's how I do everything in life. Cause if I'm able to do that and I didn't know how I was gonna buy the gym. Mm-hmm. I was gonna figure it out. Yep. So I do that with everything now. Yep. You put it out there

Bradley Roth: 46:21

out and Yeah. Put yourself under pressure and you'll find a way. It's like figure

Mario Canon: 46:25

it out. Yeah. I might look like an ass when I mess up. Dude. My credit score, when I said I was gonna buy the gym was like, what, even 500 when I said that. Wow. Like I didn't even have a 500 credit score bro. Like, and that's how I was gonna buy the gym. Yep. Nobody ever taught me about credit.

Bradley Roth: 46:48

Yeah,

Mario Canon: 46:49

I hear ya. I was in college, I got a bunch of credit cards and then I was in the streets, so I just ran them up, got pictures of the money. Take pictures of the money. You know what I'm saying? Hey, what you need credit when you got racks? Come on, baby. Yeah. How ignorant is that?

Bradley Roth: 47:11

Yeah. For those of you listening, that's what not to do with, uh, with credit, but how? Wow. Yeah, man, it, it's, it's funny. I feel like so many people won't put something out there until they have all the ducks in the row, right? Like, for me, a great example. Of like what you're talking about is the summit that not most people summit. Like. I was like, you know what, I'm gonna do this thing. I don't, I don't have the money for it. I don't have like a big fall in like, I don't know how the heck I'm gonna pull this off, get people there, you know, pay for it, all this stuff. But I was like, you know what? I'm gonna get put myself in this situation where I'm gonna have to somehow figure it out. Figure

Mario Canon: 47:46

it out, and guess what you did Figuring it out. Damn right. Yep. Damn right. It's life, man. Yep. Damn right man.

Bradley Roth: 47:54

Hell yeah. Exactly. Yeah, dude. So, uh, it's what's crazy too when I think back, so you said you bought this gym like six, seven years ago. Yeah. And 37 now. And you were saying like in your mid twenties is when you were kind of like at rock bottom. So you went from like not having electricity and living in this empty room, like rock bottom to like five, six years later. Like you bought a gym. Like I think that's people who are. I mean more so like kind of people who are the whole midlife crisis, forties, fifties, kind of like, now what do I do? Like people don't realize like you can completely 180 things in a relatively short amount of time.

Mario Canon: 48:36

My homies are in their forties, man. They just, they be so line, they, they became millionaires in their forties and they're living their best lives in their forties neighborhood. Most of the time they were all incarcerated through their thirties and twenties. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What's, how low, what's lower than that? That's besides death. Right. Being incarcerated. Mm-hmm. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I like, I literally have guys who just started over in their forties and they're living great. Mm-hmm. It's never too late. No. I got, I just, I got a, I didn't even put this in the notes. I got a record deal two weeks ago with Universal Chicago Creek trying to freak out. Congratulations. When is it known for dudes in their thirties to get record deals, bro. Everybody that's rapping is like 10 years old now.

Bradley Roth: 49:21

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. They all have like lil in front of their name. Right. It's lil

Mario Canon: 49:25

blah, like, alright. Yeah. Oh man. But guess what? I look young, I feel young. Mm-hmm. And I'm, I'm rapping real shit. Yeah. So I'm, no matter what I'm, I'm sticking to, I'm sticking to my roots of being authentic. Mm-hmm. Now I do, I might cap a little bit. You know, it was like five gunshots. It was like 8,000 gunshots. You know, it might exaggerate the story a little bit, but it's still real. It's real. You know what I'm saying? It's real. Mm-hmm. Like everything right now is just real, you know? Yeah. But I am, I'm breaking every generational curse and every rule possible. Red pill, the group think again. Me being an artist now, I use rap as a tool to do business. Hmm. Because it gets me through doors to do business. Yeah. Oh man. We get to rapper. Mario Cannon, all you didn't know was an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and, uh, commercial real estate owner did. You didn't know I wanted the fuck about this. Now you what I'm saying? Yeah.

Bradley Roth: 50:31

That's awesome. I love it. Yeah, and it's one of those things too, like people think, oh, well if I do this, I can't do this. Right? Or like, You know, you're doing two things that gen are traditionally considered to be like opposites almost, right? I am. Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's

Mario Canon: 50:45

working. What's like more rappers or motivational speakers? Hmm. They might be motivating people to do the wrong damn thing. It's true. There's a lot of rappers that are motivating people to do the right thing. Mm-hmm. They just don't get, they don't get pushed like to the mainstream. You know that. Right. There's no make money in that. There's no money into pushing the rappers that rap about motivational stuff because then we have less crime. Then we got less money into the penal system. Then we got, you know, less people to, to arrest and less, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. I gave up. Think I gave up some more speeding tickets at least or something. Yeah. They need crime to make them dimes. Mm-hmm. So let's push the music. Mm-hmm. But you, we don't, it don't have to be like that. Right. But it's up to people. It's up to me. Mm-hmm. It's up to me to not participate and be okay with not having a hundred million. Yeah. I don't need, I don't need 800 chains. I don't need 10 cars. I got two. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? I don't need a bunch of crap. Right. I like nice stuff and I love traveling. Well, if I can travel and get my kids what they need mm-hmm. And eat the food I want, I'm good, man. I'm the same way. Got my head, I got lights. You know what I'm saying? Yep.

Bradley Roth: 51:59

I'm the same way. If I could travel, I'm happy. Yeah.

Mario Canon: 52:02

Dude. Like, think about it. There's, there's other people in other countries, man that need us. Like there's kids right now in this country right now who have running water, ain't got nowhere to stay. They hungry right now, man. Somebody fight for their life right now. Mm-hmm. And you got people selling out for selling, selling themselves short for a logo on a shirt or or a, or a particular handbag or brand or a particular group dude to be a part of. Yeah. Not knowing how powerful they are. They don't even mean none of that stuff. Yeah. It's just from first form what rapper, you know, rocking first form. I'll rock this, just you. Yeah. I'll rock this to a show. I don't care. Mm-hmm. Every interview you see me and I'm running first form most of the time every

Bradley Roth: 53:00

interview. Yeah. Are you, are you like a sponsored athlete or ambassador? Yeah, I am.

Mario Canon: 53:05

I'm actually a sponsor athlete. Very cool.

Bradley Roth: 53:08

That's awesome.

Mario Canon: 53:10

Um, man. Love, but it was, it was a tough mountain time, bro.

Bradley Roth: 53:15

I bet. I love it though. Yeah. I mean, I don't even know where to go from that. There's, that was like, that was kind of a great, like some just summation of everything I feel like, so, um, yeah. Yeah. This has been fun. I mean, we're coming up, coming up on kind of wrap up time, but, um, I have one question that I ask everyone. Who comes on the show, and that is what is your definition of not most people? What does that mean to

Mario Canon: 53:47

you, man? Not most people truly love themselves and learn to love themselves. Not most people truly learn to love themselves. Once you learn to love who you are. Once you learn to love who you, your identity, what, what God gave you, what you were born with, the abilities you have right now as a person who cares what they got, what they were, what they got, who cares what school they went to. Who cares if if, if they, if they, if they're taller than you or shorter than you, who cares? Mm-hmm. Love what you got. Because what you got, you got, you got a chance every day you wake up, you got light. It's not, no. So not most people learn how to truly love themselves. Mm-hmm.

Bradley Roth: 54:41

And I think, I think the self-love movement can kind of be confusing at times cuz some people are like, oh, just love yourself no matter what and say you love yourself and then that's it. Right. No, that's all as like, right. That's

Mario Canon: 54:53

internet love transactional. Yeah. So I, you know what I call that and I'm, I'm, I call that the hashtag language, bro. That's hashtag language man. Yeah. That's all that is. Hashtag language. They, they don't know it. Like, okay. When people say, I need your prayers, please. They're just tight prayers. Yeah. I mean, that's why the song I made with Elite Chopper was called Praying Bad. Mm-hmm. I said, everybody praying bad. You ain't praying, you just put praying in your hands. Right. Yeah. I'm, I'm guilty of it. Mm-hmm. I'm not saying I haven't done it and I might still do it in the future, but I make sure, I try to pray for people when I say I'm gonna pray for'em in that moment, so I don't forget. I pray right then and there. Hmm. Yeah. Right there. Be in the gym or something. If I write prayer, I'm like, I'll close my eyes and say a quick prayer for them. For sure. Yeah, a hundred percent.

Bradley Roth: 55:48

Love it. Great answer. And then, you know, I know you got a lot going on YouTube, you're on Spotify everywhere, but like, where's, where's the best people or, uh, what's the best way for people to find you? Kind of follow what you've got going on?

Mario Canon: 56:01

If people really wanna find me, man, I, you know, I'm old school with it. I'm still rocking with Instagram right now. Instagram is, um, where they find me at, this is Canon one X, so t a h i s i s c a n o n. So you guys can follow me on Instagram for sure. Sweet.

Bradley Roth: 56:19

Yeah. Check out, uh, Instagram and then you can find everything else. Through there. But

Mario Canon: 56:25

yeah, mario kennedy.com. If you go, I got my own. If you go to mario kennedy.com, you can just click and you can see my latest music video. You can see what show I got going on next. Nice. Um, I'll be launching a merch line soon. Hmm. Um, I got my own TC products as well, so I'm rolling. I got my hands and everything, so Love

Bradley Roth: 56:42

it. Hey man, I'm excited to follow along and, um, yeah, make sure you guys follow him. I'll have all the links to, to his stuff in the show notes. So, but man, this is, uh, this has been fun. Thank you so much for coming on. I had like, turn up a little

Mario Canon: 56:56

bit, man. Yeah, man. We gotta turn up. I know. Can't be no morning talking man. We gotta really just keep it real, man. We gotta just spit it.

Bradley Roth: 57:04

Yeah, we, we gave, uh, we gave him a little bit of everything, so yeah, man. Yeah. Fun. Cool man. Yeah. Well, we'll connect soon. Uh, yeah man. Thanks for coming on. Thank you guys for tuning in. Like I said at the beginning of the episode, if you got value out of this, which I know you did, um, I'm guessing that you know someone or you're thinking of someone who would really benefit from listening to this episode. So please share with a friend, leave a review, all that good stuff. Thank you for support and tuning in. We'll see you in the next one and always remember, don't be most people.