Embracing Authenticity with Būnduke

Speaker A: Music is one of the most highly critiqued things, and celebrities or like, public figures and things like that are one of the most highly critiqued. So then it's like, if I'm headed down that path, then I see that coming as well. As I grown older, I learned to accept it a lot more. But in the beginning, I was just like, yo, why is everybody coming at me like this?

Speaker B: I appreciate you being here. Now, just to give a little bit of clarity, I didn't even know you once you one had a background in corporate. Right. I knew that you were lit when it comes to music. I was like, you know, maybe one day I might pop out and do a little chorus or something. Uh, but I have been enjoying seeing you grow as an entrepreneur. And some of the things that we talk about, like, as it takes. As it takes, like leadership and, um, organization and focusing on one thing, all of the things, all of the steps. Right, right.

Speaker A: That's true.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I'm really excited to get into your story a little bit. So without further ado, let's get into it. Why don't you introduce yourself?

Speaker A: Hey, what's going on, y'?

Speaker B: All?

Speaker A: My name is Bunduk. I am an artist, brand owner, and marketing coach. And, yo, it's been a long time coming. I ain't gonna lie. I'm blessed to be where I'm m at, yo. I always say big blessings, little stressings, and, you know, as long as I'm above ground breathing, you know, I gotta. I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the position I'm in right now.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Now your vibes and your shirt says thank God, right?

Speaker A: Yep, yep.

Speaker B: So your vibes give off gratitude off the top when it comes to you, like, developing this sense of gratitude. When did that start for you?

Speaker A: Shoot, I think it started, like, early on because my family came from South Sudan, you know, so understanding. Like, it could be way worse than it is right now. So let me be grateful for where I'm at and grateful for the life that I'm living and the opportunities that I'm getting and capitalize and just go hard. That's kind of been my mentality when it came to music, when it came to the brand, when it came to the marketing side of things, and just navigating and making sure that I'm living through my purpose and just living through my passion.

Speaker B: I'm thinking about, like, black people, African Americans, like, we're all black. And so for you to come to being a rapper, it's actually pretty natural. But I'M imagining that African American kids might have been looking at you like, you ain't black. Why you rapping like us? Or whatever. So, one, there's, you know, you finding the passion for rap. Then there's two, your family's, uh, perception of that. And then there's, like, actual, like, black people and white people looking at you. So did you ever feel judged as you were coming into your rap person, your rap personality?

Speaker A: Always, always, you know, it was like. And I feel like that's part of the game. Like, people gonna judge you. Like, music is one of the most highly critiqued things, and. And celebrities or, like, public figures and things like that are one of the most highly critiqued. So then it's like, if I'm headed down that path, then I see that coming as well. As I've grown older, I learned to accept it a lot more. But in the beginning, I was just like, yo, why is everybody coming at me like this? I'm just living my life, doing me, but getting caught up in, you know, different groups of people that, you know, treat you a certain way because of certain things. And I started just embracing being myself and just being, uh, authentic. Authentically me. And that's the important part right there.

Speaker B: That's a big lesson to learn at a very young age. How old were you at this time? You said you found it in elementary school.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I started rapping in elementary school. I was probably, like, in third grade.

Speaker B: I can only imagine. So wait, did you say. Did you tell your parents, hey, I want to be a rapper? I'm going to focus on rap.

Speaker A: Not, um, early on, because the perception of, uh. Like, these parents, they're not gonna be like, hey, hell yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Rap. Everything we see on TV, you know, and, like, you see that small 1% on TV sometimes, and it doesn't always portray the best message.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know, so it's hard to break some people out of their own preconceived notions and certain mindsets to be like, all right, well, I ain't doing it like that. You know, I'm doing a little different. And, like, I remember, like, my mom finding my rap book and stuff like that.

Speaker B: What was. What did she find? Give me a line. Give me a line.

Speaker A: Yo, I was rapping about. This is mad. Long ago, but I was rapping about all types of things, uh, because I was. I was listening to a lot of, uh, Pac, a lot of. Then, like, in, like, round for, like, fifth grade, I listen to a lot of 50 Cent, Eminem, M Ludacris, uh, Andre, you know, so you coming with like all different types of flavors early on, like, I didn't even. I never like had many cursing in my music to the point where sometimes I just naturally don't. Sometimes, you know, you gotta get your point across with some words, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker B: I think that's good. I think one, I think it's good that mom didn't shame you, right? To be like, don't ever, you know, like, what is this rap? You're not doing this in my house. But it's a way like, stop it now. What she did give you was like parameters, right? That's true.

Speaker A: Like, I knew I had to or else, you know, my people wasn't gonna be happy. Gonna get you gonna get it. And so going through that and then like, I ain't gonna lie, I didn't really always conceptualize going to college. I just knew it was something that I was going to do and something that was just laid out in the path to do.

Speaker B: Where'd you go, by the way?

Speaker A: Huh? I went to the University of Florida.

Speaker B: Hey. I feel like people who know I went to uga, I feel like I'm gonna have to like. So you wanted to be in the school of music for rap?

Speaker A: Yeah, I was like, yo, if they got music in my mind, I'm like, yo, rap is music, right? So this is the school of music. I could probably go do something in rap, you know, but that, that was non existent, you know, it's that uh, that culture just is not there. Wow.

Speaker B: So the qualification was that you had to play an instrument, right?

Speaker A: Correct. And you, that's how you auditioned. You auditioned with your instrument to enter the school of music, so.

Speaker B: Gotcha.

Speaker A: All right, well, whatever that schools. But um, you know, same thing with, you know, pressure from parents and things like that. Wanting you to get, um, be in a major that's gonna get you a good job when you get out. So now when I started out, I was doing computer science. So I was studying computer engineering. Computer science.

Speaker B: And did you like it?

Speaker A: It was straight. I didn't really like it that much. You know, I liked the people. So a few of the people that I interacted with, you know, classmates and stuff, but I liked it for who they were. We just happened to have the same curriculum, right? Mhm. So we would always work together, study together and things like that.

Speaker B: Did you always update your resume?

Speaker A: Oh yeah, my resume was a one.

Speaker B: Really?

Speaker A: When I was in college, I used to, um, work at the Dean's office.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: The Dean of Students office. So we always had to put people on top of, put people onto different campus resources and things like that. So I always knew where to go. I knew I could go to the career resource center, go get my resume on point.

Speaker B: Now that I think about it, everything that you've done up until this point, you've done it somewhat on your own. Was there, you know, you had like the guy offer you the moving, um, job. You had the partner you were doing Airbnb with under the table.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: It sounds like you were doing all of that on your own. Even mom is like, you know, my baby got it. I'm assuming she's looking at you like, he'll figure it out.

Speaker A: Right, Right.

Speaker B: So you're doing that all by yourself. And while you're learning other lessons, that lesson isn't necessarily sticking until now. When did you learn, like, what was the, the catalyst for you being like, yo, I got to be consistent? Like, what was the loss or the lesson that you took when you realized, yo, I got to be more consistent?

Speaker A: Yeah, it was definitely a, uh, thought process when I was in my whip. In my whip, and I'm just like sitting there and I'm like, okay, if I was more consistent with better communication, I could have maybe forged a relationship with that first landlord. Right.

Speaker B: Got you.

Speaker A: Who knows? But just thinking about different opportunities that I could have increased a certain part of my skill set that could have caused something to go differently so that moving forward I can manage things better. Um, because like, that was like the biggest learner. That was like one of my all time lows. Like, um, I guess personal living wise, so to say. For some people, shoot they straight if they living out they whip, they all

Speaker B: right because they got a whip. Right?

Speaker A: You know, So I was still grateful for that aspect.

Speaker B: You are really good at that, being

Speaker A: grateful you got to or else you're gonna be stressed out.

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Speaker A: My consultation business, Dukesday Media, on top of that. So, you know, so from going from doing music, hustling these mixtapes, people stop buying, uh, CDs, people start streaming. I'd rather pay $10 for all the music than $10 for one CD.

Speaker B: You know what I'm saying? Shift.

Speaker A: Yeah, big shift. Digital shift.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: You know, so I realized that which pushed me into the physical sales of merchandise as an artist.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: So then I was making my way through that and then, you know, in Atlanta, scaling up on the, on the merchandise, realizing, um, the importance of marketing. So I started my branding and consulting business and telling people how to build their Shopify stores, building brands and things like that. But then I also realized there was a missing piece to it, which is the driving traffic there. And so my partner that I did the first Airbnb and uh, he did. He who? He, we went to school together, he did marketing and he knew about Facebook ads, all this stuff. So, you know, and I was good at like, you know, project management, um, understanding the music business side and things like that. And I'm like handing business cards all around the city. I'm like dropping off merch in the post office. I run into a dude handing my business card. We chop it up. Uh, he hit me back like two weeks later. He's like, yo, you know how to do Facebook ads? And I was like, yeah, this is like, ah, at the top of 2020, right. He asked me if I knew how to do Facebook ads.

Speaker B: But was this a part of your services yet?

Speaker A: No, no, no. All I did was shopify, uh, clothing brands, um, and you know, building out your Instagram and content, little stuff like that. Just the non digital, um, advertising side. So then I hit up my partner and I'm m like, yo, bro, I gotta play for us. We would go 50, 50 on this. We could start up, you know, we could do it on the Monduke state media. I already got everything put together. Put together a presentation, presented it to the client. Um, he was like, okay, put together like a 15 slide presentation for him, presented to him over Zoom. We watched it, um, and then not even Zoom. Zoom wasn't even popping yet. We was on Google Meet.

Speaker B: Oh, okay. I was gonna say Skype.

Speaker A: Yeah, Google Meet. Google Meet or Google Hangouts, whatever they used to call it. So boom, I presented to him, he was like, oh, okay, um, now I'm straight.

Speaker B: So you did all that work?

Speaker A: Yeah. I was like, whoa, wait. I was like, what you don't like about it? He was like, I don't like this, this and this. And I was like, okay, so how about this? Let me go back to the drawing board and get this together and let me represent it to you three days from now. And he was like, yeah, I love that play.

Speaker B: Yeah. Did you learn that? That's a technique.

Speaker A: It is a technique. And me thinking back, I'm like, how did I know to do that?

Speaker B: You know, like, what don't you like about it? That's dope.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's the key, you know? And I know he was ready to invest, but he was like, yeah. And then I was like, that's for me understanding. Okay, if something's not right, you can try again. Like me back when I wanted to be, when I was in studio making music and engineering sounds and things like that. Like, oh, do you like that? You gotta ask the artist. Yo, do you like that? Ah, ah. Nah, I can't. I don't like this, this and this. Okay, cool. Let me change that up. Boom, boom, boom. What you think now? And that's part of that trial and error aspect. And knowing that it's a continuous process. So I think this is based off of that type of, Right.

Speaker B: That ah, mindset. Yeah, yeah. For you to say, hey, what don't you like about it?

Speaker A: Right, that's, that's, yeah. And that was part of my marketing mindset as well. Because like in marketing it's a process of finding out what's. What, what, what's wrong, what don't work. You know, saying certain types of like, I understood like posting and insights and Shopify traffic. I understood that aspect of it. Yeah. But, but I didn't fully understand how to leverage the.

Speaker B: What kind of results did you see with that?

Speaker A: So it was a very long term play. So we got some pretty good results really. Uh, we end up launching this, um, he had a Mother's Day song and we did a Mother's Day campaign around his song.

Speaker B: So he's an artist?

Speaker A: Yeah, he's a music artist. He's like a um, R B soul artist, um, older gentleman. And so his target fan base was older women. So when we ran the ads we were targeting older women and we're like, okay, well where the older women at? They on Facebook mostly.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: They're not really on Instagram like that.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So let's just focus all our efforts on Facebook. So we saw focus of all our efforts on Facebook. Running the Facebook ads and things like that and. And getting engagement, building up his page. Like, we started when we started, his page was at 5K. Lennox Armstrong. And then.

Speaker B: That's a lot for a Facebook page.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And we got him to, uh. We turned it up to 175k. And then we launched this, uh, we launched a viral campaign behind his song called I love you, mom around Mother's Day. So we flooded and we flood, and people sharing the song got 1.6 million views on the Facebook video. The Facebook video had 1.6. Like, yo, this shit could go crazy. And his page grew like, crazy. And it was like, ah. Uh. But he also had the bread to invest.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: Because you have to be able to invest. Because that led to him getting that exposure, that led to him being able to drive people to his website to cop merch. So then when we decided to sell CDs, after investing in building the audience, people were buying the CDs, you know, for every dollar we were spending on ads, we were making back five. Okay, so that's so. So. And these are older women, they buying

Speaker B: CDs, I was going to say, because the shift is happening. But these are still. They're still loyal to getting there.

Speaker A: So that's part of that economic mindset too, behind understanding who the people are, what their habits are. So I was always good at research and doing things like that. So that's what made me, uh, be able to have that type of mindset easily. And that was like, right around the top of the pandemic too. Yeah, yeah. So I would thank God that I was able to start that up because at the top of the pandemic, had to shut down the Airbnb. Uh, my shows got canceled and people weren't buying merch like that because people

Speaker B: didn't really have money and they ain't going nowhere.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it can't go nowhere. I'm in a crib. Like, dang, what am I going to do? Let me put all my energy into this marketing company right now, because I know there's a future in this. Everybody's moving digital now at a much higher pace.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: Because of the pandemic. So everything was way less personal. So it was almost like divine timing, yo. Like God was just blessed me with that, you know, at the end of 2019, I started that up. And then March. March, uh, March 20, 2020 pandemic, April 2020. First client first.

Speaker B: Um, well, this is really your second though. Cause your first, like, case study was in 2019. You wouldn't consider that a case study?

Speaker A: I was doing the, um. You talking about the. No, the, the gentleman I'm referring to now. We started in 2020.

Speaker B: Oh.

Speaker A: I started the company was just consulting different people. So I was doing, you know, like I had a partner who I had. I was. We started his hoodie line and he was selling $75 hoodies and it was flying.

Speaker B: So you've always been helping others build their business. It's just, it turned to Digital in April 2020.

Speaker A: Right. That's when I was straight digital.

Speaker B: You got to prove your strategy, which I appreciate you, you bringing that caveat in. You have to have the money to do it because a lot of people are like, I'm gonna just throw this money at it and it's gonna like take off and I'm go the same results as other people. But one you, you mentioned like, you have to have the money. But is there ah, a bit of like, now that you know the strategy, if somebody has $5, you know how to do what to do or it's like not. You gotta have a hundred dollars a month for me to make it do what it do?

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So it, there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of aspects to that, right? So let's say for example, like a T shirt brand, right? Your, your units might be, you might be selling $10 t's, $20, 25 tees, right? So you gotta understand how much you're actually spending to acquire a client. Acquire a customer. You know, if you're spending $10, if you're spending, let's say you spending $5 and you're selling $10 tees, that you spent $5 on ads and you got a purchase. Yes, that's good. But you also spent money on making the shirt and things like that. So let's say it causes you $5 to make the shirt. Spent $5 on ads. The shirt costs you $5. You ran an ad, you got a sale for $10. Now you spent $10 and you made back $10. Now you kind of broke even, which is still kind of, um, like shows progress, but you just broke even. So now like let's say you selling a $50 hoodie, but you spend that same amount. Now you got that profit margin expanding versus being a culture or a consultant. Now you sell a high ticket, thousand, $2000 thing. So now if you do spend $200 on ads to get a client, you okay with that? Because you just made uh, 800 to multiple thousands for that, for acquiring that specific type of customer. So that it depends on who you are and how you should move with your brand. And then you know, there's the ad. You got to have the right type of content, the ad creative, the ad copy, which is the words that go along with it and the audience targeting. You gotta have those three, gotta be on point.

Speaker B: And if you don't, then you basically shooting in the dark.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it doesn't matter whether you have $5 or $500, if you don't have those things on point, then your ads may not be effective.

Speaker A: Exactly.

Speaker B: Uh, or if you're you, you might catch a couple people here and there, but you can't really tell if it was the ads that were effective or just like divine intervention kind of thing.

Speaker A: Right, right. You know, and then, and then even outside of that. Right. That's just the ass side because then once somebody like gets into your system where like you grab their email, you know, E commerce stores, you need to got that, you need to have that pop up on your website. Right. Grabbing that email, now what are you emailing them now you got to make sure you got that sequence built out and you got to make sure you got your call to action. You got to be sure you convey um, a story in your messaging and that got to align with your social media content strategy which also aligned with your text message strategy. And there's all of these aspects and it's just like a car, these wheels have to be turning at the same time when for the whole business to really flourish and scale up. And that's what a lot of people don't talk about when they talk about, oh, let's build a six figure business, seven figure business. Yes, you're doing, they say focus on one thing.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: But that one thing includes multiple things.

Speaker B: Right, right, right, right. You're not just creating T shirts and I'm gonna create, create, create. No, you gotta learn like market it.

Speaker A: You gonna post on social media, you're gonna send out these emails, you're gonna do customer support, you're gonna do like there's people position. So that's why it makes sense when they tell people to focus on just one aspect, one lane that then branches out, you know, so for me, you know, me being in like three different lanes simultaneously, artists, you know, I had the good taste.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So like so you know, although. Okay. I can definitely understand what people say. Okay. It might make some things a little

Speaker B: difficult but like, because let's lay it out though, you still have the artist side of you.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: You're doing as for people or you're teaching. You're doing and you're teaching for people.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So you're doing ads and you're teaching people as. And then you have your clothing brand.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Right. So how do you do it? Right. Not focusing on one thing.

Speaker A: Right. So this is my strategy and I kind of said it like, it's like almost like a. All right. I don't know if you're familiar with the concept of trickle down economics.

Speaker B: Little bit. You know, you gotta break it down.

Speaker A: Yeah. So like that's something like Ronald Reagan kind of put into place.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: And like the concept is like, okay, when you, um. When the. When the rich and wealthy get benefits.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: It trickles down to the middle class and lower class, which is not really true because they. They're gonna hold their money and invest it back into themselves to keep growing wealth. Because that's the wealth mindset. Okay. So I kind of the. I let my three lanes be my real trickle down economics. So me doing the music, being an artist one is my passion. Allows me to be fulfilled to myself and just be happy about what I'm doing. So that's for me and my happiness. I don't care what anybody got to say and they're not going to interfere with that. That's just down straight to the point anyway. But then at the same time with the music, I'm telling my story. My story involves my brand. My story involves my marketing company and it involves just my life overall, which people relate to when it comes to the marketing. People have to know like, and trust you. You can know like and trust me through my music as well and then come around and turn and invest with me. So an artist seeing that I take my artistry serious and then I have this entire program that actually helps teach artists how to brand and. And put themselves out. They respect it because they're like, oh, he know what I'm going through. That brand owner like, yo, that artist, he's selling them T shirt. Oh, he got that song. Thank God. But he's selling this thank God brand T shirts and hoodies and sweaters and all of that. He understand what I'm going through. Now the coaches and consultants want to

Speaker B: do the same thing.

Speaker A: Want to do the same thing. Because coaches and consultants also sell units. They sell books, they sell merchandise. Mhm. And they put out content.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Motivational. Ah, speakers do the same thing. Books. Everybody kind of does the same thing. So I align it. I'm like, okay, so I got, I got my high ticket item, I got my mid ticket item and things like that. So now by my, me being able to align that with what I do now when I'm showing somebody, yo. Oh. So I was able to grow my personal page, my personal Facebook page with the funds that I had from like 3k up to 11k. This is how I did it. Now going into my personal ads and I'm showing you, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I ran this type of campaign, I targeted these type of people, I ran these types of ads, I tested out these ads, found out what worked, doubled down on that ad and I spent $40 on the test. Then I spent $250 on the full one. That just kept going and launch skyrocketed my engagement and, and um, content strategy. Right.

Speaker B: And group and ROI too.

Speaker A: Like ROI as well.

Speaker B: Mhm. You know, so it's all working together.

Speaker A: It's all working together.

Speaker B: So it sounds like you reverse, you know, the whole um, client avatar conversation.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Sounds like you reverse engineered it. Because if I were to think about your core audience, it could be an artist, it could be a culture consultant, or it could be a product based business.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: But for you, it sounds like you reverse engineered it because it's like what activity do I want to do for the rest of my life? And by that, if I stay consistent in like your artistry, then how do I create these business ventures around that thing that's gonna drive like customers? Would I be right in saying you reverse engineered it or do you look at a paper and say, okay, so what ads do I need to run for the coaches? What ads do I need to run for the artists? What ads do I need to run for the product based businesses?

Speaker A: Actually both sides ring true. It's reverse engineered because I'm like leading with the marketing company, but I'm an artist on the back end. Right. M sometimes depending on the conversation I'm having. Like with you, you knew me as a marketer before you knew me as an artist. So now when I'm marketing my art, it makes sense.

Speaker B: That's true.

Speaker A: When I'm talking about how to market on a video and my music is playing in the background of the video, it makes sense. And I'm wearing my merch in the video, it makes sense. Then when it makes me way more approachable, it makes me way more relatable. And so that's what allows it. That's the reverse engineering side of it. Right. You know, and, and then the um, what was the Other side that you just.

Speaker B: The other side was like, the clearly cut out.

Speaker A: Like, that's. That's critical. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, yo, all right, for. For a coaching consultant, I needed. I know I need to do an ad where I'm breaking down three tips to people. I know I need to do an ad where I'm setting up a scenario, like, it's hilariously funny, where I'm like, maybe somebody is, like, sleeping, and, like, somebody's sleeping and they wake up, they stressed out, like, dang, wonder if my ads is doing good, you know, in the middle of the night. Or somebody's sleeping, sound asleep, dreaming, knowing that their ads are doing good, you know, something little funny like, you know, you know, and that's part of that creativity side of things. So me knowing I have to do certain types of videos like that or give a brand story overview of my video and talking about, yo, the reason I started Dukes Day Media, also with a fire inside of me, because it's around the time Clubhouse blew up, around the pandemic. People, uh, all on Clubhouse giving all this type of knowledge. Knowledge. I'm like, that's not how you do that. And I knew it. And I was like, oh, but are, uh, people really even gonna trust me without me actually putting out that I do this?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So then. Then I started putting it out even more. And my part, you know, seeing hearing people get scammed, you know, getting on consultation with folks, it's like, yo, I wish I would have known you earlier, yo. You know, I went through this that, you know, so I tried it myself and wasted all this money. Different things like that. So.

Speaker B: So you lead with your marketing side. It sounds like it's comfortable for you to lead. I honestly and truly, it sounds like. It does sound like it's a bit reverse engineered. But I'm imagining there's one day, you walk up to somebody, they like, yo, Duke. And they know you from, like, being straight rapper, and they're like, hey, how do you have all this stuff going on the back end? So as much as I know you as a marketer and a lot of people in our community know you as a marketer who raps, do you, like, how often do you walk around and people say like, that's the rapper and he's got that business.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that happened. It does, yeah. That be happening really a lot more recently because I've been just working, I've been just putting my music on the forefront a lot more and just deciding Like. Cause I even was thinking, like, man, I was doing so much of the marketing, right? I took a big step back from the music, and I felt like I was losing my identity as an artist sometimes. And I'm like, yo, nah, these people shouldn't know that I'm just a marketer. These people should know that boy got bars.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: Real bars.

Speaker B: Cause I would look at it and say, oh, this is your hobby. But. But it really does like the way you tell your story. Music is life, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, it just. It's just like, um, the reason I left my job is because I needed to find my passion and then find a way to make money off of it. And you have found the key in terms of, like, living my consistent life and always be in music. And it did get a little bit for me. I thought you were just a, uh, marketer with a hobby, but the more you've been putting out music, I'm like, oh, and it's fire. I'm like, I can actually play this in the background because it actually applies to my life too.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You know what I mean? Like, I'm working on, like, these, like, strategies and structures and SOPs and believing in myself and those type of things. So, you know.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it brings me in. Even if I. Even if I had no clue Boondock was in marketing and I'm an entrepreneur, I land on your music and I hear my. Oh, what's this man talking about? It's kind of like how we gravitate towards affirmation. Um, uh, um, audio now. Things like that. We gravitate to that music because you're speaking into what's happening in the culture today. And I think that's really, really, like, foolproof. You got a system going that's lit. So as we get up out of here and really close out one, um, I think people clearly understand, like, you broke down even, like, the teachings of it. I'm like, I gotta sign up for your class. But you mentioned identity, right? And, um, being a Sudanese man, right? Who figured it out? Not only did you figure it out, like, I'm gonna be a doctor. I'm gonna go get the car. And that's figuring it out in one way. But you figured out how you don't have to be a part system, or how you can leverage the system when you want. So as your identity kind of shapes up today, um, what are some of the things that you are proud of that keeps you connected to that Sudanese, um, identity? And then what are Some things that you are still working on today as it relates to your identity, right? So.

Speaker A: So the fact that you even bring up identity is very key because like I said, I used to rap by the name of Duke, Hip Hop Duke. And then I stopped doing that. I'm like, you know what? I gotta focus on who I am, my identity. And that's why I was like, yo, I told everybody stop calling me Duke. Only you could only call me Bunduk. Because that's. That's my. My full name is Bunduki. And I grew up, my family always called me Bunduk. Hey, you're Bunduk. Bunduk. And I'm like, yeah. So I'm like, yo, if you want to rot with me, you call. You gotta call me Bunduk. Because for one, you know, it always, you know, there's a marketing aspect of it, of course, because it's very unique and it's. It's me. So like. And then. But more importantly is the identity aspect of me being authentically true to myself and not. Not trying to put myself into a box or even like, compromise my name for. For people who just don't want to pronounce it, you know what I'm saying? If you don't want to pronounce it, you don't need to be in my life, period. And it's fine, you know, saying, no hard feelings, but like, we just don't have to hang out. You do you. You do me, man, when I see you, it's no, it's no pressure. It's just like, hey, we just not. We not on that wavelength. So having that being. Getting more in touch with my roots, you know, deciding to rap in Arabic and stuff that I've been doing recently. I got a couple. A few new things. Yeah, we speak Arabic in, uh, Sudan. Yeah, South Sudan. So. So, yeah, little stuff like that. Being able to be, uh. Also understanding that the music business is international. It's not just here in America. You know, we get stuck on this American dream, but then there's this international dream that's bigger. And I don't know, like, I just feel a different level of acceptance and um, um, appreciation when I post. Like, uh. Cuz, like, okay, like I ran ads in Africa and like just seeing the way that people react versus how, if I run ads in America, seeing how people react. Because you already got so many artists, so many people, so much music being dropped on a consistent basis. We all know artists, we all know multiple artists, you know, so it's like understanding that type of identity, understanding where I want to head understanding who my target audience are. Who are these people that are gonna identify with me as well? So identity plays a huge, huge aspect in it. And even my identity as a person, like I said, I'm always leading with that gratitude. That's why I keep saying God on me all day. And it's part of the mission. It's part of who I am, and it's part of my identity. So. So I walk in that, and, you know, music is life. So I'm always be rapping.

Speaker B: Yeah, I appreciate that. I remember when we met, um, you definitely were. You were adamant about the Bunduk. And I remember you saying, like, yeah, I used to go by Duke, but, like, I'm Bunduk now. And now that I understand a little bit more about that, it makes total sense. Um, because we all kind of, um, limiting ourselves so that other people feel comfortable, like, you don't know how to pronounce it. So I'mma just make it a nickname so it's easier for you to pronounce. And now M. I'm much more adamant about using my real name, even if it doesn't have any cultural ties. Right. It's just like, nah. Arielle. Thank you. Unless you family, right?

Speaker A: Because for me, like, it's a little different with family. It's just a fam.

Speaker B: Yeah. All right. Yeah.

Speaker A: They already understand your identity to an extent.

Speaker B: Exactly. So when I get an email, you know, if you get an email, that's like, what up, Duke? One. Number one, we ain't friends. Like, I need you to address me as, you know, formal as my name. So, um, but there's layers to that too.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So, um, you talked about the international dream. That's lit. Um, I think it's really gonna be exciting to see you blow up, you know, one in your. From your business perspective, and then two, in your music. And you make it look so easy that I'm not so confused as I listen to more of your music. Um, and I'm looking at how you. How well you do, like, your ass, like, you literally coming up like, you taught a smaller class and you taught a bigger class, and you taught a bigger class. We didn't even get into that journey. Trust me. Like, this man has grown as an entrepreneur as well as an artist. So it's really dope seeing you grow like that. Um, and I'm really excited to see what that international dream looks like too. Cause I know you got your eyes on it. I know you're gonna accomplish it.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And then I'M come back on your podcast. I'm gonna be like, yo, you came back.

Speaker B: Let's go, bro.

Speaker A: Came back, right? Yeah, I came back.

Speaker B: It would have been lit if I knew you back when you were living, um, in the cars and stuff. Cause then we really could have been like. It started here, bro.

Speaker A: Started in November in the Whip. I recorded in the Whip sometimes too.

Speaker B: Did you really?

Speaker A: Heck, yeah.

Speaker B: We gotta get into it. We definitely have to get you back on. So before we get up out of here, there are. What I really want to do is stick to the fact that you've been able to utilize the system and not be tied to it. I really think that that your perception. I don't. It's something. But I need you to break it down, you know, in a quick soundbite so that people understand that they can make their job work for them. In a way, I feel like that's how you would say it. But what would you say to someone who's currently in the process of maybe getting on a pip and they don't know what they're going to do in corporate. They don't know how they're going to find a life that resembles happiness for them. What advice would you give them from your perspective?

Speaker A: Sheesh. That's. That's from my perspective. I can't really give, like, a level of general advice, so I can talk about, you know, what my experience was and what they can pull from that. But my. From my experience, my goal was to align my passion, my purpose, and profit. You know what I'm saying? So my passion music, Right. My purpose to leave an impact on people, a positive, gracious impact on people. And then how can I do that and still make profit? So that's where I began to kind of conceptualize and align what I do, you know, especially to what I do today. And understanding. Yo, by being able to help somebody get what they want, I was able to get what I want. M. And even helping somebody realize their dreams, their full potential, or helping them get to the bag, too, now that's changing people's lives that didn't have it. Have as good of a life as they could have conceived for themselves. So for that person, that's like sitting at a job, applying the jobs or working on their side hustle on their lunch break, you know, for one. Keep going. Don't let your. Don't let your hustle, um. Don't let your hustle die. Understanding better ways to pay myself. Pay employees, invest, cut back on tax, on tax spending and things like that that's the current formula and strategy that I'm working on now. So that's a whole nother beast. So that's why it's also important not to get prematurely push yourself out. But sometimes you'll get pushed out. I got pushed out. Or sometimes you just kind of reach the end of it and you're just like, yeah, I'm done with this.

Speaker B: You're definitely speaking to me in this moment. And I think even my, uh, clients who are on their journey and they think like, you, um, maybe they haven't necessarily built that propensity to, like, make their job work for themselves. Stay longer and don't let the pressure, ah. Push you prematurely.

Speaker A: Yo, for real, yo. Leverage what you can at that job. Like, I was at the bank handing out business cards. I was at my tech job sending

Speaker B: out slack blasts about your brand. So, yeah, y' all here, man. Listen, if the guys, if the folks who are listening and watching me, if they resonate with your story, they want to connect with you, they want to get to know you, they want to work with you, how can they reach out to you? And where can they find you?

Speaker A: Yo, y' all can reach out. Well, first of all, thank you for watching. Um, especially if you watched it all the way to the end. Big love, right?

Speaker B: Y' all got some jewels too.

Speaker A: For real. Uh, but you can definitely find me. I'm everywhere. Bunduk B U N D U K E. I'm, uh, sure she's gonna have the links in here for y'.

Speaker B: All.

Speaker A: And then I'm on Instagram. My DMs are always open. Hit the link in my bio. You can go to my. If you need some marketing help, hit up my marketing company, dukestatemedia.com. you know, every week I'm meeting every week on Thursday, Thursdays at 7pm Marketing Mindset Group. We helping the community we building. We're getting together with people who want to do ads. Not just Facebook, but Google, YouTube, um, Snapchat, TikTok, you know, all these. There's so many platforms that can be taken advantage of. Sometimes if one platform ain't for you, you gotta jump to another one. So that's my new take control program that I recently launched. So that's really been the biggest impact I could leave on people and actually take somebody from point A to point B. So, you know, for people interested in that, and then that's the things that I'm trying to teach is allow what I know to be fed right back into the community at, ah, ah. At ways where it's accessible, you know, I don't want to always be inaccessible to people. So that's what, uh, that's the main thing, you know? So I'm always open for a conversation. I'll let the boy text me. 904-351-0681. We hear y'.

Speaker B: All. They do what you got to do. Thank you so much for joining. I really enjoyed your story.

Speaker A: Thank you for having me.

Speaker B: Inviting me to the podcast, this was a treat. This was a treat. I had no clue, y', all, but do what you got to do. Reach out to Vooduke. Thank y' all for listening.