This “Renaissance Man” episode is about redemption, family and breaking barriers. I sat down with a pair of first cousins whose story starts in inner city Philadelphia. One went to prison and the other into the rap game. Now known as Gillie da King and Wallo267, they came together to create what is one of the biggest podcasts in hip-hop, “Million Dollaz Worth of Game.”
They’ve interviewed superstars like Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz, Meek Mill and Kevin Durant to mine for “GAME,” or Guidance, Attention, Motivation and Education. But they approach it with a heavy infusion of humor and irreverence, two ingredients that makes the wisdom stick.
And if they don’t have you running through a wall after this episode, check your pulse, friend. Here is their abridged origin story.
Gillie is a dope artist who was part of rap group Major Figgas and then went on ghostwrite for Cash Money Records artists like Lil Wayne. And he was one of the first hip-hop guys to embrace the internet and use it to show his raw personality.
“I always found a way to make social media work for me,” Gillie told me. “I was big on Myspace when that first came out. Where a lot of older rappers struggled … I was never afraid to be just who I was. On and off the camera, I am the same person.” He knew how to make waves, calling out artists like Wayne, which led to some bad blood. He was called a “live wire” and “too aggressive.”
They should have also called him a trailblazer, because he built a massive online following at a time when the internet was the Wild West.
“The whole time I thought this was entertainment … I seen the game from a different perspective,” Gillie said.
Meanwhile, Wallo was locked up. He caught an armed robbery charge at age 17 and spent 20 years in prison. But his first arrest came on June 30, 1990.
“I was 11 years old,” Wallo told me. He said he was impressionable and searching for his identity, thinking: “I got to be a drug dealer, stickup boy, pimp, whatever. I got to do something in order to get attention, in order to be accepted by the beautiful women and the people and to be cheered for. So I said, I got to try to be one of them … I didn’t know who I was … And in the process, [you] wake up somewhere in a graveyard in the prison. And that’s what happened to me.”
Wallo does not glorify his time in prison. But he certainly didn’t rot away there. He overcame it. He was plotting his second act. He had a contraband phone in prison and learned about social media and brand building. Only 150 days after he left the big house in 2017, he had 60,000 Instagram followers thanks to his outspoken nature.
“I always try to encourage people, even in prison. It was never about how I see myself. I just was living. I was living my life unscripted on social media.” In 2019, the cousins teamed up and brought their specific brand of humor, influenced by Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx, to the masses.
Gillie noted they are not really about flashy labels, cars and cash: “We lead with personality and knowledge. We give it to you in a way where, the urban feel, that little kid growing up in North Philly or in Detroit … they can understand it. But also a suburban white kid from Iowa could understand it. That’s how we try to deliver our message.”
In 2020, they did a massive deal with Barstool Sports, where our common good friend Deion Sanders, who coaches at Jackson State, also landed. And Gillie has put any past friction with former associates behind him.
“I just seen Lil Wayne at the Jackson State game. Shout out to Cash Money. I wish them brothers nothing but the best. That’s a part of my history. But I’ve moved on.”
Speaking of Jackson State, Gillie has been known to run on the sideline while a player is charging into the end zone.
And in November, Wallo braved the Ann Arbor cold to watch Michigan beat Ohio State. Wallo was there hanging with my fellow Fab Fiver and Michigan hoops coach Juwan Howard.
“You see these games on [in] prison … To be there, it’s unimaginable. Man, to be able to run on the field after they win … Me and Juwan was there, and we were just enjoying it, man. It was just crazy.”
But they live a surreal life. They both say their growth was organic, and I think it’s a testament to their authenticity. Now artists and athletes are clamoring to be on their podcast. Their dream guests are Denzel Washington and Michael Jordan. And they said TV is in their future.
“We keep our heads to the ground. We’re just doing us,” said Wallo. And if they keep doing them, they might have to change the podcast’s name from “Million” to “Billion,” because these cousins are unstoppable.
Detroit native Jalen Rose is a member of the University of Michigan’s iconoclastic Fab Five, who shook up the college hoops world in the early ’90s. He played 13 seasons in the NBA, before transitioning into a media personality. Rose is currently an analyst for “NBA Countdown” and “Get Up,” and co-host of “Jalen & Jacoby.” He executive produced “The Fab Five” for ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, is the author of the best-selling book, “Got To Give the People What They Want,” a fashion tastemaker, and co-founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, a public charter school in his hometown.
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