On this episode of the Fresh & Fit Podcast, Fresh and Fit sits down with the legendary AB. We talk about his life growing up in the streets of Miami, how he came from humble beginnings, and how he went on to become one of the most decorated athletes in Miami history. We also talk about how he was able to get his Bachelor s Degree from the University of Miami and what it takes to be a professional football player in the NFL and the importance of being a good role model in your community. We hope you enjoy this episode and share it with your friends, family, and the people you care most about! Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with us, and we can't wait to do it again!! -Fresh and Fit and the crew at The Electric Lady in Miami, FL . AB is a great example of what it means to give back to the community and do something positive in your life. . . . and we are proud to have him on the podcast! -AB In this episode, we talk about the upcoming events happening this weekend at Electric Lady and the upcoming AB Fest in Miami. , and we give you a sneak peek into what's to come in the future of the event. - We hope y'all enjoy this one! ! This episode is a must listen! and stay tuned for the rest of the episode! :D -Fresh & Fit and the next episode of The Fresh Fit Podcast! !! Stay tuned for more! (featuring: AB, Noe and the Crew! , Noe & the Crew ( ) & the crew! . , and the team at the Electric Lady! & The Crew at the , ! . . , , & the boys at The PODCAST, ... with a little bit of AB! ... and much more!! - And much more. ( I hope you guys enjoy the episode. ! ! - The Crew Podcast :PODCAST! - - AB - Thank you! -BODY! - Thank You, Mr. Podcasts Podcast, Cheers! -A. :) -BRAVE -SAVE THE DAY! - CHEER! -JACOB AND THE BOOTY!
00:05:14.000A lot of people don't know this about you.
00:05:16.000You do a lot of charity work here in Miami for the kids and give back.
00:05:19.000Can you tell us a little bit about that?
00:05:21.000I mean, every day I'm out, it's an opportunity to give back, you know, not only if it's physical, but it's just taking a picture.
00:05:29.000You know, each time you meet people that look up to you, you know, I take it as an opportunity to give them, you know, what they're looking for, if any inspiration and encouragement.
00:05:38.000And that's what life's about, you know, being that example for people that find you to be that example based on the position you're in.
00:09:01.000So let me ask you this, AB. Real quick, so obviously speaking, you came from humble beginnings.
00:09:06.000How many people actually get out of the hood and make it to where you're at?
00:09:10.000What keeps you going just knowing that you've made it?
00:09:13.000I feel like it's hard because sometimes you get into this position and you don't know how to handle it.
00:09:16.000How did you overcome those things where you're making money, you're successful, there's a lot of things that happen to you like drugs or whatever to push you back down.
00:09:25.000Well, you got to stay driven, you know, having a goal, setting a goal, you know, writing it down, seeing the goal and doing the things that's going to prepare you towards the vision.
00:09:34.000You know, I didn't have a lot of great support growing up, so I know if you don't have a lot of support, you got to make your own self, your own support.
00:09:42.000Being that you got to be driven, you can't let circumstances you win affect where you're trying to go.
00:09:47.000No matter where you're at right now, you know, you always could Get in a better position by your execution.
00:09:54.000You know, I would advise people to have a plan, a realistic plan.
00:09:58.000Stick to it, you know, work towards it.
00:10:00.000And don't let your circumstances deteriorate your vision for where you see yourself.
00:10:06.000So if you believe and you got a goal and you're driven and you want to make it happen to change your situation and better your life, commit to doing it.
00:11:20.000What's your relationship like with him now, if there is any?
00:11:23.000And what was it like playing alongside him?
00:11:25.000Well, you know, Tom is a great player, you know, one of the greatest quarterbacks all the time in the NFL. And the NFL, you know, the NFL is a business, like this podcast, like any job, you know, you have a stint with a person, work with a person.
00:11:40.000But that doesn't always entail having a long-term relationship.
00:12:28.000Like, culmination of, like, 20 years of hard work, practicing from high school all the way to, you know, Division I, then you're in the NFL, and then holding that trophy, getting the ring, you know, standing alongside your teammates.
00:12:41.000I mean, try to describe it the best you can.
00:12:44.000I mean, it's just like that moment you always waited for or dreamed about, and you're in that position.
00:12:50.000Confetti fall, you're a winner, you're there with your family, and it's just you're soaking in agony of just, you know, all the pain and sweat, everything you persevered through.
00:13:01.000You know, I done been on both sides of the offense of losing the Super Bowl with Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010 and being able to win in 2020, so I know what it's like to feel like from both sides, but...
00:13:14.000I can tell you, man, winning is everything.
00:15:35.000How do you navigate between the hoes, the regular girls, the good girls?
00:15:39.000How do you get to the good girl at any day?
00:15:41.000What's the path you gotta take and how do you filter between bad girls and good girls for your career?
00:15:46.000I feel like this day and age, you know, it's hard to find a companion for women, especially in Miami.
00:15:53.000You know, most girls in Miami are here for the hustle.
00:15:56.000You know, they're here to be more successful.
00:16:00.000You know, I meet somebody to be that guy, so for me, you know, pimpin' ain't easy.
00:16:05.000I won't encourage you to pimp it, but, you know, whatever, you know, however you can manage, you know?
00:16:11.000If you got high testosterone like me, you know, you probably can manage a lot.
00:16:15.000But if you don't got this type of testosterone or pimpin' in your blood, then I won't advise you to, you know, come to Miami, because it costs, you know?
00:16:25.000It's like my balls cost, like, every time I nut, it's a car.
00:18:05.000I just felt like, you know, for me at that point, I had left the Steelers and I was like, you know, I really wanted to get my value for football, you know?
00:19:21.000I love the person you are because to me it's more like you walk to the one beat of your drum, you don't give a fuck, you do what you want to do, right?
00:19:29.000And it's kind of like you don't conform to nothing.
00:19:31.000You believe in yourself, that's motivating.
00:20:45.000We're going to do some positive things early in the day, community service with the kids before we get into the night festivities, so it's game time.
00:20:53.000When you were playing in the league, were you writing music back then?
00:21:41.000When I play ball, you know, it's all ball.
00:21:43.000Things I do on the off the field, which is the music and other businesses, we just keep them on the low and make what's important, important.
00:22:01.000Put That Shit On, Champions of Popular Foreign.
00:22:04.000Listen, AB, I'm good at networking, right?
00:22:06.000Many celebrities, you see me outside doing stuff, but you're a master because you came from football, To music, you met all these rappers, but out of all the rappers that you've met, who is the one that you haven't worked with yet, that you want to work with now, you would say.
00:22:20.000Like a Drake, maybe, I don't know, Lil Wayne, wink wink.
00:22:47.000You know, because I know you're 35, I'm 33, so obviously we were adults when Wayne was going crazy from, I want to say, from 2005 to like 20.
00:22:59.000I mean, even now he's still fucking, I think, one of the best rappers of all time.
00:23:03.000But, you know, the Drought 3, all that, you know, the Carter.
00:23:09.000Lil Wayne the legend, you know, anytime you work with a musician of that stature who been around culture decades of pioneer and just giving us inspiration after inspiration, you know, that was a movie theater.
00:26:44.000What are some of the challenges you deal with in the music industry that the NFL helped you prepare?
00:26:50.000The NFL helped me prepare for the music industry.
00:26:52.000Yeah, because it's a whole other world, right?
00:26:53.000You go from being one of the best receivers of all time to now you're making music.
00:26:59.000Obviously you have to have a certain mindset to be a professional athlete at that level, but then you're transitioning into the music industry.
00:27:05.000What are some of the things that playing in the NFL helped you with transitioning over to music?
00:27:10.000I mean, you got to have that work ethic.
00:27:11.000You know, sometimes, you know, guys be up in the studio at 6 a.m.
00:27:15.000Most of the guys that really create in the late night hour, you know, you got to be able to just have that drive, you know, have that patient, you know, have that plan.
00:27:24.000Just like if you're making a play or running a route, you know what I'm saying, football.
00:27:28.000The same details you'll take with that is...
00:27:44.000So, you know, anything you want to be good at, take work ethic, you know, take a good team, and then take dedication and having a vision.
00:27:51.000So, I use the football analogy of being a great player to be able to work towards anything you want to do.
00:27:58.000Do you have the Kanye mindset with it where you're listening to it a thousand times and if it doesn't sound perfect, you're like, nah, we gotta do it again.
00:28:06.000What's your mindset when you're recording?
00:28:08.000Are you recording it over a million times?
00:28:10.000Will you just rewrite an entire verse?
00:28:12.000Will you scrap it if you don't like it?
00:28:15.000Well, I just like to, you know, as long as I feel good by it, you know, you feel good by it.
00:28:21.000Got a good engineer at the team I work with to be able to know that sound you need and, you know what I'm saying, we always trying to make the next one.
00:29:48.000Stretching to be able to navigate your attitude when people constantly writing about you negative, people constantly saying things that maybe...
00:31:34.000Yeah, because I can imagine, you know, you're probably going to get, because you're going to listen to people talking shit no matter what, whether you watch ESPN or not, you know, you're going to walk by and see a newspaper, someone's going to say something, a reporter's going to come in and ask you a question to try to jerk you and get a reaction.
00:31:49.000What was it like just dealing with that all the time, like constantly being scrutinized, constantly being criticized, constantly being, oh, well, he's doing this and he's doing that, oh, look, he walked off the field, oh, look, now he's trying to be a musician.
00:32:01.000Because it's one thing to watch someone go through it, but it's another thing to hear their perspective on what it's like to deal with that every single day.
00:32:08.000I mean, criticism comes with achievement.
00:32:11.000So anytime you're achieving a lot of stuff in life, it's going to come with people hating and talking down or trying to deteriorate others from your purpose.
00:32:20.000So you got to have a high belief in yourself in regards of knowing who you are and what you stand for.
00:32:25.000Because people are going to always talk, you know, Jesus walked the world and was perfect.
00:33:39.000You know, and it's like, in life, it's always, you know, important where you do what's best for yourself.
00:33:44.000You know, some people are in situations where they can't do what's best for themselves.
00:33:48.000Some people are in situations where they wish they could do something for themselves.
00:33:51.000And for me, at that point, when you're playing in the NFL, you're on a team, and you're working hard to be in such position, you realize that The team's not working with you to be in that position.
00:34:01.000It's like, yo, you either suck it up in that position and be stuck there or you do what's best for yourself.
00:34:08.000And me, I feel like that was one of the moments where I do what's best for myself.
00:34:12.000And as a man, as a black man, you know, I always feel good when you do what's best for yourself because most of the time in the position we're in, we're just doing what we need to do out of survival of making something.
00:34:26.000You know, I always do what's right for myself.
00:34:29.000You had mentioned earlier that you think players in the NFL are marginalized and obviously it's a business and it's for profit and they don't necessarily...
00:34:51.000Like, not a lot of people in my position would be able to make the money or had the career or being able to achieve what they wanted to achieve, so I wouldn't advise no one leaving their jobs unless they got it like that.
00:35:03.000I wouldn't advise no one to quit a walk-off.
00:35:07.000You know, this is just something I did.
00:35:09.000Did the NFL, like, try to rain down on you with some penalties or some other type of crap, or what ended up happening from that?
00:35:17.000I mean, they just do what they normally do.
00:35:20.000Write articles, talk shit, penalties, fines, all that?
00:38:10.000And then I just got to dance, and then once I did the Rolling Loud, I met Tariq at the Soho when he was out there to see Kanye in L.A. And I was like, Tariq, like, yo, you do music?
00:38:31.000Because I've heard stories from people that have worked with Kanye or been in the room with him.
00:38:35.000What's it like talking with him, picking his brain, getting the mentorship, the experience from someone like that that's been in the music industry for so long?
00:39:27.000I've been told that he'll have a meeting, and he'll be working on music here, then he'll be working on clothes here, then he'll be working on setting up shows, and he goes back and forth between everything.
00:39:49.000He like called it like, yo, AB, we leaders of our own gang.
00:39:52.000So he loved to organize, you know, fellowship with people working together towards the goal if it's fashionally, music related, you know, culturally related.
00:40:01.000He's working on a lot of farms now to get his own city and just do some philanthropy, priest things.
00:40:30.000What's it like being a dad, you would say?
00:40:31.000I feel like the dad is the most important thing.
00:40:33.000You could be as a man, you know, a father figure.
00:40:36.000And it brings a different joy in your life to, you know, see your kids, go through things, grow from things, and you helping them, you know, be their best self.
00:41:24.000Because I know typically with numbers with athletes, there's a reason behind it, there's a story behind it.
00:41:30.000Was there a particular reason why you switched it to 17 and then 81?
00:41:33.000Well, my dad usually wore number 17 when he played for the Albany Firebirds, so I think I played one game for the Patriots, and I wore number 17.
00:41:43.000I felt like when I got back on the Patriots, it wasn't going to be a long run, being they didn't want me to win the Super Bowl probably in 2019 with Tom, so I wore my dad number the one game, and when I came back in 2020 after the suspension, I wear number 81.
00:42:00.000It was like I took the stick off the 4.
00:42:02.000You know, have you ever seen a 4 drawn?
00:42:04.000I just took the half of the bar off the 4 because I knew it was going to be something special.
00:42:14.000What was it like playing for the Patriots?
00:42:17.000I mean, obviously they have a reputation for being extremely strict and they're a very clean cut organization and they get things done by the book.
00:42:24.000What was it like playing for the Patriots?
00:45:51.000Has it been something that you've always been interested in or something that you took a more particular interest in after you got into the music?
00:45:58.000Or has it been something you always did that was just kind of off the field stuff?