Transcript of Disconnect to Reconnect: Lessons from Marlow Campbell

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mic Unplug, and we're doing something first and official for the first time ever. We're on site, Montigo Bay. I'm here with my best friend, Mr. Marlo Campbell. We're about to get some raw exclusive stuff. Marlo Campbell.

You're listening to Mic Unplug, hosted by the one and only Mic Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mic takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming Unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get Unplugged.

Welcome to us.

Mic, I just want to say thank you for having me on. And so proud of everything that you're doing. And just glad to be here in beautiful Montego Bay.

It's awesome, man. We've been here for a few days together. Little couples retreat. Love the island. You've been here, obviously, before. This is my third-times back to the same resort here at Secret, so shout out to Secrets. But, man, you're the first person that I looked up to when it came to just disconnect You have so much going on with soccer. We're going to get into that. With the theme with your kids, you're a family man. You always tell me, Me, I got to have a little bit of time to just disconnect in the road, man. When did that become a thing for you, and why is that important for people to just be able to disconnect everyone else?

Well, I think that disconnecting is a way for you to reflect and truly analyze what's going on in order to make improvement in your world, in your life, but personally, professionally, with your family, with your friends, taking time to really appreciate also all the wonderful things that go on, even when things are bad. Taking this time away is good just to spend time with friends and family and just know, just figure out what's going on, what the next moves are. Okay?

Yeah, and you're a CEO, right? You own multiple businesses. I think a lot of times as leaders and CEOs, we have this misconception that we've always got to be on, right? That there's this no days off futality. I actually believe in no days off, but I also believe in taking moments so that You can be there for the people that matter the most, whether it's your team, whether it's your family, or whatever it is. For the business leader, it's outdated. It never takes the time to recharge. What's your message for that, Rick?

You always got to remember where you started from. The best way to do that is to take that step back. When you reflect upon where you started, where you are now, where you're going, if you can't slow down just a little bit, then that's when you get yourself in trouble. You start losing in touch with reality. As we said, when you have your great team at work and you have your people that you're with all the time, but helps you to understand, reflect, go back to really just figuring out who you are. It's interesting. We had a great dinner with a couple of other couples in February, and we started talking about all the different things that we've done in our lifetime, professionally, just from an income standpoint. Every one of us had a story where We were here, and then we did this, and we did this, and we did that. But that's the story of life. You're building on your experiences. Taking time away is a way to not take notes, but just mentally take notes and just say, Okay, this This is where I've been. This is where I'm going. This was a good experience.

How can I duplicate that? This was a bad experience. What have I learned from that so that we can make it an even better experience next time?

For the person that's listening, maybe you're not a business on, right? Having a disconnect is still important. For me, I'll spend time on a Sunday morning. I'll spend a couple of hours, go sit on the backboard and just have some meet. You don't have to When you're on vacations to disconnect. That shouldn't be the only reason or the only way that you disconnect. What are some ways that you disconnect when it's not a vacation or whatever?

Well, I'm a professional napper, man. I could nap anytime, and it's my time. 3: 00 on a Saturday or Sunday, I'm going to relax. I'm just going to take that time to myself, and my family knows that, Hey, this is when I got to... I just got to sit back and absorb. And recharge. But similar to you, just find a little quiet place. Sometimes I get accused of being quiet. But I'm still on, but I'm just processing, letting that computer regenerate. You know what I mean? You got to get the refresh. Just whether that's sitting at home, whether that's going and hitting some golf balls, sometimes even just being with family is a good way of doing it. You know what I mean? There's so many ways to do it, but just getting your mind away from the business side and just that we keep using that word reflection. But it's just really important that you take time to do that.

Yeah, I tell people all the time that on your computer, you got to clear cache and get it, right? That's your computer resetting. You got to restart your phones. I don't care if you're Apple, Android, or whatever. Every once in a while, it's not operating right, so you have to restart it. Your phones and all these technology platforms send you updates that you always have to do. I think for your mind and body, you have to do the same thing. You got to be able to take that time and get that recharged and updated, where that restart. Yeah. Yeah, so cryptimport. I learned a lot about that. We met five years ago now. Yeah. We literally instantly became best friends, which is crazy because as you get to know Marlo Campbell, everyone is this bad. I mean that in a very good way, right? You never met a stranger. Yeah, I love people. You always have that thing. It used to be what? 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, right? I call it now. You're 2 degrees from Marlo Campbell. When did that become a thing for you? Networking, introducing yourself, picking people up? When did that become a thing for you?

I guess it probably started as a youth with my My background and where I grew up in the mean streets of Crab tree, I guess you will, in Raleigh. But no, it's interesting for me when we moved, we were in one part of Raleigh, we moved to a whole another part of Raleigh. We thought we were the only ones, but we were one of only two Black families in an all-white neighborhood. It's interesting as a six-year-old kid starting to build relationships with people people that don't really know you back in the '70s. That was different. But then I got introduced to this wonderful worldwide game of soccer. When I got introduced to soccer, I never would have done it unless we had moved to this part of town. I played a lot of sports growing up. I was fortunate. I was pretty athletic. But I always, every time we had to make a choice of what sport I was going to continue to progress with, it kept going back to soccer. What do you think about soccer, soccer is a worldwide sport. Everybody plays it. You're always building relationships with people that are different. The game is the same.

There's two goals, there's a ball. You try to score, but you build up the teamwork, you build up the camaraderie, you build up the support system, you build up adversity, you have some wins, you have some losses. I think that's where it all started. You go on to college and you play professionally and you do those things. Everything that I do now is a byproduct of when I got started when I was younger. Never met a stranger. Don't judge. People are going to be people. People are going to be different. I always seek to understand where they're coming from. Even if I disagree, that's their position. I can't get upset with them for their position. What I can do is understand it, and maybe it either strengthens my position that I have or I'm helping them to understand, Hey, you know what? Have you looked at it this way? And helping them to understand as well. I think that's one reason why I go out, people see me, I meet people, I have no problem just meeting people and just playing on with it. I think that makes it special.

Absolutely. Let's go into soccer. I know we've got your shirt censored, and thank you. For those that are watching, we are in Jamaica. It might be five o'clock. It might be 10 o'clock. It's five o'clock somewhere.

Cheers, my brother. Yes, sir.

Soccer. You went to this little school. For those, you see your shirt is blurred because I'm allergic to that. But you went to NC State, man. So one, why NC State? Or no, Let's go back a little bit further. Marlo Campbell, the Soccer Star, high school. What was recruiting like? What was that? What were those moments?

Back then, soccer was still growing, okay? But it was one of those I did a lot of things. Whereas, again, I was fortunate. I was with the... All the OD was called Olympic Development Program. So I'm traveling all over the country representing North Carolina, Region 3, US National Team Camp, U6 Kings, and Colorado Springs. And again, meeting people from different areas, developing those relationships. So then when you get into the recruiting process, for me, my father worked at NC State. I grew up always wanting to play for NC State. But I also entertained Duke and that other lighter or blue school down the road from them as well. I'm notI'm not allowed to say that. Universe financial champions, USA. Okay. I'm not allowed to actually say those words. And a few other schools here in North Carolina. But I remember there was a game in high school, and I had really great teammates at Athens Drive High School. But I remember a game where two of my best friends, Roy and Eric Lasseter, had just gotten red cards in the the game before. So I was solo, quote, unquote solo. Obviously, I had some great teammates, but I wasn't playing with my boys that we always used to do our thing with the next game.

And I didn't know that Coach Tarantini was in the stands. And I went off. I went off. Because it was out of support for my brothers, Roy and Eric. It was support for my teammates that were just, to this day, they're just the great, great, great people. We went in the state Championship that year, the first one for Athens Drive. But I just remember that game, and I remember just going off, and I was like, Okay. And we won. I think we were playing against Braun, and they were number one in the state. So we won the game. I get home that night, and I get the phone call. Hey, it's George Tarantini. Hey, go, you see, stay. Speak to Marble. I was like, Okay, this is he. And he said, I want to offer you full scholarship, Gordian C. Ste. And I was speechless. And I said, Can I call you back?

There you go. I got the tar hills on the open.

I hung up the phone, went upstairs, told my mom and dad, I just got a call from George Tarantina, NC State. And they said, What did you tell him? I said, I got to call him back. Like, Man, you better get down there.

Right.

It was just unique. It was special because Coach, we all call him Coach. He was originally from Argentina. His brother was the best defender in the world for Argentina in the '78 World Cup. This is this powerful, intimidating figure that was on the phone with me. I'm a 17-year-old boy still, right? But he has this way of just making you feel good, okay, of course, because when they're recruiting you, they love you. Then as soon as you get on campus, you're like, Wait, I thought you liked me, Coach. What's up? But he was like, Yeah, I want you to be the first player from North Carolina that I offer a full scholarship to. I was like, Okay, I'll take that. Let's go.

I didn't know that, sir. You were the first North Carolina homegrown athlete that he offered a scholarship.

Yeah, full scholarship. That's why.

How does that make you feel to say that out loud?

No, It's always been special. That's who Coach is. I learned a lot. You talk about just looking after people. Coach always wanted to look after the little guy. He always wanted to give people an opportunity. Even in today's times, whether it's through any of my businesses or just in coaching, I've loved coaching. Yeah. People always ask, Well, I don't coach very much anymore. They say, Do you miss the coaching because they think the wins and losses. No, I miss it so much, but I miss the relationship. That's what you build with your players. You build with your team. I'm coaching youth. Now these kids are now 40, 36, 30 years old, rocking it, just repeating the cycle. Every time I run into them, it's just It was a special moment because I remember when you were seven. I remember when you were 17. I remember when you were this. I remember when we lost that, we were in it. I remember when you were going through this with your family. That's the relationship that you build. I learned a lot from Tarantini with respect to no matter how he yelled at you or got on you, he loved you.

He just wanted you to be better. I I think, personally, I think he was always upset with me because I never came on my recruiting trip. Really? Yeah. I was set to come on the-I had already-I already did it. I already said, I'm coming Marl, that's right. He goes, All right, I want you to come into this recruiting trip. I said, All right, I'm going to come in. Then I got a call from a girl who was a friend, not my girlfriend, who says, Marlo, you'll never guess who I'm babysitting for. I said, I said, who? She goes, Prince's nephews, like the artist. Prince what? The artist, no? The artist, yes. The artist. For one year, Taika Nelson lived in Raleigh, North Carolina. Interesting. She lived in the same neighborhood as my friend. And see, Larry, see you guys next time I babysit. I'll have you come over. I went over to the house, sure enough. President and sir, those were the two nephews. Okay? Nice. All right? Met the boys. They were cool as can be. And then about three weeks later, Steph called and said, Hey, Prince's Alphabets street, Love Sexy Tour is coming to Greensboro, and Taika says, I can bring a friend.

Do you want to come? It happened to be the weekend of my recruiting joke. Here I am. I got to call Tarantini, and I'm like, Coach, I'm not coming. I'm not coming on my... I know you're setting me up for life, but I'm going to diss you. Thinking about a hindsight as a coach, I'm like, Man, I don't know how I would have accepted that. But he probably hung up the phone like, What's up with this guy? We were able to ride in a limo from Raleigh to Greensboro with Taika Nelson inside the gate, the whole nine yards, Prince concert. It was a wonderful experience. It was crazy.

For those that don't know, we've done karaoke four nights here in Matido Bay, and Marlowe opens up every night with either When Dubs Cry or Purple Rea, just so you know. When he talks about Prince being his guy, he really does read that Prince is his guy. Yeah. So much that I want to unpack and unfug, man. Leadership was my thing My becaus is my thing. My becauts is my thing. The reason that we do what the use of is do. I want to go to you because I don't think I've ever really asked you this question. Oh, boy. What's your becaus? What's your purpose today? At the 17-year-oldYeah, so we're talking about the over 40.

Yeah. Thank you for that. Just slightly over 40.

You signed it as something, we're good. What's your because today? What's your purpose today?

I feel like There's so many. Life is short, and we all have experiences. What I've learned from a lot of my mentors is, can you help the next one? Okay. I think that's my because. I think, can I help the next one? Whether it's I have a friend of mine that's relocating, and I had to talk to him about, Okay, well, do you want to even stay in the same field That's what you're in right now. It's like you have these gifts. You don't have to keep doing what you're doing. You got options. You're moving out of choice, not of being forced to move. If you want to get a refresh, you're a refresh. We've gone back and forth Sure enough, he found something that is still related to his field, but not the same field. I felt great for him because he's excited. Now I see the energy. For me, that's a win for me. In my mind, not to say I'm taking any credit for it, but it just makes me feel good when I'm able to help somebody. When you can take what you've learned and why I do what I do, no matter what it is, is to try to help others.

Yeah. Okay? Yeah. I believe that because my worlds are so commingled, that it actually helps me give a different perspective than if I were just a soccer coach, or just an insurance agent, or just this, or just that. When you hear scenarios, all of a sudden, my database is saying, Okay, this, this, this. Okay, this is how I'm going to help, or how I can possibly help. Or, as you mentioned, who can I find to help? Because it's not just me. As they say, it takes a village. It's not just me. It's say, Let me connect you with this person. Let me connect. Oh, I got the perfect person. I think that I feel incredibly blessed to have those relationships with Wonderful Heat.

Yeah, totally. The second thing I want to unplug, I have this huge parallel. I run this series on the It's a connection between sports and leadership. I tell people this all the time, and I don't mean it exclusively, but I personally believe that if you were the leader of your sports team, you were a captain, you were the person that rallied the troops. To me, you make the most dynamic leaders in the business spaces because you see so much in sport, and it doesn't really matter the sport. Every match, there's going to be adversity. There's going to be a let down, and there's going to come a moment where you just got to be a dog and say, I'm just going to do it anyway. To me, that's business. There's going to be adversity. Sometimes you just got to roll up and say, Hey, we're just doing this thing, Eric. What do you think about the parallel between business?

I'm all about that. I think that, especially, like I said, it doesn't matter which sport, but obviously, I relate closest to soccer. What people don't understand is that soccer is a game of mistakes. Otherwise, every time you got the ball, you would score. Somebody's going to mess up. Somebody's going to mess up. Do you point the finger at that person, and then the next time you lose it, you point the finger at that person? No, because we're a team. We're trying to process this to get to the promise land. I'm a big believer in that adversity, what you learn from sport, whatever it is. Step, step, step, down. Step, step, step, down. You just want to keep your eye on what you want to do. Your processes, your What's your in-game? Where do you want to go? There's going to be some pitfalls. I definitely think that that translates all about the... As a captain, as a leader, as a coach, the job of a coach is to get the team ready. They can't play the game. They just got to get them ready. So on game day, that's the player's time. That's the fun time.

That's the player's time right there. We can't do it for them. And so as a CEO, it's about just like I do it as a coach. When we don't win, I take the responsibility. I can't point a finger and say, You didn't do this, you didn't do that. You know what? I didn't get you ready to do that. How could I have helped you be more prepared to get that sale? How could I help you to be better at coaching this person? How could I help you get at X, Y, or Z. That's the job. That's the role that a leader needs to take. Then when you win, praise has to go to them, too. Absolutely. You can't take all the praise. Your name is going to be there, but you can't do it without them. You always got to let them know that, Hey, you guys are rock stars.

For the leader that's struggling, and they probably don't know they're struggling with this. I want all the leaders, and I don't care if it's a business, if it's a community, if it's your household, but you are a leader if you're listening to the podcast. If you are struggling with or not aware on how to give your team praise, because a lot of times, you just said it, it's real easy to give a criticism. We see that a lot. I say we're Most managers, I'm not talking about leaders, where most managers fail is they don't connect with their team because they worry about the got you's, they worry about the got you's, they worry about the, You did this wrong. What's some advice to up-reach your team?

I think that you got to remember where you started. You got to remember who helped you. We all had those people. We all have them. I got them. I got my people on speed out that have helped me when I thought I was great. I realized, I'm not great. Then I realized that's where I want to be. I take those lessons. I think that, as you said, it's really easy to point the finger. As they say, when you point the finger, you three more coming back at you. That's just a great concept to always remember. We can all see it. Oh, yeah, they messed up. But most times people know they messed up. Why we got to rub it in? Why do we have to make them feel even worse than where they already are? Can we pick them up? Can we acknowledge and learn from it? Can we acknowledge and make it better the next time? That's really all that it is, man. That's all it is.

Second and last question before we wrap the fire. For the parents that are watching your visiting that don't have their kids in sports, why is it important to have your kids in some type of sport? I'm going to say as soon as possible, but whenever that becomes accessible for you. Why is having your kids in sports important for their development in sport physically, for their mental, for their community association? I know you're a huge advocate of that. Why is that important to you?

Well, no matter what the sport is, I think it's more of a psychological thing. The psychology of having a goal, achieving success, having a goal and not achieving success and learning from it. It's a great mentor. Whatever you're choosing to do, whether it's an individual sport like a tennis or a golf or a team sport like a basketball or soccer or La Crosse, the team sports just teaches people how to work together. We have to depend on each other, but also people are dependent upon you. When you get into the workforce, or you get into school, or you get into whatever it may be, if you don't know how to work with others, you may struggle. Not everybody can be Picasso. Just do their thing. Most people work on some team, whether it's a partnership, whether it's a team of a thousand people at a big Fortune 500 company. You're part of a team. Most people are. That's what sport teaches you. But also, if you're not involved in sport, if you're a musician, you're part of a band. The band is not clicking. If the drummer is not doing his thing and the bassist is not doing her thing, then what's up?

It just don't sound right. I mean, we've heard some really bad karaoke. You know what I'm saying?

So they were all-Cheers to that.

You know what? But I can say that because I did it. Okay? Those who don't do it, I don't know if you can talk smack about those that are doing it, right? Okay? Okay. But it's just really about being a part of a team, and I use that word team with whatever position I'm in, whatever role that I'm in. We call it a team. We're a team. This is my squad. This is who I'm rolling with. I think that that plays a really good part in, like I said, dealing with that adversity in life.

No, I love that, man. For all the parents, seriously, get your kids involved in Again, it doesn't matter the sport, but then also you be involved as well. I would say it's almost worse to have your child in sport, and then you don't show interest in what they're doing. It's their social degree, it's in their physical and mental as well. As a coach, so this will be the last question before we hear rapid fire. As a coach, what are some things that you see parents should be doing better or differently as it relates to their kids and involved it? Aside from not wanting their kid to be the star quarterback or they quit when they can't be the goal.

Well, it's interesting because I see it from so many different perspectives. I We had three wonderful children that were involved in activities growing up, and they're still involved in a lot of activities. I think just being present for them is the first thing, just being there, supportive. Number two, making sure that you're not blaming their coach or their individual player. Because when they hear you start saying these things, then they lose respect for their coach. Same thing for a teacher. Same thing for whomever. You just want to make sure that you're there to understand that you're there to support your child and their team. If they know that, then they're going to be a part of it. They'll want to do it longer. They'll work harder at it. They'll want to do things to make you happy as a parent as well. We're all teaching each other. We all learn. You don't have to be older to be the teacher. You can be younger and still be the teacher. The child can teach the parent about what it means to be supportive, especially when it's tough. When a child is struggling with making their free throws or catching a ball or defending or scoring a goal, it's so important that you get out there with them and you say, Hey, you got this.

Again, this game, this world, life is psychological and how you approach it. I always remember when I first got into the insurance business, I was out in Palm Springs, California, and there was a gentleman by the name of Keith Harrell who spoke, and he talked about his book, Attitude is Everything. That's just resonated me ever since I was in. I was like, See, attitude is everything. It's all about how you approach it. As a parent, your attitude is everything and how your child is going to progress with whatever they do, whether it's a school, sports, life, work, whatever it is. Your friendships, the people you meet, everything is going to be your attitude is everything. How are you approaching this? Is it open or are we just being close-minded? You got to give it a chance. Got to give it a chance.

Totally agree. All right, you ready to put some wrap to fire?

Not really.

You should take a sip. I'm coming here. I'm coming in with the heat. Coming in with the heat. All right. So UNC, the school you went to, Big Rock. I don't care what colleges you went to, you know you're Robin.

Right.

What was your record against Carolina?

Soccer? Two and two. We won both games at home. They won both games at their place. Okay.

What about all sport? What was your record against one during your four years? Assuming you went four years.

It is as you say. Okay. Well, actually, we went to class. Okay, so that part. We just didn't put on a UNC online. We were online back in the early '90s. Back in the day, we were online. No, we were We were hot because I was there. Again, you're trying to tell my age, but when we were there, we were hot in every sport. We took care of you guys.

Yes, no doubt. So you're not giving me a number. I can look you in the eye and you in the eye. All-sport, Carolina versus State. When I was in school, All-Sport. All-sports. 73 and 4, bro. We only lost the State four times, ever. All-sport. Just little brother status.

You know what? That was just a time they call it the dark period. Is that a renaissance? I don't know. Something like that, okay? I can neither confirm nor deny what you're saying, okay? But if you're getting your information from Wikipedia, I'm not sure if that's what's up.

No, it's 2025. We have more sources. Okay, okay.

We have more sources. All right.

So your top five NC State basketball roster. They got to be able to play a game, so you can't go five point wars, right? Oh, yeah. Give me your top five. We're going to put your top five against my top five. We're going to let the audience tell us who wins these games. Top five. Okay. You're starting five. Okay.

I'm going to go with my boy Corch. That's my dog right there, man. Chris Corch, yeah. All-time Assist Leader in CAA when he left. Okay. So he was fired. Okay, he was fired. He was fired. And then got to go with his partner, Ice. I mean, the best shooter ever to play in the league. Okay. Yeah, in the league. So you're going Rodney Monroe.

Rodney So you're going Rodney Monroe over Sydney Lo. Yeah.

You said I need five. Now, Whit's my boy. Now, Whit. You know, Whit is strong. When people come out on this podcast-No way. Whit's a great passer. That's how they went a national championship. People thought it was a shot, but it was a pass to Lorenzo Charles in '83. Whit.

You and I have had this conversation at 10: 00. That was a plan. You thought when it left your finger, you told me this. You thought it was bottom of the net. You told me that.

It was smooth. That's what threw everybody off because everybody's looking around. But our man, rest in peace, Lorenzo, knew what was up. It was a set play that Jimmy B had drawn up.

That's what's up. That's not what we had told. Okay, all right. You got two. You got your backcourt.

Oh, you got In the back car. You know small four. We're going with the greatest college basketball player ever. Skywalker, skywalker, David Thompson.

He was MJ's item. He was MJ's item.

Mj was decent. Okay, We're talking college, not pro. College. He was the best. You saw the jumper. Okay. That was a nice jumper. All right. I'll tell you what, man, my power for it. Man, that's a... I'm keeping it with the guys I played with. I got to go with Googles, man. Tom Gugliotta, beast.

I had the second best NBA career of one state, in the US. That should tell you something right there. Shout out to Googliotta. You're a good guy. But yeah. Okay. Tom Googliotta. Yeah. All right, so we're doing Fire and Ice. Yeah. David Thompson, Googliotta.

Now, I really got to think about my center.

You sure do because you haven't had too many of them.

No, because everybody's I'm going to stretch five now. I'm going to see if I want a banger. See who I can get.

I got who you should say, but we'll see it be said.

Who are you going to say? Chris Washburn?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Oh, man. We can get to him very easy. Yeah.

My guy, Washburn. Yes, yes, yes. No, he could do it. Man, that's the story between him and Shaperford. Man. But I don't know, man. I mean, Burleison. I mean, if we just going to go some height because I got to be somebody that's going to get some rebounds. I mean, that's a big boy. You're talking about when they were playing at their prime. I'm going to go with Burleison. Okay. It was a good mix, Yeah. Okay. For to play against your JV squad. Is that what you're saying?

All right. Burleison at the five, Googs at the four, DT at three, Rodney Moreau at the two, Corchillian at the point. Yes. You can pick my five. You can pick my five, and we just watched them. But so, sir, for everybody that's watching and listening, they had to google three out of those spots.

See, this guy.

This guy. I'm just going to go top of the dome because I can match that up. Okay. I'm going to go Phil Ford to the point. I could have gone Kenny Smith. You had to go with that. I could have gone Ed Coda, my point guard, Ed Coda. Okay. I'm going to go Phil Ford.

Okay, fair enough.

You brought up Jordan in the pro. People don't watch Jordan play in college, bro. Jordan shot 60% from the field.

Yeah, but he only took five shots a game because Dean was holding him back.

That's all we had to do. I mean, come on, man. Five for five. So I'm going Jordan. Okay. Man, I could go anywhere. I could give you Vincent to the three. I could go old school. I could give you Rick Fox at the three. You don't have I'm going to have to Google these names.

Oh, but that's his husband?

You don't have to Google these. Rick will slap a taste at you. I'm going to go Jamesworthy at the three.

Oh, at the three? Yeah. Okay.

We'll go Jamesworthy at the three.

Okay, that'd be a good match of him and David.

That's why I went there because I know he'll shut that down. Okay. That's easy work.

Big game, James? Yeah. Okay. All right.

At the four and five, man, I could go anywhere. I'm going to give you Hansra at the four just because that's our intimidating force out there. Shout out to TH. T, you know you're my guy. At the five, man, we could go stretch. I could give you Rashe. I could put Antoine down there, the five, if I really wanted to. I could give you Brad Doredi. I could give you Sam Perkins. But I could just keep giving you name. I could give you all those names. But I'm giving you the guy.

Okay.

This is a shout out to him. We lost him last year. I'm going to give him a shout out to my guy, Big Grits. I'm going Eric Montras. Eric Montras.

Now, that's a good call. I'm going Eric Montras. Montras is a great dude, man. Good people. Yeah. Yeah.

I put that five just to set your five down. Just to show it to your side.

I don't think you have enough scoring.

Phil Ford and Jordan are going to put up 40.

I don't think you got enough scoring, though. Are we playing with the three or without the three?

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It literally... Phil Ford is deadly from three. Phil Ford, even though he never saw a three, he is deadly. It's like Pistol Pete. Pistol Pete averaged 200 points a game. I know. No three, four. He would be deadly at the three. Phil Ford was that same guy. And you know we're going four corners.

It's a shot at you. Oh, yeah. Is there a shot clock?

It doesn't matter. What rules we playing with? Once we go up 10, you all are done here. We go up 10, you all can't come back. You all have no speed on hoppins. No speed. We got big grips to send everything.

I don't know, man.

I don't know. And Harris is going to give you 25 boards. All right. That was supposed to be rapid fire, man. He just went on the chain. That's what Marlo and I did. All right. So last Last rapid fire. We were talking about this a little bit the other night. We were educating our spouses. Give me your top three albums all time. I go an album, not just off of a song. I'm talking about the complete track 1 to track 12. If you had to just... You're going on a trip and you got three albums you can listen to the whole time on rotation.

Give me a look.

Oh, wow. Dangerous. Dangerous.

I've got two, and I'm trying to think of the third. I'm trying to think of the third.

For those listening and watching, I want you to in the notes, give me your top three albums of all time.

So full albums, front of the back.

Yeah, the whole '45.

Okay, here's where we're going to go. I'm going to start with... I think I'm going to start with one that definitely influenced me in high school, and I think it set off a whole generation of hip hop. Okay?

B.

I'm going to go with 3A and 3B because they came out at the same time. Okay. That's okay. That was Run DMC, Raising Hell, and Beasty Boys, Licent to Ill. Because those came out at the same time, and everybody was playing both of them. I think what it did is it started so many different trends in the music industry from those two albums. You still hear tracks on them right now when people know those songs. I'm going to go off the track in my boy, Pat Noelle. We're talking about this up in Annapolis, Maryland. Led Zeppelin 4. You say front to back?

Front to back. You are not lying.

Led Zeppelin 4.

Yes. Because they show complete range on that.

Oh, man. Everything. Great range. I agree. I could have made this all about the artist, but I could have just named all the French albums. But of course, I can listen to Purple Rain anytime, any place. Controversy may be a better album, though, which was his- Another one with reach.

Yeah.

Another one with reach. I'm not going to go with the one that everybody wants me to say, which is Purple Rant. Interestingly enough, his Love Sexy album, you had to listen to it from front to back. Yes. He came out and said, You cannot skip from one track to another track. I remember. If you really want to go with the ultimate front to back, it's got to be that one because you can't get to song nine without getting through one through eight first.

That is very true. That is also very true. I dig it. Barlow, man, I appreciate you. I wanted to tell you this. We see each other all the time. We talk each other on time, and I've never really told you this, man. One of the things that I most admire about you, and you hit it on every year, but being present with all the things that you have going on. Man, your first job was being a dad. I say your second job is being a husband. You might reverse those however you want to, but But that's what I admire most about you, man. Between you and Damon, you guys have shown me, and not just told me, but shown me, no matter what your schedule looks like, remember what your real job is. That's to be a dad, be a husband. I wanted to tell you, man, you and Damon are the two people that I look to help remind me of that on a daily basis because you know what our schedule is for life, really. We're at home Sometimes two days a week out of a month. Like, literally, we might be home two days a week out of a month.

But you can still be present. We can still find ways to make sure that you're impacting you and making sure you get time to be there for those that matter to be in those. I just wanted to tell each of your face. No, I respect the hell out of you.

No, I appreciate that, man. But as I said before, mentorship and inspiration comes from many levels. It's interesting. We were having a conversation yesterday with some young gentlemen from Canada, and they asked the question, Is this guy for real? I said, Man, there's one thing I know about Mick. If he says he's going to do it, he's going to do it. To that, you inspire me with that. I may have some more grades up here and some more truth in that. I don't grow it. What do you say? Rings around my tree or whatever. But you know what? I'm always learning. That's what we always have to do. You inspire me to be great. Just spending time with you this week, you inspire me to be great. I just want to tell you that, man, love everything you're doing. You haven't stopped. I don't see you stop. I can't. You're not going to stop. Can't stop, won't stop. That legacy. Yeah. Yeah, what you do, everything you do, it's inspiring to me.

All right, well, you say that, brother. This is to you, to Montigo Bay, and to all the viewers and listeners, remember, you're because is your superpower, Bill Leasing.

That's another powerful conversation on Mic Unplugged. If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen. Share it with someone who needs that spark, and leave a review so more people can find there because. I'm Rudy Rush, and until next time, stay driven, stay focused, and stay Unplugged.