Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on Raud’s Twitch Stream

May 17, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: How are you doing, man?  

Raud: I’m doing good. 

Mayor Adams: Good good coming to New York City, [inaudible]. 

Raud: I got to. It’s nice to meet you.  

Mayor Adams: The pleasure is mine.  

Raud: I got to appreciate you for taking some time out today to talk to us, so we got the stream right here.  

[Crosstalk.] 

Raud: You like dogs?  

Mayor Adams: Oh, I love dogs. 

Raud: You like all pets or just dogs? 

Mayor Adams: Dogs mainly, cats, no cats, you know, check on their feet.  

Raud: Okay.  

Mayor Adams: But, you know, I love, love, love dogs.  

Raud: Okay.  

Mayor Adams: I had a childhood dog named Speedy and Speedy was, he always would tell our emotions and moods. 

Raud: Dogs really can do that?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, yeah.  

Raud: That's good to know. How was your day today? What did you do today? 

Mayor Adams: A couple things, I was out in Brooklyn starting off, had a powerful pastor that was then allocated to become a bishop. I knew his dad. And by this time you've been showing us about doing something weird, you know. And then I stopped out at the stage in New York. 

Raud: Yeah, I'm thinking about moving down here. Here? Yeah, just for like a year because I'm in Atlanta right now. I'm from Philly though.  

Mayor Adams: Okay. 

Raud: Dogs really can do that?  

Mayor Adams: How did you start your work? 

Raud: We started blowing up a little bit. It started getting a little dangerous, so we had to get somewhere to stay.  

Mayor Adams: My family's from Alabama.  

Raud: From Alabama? You're from Alabama? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, that's my mom and dad. You know what's interesting? Before my grandmother and my father's side transitioned, I was a state senator. I was going to be borough president. I said, before I become borough president, I wanted to see her. And I was driving down to get to her, and I was talking to all my cousins, to get direction.  

You know, in the South, it's like, you know, go look for that bomb, go look for me. And I was on the highway, and I was like, you know, Tony, I can't find his place. My phone rings. My grandmother picks up, and she said, pull up at that next exit, and didn't make a left and she didn't direct me, so I got to the house and she's like, where my mommy gone? I said, where is she? She said, I killed all my grandkids.  

Raud: What? No fact? That's good.  

Mayor Adams: That's the power, the power we don't tap into. We don't tap into that enough. 

Raud: What power is that though? How do we tap into that? The thing about this phone number, 

Mayor Adams: Well think about this for a moment. And I was just saying this at [inaudible] funeral. When Mommy died, my mother died while I was running for office. And you just passed away. All I know that we did... All I know that we did was energy, energy, energy. Stop, stop. And what I read was that energy could never be created.  

It was destroyed. Created or destroyed. And then I look at what we are, what we've written, what we're going to do. What we're going to do is we're going to make that story transform. And you won't feel it or see it unless you acknowledge the transformation. So if I burn a piece of paper and it transforms from a physical piece of paper to a story, right. If you're still looking for an innocent creature in the state, it's a great thing because they're missing.  

And so, my mommy is still there. And the only way I can acknowledge that is as [inaudible] says, to acknowledge, to see something and then acknowledge the existence of it. So many of us don't feel the energy of our loved ones that transform because we don't acknowledge the existence of this thing. 

Raud: In the original form, so now we can't find them. [], so you missed it, if you're looking for  

them.  

Mayor Adams: There you are. So, when I'm in my state, I'm feeling mommy every day. Okay. I'm hungry. 

Raud: I probably got to tap into that. My mom passed away in 2020. Yeah, so I probably got to tap into that. 

Mayor Adams: And just, you know, sit down sometimes and just request. We're so busy running on the extreme. And we've been tied up in so much, that when I sit down, and I just think of mommy, I can feel, you know, I can smell some of the perfume, I can feel the thing [inaudible].  

We need it in the lives that we live, that we're in today. And so, your mom is still here.  

[Connection Lost.] 

[Crosstalk.] 

Raud: Let's give him a nickname. Chat, what's a nickname for him? Let me get you a dog, bro. When do you think you’ll have time for a dog? 

Mayor Adams: Dogs are [inaudible.] When you think about [inaudible]. They’re never bad, they don’t care if you pass the bone or don’t. 

Raud: It's genuine love. 

Mayor Adams: It is, it really is.  

Raud: Genuine. Not like the human love, it's better than that. So, when do you have time to be present, as the mayor? 

Mayor Adams: You know, it’s hard [inaudible] it’s an interesting city where people have– how are you? 

Raud: [] Only in New York. Who’s our mayor? I ain't got time to know our mayor, bro. I still don't got a couch set. Real fast, I'm trying to figure out how to get a couch set. 

Mayor Adams: New Yorkers have five fingers, they love the middle one the most. They are very opinionated. 

Raud: I saw when y'all won, you at Knicks fan?  

Mayor Adams: Yes.  

Raud: You were watching that game then? 

Mayor Adams: Yes, I was catching it in blurbs. I wanted to sit down in the garden, but I had so much going on. Maybe I'll go to the finals.  

Raud: If y’all go to the finals, you going to the game?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I'm going to attend. I'm going to attend one or two.  

Raud: Oh one or two. Well, you might do two. That's a good thing. I'm a Warriors fan. We just got eliminated.  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I know the owner of that team.  

Raud: What, the Warriors? 

Mayor Adams: No, the Timberwolves. Good guy, a New Yorker. 

Raud: Slight flex, don't bop that on me. 

Mayor Adams: I don't know what happened to you guys used to kick [].  

Raud: No, no, no. Curry, he caught a hamstring and it was over after that.  

Mayor Adams: Made a big difference.  

Raud: Oh, for sure. We could have never won after that. He was there for game one. 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I saw that he was sitting on the bench and it was killing him. 

Raud: Yeah, it was killing him. That's so you saw that face. So, as far as, like, just Philly, you been to Philly before?  

Mayor Adams: Yes.  

Raud: Yes? You got a cheesesteak?  

Mayor Adams: You gotta get the cheesesteak. 

Raud: Okay, alright. How was your feeling about the cheesesteak?  

Mayor Adams: I went down for the game.  

Raud: What? Eagles game?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah.  

Raud: Eagles fan?  

Mayor Adams: No, I’m a Giants fan.  

Raud: Giants fan? How you feel about your– I mean, we don’t got to even talk about this guy. Do you like the Eagles though? 

Mayor Adams: It was a good game. I went down to see him play. He had a lot of energy. He was a good guy. But I love all sports. Played them all as a child. 

Raud: You played sports?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, as a child.  

Raud: Which you was good at for real?  

Mayor Adams: Probably football. 

Raud: Football? What was your position?  

Mayor Adams: Free safety. I played, you know, I started out playing in Bayside and then I discovered girls and it was a wrap.  

Raud: I just slimmed down. I was 230. I probably would have trucked you.  

Mayor Adams: Get out of here. You were 230? 

Raud: I was 230.  

Mayor Adams: What did you do?  

Raud: I started dancing. I'm a dancer. 

Mayor Adams: Okay. Now let me see you dancing. What style? I used to do ballet and tap when I was growing up.  

Raud: I didn't take a ballet. Well, I know a little bit of ballet. I know a little bit of ballet, but I did hip-hop.  

[Commercial Break.] 

Raud: –He’s back in Philly. 

Mayor Adams: Does he ever ask you how life is? 

Raud: Yeah, all the time. He just texted me actually, before I got here, asking if I can send some money so he can get some food. He be asking for everything. 

Mayor Adams: You know I got six, it’s six of us. My older sister is my heart. You know what’s interesting, my older sister’s dad was not my father and I didn’t learn that until later in life. 

My oldest sister, her father was the minister of his town in Alabama. He impregnated and she was forced to leave, not to embarrass him. And I didn't know until– 

Raud:  That's sounds like some medieval stuff, being forced to leave. 

Mayor Adams: [Inaudible] if she stayed there, it would embarrass him. So what she did, I didn't find out until I was in high school and she went onto the field, and [inaudible]. 

[Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: It’s dramatic. 

Raud: That's not dramatic. [] That's not dramatic.  

Mayor Adams: Solid. She's solid. You know, loving, kind, beautiful. She's always forward-thinking. And she raised us for the most part because mommy was going to be gone. You know, trying to make ends meet.  

Raud: So how is it, how is women for the mayor? Like, do you got a girlfriend?  

Mayor Adams: Yes.  

Raud: You do? Okay, you married?  

Mayor Adams: No, single.  

Raud: No? 

Mayor Adams: Single, single. 

Raud: I'm making it hot right now? It's hot? It's hot right now, I'm making it hot? He talking about all love. All love. She a shark? 

Mayor Adams: She’s a– 

Raud: She’s a shark bro. We got to get some food. 

[Crosstalk.]  

Mayor Adams: I’ve got to wash my hands, I’ve been petting dogs. 

Raud: Oh yeah, you were petting dogs. We in the secret service right now. I ain't touch a door. No, I ain't touch one door. Are they all in? Hey, you protect us. We live in buildings. Yeah, if you get a big railroad in Texas, they gonna catch you. [Inaudible.]  

How should I deliver it? “Yo, bro, so what about the free parking day?” Gaslight him, should I gaslight? “What happened to that bro? They told me. I saw that.” How about this? I got y'all. “You want your girl [inaudible]?” 

[Crosstalk.] 

Raud: I'll be a vegan. That's cool. I'm vegan today with him. I'm vegan. They ain't want me in there. Oh, they just said he’s really good at financial stuff.  

[Inaudible.]  

Raud: So, look. Somebody texted me, they was like, “Why would you do something political?” I'm like, because I don't know anything. I'm the best person to do it.  

Okay, a Black man? Oh, that's my type of []. I'm [] with you. You [] with E? Yeah, I gotta give him a nickname. Yo, let's give him a nickname, chat. What's a good one? 

[Connection Lost.] 

Raud: There’s gotta be something, something big. What's that? E.G. E.G.? You got any nicknames? 

Mayor Adams: He called me E.  

Raud: E?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, so you can call me E.  

Raud: Alright, E. That's good. So I heard you're vegan.  

Mayor Adams: Yes, plant-based, I like to call it. 

Raud: Plant-based? So what looks good? I'm going to just– 

Mayor Adams: Just know, the food [inaudible] is good. Last time I was here, they– you know, my plant-based journey is an interesting journey. I woke up, couldn't see the alarm clock.  

Raud: What? Because it was far? 

Mayor Adams: No, I thought it was sleeping, you know, when you got sleep in your eye. And I was, like, blinking but it got worse and worse. And at the same time, I was having a real soft pain in my stomach. And, you know, men, they got to drag this to the doctor. And so when I went to the doctor— 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: So I got to the doctor and my buddy just died from colon cancer. And I was– the staff said it was colon cancer but didn't move. Wasn't gas but was sitting still. And I went in for anesthesia and they checked my stomach and my colon and it came out and an ulcer. And the doctor said that the real problem there was your diabetes. I said, “Diabetes?” 

[Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: And I was like, “What?” 

Raud: What’s that called though? 

Mayor Adams: Diabetes. I had permanent nerve damage in my hands. 

Raud: Is diabetes just related to sugar? 

Mayor Adams: That’s interesting, you know, I’m pretty sure your parents and grandparents have said, “You know what, my sugar is high.” It that high of glucose level in the body. Very common– 

[Connection Lost.] 

Mayor Adams: So I met a doctor who told me that I could reverse my diabetes and put it in remission if I change my diet. And sure enough, after like three weeks of vegan, plant based, my vision came back and my nerve damage went away.  

Raud: That’s like me, I can’t see. Nah, my vision is getting worse. Yeah, I wear glasses, but I don't like wearing glasses. I gotta shoot at the girls, but I don't need the glasses. I'm trying to shoot and hit the shot. So, it's getting worse because I'm not wearing them, but I'm going to have to go plant based.  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, yeah. You should see if it's connected at all.  

Raud: Does it help even if it's not connected? Or is it just that you can't see it? 

Mayor Adams: That's very interesting. There's some serious research around vision. But you've got to always go by what the ophthalmologists and do what they tell you. But there's some doctors I can connect you with that [inaudible] that have become friends throughout this entire journey.  

Now how long have you been doing this streaming? 

Raud: Streaming? Three years, three and a half years. I've been grinding, ain’t gonna lie, for a long time. 

Mayor Adams: That's my nickname, man, Grind.  

Raud: They told me you're really good at like just financial advice. Give us some financial advice for the people watching.  

Mayor Adams: Start early.  

Raud: Start early. 

Mayor Adams: Start early. I'm a big Bitcoin guy. 

Raud: What's late?  

Mayor Adams: It's never too late. 

Raud: Okay. So what's early then?  

Mayor Adams: You know, start as– high school, you know, I just started doing– what I was going to put every week. I'm paying myself first, you know. As the bible said, you know, 10 percent of the what you're offering, you should also do 10 percent of yourself in the future.  

And look into the form that you do, stocks, just everyday saving, doing CDs, I'm a big Bitcoin guy. You know, I invested in Bitcoin, my first few paychecks I took in Bitcoin. People were laughing at me, but now who's laughing now? 

Raud: Wait, so once you become the mayor, are you just like, rich?  

Mayor Adams: No, you're poor.  

Raud: How does that work? I didn't know. How does that work? Do you get, like, a salary?  

Mayor Adams: You know, as the mayor, there are three levels of government. There's the federal government, that's the president and congressmen in the U.S. Senate. There's the state government, with the governor we have the governor and the city people, the state senators. And then there's the city where have the mayor and the City Council people.  

So every level of government has an executive branch and a legislative branch. The legislative branch makes the laws. The executive branch, which I am on, we allocate where the money's going to go.  

Now, New York has, say, $115 billion, at least. Yeah, a lot of money. For the teachers, the firefighters, the school.  

Raud: And you allocate where that goes?  

Mayor Adams: Exactly.  

Raud: Oh, you’re crazy. 

Mayor Adams: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a lot of money. We're the largest [inaudible], but we do pay. We get paid and serve for four years, and then you run for reelection in the next four years.  

And you see, there are 8.5 million people in the city, but there are 35 million opinions. Everybody got opinions. Everybody got something to say. Everyone’s going to tell you how to do it. You have to be focused, like you said, I'm focused on what the mission is. Because a lot of people, no matter what you do, they're going to be people– 

Raud: Regardless. If you do, if you don’t. 

Mayor Adams: You know what I'm saying? So you've got to be true to yourself. [Inaudible.] 

Raud: Who's our mayor actually? 

[Crosstalk.] 

Raud: It’s a girl?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I believe she's the first African American woman. The Mayor Goode, who used to be the mayor in Philly years ago, his daughter is my corporation counsel.  

Raud: That's crazy.  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, it is. I didn't even know. But the new sister in Philly, she's solid, you know, smart.  

Raud: Do y'all got like a mayor's group chat?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah. No, we do. We have– 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: We have an African American Mayors Association. I had amazing experiences when we come through. I love, I love, I love African-Chinese culture. The culture is fire.  

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: I've been to China six times.  

Raud: You've been to China six times? I went to Tokyo one time.  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, Tokyo is beautiful. [Inaudible]. No, no, I stopped in.  

Raud: Is that far from each other?  

Mayor Adams: Not really, it’s all in that old ancient region. Because when I went one time, when I went 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: Now you have one in your neck. What does that say?  

Raud: GZF, Geez Family. That's them. 

Mayor Adams: Okay. Love it.  

Raud: I grabbed it when we hit a sub-goal. I'm like, I'm gonna get a GZF tattoo to really show y'all I care about the community. And then I grabbed it right here. I told them they can pick it wherever they set their neck. I said, I'm not getting a neck tattoo.  

Mayor Adams: So now that's part of your community, your family and your community?  

Raud: Yeah, so like, my name is Raud Geez. And they like the G's family, so they are my family and my community.  

Mayor Adams: And where is the family from?  

Raud: Oh, they're everywhere. Everybody in chat, tell E where y'all from. You gotta meet them. 

Mayor Adams: Are they opinionated? The G family, are they opinionated?  

Raud: Heavily.  

Mayor Adams: Okay. 

Raud: Boston, ATL, Baltimore, Philly, New York, Texas, the Bronx, Mississippi. 

Mayor Adams: How do they join the family? Are there rules of conduct? 

Raud: Yeah, so, in order to join the GZF family, you kind of just gotta show that, how do I say it? You kind of just have to show that you genuinely want to be here, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people would join just because we got a girl in here, and they're like– it's like you're just stopping by. You can't get abandoned, you're stopping by, you know what I'm saying? But it's different, and it's like, today it's not as action-packed, and you're still present, then you like what we got going on here. Then you can be a family. 

Mayor Adams: Got it, got it.  

Raud: What's this?  

Mayor Adams: This is something just, these are cauliflower– 

Raud: Are they chicken?  

Mayor Adams: No, they're not chicken.  

Raud: I thought that was chicken. Let's try this. So this is my first time trying this. Would this be considered a vegan? Okay. I'm nice with the chopsticks.  

Mayor Adams: They have good food. Does it taste good?  

Raud: My man Naz is actually a little Asian, that's my brother. He's a little Asian, so. This is for Naz, this is for Naz right here. Let me try this. What do you rate it? One through ten, before I try it. Let me see. Eight? Nine? Ten? 

Mayor Adams: Solid eight. 

Raud: Solid eight? 

Mayor Adams: I cook a lot of my food also. 

Raud: You cook?  

Mayor Adams: Didn’t cook before, but when I started plant-based I realized that I wanted to know what was in the food. 

Raud: You needed to cook it, right? Okay, [] you’re real. 

[Inaudible.] 

Raud: Yo. Did you ever get the name DLC? 

Mayor Adams: DLC? Tell me that. What's a DLC? 

[Crosstalk.] 

Raud: They're talking about, “On the mayor”? My fault. They said to chill. 

Mayor Adams: No, don't chill. It's you. That's the problem. Everybody's chilling instead of being themselves.  

Raud: You're right.  

Mayor Adams: Because I’m going to be me. 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams:  It's amazing what you can make noodles out of. 

Raud: So, do you have a lot of kids? 

Mayor Adams: One, Jordan. 

Raud: One? 

[Commercial Break.] 

Mayor Adams: To make sure I had a place for all of them to sleep.  

Raud: And how long are you supposed to do that? 

Mayor Adams: The federal government should have given us a system, they didn't. This cost us $7.5 billion, with a B?  

Raud: Oh my God.  

Mayor Adams: And then, when I started complaining, I got hit with a federal investigation.  

Raud: Oh my God.  

Mayor Adams: You know, I was facing 35 years in prison. 

Raud: What? For fixing their problem that you had to fix? 

[Inaudible.] 

Mayor Adams: And so, when you do that and still have to run the city, the only thing that becomes real to me is God. God is great. My faith in God is, you know, when [inaudible] with these bogus charges, I told him I've been living life now more than I've ever lived before.  

God is real, man. When you have someone that is going through [inaudible] stories in your family, when I look over my life, and every time people think that they have the end of the road, God takes us to the next level. After knowing what I said, I turned on my GPS, and God positioned the satellite. Let him handle it. 

Raud: It's a game right there, I'm using it, that's a game.  

Mayor Adams: You know, that's the way I see it. 

Raud: And he got you right up out of there. 

Mayor Adams: I continue, I continue to play the line. I have a learning disability, dyslexia. And growing up, I was always laughed at and bullied in school, because if– 

[Connection Lost.] 

Mayor Adams: A 14 year-old boy, earlier that day, pulled a gun out on his mother.  

Raud: Did he throw that [inaudible]? Oh my gosh.  

Mayor Adams: He shot a 16 year old girl and killed her. Earlier that he pulled a gun out on his mother. You know, people are hurting. And for many reasons, like you were saying, when your mom passed how you [inaudible]. People are going through a struggle, every day, all day. 

Raud: They hurt, bro. They hurt.  

Mayor Adams: When I was a lieutenant in the Police Department, I used to do midnight patrols from midnight to 8 in the morning. I came in one night with a young brother. I was letting him go. He was getting processed for drugs. [Inaudible].  

And when I asked the arresting officers, I said, what did he do? I saw him earlier. This was like the second or third time he was arrested for gunpoint robbery. And so they took him to the juvenile area where they hanged him to the pole. I waited to see him. I said, [inaudible]. You just got to spin that in person. And he just started spitting at me and cursing at me.  

About two hours later, I went to the vending machine and gave him some of the snacks in the vending machine. I just put it down, I didn’t say anything. When I came back, about an hour later, I saw that he ate it. So I knew, okay, now it's time to talk.  

And so I said, you know, “Soldier, what's going on? Why are you doing this?” He broke down and started crying. His dad was in jail for murder, his mom was hooked on crack cocaine. He was out of school for months and no one checked on him. So can you imagine how that left him?  

Raud: He’s doing all that alone. Everything. While nobody knows that everything that's supposed to guide him is gone. That's crazy.  

Mayor Adams: Think about that. And so, him doing stick ups. 

[Crosstalk.] 

Mayor Adams: Him doing stick ups. They were just, he was yelling out for help. You know, he was just yelling out. So, when I go to Rikers Island– Rikers Island is our jail. And I go up there– I’ve spent most more time on Rikers Island than any other mayor in history.  

I got re-baptized last year, on Rikers with the inmates. We all sat on the same bench, we got re-baptized together. Because 30 percent of our inmates are dyslexic, like me. And so when you– 

Raud: Is dyslexia common? A big percentage? 

Mayor Adams: Being undiagnosed is common. Because I didn't get diagnosed until I got into college. I stumbled onto it. I saw a video of it. But when you feel that you're dumb, instead of you learning differently, you're not getting the resources you deserve, then what are you going to do?  

Raud: Act out.  

Mayor Adams: No, right, right. Because as a child, dyslexic, I'm not going to school. I was running around hustling, you know. Buying a bag of weed, making eight joints, and helping mommy pick up the bills.  

If you don't believe you could achieve, you're going to do things that are going to be reckless and that's what that young brother did. And he motivated me to become an elected official. 

Raud: How long have you been, like, have you done one term in New York? You said it's four years as a term? Is it like the presidency, where can only do two?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah. 

Raud: Oh, it's like that? So what do mayors do after they do their two terms? Like, what do presidents do after they do two terms? Like, what do presidents do?  

Mayor Adams: Presidents go make money. You know, President Obama is making hundreds of millions of dollars right now.  

Raud: What?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, because you're speaking, books, you sit on boards. And so mayors are the same thing, they sit on boards and become consultants. There's a whole, there's a whole universe out there.  

Mayor Adams: But me, I want to, I had a long run, I just want to– 

Raud: Is this your second term?  

Mayor Adams: My first time. I’m running for reelection for my second term. 

Raud: When? 

Mayor Adams: It's going on right now.  

Raud: Right now? Oh, you are about to crush it. You about to crush it.  

Mayor Adams: But when I'm done, I just want to wear white all day, go to bed, smoke a [], and say, you know, [] all this. You know what I'm saying?   

Raud: I [] with you, E. He’s real.   

Mayor Adams: I've done my share. 

Raud: Yeah, I'm like at eight years, outside of my years I already had it. That's going to last a long time. 

Mayor Adams: But, you have a definite goal in mind [inaudible]. You have the kids. You know, I was telling my son, I was trying to speak with him. I'm just telling you, you're a kid.  

People are hurting. They're hurting. Like the song said, take a close look at my face. You'll see my smile is out of place and it attracts people to it. We walk around with people every day and say, “How you doing?” Instead of “hurting” we say “Have a nice day.” I meet people and they're just, they're like gone to dark places, suicidal ideations, depressions [inaudible]. 

Raud: As the mayor– I don't even want to say as the mayor because I wouldn't even want to put that on you. Which I think is really crazy if people are just throwing that [] on you. But like, it's bound for people to be in those places, stuff happens. It's life. How do we attack that massive problem? Because it's big. It's a big problem.  

[Inaudible.]  

Mayor Adams: Because people don’t want to hear from the mayor, they want to hear from the man. Because you don't come and try to shield who you are. You believe that you're supposed to be perfect. And I tell people, I'm perfectly imperfect. I'm flawed. And if people know, as a child, I was arrested at 15, as a child. I was beat by by police officers and arrested. 

Raud: You were beat by police officers? In Alabama? 

Mayor Adams: No, in New York. In Queens. 

[Commercial  Break.] 

Mayor Adams: People of color have been denied access. I want to give them access. Now, in the process, you'll be surprised how many of your people are here. You know what I'm saying? Willie Lynch let us in.  

Raud: That's crazy.  

Mayor Adams: So you better just move past that and just stay focused and consistent. 

Raud: Consistent. It’s a beautiful thing. Hey, you got a hard job, bro. I thought my job was hard. 

Mayor Adams: Whenever someone says my job is hard, I say, “I'm not picking cotton. I'm just a worker. I'm not delivering a baby in the cotton field just to have the [inaudible] go back out there. I'm not watching someone take my [inaudible] out and rape my son, my daughter, my wife. And I have to be fine.”  

He went through a lot. So all I gotta do is be the mayor of the greatest city on the globe. I have no reason to complain. There's nothing hard about what we’re going through. 

Raud: You read?  

Mayor Adams: Yeah, all the time.  

Raud: You’re a smart man. 

Mayor Adams: Reading is key, man.  

Raud: I can tell you were getting, like, you snapped, man. You snapped, you can't get all this knowledge from somebody. You gotta get this from the books. 

Mayor Adams: And people. 

Raud: You got mentors or, like, people who teach you stuff?   

Mayor Adams: Yeah, I'm learning a lot from you. Trust me, man. You know, so many people, knowledge and wisdom does not come from how long you've been on Earth. What you've gone through. I think people do themselves a disservice when they look at someone like you who's dropping these seeds and say, well, you know, you're too young to [inaudible].  

I've learned a lot from you, you know, resiliency, how you build a whole family. The family you built by streaming, I don't want to build that kind of family in our city. Where we all love each other and respect each other. You can't just be passing by. 

Raud: I think I can answer your question a little better now that you’ve explained it like that. So how I built this family, basically, I showed them that I'm from where y'all from. Remember how you were saying? I'm from where y'all from. And– 

[Connection Lost.] 

Raud: –As well. So like even when I hit these marks, a lot of it's giving back. My slogan is like, all investments lead back to the trail. So they are the trail, you feel me? Y'all the family, all investments back to y'all. So even if it's like, “I know you be here all the time, you can't afford the merch, it's not about money. Let's give out 10 free pairs.” Or like, that show you like, when I be saying I love you every night, I mean it. You see what I'm saying?  

And that's going to hit somebody, because it's like, “Raud really cares about me.” And it's like a follow back is nothing, bro. You be here every time. So it's building that like, “Raud really cares about us.” And they show that love to new people and then they join and people come in and they watch the streams and they be like “It don't feel like it's a stream, it's like I'm on FaceTime. Like it's like a family and just reading the comments too, so they just not talking to them. So just really responding to them and showing them like it's not fake. It's real. It's the internet, tut I'm real, like I'm a real person. 

Mayor Adams: All the investments go back to the track?  

Raud: All the investments go back to the trail. 

Mayor Adams: Next time I do a press conference and you say all the investments go back to the trail. 

Raud: Yes, you gotta say that. 

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes. I gotta bounce, man. Good to see you.  

Raud: Look, he popped out for us. We got some food. We got some good food. He’s about to [inaudible] and save the world, huh?  

Mayor Adams: Yes, yes, yes. And always remember, all the investments go back to the trail.  

Raud: All the investments go back to the trail. Appreciate you, dude.  

Mayor Adams: Thank you. It was nice meeting you. 

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