MADETOLEAD
was outside on the
phone, barking into
his earpiece going
crazy and we was
like, “Oh.” My cousin
sees my face like,
“Leave him alone.” He
already saw because
he knows how I am.
He’s like, “You leave
that man alone. He’s
going through it right
now.” I’m like, “Nope.”
I don’t care. This is
opportunity. Puff is
crossing the street,
we’re a little behind
him but we been
clocking him for a
couple of minutes and
I’m just glad he didn’t
think we was trying to
rob him. We weren’t
like any big dudes but
we did look kind of
suspicious.
MADE: What happens
next?
DT: I’m walking up on
him, I was like, “Yo,
Puff. Yo, Puff.” He
turns around, he’s like,
“Yo, what’s up man?”
Really putting it out
there like, “I don’t got
time for it.” I was just
like, “Yo, man, I’m a
big fan of Bad Boy.
Junior Mafia went to
my high school. I’m
down to do whatever.”
This is before the
time of running to get
cheesecake. I was like,
“Yo, I’ll go get coffee,
I’ll do whatever.” I
was like, “You got
any internships?” He
looked at me and
he had a straw in his
mouth and a bunch
of spit came out with
it when he said, “No.”
I was like, “Oh man.”
He was like, “No
man, no. No.” I was
like, “Alright, man,
you know thank you.
Thank you for your
time, but I’ll see you
at the top.” He just
paused and looked
at me like, “Oh yeah?
Alright, you asking me
for an internship and
you’re going to see
me when? You can’t
even see me now.”
It made it awkward
because the store
opened and we’re
behind him and he
goes into the store
and now we’ve got
to shop while he’s
looking at stuff and
we’re looking at stuff
and its like, “You just
shut me down and I
don’t like seeing you.”
It was just really weird
and awkward and my
cousin was like, “See
man.” It was mad
funny.
MADE: Sounds like
that left an impact on
you. How did you use
that moment?
DT: I never forgot that
moment and how I felt
like, “Yo, if I get the
opportunity to get in
the game, I just really
want to go hard.” Not
to prove him wrong or
anything, but just to
prove to myself, my
made-magazine.com |
own self-worth. That
was just like a really
significant moment for
me, because I’m telling
somebody what I’m
going to be or what
I’m going to do and I
had no position within
the game to even say
that. I was just going
off my own passion
and drive to be like, at
some point, something
is going to open for
me and it did. I got
the Vibe internship
and then many moons
later, here I am, Editor-
in-Chief of one of the
hottest magazines at
the time, King. I had
Diddy as the guest
editor of the magazine
when he was putting
out his Press Play
album.
MADE: Wow. Just
like you envisioned it
would be…
DT: Here I am in his
office, and I worked
with him even before
then, but to work
with him so closely in
something that was
my domain. Meaning
the editorial world
and for he and I to
be going over pages
together and then
him needing help
with his editorial and
me telling a snippet
of that story. It was
just so surreal. It was
11 years later. It takes
time. People don’t
know; just having
that moment 11 years
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