If you get the chance to speak with 19Keys, you’ll probably leave with some sort of wisdom or information that will enhance your overall quality of life. Born in St. Louis but raised in Oakland, real name Jibrial Muhammad is an influential thought leader, speaker, author, entrepreneur, producer, and director — here to teach you about finances, the science of the mind, and the power of self.
Directly inspired by his experiences growing up, 19Keys speaks on his inspiration as “the trauma that we lived through, the trauma that we experienced. Wanting to be my own savior, in a sense to where in our community, we’re always looking for another savior. But I decided to save myself. I’ma build up myself, develop my mind, develop myself financially, hire my family. Be the example of the things I wanted to see in a neighborhood in the world, when we didn’t have them. That’s a double inspiration, getting it from my ancestors and all those who came before me. But I walk my own path.”
19Keys is someone who always aims to inspire and empower others to unlock their full potential, to their highest level. Which is also the name of his own podcast called High Level Conversations, created as a platform for powerful discussions on topics such as financial literacy, self-development, the future of technology, and cultural empowerment. To date, 19Keys has had special guests such as Joey Badass, Dame Dash, Chaka Bars, Billy Carson, and more.
Additionally, 19 Keys owns multiple businesses, including Goldewater which is a health company in which he hires direct family.
AllHipHop spoke with 19Keys in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his upbringing, starting his own business after leaving his 6-figure job, his name, the courses he offers, thoughts on AI, his podcast, love for hip Hop, and more!
AllHipHop: Growing up in Oakland and St. Louis, were you in the streets as a kid?
19Keys: It’s funny. We were in the streets because we grew up in those neighborhoods, in Oakland and St. Louis. At the same time, I’ve always had a level of consciousness and awareness about what I was doing, and about the state of the world. While we’re in the conditions, while we do crimes. But when you’re in an environment, environment is stronger than nature, so we got caught up in the same rhythms that everybody did.
AllHipHop: What did you want to be, career-wise?
19Keys: The same thing any child wanted to be: a lawyer, a doctor, a fireman, a scientist, something of that nature. But I remember distinctly as a child, always having an innate feeling that I was destined to change the world in some capacity. The world robs you of that dream, as you grow older and tell you to think about things more realistic. But as I continued to develop myself, that feeling came back, and I found it in a way of speaking or teaching.
AllHipHop: How did you get into this field?
19Keys: I was hired a few times, before I even had a social media following. The children in this organization at Chabot College, they asked me to come up there and speak. They told their program directors. I had 400, 500 followers on Instagram, but they had seen me on my daily motions. I fired my job, started me a business. I documented my daily journey.
AllHipHop: You fired your job?
19Keys: Yeah I fired them. You fire your job when they no longer fit. They can no longer afford me. I stole all the experience that I could.
AllHipHop: What were you working?
19Keys: I was working for Prada, I was making six figures. I was doing sales, things of that nature. I was really good at it, probably the best they’ve ever had.
AllHipHop: I’ve never heard someone say they fired their job.
19Keys: Yeah, it’s a two-way street. We don’t learn the lexicon of language. A job can fire you, you can fire them when it’s no longer working out. I fired them, started my own business. Took that experience for myself, I had a store in Oakland.
AllHipHop: What was the store?
19Keys: It was a clothing store, but it was mixed. I made art, we had glasses, everything was all my designs. We had everything from jackets, ready to wear things made from scratch. Everything had a meaning, it was a very powerful store. It was becoming a little landmark people could come to.
AllHipHop: What was it called?
19Keys: It was called Musahill. Musahill comes from this story of this man who civilized savages. He had to take them over this hill, in order to get them to finally listen to his teachings. We created Musahill because in the story, he had to do something violent to get their attention, because that’s all the savages respected. Musahill was about being able to curate that knowledge and that symbol, without having something violent or negative happening. Instead, it was all about representing, getting over that Musahill and living in your daily basis.
AllHipHop: How’d you get your name, 19Keys?
19Keys: 19 Keys comes from Master Fard Muhammad. He was the one who taught Elijah Muhammad. Elijah Muhammad was the one who taught Malcolm X, Minister Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam, so on and so forth. He had a quote in the 1930’s, he said “there’s 17 million original people, and there’s two million Indians. That represents the 19 million rusty locks.” He said “there’s 19 million well-oiled keys to unlocking those rusty locked minds. That well-oiled key was interchangeable for knowledge of self, awareness, enlightenment, so that other people can never be oppressed again. I took on that moniker as a representation of the work that I do is all about enlightening the minds.
AllHipHop: Talk about the courses you offer.
19Keys: We have several different ones. The main one I teach right now, that I’m passionate about is mental engineering. Mental engineering is teaching people about the customization of self. We’re all different by various degrees. But most people take general information, try to learn and apply to themselves without actually knowing who you are. In this class, we teach you everything from your personality types, your intelligence type, even teaching you how to identify childhood traumas. Learning how to learn.
We also teach Web3 and technologies, such as AI, creative intelligence, how to use it. I say 80% mindset, 20% skill set. A right mindset, you can master any skill set. A truly transformational mind is one who knows how to critically think, knows how to problem solve. Not just knows how to identify new technologies, but knows how to use them in creative ways and what to do with them. We teach you how to be willfully emotional resilience. It’s really about tapping into the highest level of yourself.
AllHipHop: What are your thoughts on AI? Because I feel there could be negative impact…
19Keys: Every technological advancement has a negative side to it. Look at social media. We’re constantly using social media to talk about the negative impacts that AI will have, but my social media has already had dark impacts. They put together all kinds of documentaries, movies, and there’s science that backs us up. But there’s a lot of positives that come from it as well. I’d never want social media technology to go back into the box. Because without it, you don’t get individuals such as myself. You don’t get certain political movements of women’s rights. You don’t get so many different things, because media education was not democratized at first.
I believe that anytime we have an advancement of technology, it can have the benefit of those who are at the bottom if they learn how to use it to rise to the top. At the same time, those at the top have the leverage already. They have the ability to use it because they have the resources. It’s up to the poor class to try to use it to rise out their conditions. AI is nothing but a system that’s built off natural intelligence, built on our prefrontal cortex. If it’s built on the way that we think, it’s nothing to fear because we already have that within us. People fear replacement, because they probably weren’t advancing parts of their own human thinking.
AllHipHop: When do you start the High Level Conversations podcast? How’s it been?
19Keys: We started a little over a year ago. It’s become a cultural phenomenon. We’ve passed 30 million views now. We have episodes that have become really classic within our culture. It’s been the greatest way to spread the movement of enlightenment really. That’s what it’s all about, the highest level human beings reach from enlightenment to shame. Shame, you don’t like what you do or you feel guilty. Enlightenment is when you release all of that, you can actualize self and reality.
A lot of the things we teach or we talk about with the different guests on the show, we make it a visual experience. You’re watching a show/documentary/podcast. We put a lot of production value in it. You get the b-roll, you get the sound effects, the quotes, all the texts. It’s a beautiful show. We have scientists, we have philosophers, we have athletes, we have rappers. We have all minds and personalities from all across the world.
AllHipHop: What was the point when you were able to turn into a profitable business?
19Keys: That’s a good question. All my businesses start off as profitable, to be honest. The last one of creating a media company with High Level Media for High Level Conversations was the most capital intense one, that we had to wait to start turning profit. I’ll look at it very simple: we’re in a completely different day in age than we’ve ever been. Your margin is your percentage of winnings you can get. If I got a product that cost me $1, I’ma do 300% markup. I’ma sell it at $3. Because I might have to pay staff, might have to do product, might have to do marketing with a couple of those dollars.
For me, I start businesses off profitably. It didn’t get to where you’re going to have significant growth till I started the family business. My family business is a health company. We sell Goldewater, colloidal silvers, mushrooms such as Lion’s Mane and Cordyceps. Things that stimulate the mind and the body. Once I did that and I was able to hire family, that’s when I was able to reach a level of success. Because I created a business that didn’t just serve me.
It served my family and the world.
AllHipHop: So you hired your family?
19Keys: Yeah. Moms, dads, sisters, brothers, cousins, younger brothers. That one’s been beautiful.
AllHipHop: How proud are they of you?
19Keys: Man, I’m pretty sure they’re pretty happy. Because they don’t gotta work for anybody else. Now they got the opportunity to experience life, with a little less pressure. I’m not saying I’m making them rich, but I’m giving them a foundation to chase their other dreams as well.
AllHipHop: You seem like a very health-conscious individual. What do you do daily to take care of your mental health and your health?
19Keys: One of the things I like to do is breathe. I don’t think people really breathe. I’ll take a lot of time out of my day to just stop. [inhales] They got what you call a double breath. The double breath is when you fill your lungs all the way up, then take another one. What it does is it fills all the pockets of your lungs and clears off all the carbon dioxide. It destresses your body instantly.
Beyond that, a little bit of meditation. Getting you some sun at the beginning of the day, and possibly towards the end of the day. At peak hours, it resets your own body and destresses you. Then, I stay away from suckers. When you stay sucker-free, you become stress-free. Drink water. 88% of Americans don’t drink water now, they came out with the statistic. People replace it with drinks and soda. People are not hydrating the body. We’re 70% to 90% water, so we have to rehydrate so that electricity throughout the body can flow. You have a thirsty society. [laughs] In many ways.
AllHipHop: Talk about your love for Hip Hop and how it ties into everything you do.
19Keys: Hip Hop raised me in many different ways. If you grew up how I grew up, Hip Hop was always an unofficial big brother or uncle in the household. Because it has a major influence from seeing the rappers: how they dress, how they spoke. I remember watching the Lil Wayne performance when he came out, the song called “Gossip.” I remember seeing him exclaim he’s the best. At a certain point in time, the world believed it. What I felt like I was watching was confidence and manifestation, in reality. The lessons that I got from that: if you believe in yourself, the rest of the world will believe in you.
Hip Hop showed us a lot of young men and women who came from poverty, who was able to style their way into success, just by thinking it. With nothing but sheer voice and breadth. That was different from somebody telling you you have to be a lawyer or a doctor. Music is therapy. When you’re going through something, you can catch a vibration and it’s a frequency attached to it, it can get you through some of your worst moments. To your best ones.
AllHipHop: Who are some of your favorite artists?
19Keys: Kanye West was the first album I bought. Younger, it was definitely mixtape Wayne. Then we got Jay. Being from the Bay, we had The Jacka.
AllHipHop: I’m from the Bay, I was hoping you’d say The Jacka or Mac Dre.
19Keys: The Jacka for sure. Because The Jacka was the first street Muslim. That I was able to hear, see myself in the raps. He’d be talking about the streets, but then he’d be talking about some Islam at the same time. It was always an interesting combination. That was his whole entire persona. I even liked Lupe Fiasco when I was younger. I used to listen to the lyrics for the logic in it, what he would say? How dope it was for him to be able to put it together. The Nas’, the Kendrick’s, the Cole’s. My younger brothers: Anpu, JackHellaClassic. Those are my favorites growing up.
AllHipHop: Talk about the Highest Lvl Tour, how excited are you?
19Keys: I’m excited because something like this ain’t really been done. Somebody such as myself, a young guy, a thought leader, being able to go on tour and accumulate a community of people coming out there for a different vibration than they’re used to. Everybody knows you go to a concert, you go to the club, you can go hear somebody rapping and you catch a vibe for a second. But what if you catch that same vibe, and you learn something to better yourself?
You’re around an environment of people that’s high level at the same time, then you go back home and that’s your night. We give you a new experience and a new culture. We’re magnifying all the people that’s high level in your city, they’re coming together for one night. Those are the people you need to tap in with. Those are the people bettering themselves. Those are the people who’re doing business. Those are the people with that higher level Echelon in life. We’re attracting the leaders around the world, not the followers. Listen, it starts off at the Apollo Theater on May 4th.
AllHipHop: On your birthday right?
19Keys: Yeah, on my born day. Big Taurus season! Y’all will know who the special guest is afterwards. I can’t let people know now, but it’s gon’ be different. It’s gon’ be special. One of them ones.
AllHipHop: So they don’t know who the special guest is until day of?
19Keys: Nah, you just gotta show up. If you rock with it, show up. I’m that type of person, I only want the real there. I don’t want people because we advertise it, it’s super special. If you knew about it, don’t be like “oh I knew but I didn’t go. I wish I could have.” I don’t want you there then. I want the people who recognize how special it is in the moment, not after the moment has passed. I’m bringing my tribe together, it’s high level culture.
AllHipHop: Any goals for yourself at this point of your career?
19Keys: I got habits, I don’t have goals. Practicing what I preach. Anytime I have a thought I want, I gotta write it down. I gotta execute it into reality. I gotta build strong teams around me so that any goal we have, we can get done. I rewrite, execute on a daily basis. I focus on the present, but I’m always future-oriented. This tour has been in the making for years. We have technology that’s going to be coming out. We have festivals we’re going to be doing. We have centers, collaborations, movies, all those things. Those are goals, but the habit of me constantly mastering myself so that when that time comes: we have the budget, we have the relationships, we have the network. We know how to build those systems. That to me is what I’m focused on right now: being a person that can accomplish the goal, rather than being the person that has the goal.
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let us know?
19Keys: I’d love to see a new level of Hip Hop come about, because I believe the rap culture is no longer teaching us the best ways to live. It’s no longer projecting the future we want to see as a culture. It reflects negativity and people create songs for the money. If AI takes over rappers, so be it because at least they’re not killing nobody, or at least influencing the world to kill. We’ve seen things like the King Von documentary, to where we got a culture that celebrates death. We need a culture that celebrates life. That ain’t gangsta to hunt down your brother. That ain’t gangsta only uphold negative values.
Nah, the culture of Hip Hop gotta go back to its foundation where we’re building out culture for something that’s positive. Once we change what they call a lyrical form, and individuals that do put out good music, such as my brother Anpu, LaRussell, Symba, Jay Electronica. Whoever it may be, we gotta support those artists. Because the radio’s not going to support them. The only way they grow right is if the fans that respect the music, actually spend the music, stream the music, share the music. When they do things, you have to support that so people like Coast Contra create a completely new culture. Where it’s like damn, then that becomes the influence. I always say you want the most positive people in the world to have the most money. Right now, we see what happens when negative and devils got money. But what happens when the gods got money again? We get to fund our mind and fund the culture the way we want to see things.