An Inspired Chat with Haze Tha Ripper & Eric Hayes

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Haze Tha Ripper & Eric Hayes. Check out our conversation below.

Hi Haze & Eric, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I am carving a path, through mountains, brimstone, oceans, and the fabric of this reality. A journey for wayward souls and seekers of glory, peace, and love.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
They call me Eric Hayes aka Haze Tha Ripper—artist, author, architect of the unseen. I don’t just create—I carve. I don’t follow paths—I burn them into the earth.

My voice moves through music, through books, through the silence most fear to face. I rap with the weight of truth, write with the edge of fire, and build with the patience of a storm.

Five books, each a blade. *The Code of Fire*, *Mighty Mornings*, *The Mind Gym*, *Optimized Living*, and *The Shadow’s Whisper*—each one a weapon for those ready to rise.

Some worlds I’ve built are still waiting in the dark—*Ironwood*, *Neon Dreams*—and when they arrive, they won’t knock. They’ll break the door in.

But I am not a brand. I am not a product.
I am the proof that discipline creates freedom, and that silence, when harnessed, can echo louder than any fame.

This is legacy in motion.
This is the storm before the name becomes legend.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I was 5 years old staring down at a barrel. This was way before Kumar ever found out bout Harold. My aunt was on the ground bound to get her wig split, so my mom jumped in and started fighting with this chick. Her man pulled a pump gauge aiming up my face, but he pulled the trigger, missed and hit the gutter of the place. There were people in the bathroom we called the back room base, said if he breaks in never hesitate to stab goons face…but off with cops he went. Later someone caught a scent, his chick had went and poured gasoline inside our vent. He was out a few weeks later, flipped me off when he made bond. If I had my way that day they would’ve found him in a pond, but the saga continues on.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me presence. How to sit in the fire without reaching for the escape. It stripped away the noise, the ego, the illusions. It taught me to listen not to the world, but to myself. Success whispers comfort, but suffering screams truth. It showed me who I really was when nothing was guaranteed, and no one was watching. It taught me how to build from nothing. How to fight without applause. And how to keep going…not for validation, but because quitting was never in my blood.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Not utilizing their intelligence for the greater good of this world.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Love is the greatest source of power in this universe.

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