Uploaded and Unfiltered: Conversations about Personal Growth, Mindsets, and Advice with BIPOC Creators for Creators

Balancing Content Creation and Parenthood [Guest: BlkCaesar_]

• Jermaine Pulliam • Season 1 • Episode 66

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Managing the dual roles of a content creator and a parent is no small feat, especially when spontaneity is the name of the game. BlkCaesar_ offers a heartfelt look into his reality, sharing how he balances streaming with family duties, and the joy it brings despite life's interruptions. We also explore the potential of involving family in content creation, stressing responsible oversight while having fun. Highlighting the growing need for diverse family-friendly content, we encourage you to embark on your own creative journey. Whether it's reminiscing about the good old days of waiting for TV shows or marveling at today's instant streaming services, this episode is all about embracing change and creating meaningful content with the resources at hand.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome. Welcome back to another episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, the podcast in which I, your host Jermaine, interviews another content creator in regards to their journey thus far. As always, this week I have a special guest and before I get him on the mic, I'm going to give him a brief introduction, read his bio and then we'll get him started on this conversation. My guest for the evening is black caesar, a dad of three from sacramento, california. He is a cleaner by day and a gamer by night. With that, I cannot wait. I got so many questions, but before I asking, let me get this man introduced to the podcast. Black Caesar, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today? I'm doing good.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, no problem at all, before we even get usually. I know I just said this. I know I just went over to the show notes. It was going to jump into how you started. We'll wrap this into this too.

Speaker 2:

But I want to know the origin story of your username as well. Honestly, I was just spitballing just random names, because I used to have a habit of changing my name a lot, whether it be on, like my gamer tag or on social media. So I would just like, randomly, just be sitting here thinking of random names and then pretty much I I don't even know how I came up with black cedar, where that came from, but that one just stuck. Yeah, that one just stuck.

Speaker 1:

Pretty much I've gone through like so many different names it's not even funny that is why I was always hesitant to change my gamer tag back in the day, like back in the xbox day, because they charge you for it and I'm like you know what?

Speaker 2:

oh my goodness, I used to hate that. I used to have to sit like, do I really want to change my name and spend freaking eight dollars. And then I was like, all right, fuck it, I'll do it, because I thought of a really cool one that I want to use.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. I love that. All right, that was for my own curiosity. Let's go ahead and start where we should have started. How did you get started in content creation? What is your origin story?

Speaker 2:

It's been off and on since well, mostly off, since, I want to say, 2010. Back when Twitch was a lot smaller than what it is now, right and like I would watch people stream or watch youtube, because I think around that time youtube was more popular to put content on than streaming on twitch, right. So I would watch people's you know, commentary videos or whatever, and I would always say, like that'd be cool to do. But back then it was more expensive. Like the equipment that you needed was, you know, of course, like 200 bucks, so, but I don't remember the exact name of it.

Speaker 2:

But I came across this one capture card that was like 75 bucks and it pretty much came with everything that I needed and I didn't need a PC. I can just use my laptop, just hook it up to my laptop and then to my 360, and it had all the editing software and everything on there. So I would say about for about a year I was putting videos on YouTube. I don't have that old channel, but I wish I did and I had some funny ones on what happened to the?

Speaker 2:

I messed around and deleted it. I was like I don't want to do this anymore. I stopped doing it because it started feeling like it was more like a job. Like talking to yourself is not very easy to do, especially if you want to put up like 10-minute videos. I was only doing 3-minute videos and that was a struggle for me at times and there was people putting out you know 10, 15 videos like how do y'all do that? I'll start when you get three. So, and then I had stopped doing that and then even with that capture card that I had, even though it was a Low grade one, I think I was able to get it stream on Twitch a couple times. I think the first game I streamed was Kingdoms of Amalur, when that first came out, and then for a while I stopped up until PlayStation had it where you can just stream from your console. So then, ever since then, it's just been off and on, off and on. Since then.

Speaker 1:

Okay, okay, and typically when you're streaming, what games are you do? You have a specific game or you go in variety?

Speaker 2:

uh, I mostly go variety yeah well, either I guess you could say variety or shooter. I tend to like to stick towards games that are more I don't want to say roguelike, but something that I can play and not necessarily have to worry about the story. Like Elden Ring is a good example. I like playing Remnant. Right now I'm really into Space Marines 2. I'm trying to get better at that.

Speaker 1:

So I mean assuming, since you're trying to get better, you're enjoying your time with it so far.

Speaker 2:

What? Space Marines 2? Yeah, oh, I love that game. That's probably my favorite game this year. Oh, damn, really. Okay, I mean, I I haven't. I haven't played a lot of new games this year, but of what I have played, space marines 2 is probably my favorite one. That's like the most fun that I am having on a game right now. Like the game feels to me at least it feels like Gears of War Without okay cover system. Yeah, like that's the type of vibe that I'm getting from it.

Speaker 2:

So that's why I'm really, really liking it, because I used to love Gears back in the day One, two and three, not just man, I, when I came, came out, I ignored the hell out of it.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's do this. Let's go ahead and slide in. Since we're already kind of talking about your current content, let's slide into the mindset piece. What is your thoughts on your current content output and where do you want to take? Your channel and let's say, like the next three to six months. Or if you had an ideal for your channel heading a space, where would you take it?

Speaker 2:

well, as far as putting out more content, I definitely can put out more, at least on tiktok. I'm just been lazy and, just you know, I usually just post clips like gameplay clips on tiktok, so I just gotta save them and then be able to upload them. But as far as twitch, that I would love to be able to stream like on a consistent basis. But between work and my kids I usually just just stream when I can, which is sometimes at night or, like today, when I'm off, and on the rare occasion both my kids that are not in school are down for a nap, I can squeeze and stream. But usually those are hard to come by because one will be sleep and then I'll get the other one down for a nap and then the one that I just put down for a nap wakes back up. So I'm like, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

But then there's times where, like I can get them to, like you know, chill for a little bit and not be too disruptive and I'll just, you know, be able to push through a stream right yeah, I don't think people realize the life of a parent when it comes to content creation, because I remember when my little ones were like one and three, I usually streamed at night and if they woke up like I'm out, like hey, extreme is either gonna get paused or it's done because I gotta go handle the kids, because my wife worked, like we had a weird schedule, so I was a night, I was a night parent and it was.

Speaker 2:

I loved it, it was great that's like for me, like when I'm streaming, and then my son will wake up and I'm like all right, one second, gotta go deal with him, get him situated. I'll sit back down. Two minutes later he's fussing again and I'm like do I want to like push through or do I just want to like end it here? Right? So then, like for a while, it's like a good month, like every stream that I was. Like. Every time I was able to stream, I was only able to stream for like 20, 30 minutes. You know having to stop and you know deal with the kids.

Speaker 1:

Exactly so what that's being said. I know for me I kept doing the streaming because I mean I enjoyed it, uh, but what was your, what's your reason to push through it? Because a lot of people would be like, no, I'm done, like I'm not even gonna what. I can't even get it both get the ball rolling, I'm not gonna try this, but what keeps you pushing?

Speaker 2:

honestly. I mean it's fun, I enjoy it. Yeah, I like, I like streaming. I don't really care about how many. Well, that's a lie. I mean, everyone wants views. I mean let's just get that out there. Everyone can say that they don't. But you do. If you didn't want views, you wouldn't stream. Exactly, even if it's just one person, I'm totally fine with that. Even if it's just one person, I'm totally fine with that. Like, when I go on Twitch, I'll type in the black hashtag for whatever game I want to watch and I'll just scroll all the way to the bottom and find whoever has like one, two or zero views and hang out with them for a minute. But, to answer your original question, I just enjoy it. I enjoy streaming. I think it's fun. Like I said before, the barrier for entry is little. I mean, anyone with a PlayStation or Xbox can really just press a button and just go live. Twitch is open 24-7.

Speaker 1:

So whether you can get viewers from Asia, china, wherever, so whether you can get viewers from asia, china, I mean wherever you know, there's always people out there willing to watch somebody, exactly and I think to your point having the mindset of if one person's watching me or 100 people's watching me, like I'm still engaged because, like, the aspect of streaming is the fun part and that's gonna happen regardless of how many people's there I still struggle with the actual like talking part because I'm more of a quiet person, but I'm definitely getting better at, just like you know, reacting to whatever I'm playing.

Speaker 2:

And then, when it comes to my kids, like with them, it usually depends on how much of an interruption that they're going to be like. If my son is just, you know, if my son is just running around the room and like making noises, but not, like you know, screaming and crying, I'll push through.

Speaker 1:

But if he's, you know, crying and something's wrong, then I'm like all right, I gotta, I gotta cut this yeah, and that makes sense because like he's just enjoying himself and like he can still have a stream at the same time. What are your thoughts on doing content with your kids?

Speaker 2:

as long, I feel like, as long as the adult is the one you know moderating the channel, then go for it. As long as as long as you know no one's being hurt, I'm closed doors. I mean I don't want to, you know, go down that rabbit hole, but as long as no one's getting hurt and right, I hear you everyone's having fun, then you know, have at it. I mean, there's plenty of channels out there with families playing games.

Speaker 1:

My son watches some family, I don't know what, I don't know their name, but they play a lot of roblox, fortnite and like minecraft and stuff like that yeah, no, totally, and I think having like not as you mentioned, that like I need to start looking into like family friendly streamers, because I think that would be dope too, because, like my stream is not for my kids, but to bring something up that they can see, like what a stream is and how the chat interacts and and then give them behind the scenes like this is actually how they doing that. I think that might actually be fun for them.

Speaker 2:

So I need to start looking into that yeah, now that, now that we're talking about I, I haven't seen too many black family streamers, like all the ones that my son's watched. I don't want to sound negative, but a lot of the ones that he watches are white. I haven't seen too many black family streamers. I definitely think that might be a lane that someone can definitely open up.

Speaker 1:

Exactly Because I didn't even think they were family streamers. But now that you're mentioning that, yeah, a black family playing minecraft would be dope like I know.

Speaker 2:

I follow a couple people on twitch that play with their kids, but they're not. Um, they're not on the mic or on the camera. Don't have yeah, that's like you're playing fortnite. There'll be, it'll be, you know, split screen or whatever that makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Somebody out there listening. Make this happen. Make me some black family friendly streaming content. All right, let's switch gears a little bit here. I'm interested to know what type of lessons, if any. Not that you needed to get a lesson out of it, but most of the time when you jump into something new or you've been doing something for a while, you get little pieces of gems that you wouldn't have otherwise seen. Uh, so what kind of information or knowledge have you gained because you started creating content? Honestly?

Speaker 2:

the main one for me is just I mean this might sound cliche, but just do it. I mean, like we said before, I mean anyone can make content I mean you have a phone, you have a console.

Speaker 2:

I mean, as long as you're not hurting anybody or doing anything illegal, make content. I mean there's plenty of opportunities and lanes that you can open up for yourself, of opportunities and lanes that you can open up for yourself. I personally don't like the content centered around the pranks or making a fool of yourself. I'm not. That's the type of content that I'm not with. I'm okay with some of the skits, but some of them are like y'all are going a little too far. You know what? I'm okay with some of the skits, but some of them are like y'all are going a little too far.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know what I'm going to say, that I'm going to say for me. I don't know if you feel this way, I think not the older that I get, but I'm 41. Holy shit, am I 42? 41? Yeah, I'm 41. And there's just, there's just some content which is like I don't, I don't, fuck, like no yeah, I don't understand.

Speaker 2:

I I definitely think it's because of not growing up with the internet.

Speaker 1:

I mean like okay we like.

Speaker 2:

We grew up with it, but it wasn't like the main thing yes, it wasn't like in our lives all the time right like it was like before high school well, yeah, before high school it was like a secondary thing. You know what I mean. Right like you didn't spend like all day on the internet, you know shit. You had to dial up and then fucking grandma's calling.

Speaker 2:

Now you got to get off because yes, it's crazy to think about that it even goes with the music too, like when you think about it. Oh yeah, yeah, like all the music that we hear now. You hear it now because we're getting it through the internet yeah, that is true, holy crap. I mean, I think about it, I mean not just not to say that all not to say that a lot of these songs, I know we're going off on something random.

Speaker 2:

No, a lot of these songs that we hear, not to say that they're not good, but I don't think back in, we'll just say 99. We probably wouldn't have heard half of these because they would have been on the album. You know what I mean. Yeah, they wouldn't have been the first single. Yeah, I definitely think the internet plays an art into how we consume our media nowadays yeah, and we're like rapidly consuming it because it's so quick and readily accessible.

Speaker 1:

Man, I didn't even think of that, like to your point. Like when we were young there was no all you can eat cartoon, like we can instantly watch what we want to watch, right, and now my kids have Disney Plus and Netflix and they can just be like I want to watch all of Lost. They wouldn't, but Lost just popped in my head for some reason. But they can binge watch an entire all of Family Matters, and then that's crazy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and like for us back in the day it was you come home, your show's on at three o'clock. If you miss it at three o'clock, you got to wait till next Tuesday to watch it. That is true. And then, when the season is over, they're just running reruns and then it seems like it takes forever for the next season. Now, I mean it still takes forever now, but it feels like it's longer because you binge watch it and you know, today All right, we are going to slide into our.

Speaker 1:

We kind of did this already. But I always say this knowledge is you can never have enough of it. So for those of those who are scared to do anything or just just had the idea to stream, I know, just starting, like I know you said that was basic, but I that's my favorite advice to anybody like literally just start, like don't think too much about it, don't like second guess it, just start and see what happens.

Speaker 2:

When it comes to streaming, just hit the button and go live. And also to, no matter what the game is, make sure it's a game that you personally enjoy. Yes, that's probably the best advice I can give now. I mean, if, of course, if you really enjoy playing fortnite, then you know, have at it. But but if you really enjoy freaking the sky of five, bring that to your heart content, and that'll you know, you might I mean you might not get, you know, hundreds of views, but you can definitely get a couple and it'll those ones will stick with you because they can see that you actually enjoy this game I think, to piggyback on that, the people that you get and this is from personal experience.

Speaker 1:

I used to play a stupid amount of apex and I wasn't good but I was entertaining so it made up for me not being as good. The people did you get from that like, yeah, a lot of people were watching, but as soon as I switched to another game, maybe two or three of those people stay, like the people who were like, oh, I'm here for you, not just you playing octane, the relationships you build off of those smaller games like a dis gaia or uh, not that many people know about those games, so when they're searching for them and you're playing them, they're in there and they're like, yes, this is my people's. I never played a dis gaia game, but because they always, looked intimidating.

Speaker 2:

I wouldn't say they're intimidating. It's just a lot going on and it's very, very time-consuming.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that part. You know what. That's what it is.

Speaker 2:

I wish I could sit and play one, but I have a hard time playing turn-based RPGs on a console. It's not that I don't like them, but I would prefer to be on a console, gotcha. It's not that I don't like them, but I would prefer to be on a handheld. That way I can be doing that and, you know, watching TV or whatever.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, 100%. I agree with that. That's why I did my freshman year of college. I played Final Fantasy 10 and I brought my playstation everywhere on college campus. Like between classes I'd go over to my bar, my y'all home, all right, I'm coming over at these final fan. It was a bad. I almost failed, but I didn't, and we're here now.

Speaker 2:

So I will say the one turn-based rpg that I do want to see it through is balder's gate 3. Yo, I need to. Yes, I need to find time to sit through that game. I've made so many characters, deleted so many characters I get up to the elf village in the beginning and then.

Speaker 2:

it's not that I don't want to continue, I just I just personally have a hard time finishing games. I'm trying to get better, but I just like playing everything. I'll just get like a random thought in my head Like, hey, I want to go play this game. Now I'm playing this that I've had for four or five years.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that steam catalog is a beast. Oh, that's funny. That's too real. I understand that completely. Let's go ahead and drop your socials. If the people want to check out where you do, what you do, where would they be headed to?

Speaker 2:

on tiktok, youtube and twitch. It is black caesar underscore and same on twitter. I know it's called X, but I still call it Twitter.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we're fucking never calling it X. Yeah, all his socials will be in the show description of this episode, as always. If you haven't already, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast, uploaded and unfiltered. We do this every week. We have I try to have a guest every week and if not, it's just be me talking about random stuff that's been going on in my life. It's all fun, it's all knowledge. The more we share our stories, I think, the better off we will be. And those out there who think you can't do it, you will. You can do it, like just start People. Thank y will. You can do it, like just start people. Thank y'all for listening. I appreciate y'all and, as always, protect your mental, keep creating content and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.