Social Animals (2018) - full transcript

I was in sixth grade, I think.

I've had it
since sophomore year.

Actually,
I think was 9 years old.

All the kids just had Instagram
and that's all they talked about.

That's kind of the reason
why I got to it too, like,

"Oh, OK,
I want to be like you guys."

I don't think my parents
have ever heard of Instagram.

- I mean, now everyone is on it.
- My feed was horrible.

One time I posted something
where I put my little brother

in a dog kennel, I'm like,
"This is funny, ha ha."

No, that was
the worst idea I've made ever.



I usually have a bunch
of photos I'm choosing from,

not a bunch, about three.
And then I post it with my feed,

and I screenshot it.
And then I delete it really fast

just to see, like, how it
looks with my other photos.

I follow only hot chicks.

I'm just joking, but probably most of
the people I follow are hot chicks.

If it doesn't look good, I'm like,
"No, take it back to the drawing board

and, like,
start all over again."

Sometimes I even
go on the Internet, we look up,

like, good captions for Instagram,
like, It's that serious.

How often do I look at it?
Probably every hour.

14 times a day.

Sometimes I even have
to put an alarm for myself.

There have been times
where I thought,



"Maybe I should delete my
Instagram, you know, just because

I don't really want
to deal with it."

But then I think,
"What would I do with my life?"

♪ I wanna own the world
You with me?

♪ I wanna have it all
I'm gonna catch my breath

♪ You miss me
I'll never leave you all

♪ I'm like sweet as candy
So kiss me, try me

♪ I don't bite
I don't stomp the ground

♪ I'm busy, I get what I like

This level's unreachable,
Skill is unteachable a'

♪ Tel me that
You know the type

♪ My style is untouchable
Entrepreneurial

♪ Better believe in the hype

♪ Bang, bang, to the beat
Of my own drum, drum

♪ Bang, bang,
To the beat of my drum

♪ Bang, bang, to the beat
Of my own drum, drum

♪ Bang, bang,
To the beat of my drum

♪ Bang, bang, to the beat
Of my own drum, drum

♪ Bang, bang,
To the beat of my drum

♪ Bang

Yay!

Yay!

Wooh! Ey!

My friends Sarah and Grace were
together, we all had a sleepover,

and they were like, "Oh, my gosh,
Kaylyn you should get Instagram."

And I was like, "No." I was like,
"My mom really doesn't want me

to have, like,
any social media things."

They were like, "Just download it,
just do it, like, super quickly",

"like, it doesn't matter,
she'll never know." Whatever,

and I was like, "OK." Then I
posted a picture of us three,

and so all these people started
following me that were their friends.

And then I did a photo shoot with
this guy named David Hoffman,

a really good dance photographer, and
he had a ton of Instagram followers.

I started posting those photos,
and I got so many followers.

I just pressed, "public" so
that they could all follow me,

and it just kept going,
and going and going.

Once I hit 50k, I was like, "Oh,
my gosh, I'm halfway to 100k."

- Is that good?
- Yeah.

- Do you want to see it?
- Yes.

My mom's like, "Kaylyn."
She's like, "I told you

to keep private." And I was
like, "I know." But I was like,

"I didn't want to look through all the
people that were trying to follow me."

She was like,
"OK, well, make sure you just

post, like... don't post
too much about your life."

That's actually so funny.

She kind of, like, started
to have fun with it.

She was like,
"You should post more stuff."

And I was like, "What?"
I was like, "I should?

You were the one who
told me not to have Instagram."

And she was like, "Yeah, but it's kind of
like a network, it's kind of like you..."

"Like, it benefits you, kind of." And so,
it's kind of like a business, I feel like.

- How does that look?
- Looks good, let's take another one.

- OK.
- OK. Let's do it again.

Wooh!

Wooh!

Mun We're going to wrap
around, to right here,

and then we're going
to walk along right here.

It's like a hallway right there,
and the door is open to get in.

I was thinking, like, just in
case, like an escape route,

if we needed to, we could exit
somewhere right here.

Go right, go right, go right.

We're the young
teenagers known as millennials,

also known
as the Instagram Generation.

We are the co-creators
of digital era.

Boom, I got it.

Bro, that snap is fire,
nobody's ready for that.

My first time ever picking up
a camera, was a broken iPhone 4.

I would be on Instagram 24/7

trying to figure out a way
to build my following.

I was just blown away like,
"Wow, this is, like,"

a thing, that people photograph?

"Like, this is amazing."

Urban exploration
is very popular these days,

so I photograph it
as fast as I can.

Then I take, like, 10, 15 minutes
and enjoy the view still,

and then I'm like,
"OK time to go, leave now."

We're good, let's go,
let's go now.

I'm always sitting there, you know,
balancing out risk and reward.

Like, is the risk
worth the reward?

Oh, man, that was scary shit.

We're going to see
that bull-ride right here.

This guy who's getting
on him don't take him lightly.

No, sir.

Alright, jump on. Like I said,
number three, cowboy.

Slide and ride!

Praise to God!
Look at that cowboy!

Get it! Oh, son!

Man, oh, man. Man, oh, man.

- Wooh! -

Give that cowboy a big
round of applause right there.

Literally, social
media is like a job.

Posting pictures, making sure you're
keeping up on following people back.

Your boyfriends, or your girlfriends
or your best friends and stuff.

I don't really like it,
but I keep doing it.

So...

Do you know
the rules of Instagram,

of how you can't post
two pictures a day?

You can't do that, mm-mm.

And you can't post two selfies

next to each other,
don't do that either, OK?

On weekdays, you should post
around, like, nine-thirty,

that's when
you'll get the most likes.

And then on weekends,
it's like ten-thirty

'cause, you know,
weekends are later at night.

That's really embarrassing,
I know that.

I like looking at people's adventures
and, like, where people travel,

so it's like, "Oh, goals,
gosh, I wish I were them."

They're so happy and I'm here

sitting on my couch
eating ramen noodles, you know?

Yeah.

I kind of live in the country.

A lot of people would say
it's pretty boring,

which it is kind of boring, but the
farm life is kind of nice, you know,

dirt-biking and, like, have
a bunch of room to be able to,

like, have campfires and stuff.

It's very, mellow lifestyle.

I was super tomboyish, I always
hung out with the dudes,

I was always the girl, like,
in the creek, like,

messing with frogs and stuff.
And all the other girls would

be like, "Ew, no, it's gross."

But I liked it, I don't know,

just how I was.

What was the most trouble you
guys have ever gotten together as kids?

We might not be able to use this,
'cause I'm not trying to...

I got an image
to maintain, alright?

I'm not trying to, not trying
to get embarrassed so.

Yeah, we was... basically we was
young, we was about 12,13.

It was about, like, 15 of us, we was running
around tagging up, graffiti and all that.

We was going around tagging up,
my friend, Michael,

he stole a box of donuts, and
then he's running from the cops.

- I remember Michael, he stole a box of donuts.
- He's running from the cops

and he ran back
to get his donuts.

So that was funny. And Humza,
out of all 15 or 12 of us,

Humza was the only one
that got away.

- I think he was on roller-blades.
- Oh, snap,

I forgot about that whole part.

But that was
funny though, Humza was

the only one that got away.

I never really fit in with any
of the crowds that were in my area,

I grew up in the Projects. A lot of the kids
I hung around, they started doing graffiti,

and, you know, I was like, "Oh, I want
to fit in." So I started doing graffiti.

They started shoplifting, so I was
like, "Oh, I want to fit in."

So I started shoplifting. You know, anything
I could do to stay within the crowd.

We 're very similar, but
at the same time different, like...

I don't know. Humza just has different
interests in different things.

Like, as far as
skateboarding, photography,

different type of women,
different lifestyle.

I do music, I rap.
People would see us

and they would never
think we is brothers.

I thought I'd probably
be like a gang member.

I was like, "Oh, When I go
to jail." I was like,

"And I get out,
people will respect me more."

You know.
I was very small-minded.

When I started
hanging around the skater kids,

I kind of found
a way out of, like, the ghetto.

It was like a life-changing
moment for me.

It showed me that there's more
to, like, my daily routine

than the four,
five blocks that I grew up in.

Humza just kept
advancing and growing and,

and doing all types
of stuff with skateboards, so...

I was just like, "Aight, you got it, Humza.
You go do the skateboard thing."

I thought he was going to get
famous off of skateboarding,

but then he came out
of nowhere with photography.

There's a bunch of us that hung
out together, took photos on the ground.

Some of them didn't like me.
And then I would see

when they shared on social
media, that they went shooting.

I'm just like, "Why wasn't
I invited?" You know?

Their reason was, like, "Oh,
Humza, you're a shadow figure.

If I take a picture,
you literally wait 'til I'm done

and you take the same exact
picture. " I'm like, " Well,

you are the better photographer.
You have a better eye.

If you take the picture,
I want to compete with you

"in a way, and become
more experienced."

And they didn't like that, so
they stopped hanging out with me.

I was surfing the web,
and I came across this video

of two guys climbing a tower in,
like, Shanghai or whatever.

"A light-bulb, like, went off in my head,
I'm like, "No one is doing that here

"in New York City." Like, again,
I'm following over

2,000 accounts, never
seen anything like it.

So, I'm like, "I got an idea.
I'm going to run with it."

A couple of days later,
I climbed a bridge.

Oh, shit.

That adrenaline rush that
went through me felt so, so good.

The thrill was so much fun,
that it made the reward

seem even greater
than it actually was.

When I saw those perspectives
of being on top of the bridge

and I'm just like, "Man, imagine that
from, like, the Greensboro Bridge."

A new idea was born,
"Shoot from the top of

all the bridges you
can in New York City."

As time went by, more people
became interested in my work.

People were like, "Oh, look at
these perspectives he's showing",

like, tagging their friends,
like, "Awesome photo."

Oh, shit.

My grandma doesn't know
what Instagram is thankfully.

She'd probably say,
"Who do you think you are

climbing these buildings
and standing on the edge?"

She's like, "You'll fall
and hurt yourself."

I could just hear her
saying it now.

She'd probably hit me
with her back-scratcher.

Like, "Whack!"
then she'll be like,

"Pick it up and bring it
back to me, now."

And I'd get hit again. Oh, man.

Every photographer out there,
they would say,

"Risking your life for
a photograph is not worth it."

"And I said," Well,

this is the only way that I can
showcase New York differently,

"and that most people
would not dare to do."

Dude, this is tight.
Hold on, stay right there.

That's, like, a boundary
I'm willing to cross.

I was like, "This is it.
You found it." You know, like,

"You can finally show
New York City differently."

And that's how Humza Deas
found his craft.

- Do you want to, like, sit right there, and I'll take it here?
- Yeah.

I want, like, I want everybody
to see, like, the color.

- OK.
- Do you want, like, the carpet...

How much of it do
you want in the frame?

Everything.
As much as you can get.

OK. Ready?

One, two, three.

Perfect. OK.
Do you want to see it?

OK. Yeah.

- Oh, yeah, that's cute.
- Yeah, I like this one.

In my point of view, a celebrity
is kind of somebody who's famous,

and somebody who lives, like, like, a great
life, who's, like, always in the spotlight,

and always, like, loving their life,
like, wealthy, like, rich, famous,

nice cars, nice house,
nice clothes, nice everything.

I would say, like, "what color
should I paint my walls?"

- Ready to go.
- OK, posted it.

- I'll go like it right now.
- OK.

In my point of view,
I personally don't think

of myself as
famous or a celebrity.

Grey, rainbow, lavender, white,
sea blue, grey and white,

- JK, light blue, light blue, dark grey, sky blue.
- Oh, my God.

You can't say she's not
famous because...

I don't know. It just seems so weird,
because she's just Kaylyn to me.

- That's... yeah, like all
my other friends. They're like,

like, my friends always say they're
like, "Oh my God, we saw, like",

some girls at the mall. They were freaking
out that we were friends with you."

and I was like, "it's just me."

- 687 likes in two minutes.
- Yeah!

Ever since I was little, I've always
wanted to be a Victoria's Secret model,

and, like, be
a Victoria's Secret Angel.

That's one of the biggest things
I've ever wanted to do in modeling,

but my dad's 5'9",
and my mom's 5'3".

I'm not going to be like,
"OK, let's take,

like, a pill to make me taller."

Like, That's not gonna happen.

I always loved fashion,
like, no matter what.

Like, my mom loves fashion. Like,
if you see her closet, it's crazy.

I talked to my dad about it in the car
one day when we're going to school,

and I was like, "I love fashion and I
really want to do a successful line."

My dad was like, "Well, I think
you're a little young right now",

but maybe when you get to, like, having
a little bit more of a following

"like 500K, then,
like, we'll see."

She's working on that number.
I mean, she tells me,

she wants to get
into the millions.

She doesn't want to just be
on runway modeling clothes,

she wants to be the nucleus of the
fashion, you know what I mean?

She wants to be the brand.

- Oh, my gosh.
- My dad's a really hard worker.

He owns car dealerships,
and he owns quite a few of them.

- This one was well fed.
- That's disgusting.

By the time he was 20,
he was a millionaire.

He was, like, an example for me
to do those things and be

super, like, determined and be
successful with everything I do.

What's your
relationship with Kaylyn like?

Um, you know, I'm obviously
her father, but like I said,

I'm also... I mean, she talks to me
about business, she's been around me.

She's heard all these conversations,
she's heard all these hours

of phone calls I've had
and all that stuff.

So she's picked up
on it pretty good.

Biggest business tip I'll give
you is, have the guts to try it.

That's the first one. So many people,
they talk themselves out of it

and then they over-analyze.

What they call it in golf?
They call it.

"Paralysis through analysis." That's
what happens to a lot of people.

But have the guts to do it. Worst comes
to worst, you can always do it again.

- That's true.
- OK. We've got to find another...

My dad always takes everything into business
perspectives, which is good and smart,

but sometimes he just needs
to calm down a little bit.

She's had offers before about getting into
this clothing business stuff for modeling,

and she's been asked to do a lot of different
clothing lines. Finally, I told her, I says,

"You gotta get somebody who knows
the ins and outs of the business."

I understand business, but I don't
understand the clothing business.

You come up with something trendy,
and it'll work, it'll be great.

This stuff has got to be good,
it's got to be good quality,

it's got to be affordable, you want to
make sure that everybody can afford it.

And then you want to make sure... the big key
ingredient is you want to merchandise it.

You want to make sure advertising...
Advertising sells everything.

- Instagram.
- Once you advertise...

He travels all of the time.

It's, like, not a big deal
when he leaves.

It's, kind of, almost good
to have a break from him.

Not like that, but,
like, good 'cause he's, like,

super... not like...
I don't know how to explain it.

Now, the Tupperware, why I like the
Tupperware is I can give it a good shake

like this.

Then we're going to pop it
right into the refrigerator,

and bingo!
We start marinating it.

You can come up to a girl
nowadays and just be like,

"Hey, I saw your post on Instagram."
And then she'd be like,

"Oh, really?" and all of a sudden, it's
like this flirty interesting thing.

I'm shy, so, like, I'm not strong
enough to go and just ask her for it.

Sol probably will ask her
friends for their Instagram name

or something like that. And then I'll,
like, just stalk her friend's page

until I find their page.

And then I'll just, like,
follow them in the end.

There's a thing called DM,
which is direct messaging.

And I have direct messaged
a girl before, and

sometimes they're just, like,
not online, and you were just

freaking out the whole day.
You're just like,

"What did I just do?"
and you're just, "Oh!"

When I hear my parents
talk about how, like,

things were back then,
like, my dad was like,

"Oh, yeah, you had to, like,
impress a girl in 10 minutes"

or they're going to walk away. But now
you see the pictures of the person,

you go on their page, you're like,
"Oh, they're kind of cute."

You like it,
and then you like another one

and you just keep on liking.
And then they start liking,

and then, like, next thing you know,
you guys are, like, "talking".

Because it'll tell you if they
read it or not, and they didn't,

so I'm kind of, like,
checking it every two seconds.

Just like, "Did they read it?
No. OK, we're good."

One guy that liked my picture
and I liked his picture.

And then he followed me, I followed him.
And then I spammed him,

and he spammed me. And then,
like, we started talking,

and then I ended up dating him
for a year and six months.

And then he lived in New York,
so then I ended up

going to a competition in
New York. And then I met him.

And I finally met him after,
like, a year and a half.

People don't really date
anymore, like,

they just, like,
DM each other on Instagram,

they start talking,
then they usually just...

I don't know. They don't date.

But definitely, yeah.
I've tried to, um,

reach out to some people,
but always nervous about it.

You guys ready for this?

Don't fall.

Yes, that one looks really good.

Yeah!

Every relationship I was in
in high school was stressful,

she saw me getting hurt, so I'm sure she
learned from watching me go through cycles.

Smile everyone.

A lot of what she told me to, like,
expect from high school was that

girls are gonna be mean,
guys are gonna be mean,

girls are gonna
get jealous and be mean,

a lot of stuff just
about guarding my heart

and, like,
being cautious with boys.

OK, uh, two blueberry, please.

I was like, "I'm just going to be there
whenever she needs me, you know?"

Even if she makes mistakes and some
guy breaks her heart or whatever.

Like, I'm just gonna
be there regardless.

Sensor.

Look, look at this,
if I put it on there.

What's the craziest thing
you've ever seen on Instagram?

I thought this
was kind of funny.

I was getting, like,
a bunch of followers.

You know, that's just kinda
how I got connected in school,

was through Instagram.

It was kinda just how
I got people's numbers,

like, mainly guys.

I've had, like, six guys
DM me literally just with, um,

these two words, "Booty pics".
And then a question mark.

And I don't even know the guys.

And, like, I block them
immediately, it scares me.

And I'm like,
"What is wrong with people?"

- So you've never done it?
- Oh, I have.

Boys came into the scene,
and it was, kind of this interest,

they knew what the boundary was, they knew
that technically you're not allowed to date

till you're 16.
That was the... that's the rule.

Michael, he was in my
biology class, and he was, like,

he's super outgoing,
and always made funny jokes

and one day, he asked my friend,
Olivia for my number so that he could

text me about the quiz.

We talked for a long time,

it was like three months.

I think she had
asked us about dating

and we were like, "We're not,
we're not OK with that."

We basically were dating, like,
we held hands in the hall,

and, like, like, you know,
the typical relationship status,

but he never asked me
officially to be his girlfriend

because I wasn't allowed to,
you know, have a boyfriend, so.

We try to be
wise and smart as parents,

but we have awoken
a sleeping giant.

And a lot of it was not knowing
the boundaries with boys.

I was just sitting at home one day, like,
scrolling through my Instagram feed,

and I came across this Instagram
account with the name of Humza Deas.

"So one day I posted, like, an
Instagram app photo, "Oh, I'm in Queens,

anyone out that wants to shoot?"
And it was like 1 a.m.

And Demid was like, "Hey, I'm around
the area, would love to meet up."

He's like,
"I know a couple things too."

I'm just like,
"sure, I'm lonely out here,

just want to shoot?
Just come keep me company."

I had, like, biked all the way
to Roosevelt Island,

even got hit by a car on the way
there because I was, like, rushing.

It just, like, dented my wheel.

So, like, I had to, like,
hide my bike in a bush,

walk the rest of the way to Roosevelt
Island. Met up with Humza.

And he's like, "So you're Humza
Deas, you're the bridge climber?"

and I'm just like,
"Uh, yeah, I'm Humza."

He's like, "So What are you doing
out here at 1 a.m. right now?"

Did you just climb this bridge?"
I was like, "No."

But secretly
I was scouting it out.

He's like, "Cool. Let's go up,
let's go up." I'm just like,

"I have no idea
who this kid is."

For some reason I said, sure.

We're on the top, and, you know, like,
I'm trying to be very secretive.

There's a lot of
traffic still going on.

This kid, like, puts his camera
on one side of the bridge.

And he puts, like, a self-timer.
He goes to the other side,

and does, like, an emotional
pose, like leaning on a gate.

And then, like,
his flash just pops off, "Pow!"

And I'm just like,
"What is wrong with you?"

I'm like,
"Dude, stop using your flash."

He's like, "Alright,
just one more, one more."

I'm like, "No, man." I was like,
"No flash." He's like, "Dude,

I bought us some Red Bull. Let's chill up here,
cheers. " I'm just like, " We've got to go.

You've been using your flash." He's like,
he's like, "Let's just chug the Red Bull."

I'm like, whatever. So we,
like, shotgunned the Red Bull.

And then we get down, and I was
just, like, freaked out.

I was like, "Alright, man, I'm done
for the night." And he's like,

"Yeah, yeah, before you go, like,
I've got this cool subway map

of old stations,
we should try to get to them."

I'm like, "Man,
this game got so much larger."

For, like, the
next three or four days.

We went, like, full nocturnal and just
non-stop went on a bunch of, like, missions.

So, That's the active
train shocks.

If the train does come,
hug that wall.

Third rail,
watch the third rail, dude.

We pretty much shot for,
like, a month straight together.

Got, like, four to
five hours of sleep each day.

"And we were just like," meet
up again around the night time

and, like, go out to shoot."

Let's go.
Let's go. Let's go.

Oh, shit, come on,
come on, come on.

Fuck, dude,
we're so stuck in here.

We went to Instagram meetups, we sent each
other things that inspired us, you know, like,

we were feeding
each other food for thought.

That was when we became,
like, pretty close buds.

I woke up one morning with 4,000 plus
new followers on, uh, Instagram,

and, just like, over 30 text
messages saying, "Hey, wake-up."

Like, you're in big trouble. I can't believe
you would go and do something like that."

It hit social media a little
after seven o'clock this morning.

A tourist noticed something odd.

The two American flags
that usually fly atop

both Brooklyn Bridge
towers were gone.

Replaced by
two mysterious white flags.

I was accused of doing that because people
knew me as a person who climbs bridges.

It's a huge feat to scale
this bridge and to get up

on top of that flagpole
to put white flags there.

Who could have done that?
That is the key question.

A Reporter was like, "Hey, I see
you're getting a lot of heat for this."

Would you like to come on air and explain
that you had nothing to do with this?"

So I said, yeah. Because I was
very afraid that cops were going

to see these articles
and want to arrest me.

My gut tells me
it's one person that I know of.

I haven't met him,
but he's popular.

He's not naming names,
but says there's a subculture

of hundreds of bridge climbers who
almost always go up in groups.

And he says it's not any
of the people currently

claiming through
social media to have done it.

It just completely
backfired-People were like,

"Oh, Humza, you just wanted
15 minutes of fame.

You exposed a subculture."

Another artist
heard about the interview,

and he was really bitter about it
because he also wants to climb bridges

and he wants to do something similar.
Now authorities have been

alerted as to what
their whole strategy is.

Demid was like, "Don't worry
about them-I talked to one of them-".

He's like, "They're
not going to do anything."

I was like, "Alright, cool.

Thanks for putting in
a word for me."

He had my back for
a certain amount of time.

The rules go unspoken,
but they will be spoken

to you if you break those rules.

The whole urban exploration community
started sending me death threats.

"People were like," if I ever see this
kid in, like, an abandoned building

or on a rooftop, I'll push him off or I'm
going to break his head through a window."

The following two weeks, I would
always have to look over my shoulder

and I was just, like, a disaster
mentally and physically.

Me and my friend Chloe
had just gotten in a fight.

I was talking to Michael, my
boyfriend, and I was just like,

"I don't know if I really want
to be friends with her anymore."

He had become really good friends
with Chloe, which I was fine with,

but they... I felt they almost
became more than friends.

Michael, being an awesome guy
that he is, took the screenshots

of my text and sent it to Chloe.

Then so Chloe saw that and was like,
"I thought we were best friends,

"blah, blah, blah." And then I
fell asleep, and woke up to

a bunch of text messages
from Michael and he's like,

"What's all this I hear
about you cheating on me?"

Girls from our school or...
And Chloe spread rumors about me

cheating on Michael,
and I was really confused.

"What? What's going on?"

I was like, "if you're not
going to believe me",

and you're going to believe,
like, random girls over me,

"we shouldn't date."

So that's when
the harassing started.

It was just constant.
Every day there would be like

50 notifications on my phone,

calling me a slut and a hoe.

I would understand if I was a hoe,
but, like, I didn't do anything.

I ignored it for a long time,
but it eventually, like,

it actually started
taking a toll on me.

My sister like... was like,
"Just say something back."

She won't even tell mom and dad, like,
what was going on, on social media

'cause it was, like,
just horrible.

It almost was like
a game for everyone.

There was people on my side, and
there was people on Michael's side.

And Emma kind of,
you know... she fought back.

She said things
she shouldn't have said

and I think that
kept the fire going.

I went to my lunch table
and Chloe came up and she said,

"Why are you sitting here?"
Then she called me a bitch.

And then I was like, "This is my
lunch table. These are my friends."

And, like, four of the girls that were
on my lunch table said, "No, we're not."

And then, so I got up and ran to
the bathroom and, like, cried.

It just got worse and worse.

Horrible things. Words that,

that you just wouldn't expect,

especially out of
a Christian school.

A few girls did tell me to go kill myself,
and, like, I didn't know how to react to that.

It kind of took me,
like, by surprise.

I'm like,
"Someone actually just told me

to, like, go take my life,
because of rumors."

I swear none of them would
have said that to my face,

but since they could
say it over a screen,

you know, they just did.

I, like, ran into school,
took my last exam, then ran out.

And as soon as I got
in the car, I was like,

"Mom, I'm done."
and she said, "I know."

And so I didn't come
back here the next year.

Alright, guys, we're gonna
go, uh, three at a time.

So first group, thank you
for being ready, 31-152.

Um, and just a reminder,
you only will do the dance

twice in front of us
before we judge you.

So those are your only two
opportunities to really show us

what you've learned today, what you
have, what you can bring to the team.

OK, we're ready. Music.

Good.

Everything in life is competitive.
It doesn't matter what it is.

Acting is competitive, dancing is
competitive, modeling is competitive.

I don't really
get affected by much.

And so, like, I feel like that's a good thing
'cause, like, I'm just, like, unstoppable.

I've always been pretty confident,
like, ever since I was little.

I feel like if you have, like,
more of a confidence in you,

then you're going to do
better in, like, everything.

And I guess that helps me a lot for, like,
school, and dance, and acting, and modeling,

and everything, 'cause, like, confidence
is, like, key, major key.

Awesome.
Thank you, guys,

Switch lines. One more time.

I'll give you
a second to breathe.

Let me see your toes.

- You have a little tiny...
- I have shrimp toes.

- They're so gross.
- No, everyone hates their toes.

- I hate my toes.
- I've never met anyone who's like, "My toes are so cute."

Everyone's like, "Ew."

I've been in fashion
for 10 years now.

And so I've been designing and styling,
and I know everything about fashion.

When we met Jazmin, my mom was like,
"Oh, my gosh, I love her style."

And so did I, of course.

Ooh.

That was doing
something, that was...

That might have
been it, hold on.

She has a huge passion and
interest in fashion, and so...

It was just, like, a no-brainer. We
were like, "OK, we want to do this."

I think the two of them
are going to be a great team.

One does design,
Kaylyn can do the modeling.

And our girl's got
a following too, and, uh...

I think the two of them teaming up, I
think they can do nothing but make it,

you know, and make it big.

- Gigi is so pretty.
- I know I love her.

- It's ridiculous.
- I know.

Jazmin was like, "Let's, vamp up your
Instagram. Let's make it cooler."

Her dad had mentioned that he
wanted to see that platform get

a little bit bigger before
going full out with everything.

We started talking about her look
on Instagram, like, her photos.

You look little.
Like really little.

- You don't look like that anymore.
- Yeah.

We decided to work
with a photographer,

Ravi, who has an amazing
Instagram account.

Just, kind of like, a different vibe than the
typical shoots that Kaylyn has been working on.

You started Instagram
a little while ago?

Yeah. Like, When I was
like around 12 or 13.

12 or 13? You've kind of crafted
an image for yourself?

Or do you feel like you're just
posting what you feel in the moment?

- Like, how strategic are you?
- Mm.

- I feel like sometimes...
- I don't think you overthink it.

Yeah, I don't overthink it, but
I think a little bit about it.

Like, I feel like everybody
thinks about what they're posting

instead of just, like,
throwing anything out there,

'cause you have a certain image so you
want people... You know what I mean?

Like, you want to keep
that image of who you are.

Alright. You guys
ready to rock and roll?

- Yeah.
- Let's do it.

Kaylyn, you're slaying. Work.

Gorgeous, yes.

You might get
attacked by a rattlesnake,

but this is so
Fifth Harmony worth it.

Whatever your thing is that you are
drawn to, there's probably somebody

on Instagram doing it and making you
feel like, "Man, that's the life."

Like, That's what
I want to be doing."

Ready 1, 2, s.

A very common comment that I get
on the pictures would probably be,

"So pretty." Or, "Love
hair." Or, "Such pretty eyes."

Or stuff like that, or, "Hot."

I don't know. I feel like that's
interesting, like, that people, like,

think so highly of me
and they don't even know me.

People consuming all
these stories all the time.

The only downside is if they don't
have a reality-check on that curation,

or knowing that these people
are... Nobody's perfect.

Like, everybody's human still.

Lips together
a little bit more.

Good. And then chin, yeah.

Give me a long neck.
Good, beautiful.

Like, it doesn't matter at the end of
the day how many likes or anything you get,

it's all Monopoly money. What matters
is the opportunities it affords you,

the means to an end.

I feel happy, like,
when I get a lot of likes.

I'm just like, "Oh, yay!"

I kind of have a rule:

If I don't have exactly,

like, one like per minute
up to an hour or so,

if I don't have at least, like,
60 or 70 likes in an hour, like,

I have to delete it.
I'm just like, "No."

It's a bit embarrassing,
like, if they see your photo,

and you only have,
like, 18 likes on it.

I've bought likes. I still do.

So, like, I buy likes to show,
"Hey, I'm a cool person."

You can take a picture with someone, and
then you guys post the exact same thing

but its secretly a competition
on who gets the most-

Who gets the most likes.

- Yes.
- Who gets the most likes.

Instagram opened the horizon for

pettiness from my generation.

Especially the school
we were in.

- Oh, Lord.
- Yes. Our middle school was something else.

It's kind of like a rating scale
because popularity is a very,

very fluid thing in high school.

Every time I post a bikini
picture, I get lots of comments.

So, when I'm sad,
I do post a bikini picture.

Instagram gives you numbers,
it gives you, like, statistics

on if your life matches up
to someone else's life.

People want to actually
hang out with me now.

Now that I have...
I post the pictures I post

and I have the following
that I have.

People with the large audiences told
their audiences, "Oh, no one, like, talk"

to Humza because he technically
snitched and said these things."

At that time,
I lost like 1,500 followers.

I was angry, I was frustrated.

So I became really
uninspired and I was just like,

"I might as well go
back to skateboarding."

"At least they like me there."

A reporter for New York
Magazine reached out,

he's like, "Don't worry, I'm totally
not going to screw you over."

I'd love to sit down and talk to you, and
kind of, show people that you're not

just a snitch or whatever they labeled
you, and that you're a photographer

"taking these beautiful images."

So I said, "Maybe this is a shot
at redeeming myself."

You know, like, "What do I have to lose?
I already lost everything."

I walked by a newspaper stand and I saw my
photo and I was like, "That's my photo."

I, like, took it off
the stand and I showed the guy,

So I was like, "That's my
photo, that's my feet."

I thought it was awesome. I was like,
"Outlaw of Instagram." I was like,

"Oh, That sounds sick, you know,
they make me sound like a badass."

I Googled my name,
which is pretty cocky,

and then there's more articles
just dropping by the hour,

and I'm just like, "Whoa,
this is, like, going big."

One of my friends, his dad was
in a taxi and he's like,

"My dad's listening
to you on NPR." And I'm like,

"What's NPR?" He's like, "National
Public Radio." And I'm like, "What?"

Humza Deas is
a pretty ambitious 17 year old.

So he isn't that impressed by his
Instagram following, but he should be.

Girls love badasses and they saw me,
like, scaling to these heights.

Just like,
"Oh, he's fearless. Oh."

Just like...
They were just like...

It was like a panty-dropper
when they saw what I was doing.

What's up? I'm here with
the illest of the illest.

Well, I'm here with
the illest of the illest.

I had 9,800 followers,
woke up one morning, had 14k,

then over the course
of a month, 75k.

I don't really care about
followers too much because

it's just, like, you know
It's just, like, a number.

I mean, if you're, like,
you know, trying to, like,

sort of, like, market yourself, bigger following
count, like, helps you out with that.

But, like, personally, like,
it doesn't really matter to me.

This is one of
my proudest photos.

I love the pants
and shoes I was wearing.

It was a dope, like,
setting, I was like, "Oh man",

"I got to snap a feet picture today." And
I got one of my best images out of it.

This was actually shot in New
Jersey, not New York,

it's called
The Show Goes On.

This was one of the paranoias
I had of my art gallery,

no one showing up,
being a disaster.

That's why I wanted to
include it in the gallery.

- Wow, Humza, I am so proud of you.
- For real, seriously.

- So proud of you, bro.
- Thanks. I appreciate you stopping by.

- He gave me my first iPhone.
- Yeah, taken with my iPhone.

I took my first photo,
like, photography photo

- with the iPhone he gave me.
- That's crazy.

He charged me $50,
I only had 40, I only had 40,

and I was like,
"Yo, I'll pay you back 10."

And he was like, "You good, you
good." And I'm like. "Yo, thanks.

I appreciate it."

Hey. Uh.

So, Everyone,
I greatly appreciate

every single one
of you to come here.

Some of you are probably here because
you saw the New York Mag article

or whatever article you saw. They
called me an, "Outlaw Instagrammer."

or, "Daredevil
Instagram photographer."

Uh, I do not want to be labeled that,
I am skateboarder, photographer.

That is who Humza Deas is.
And I am Humza Deas.

I greatly appreciate
all of you being here.

Thank you.

The biggest thing for girls
like me being a high school student,

is girls looking at their ex's
Instagram and seeing how

happy they are with
their new girlfriend.

You're scrolling through Instagram,
your friend's over there,

eating some food or whatever,
sitting in bed together.

And you click on your ex, but
you're usually blocked on your ex,

so Your friend looks up
his name for you,

and then you stalk it
on your friend's name.

And then you see pictures of him
hanging out with his friends,

and hanging out with new girls
and being crazy.

And then you start crying
because it makes you sad.

So that's the daily dose
of being a girl.

After leaving the school
I just wanted to move on.

I wanted to not have
to see anything on Instagram.

I didn't want to deal with it.

♪ There was a time
When I was alone

♪ Nowhere to go
And no place to go alone

♪ My only friend
Was the man on the moon

♪ And even sometimes
He would go away, too

♪ Then one night,
As I closed my eyes

♪ I saw a shadow flying high

♪ He came to me with
The sweetest smile...

I deleted all the
pictures and, like,

all the memories I had
with my classmates

and all friends I've made over
the two years of being there.

I made my account private
so that no one could, like,

see my Instagram. And I blocked
100% of the ninth grade.

♪ Peacefully
My feet hit the sand

I ended up
going to Springboro.

I was super nervous just because

going from a 90 per grade to like a
1000 per grade is a huge difference.

I was stressed, but excited.
I kind of get to start over.

I took it slow.

I didn't want to interact
with anyone really.

There are more kids,
you can fly under the radar,

and she kind of went in there.

She said,
"I'm keeping my head down."

I'm staying out of trouble.

Less drama.

"You know, it would be best."

A t my old school,
I was one of few, like,

girls that looked OK.

Like, I don't know how
to say that without being nice.

And at Springboro,
lam not even close

to, like, what other girls are.

I don't constantly think, like,
"Oh, I wish I were better looking."

It's more like, I look at
another girl and I'm like,

"I should work out,
I should eat healthier."

It's almost like jealousy.
It literally is jealousy.

It's like,
"I wish I looked like that."

And you compare yourself
and you're like, "Her thighs"

are thinner than mine.
She has a thigh gap.

"Her face is prettier than mine. She has
a nice jaw line." Just stuff like that

constantly goes in your mind.

I kind of just was
always worried about,

"Am I ever going to,
like, fit in here?

Is this really, like, a good idea
for me to be at this school?"

But the more that people got to know me
and they would post pictures with me,

the more I would get,
like, involved.

It was like a new,
just new world, kind of.

There was a kid named Nick.

Well, my friend Haley was friends
with him, and he FaceTimed her

'cause they're friends.
And he answered it,

and then he saw me next to her
and was like, "Who's that?"

And she was like,
"My best friend, Emma."

And then he was like, "OK." Then that
night, he DM-ed me and he was like, "Hey."

And then he asked for my number and we
just started texting as friends at first,

and then we kind of
liked each other.

Our first date, we went on
a study date and ate Sushi.

I just kind of fell for him
because he was so funny.

And, like, I don't know why he fell for
me, probably because I'm so funny, but...

We started hanging out more.
We would go to the park

and, like, climb trees and, like, walk
around and spend time with his family.

And I was just like, "Hey, I'm
actually really into you."

Like that kind of situation.

It's like, uh,
when you're in a relationship

and the guy posts
a picture with you,

that's very affirming, like, knowing
that you're actually the only one.

Because if there was another girl,
she would definitely see that pic.

So it's like,
check off the list.

I mean, it's true.
It's sad to say, but it's true.

♪ We're going to the beach

♪ We're going on a trip
In our favorite rocket ship

♪ Going to the beach,
Little Einstein

We going to the beach.
We going to the beach.

Does Kaylyn have a boyfriend?

She's got... She's got friends that she goes
around with, you know. She... I don't...

Like I said, as per se,
I don't think it's... You know,

at least I don't know of it, you know.
She's got a couple of friends.

I mean, she got one friend in particular.
She's got... but you know,

like I said,
I don't know the extent.

She's 15 years old.

We've known each other
for three and a half years

but we've been dating
for like 10 months.

Max did the impossible,
he broke the friend zone.

You did.

At one point,
I think I said, "So, Max",

is that your girl?"
And he went, "Yeah."

I said, "Well, that's great."
He's like, "Yeah." Like, "OK."

Is she always on her phone?

100%, like
she's never not on it.

- Are you on your phone less?
- Yeah, like, I'll lose my...

- No.
- No, when I lose my phone, I don't care.

- Like, if she lost her phone she would, like...
- No, I wouldn't.

- Yes, she would.
- You have to go on with life.

When her phone dies,
she's like, "Oh, my God."

♪ I seen your girl post her BM

♪ So I hit her in her DM

♪ All eyes, yeah I see 'em

You've heard the DM song,
I'm sure. I mean,

a lot... You haven't heard
the DM song? Where it's like,

♪ Down in the DM's
It go down, it go down

♪ It go down in the DM,
It go down in...

So it's basically a song about,
like, a guy hitting up a girl

in the DMs and, like, people... everyone
knows that song now. Well, you don't.

♪ Or FaceTime me that pussy
If it's cool

Guys asking for nudes of girls is
getting so common and it's so illegal.

I'm talking, the seventh graders
that ride my bus, and like,

"Oh, did you see her nudes last
night, so-and-so to send these.

"I sent her this." And it's
getting really serious,

and it's, it's not OK.

♪ You take my love for granted
I just don't understand it

I don't know!

Oh, "W".

- Why is it so close?
- Oh, my God, that's so...

Let's take pictures.

This one.
Look how good this one is.

- Yeah, you should post that.
- Send them all to me or airdrop it.

I can't, like, really
control what people say.

And so, my mom's sort of
helping me with my Instagram.

Deleting, like, the bad
comments that were on there.

I understand, like, a hormonal
boy just commenting on a picture.

But I've seen, like, older men
with a wife and kid commenting

and I'm like, "Oh, yeah."

We got it under control.

I don't think consciously
of, like, how I am.

I just wear what I feel like
I want to wear.

And, like, most of my friends
wear the same thing as me.

I just have a different
body shape than them.

Ooh, I like this one.

That's how
I came out of my mom's stomach.

Like, I can't really do...

Like, you know what I mean?
I can't do anything, just,

like, about it.

If you put makeup on me, I'm
going to look older of course,

but I love those pictures, so
I'm not going to not post them.

You know what I mean?

- Uh, no.
- No.

- I look awful.
- No.

- No.
- Oh, my...

- No way.
- No.

I hardly post selfies
'cause... Oh, my goodness.

It's so hard to post
the perfect selfie.

- So hard to take...
- But, when you do post selfies, they are so nice.

They are so nice,
if you have that perfect selfie,

but, oh, goodness, it's so hard.

I need lessons on
selfies 'cause like...

I took a shower.
I blow-dried my hair.

I curled my hair.
I did my makeup.

And it took about an hour and a half
just to get ready for like, a selfie.

There's part of me that's like, OK, I don't
take pictures, I don't put them on Instagram,

because I feel like I don't look
like this guy on Instagram

who has, like, this six-pack.
He's a model and all that.

I usually take down the brightness a little
bit 'cause I don't want it too bright,

'Cause then it makes
my skin look oily.

There's this one called Facetune
where like, if you don't...

If you have, like, acne or something,
you can, like, smooth it out or,

- like, something. Yeah, so,
- I've never heard of that one.

I know a lot of people
use that and I use it sometimes.

I had this dress on.

I decided to, like,
kind of erase

the sides of my waist
a little bit.

So I could adjust it
and make it look more slimmer.

I don't use Facetune
personally 'cause

they come out looking like,
really, really fake, or like,

you alter your face, like,
one side's, like, half cut off.

I don't know.
A lot can go wrong with that.

And then I realized
like people could tell.

So, I think that was the craziest
and, like, the most embarrassing,

and, like, never again
done in my life.

There's a lot of pressure making
sure that you look absolutely

perfect in every single photo.

- Saige, what's up?
- 'Sup, brother.

Nothing much. Just getting
a good start to the morning.

Once I realized people were
willing to pay money for my art,

I was like, oh, well, now I have to look
at this as a... in a brand point of view.

Like, how can I market myself?

- Humzilla's.
- Yes, sir.

Humza Deas knows, no two perspectives
in New York City are the same.

The Humzilla follow suit.

Brands reach out to me
because they like my work,

but then what really seals the deal
is that they're able to target

another audience
by using my social media.

Out of the blue,
Adidas reached out to me

to work on the Yeezy
Season One campaign.

I was like, no way. Kanye is like,
my favorite rapper right now.

You know, I was,
like, being a fanboy.

That was like
my first paying gig.

She said, "Hey, like, the most
we're willing to offer you"

"is like 10,000." And I was like,

"Like, $10,000?

There any way you could pay me in cash?
'Cause I don't have a bank account."

She's like, "We cannot
cash you out on this."

I'm just like, "So what do
I have to do?" She's like,

"You have to get
a bank account or something."

You know, I was, like, 17,
this, like, super hyped kid

sitting in a chair, like all
sweaty, has, like, a skateboard.

The bank teller started asking,
like, "How'd you get 10 grand?"

And like, I'm black, so like, you can tell
on the back of his head and he's like,

"Is it drug money?" I'm just like,
"No, no, no, I do photography.

I like got to shoot for Kanye,
and all that."

As soon as I created that
account, I called my friend.

He's like, "The first thing you
should purchase with that debit card",

it should be your flight to Dubai,
and I'm like, "Yeah, let's do it."

Wheels up baby."

I was finally leaving New York City
for the first time ever in my life.

That awoken, like, the wander bug in me.
There's a whole world out there.

I was like, "Oh, I got to go
here, I got to go here",

I got to go there."

All the money I make through
photography gets used for traveling.

I got that on film.
Wooh.

OK. That was terrifying.

I was happy because I was gaining
an audience and people were finally

appreciating my work, but at the same
time, I'm looking over my shoulder

because these kids
don't like what I'm doing.

You can definitely
make a career path out of,

like, your Instagram.

Personally, like,
it doesn't really matter to me.

Everyday, people get
distracted by the competitiveness

and the game of Instagram.

When you're like aspiring
artists like all of us,

you know, you're,
like, rooting for the next.

You're rooting for yourself
and for others, like,

"Oh, we're all
going to make it."

And then when I finally,
like, kind of made it,

everyone, like, closed me out.

They, like, turned
their backs on me.

Not everybody's, like, posting
photos, like, for the same reasons.

Like, for me, it started out just like
as a fun thing to do, and you know.

But a lot of other people are also just
trying to, like, stand out, or pop off

or even, like, you know,
make money off of it.

I would say people
became jealous that.

I got all the notoriety
and they only got a piece of it

or they didn't get any.

And they grew
to hate me for that.

The way he kind of, like, treated me
and, like, all the friends that we used to,

like, uh, hang out with
and, uh, go out to explore with,

he just sort of, like, burned
all the bridges, you know.

Honestly, I kind of understand exactly
why Humza, like, did what he did,

because he doesn't
come from a wealthy home.

You know, he's, like, definitely
tried his best to, like,

be in a better position,
and, like, you know, make money.

So, like, yeah, I respect that,
but also he just like, uh,

did it in a slightly,
kind of, like, aggressive way.

I mean, not to make it
sound all sad, but just, like,

all the people I considered my friends
that I actually liked hanging around,

they don't hang out with me because
of the white flag incident

or because they see me traveling,
and have a large following,

and think I'm Hollywood,
so I'm usually just by myself.

I feel like the bad thing
about me is that, like,

everything on Instagram
is like the sale of my life.

So like, really, there's like
nothing... like, there's nothing bad.

I don't know. It's, like, good because
there's no, like, issues in my life

but I feel like there's nothing that's, like,
ever happened, which is kind of like, huh.

Kaylyn and Max had actually
been pretty low key,

I think, as far as social
media, about their relationship,

their friendship and that.
But there was one, uh,

picture that went out, I think
it was from a football game.

All these people were commenting like, "Oh,
my gosh, you have to see this, Kaylyn-".

There was a link that somebody
put down in the comments.

A guy amongst the
followers that was very much,

shall we say,
obsessed with Kaylyn.

He was like, "I don't want her to have a
boyfriend." And like, "I love her so much.

I'm obsessed with her", and I was
like, I've never met you in my life.

He would say things like, "I want
to come find you and then I want to"

kill everybody just to find you
and when I find you,

"I want to kill myself."

And so, my mom called
the police and they came over.

And so, he's like,
"OK, well, I'll look at it.

I'll see if we need to do anything",
and he acted like it was nothing.

If somebody is coming
after me, it's, "Come on."

But if it's your kid,
that's a different thing, man.

You don't mess
with people's kids.

Thank God this is
a double-gated community,

but the problem is
the more exposure you get,

the more susceptible you are
to finding some nuts.

He lives in Southern
California and so do we.

Like, he could get to me,
like, whenever or wherever.

Like, I don't want to
feel unsafe at my own school.

It's scary to just think that
your followers can affect you like that.

Your followers' not
necessarily your friend.

Like, how could you be so obsessed
with me when you've never met me?

You know, it's just weird,
it's crazy to think about.

Cheese.

I don't really look
through my direct messages.

I mean, some of them
are kind of inappropriate.

Wait, no, I'm serious 'cause,
like, sometimes, like,

older dudes will just be like
really weird and this is,

"uh, OK, never mind."

This guy found me
and we started talking,

but it got, like,
really creepy because

he wasn't following anyone else.

I mean, I've gotten asked
for nudes before, like,

I'm pretty sure. Have you not?

You can't send me nude pictures,
like, oh my God,

I'm only 15 so,
you know, calm down.

He started like commenting
on my photos, like,

"Hey, wanna talk? I'm still up."

And I'm just kind of like,
"Uh, leave me alone."

I can't believe it's
never happened to you.

- No.
- That's happened to me a couple of times.

- Old men find our pages.
- Yeah, that's right.

They be like, "Hello, sexy."
I'll be like...

- Huh? Like, do you...? You look older than my father.
- You could be my grandfather.

I don't even know you and they'd be
like, "What clothes are you wearing?"

- Oh, geez.
- Yes, and I'm just like...

So you have to deal
with the perverts,

the disrespectful teenagers,

the racist people and family
members, that's too much.

- Block 'em.
- Too much.

- Block the family.
- It ain't done 'till they cut off.

432 is a tall building,
really stood out on the skyline.

Me and my friend, uh, 'night. Shift'
one day, thought, like,

this could be an insane view
from the top of that building.

We were just
walking around midtown,

we walked past a construction site and
we kind of made a joke about it like,

"Oh, we should do this."

And then one day, we just
said, you know, let's just go for it.

We just hauled
our way up there-

Walked up, like,
95 flights of stairs.

We got
to the top floor.

The only thing left was a crane,

we started to climb
up to the crane.

Oh, my God.

Dude. Fuck.

Want to do it?

It was really, like,
amazing to see New York in that way.

It was, like, covered in fog
and we were just so high up.

Oh, my God.

We wanted to be out

before anybody starts working

again, so we started just,

like, running downstairs.

I posted, I think,
in the next couple of days,

the photos immediately
got a lot of attention.

And then, like, a week
afterwards, my mom called me.

She tells me to come home
as soon as possible,

and she's like,
there's detectives here.

I'm like, "Alright,
I'll be home soon."

Tonight, in
Eyewitness News exclusive,

a 17 year old charged now with
climbing, quite illegally,

a luxury apartment building under
construction on the East side of Manhattan.

432 Park Avenue,
the second tallest building

in New York city,
the teenager posting

his pictures of his
climb on the Internet

and that's what
got him arrested.

The detectives drove me into
a precinct by Columbus Circle...

and after about three hours,

they, uh, cuffed me
and transported me

to Central, uh, Bookings
also known as the tombs.

I was seeing
him every day on the news,

just Demid's photos,
popping up on the internet.

The next day, like, our mutual
friend, called me and said, "Hey, did you"

snitch on Demid?" I was like, "How
would I know he was up there?"

I was like, "We don't talk anymore."
Supposedly, like, some, like,

news reporter was
outside his door

and they all thought they got
the information from me,

and I was like, dude, I don't
even know where you live.

Detectives
wound up finding.

Demid's Instagram page

and yesterday they knocked
on his mom's door.

Yeah, I know, it's like,
the pictures were gorgeous.

I know how teenagers look at it, I
know a lot of people look at it.

But at least, let's not
look at it this way.

I don't look at it
this way either.

It was worth it. I knew there
were going to be consequences

and, uh, I was willing
to face the consequences.

People reached out to me
trying to act all concerned

"they were like," Oh,
so Demid got arrested.

'Night. Shift' got arrested. How come
you haven't gotten arrested yet?

It just doesn't make sense. Like, you're
like the face of this scene right now

"and everyone's
getting arrested but you."

An honest answer would be, I have no
idea why I have not gotten arrested

and I'm glad I didn't.

I made my feed private
for a while, because, uh,

my lawyer said that
it could affect my case.

My friends weren't
really on board for it.

Like, they did not like Nick.

He pulled the card on me, like, "Everyone
thinks I have a bad reputation."

I just want
a good girl in my life."

And I'm like, OK,
I'll give you a chance.

I said, chances are,

if your friends are warning you,
he's no good.

We're almost too much alike. We both
were, like, really outgoing people.

So we kind of,

like, fought. We fought a lot
and we'd get in stupid fights.

I kind of let my guard down.
I fell for this guy

and got super attached.

This guy was just
your classic,

all I really want
from you is sex.

And girls, I feel bad for them,
because they're in this,

how do I demonstrate or let them
know that I care about them?

And that I want to
be important to them?

And so, she was a little...
I think she was wanting more.

I think she wanted
a relationship.

He's like, "Yeah,
I'm hanging out with this"

girl named Zoe tonight."

And I was like,
"why would you tell me that?"

And he was like, "I just want
to see where things go."

And I was like, "What?"
I just kind of asked him.

I was like, "why aren't we...? Like,
I thought you really liked me."

He was just like, "You're just
not physically attractive."

He's like,
"Your body is just not... ".

After he said that, I just
almost lost, like, control.

I just literally, like, crumbled in a
ball and like wanting to throw up.

I think I didn't
look at his Instagram.

There was like posts with girls, that
just piled on top of the situation.

Looks matter, like,
looks really do matter.

Like, the older I get,
I'm kind of realizing that

they're not the only thing
that matters,

but for right now
in high school, I feel like

that's definitely the only thing
that really matters,

'cause if you're good looking,
you basically have it all.

My sister came in my room when
I was crying and she's like,

"Hey, is everything alright?" I'm
like, "yeah, I'm just super sad, man.

Like, everything's cool."

But I think deep down,
like, it bothered her so much.

And she was like, you know,
"Why am I not good enough?"

"Why am I not pretty enough?" I
mean, it's every girl's struggle.

After I saw
those pictures

and just everything
caved in, I was like,

"I'm done, man."

Just 'cause I couldn't
think of anything.

I wanted to live for anymore.

Nick, he got really worried
and he sent me a bunch of texts,

like, "Hey, are you OK?" Like,
"Emma, please call me back."

And I pick up my phone
and I'm like,

"Leave me alone.
You've done enough."

He just doesn't realize how,
like, that messed me up,

like, a lot.

I was in my room
and I threw my phone.

And like, I was never,
like, fully suicidal before.

But I took scissors
and you know, I cut my arms

and I was like, this doesn't
feel... I don't feel it anymore.

And so then,
I put a rope in my closet

and I tried hanging myself, but,
like, it just... I couldn't do it.

So I saved up a lot of
a antidepressant.

I forget how many there was, maybe
like 13, and, um, I took 'em.

All of sudden, I hear this...
You know, banging on the door.

The kids are starting
to scream and there's like,

come on,
there's lights going on.

What's going on?
And we're oblivious.

I see lights hitting the windows

and I'm like...
Immediately I knew.

And we go up and there she is laying
on the floor in our bedroom and...

Uh...

She was, um, in the closet.

At first glance, I see a noose
is hung in the closet, about...

And I look down
and she's sitting in the closet.

And she's not responsive.
Her eyes are...

Her pupils are
as big as her eyes,

they're completely black.

And she's just looking straight
ahead and her arms are down.

And I just scooped her up
and I said, "I love you."

And I just kept saying, "I
love you, don't you leave me."

And I kept telling her to fight,

that it was worth it,

that high school
would be over soon.

I remember getting
wheeled into the hospital.

Then, I remember
the doctor talking to me

and I was still super out of it.

I was super like, like I don't
know, just exhausted almost.

And, um...

Then, after a while,
I was alone for a little bit

and I kind of was just like thinking
to myself, like, what am I doing?

Like, I felt terrible for
what I did to my family.

After, like,
doing the 432, uh, thing,

I had to deal with court
for like, about a year.

We finally came down to
five days of community service.

He was always like
the reckless kid, you know?

Like, when we were in tunnels,
he'd be like,

"Dude, I got us some headlights.

"You want to put on the head
torches?" And I'm just like,

"No, people are going
to see us." He's like,

"Cool, well,
got this tactical flashlight

"so we don't trip over shit
anymore." I'm just like,

"Dude, stop."

Funny kid, though.
I kind of miss our adventures.

I went back
to my old neighborhood.

Danny is one of my childhood friends
that I grew up skating around.

What's up? Oh, snap.

He kind of, like,
pointed me in the direction

that I should go
as far as living my life.

It's so weird seeing all
of these kids getting out like...

- It's weird, 'cause it's still
the same thing, -That's me.

- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.

- Just like smoke.
- It's like a cycle.

- You can smell that too, right?
- Yeah.

- Oh, this is your block.
- Yeah.

I forgot.

I've been crossing shit off my
bucket list this whole year.

Like, dude, like,
off the record,

I slept with a celebrity.

Things like,
shit like that, you know?

Like, dude, I'm crossing
this shit off, you know?

Like, It's like, what?
This is fucking awesome.

Everybody is
looking up to this guy.

And nobody really can say
that about any 18-year old

that's come out of Astoria,
Queens, you know?

It's always like a reminder, it's
like, this is where your life started.

And then, like, you see people, like,
hanging out and just, like, smoking weed.

And It's like
seven in the morning.

I look at that,
and I mean, it's not good

to think that,
but I'm like, "that's you."

That's supposed to be you."

One of my neighbors, like
she was like, "Humza?"

I was like, "Hey." Like you
know, I say, "Hey, Ms. Ruthie."

Like, "How are you?" She's like,
"I'm so happy." She's like,

"My daughter showed me what you be doing
online." She's like, "I'm so glad

a young black kid
made it out of the ghetto."

She was, like, crying for me.
I was like, "wow."

I didn't realize what I'm doing is having
such an impact on other people's lives.

And that's when I was like, there's
a bigger picture out here than just

who can get the best photo, who
can get the biggest paycheck.

I'm being a role model for these
individuals whether I know it or not.

In my head, I know who I want to
be and who I am at the moment.

It's like a fairy tale, you don't
always get to be who you want to be.

It's like an everyday struggle
trying to be understood.

I'm going to be honest,
I don't read books.

One book I do
occasionally go back to

is the 48 Laws of Power.

One of the principles
that I read about was, um...

You know, whoever you idolize,
tell them, "Man, I idolize you."

Like, you are the king.
You are the God."

You know, like, make them feel

like they don't need
to do anything anymore.

But why are you secretly still out
in the street doing everything.

You know, like, let them feel
like they've eaten,

they can sit back and rest while
you're still out there working.

And that's how you make your way
to the top and you surpass them.

And that's a rule that people constantly
use on me even if they don't know it.

So every time they're like, "Humza,
you made it. Humza, you're the man."

I'm just like, "Don't tell me that.
I'm still out here hungry."

Like, I'm still out here
doing the same thing I'm doing."

Kaylyn likes to win,
let's put it that way.

When Kaylyn was number two
or something at a pageant,

that was not good enough.

I remember,
she was like three years old,

she's looking at the trophies.

She always knew that the big,
the big tall one

was the person
that was the winner.

She used to say,
"I want to be the winner."

That's what she always said,
"I want to be the winner."

When I hit 500k,
I got really excited,

because it's like
half a million.

So, it's like, "Wow, OK.
You're doing something right."

- Hey.
- Hi, How are you?

- I'm good, how are you?
- Good...

Now, my dad is, like,
more into the fashion line

and we had a meeting with Jasmine and it went
really well. And we talked about everything,

and so now,
we're going to do it.

I'll do the ground work for her,
getting this thing together,

but then like I said, they've got to
put the effort in it and sell it.

Hm. OK, let's figure out
this pose, posing situation.

It's going to be a small
brand until it grows

into something huge, kind of
like her Instagram account.

She's got 500,000 followers and
climbing. She's already a brand.

She's a brand that's emerging.

She is an emerging market.

Ooh, Kaylyn. Turning it on.

- Wait, I was living for that, go back.
- Now you made me laugh.

Me and Jasmine are very hardworking
and anything we do is successful.

And so, anything that we're doing together
is going to be even more successful,

'cause it's like,
success and success,

and, like, you put it together,
it's like, more success.

OK, serious now.

Get in! Come on!

I had to go to
treatment for depression.

I would stay there from, like,
eight-thirty to three every day.

And basically,
just talking about my feelings.

We had a phone box. We all had
to put our phones in the box

at the beginning of the day.

People were so interactive.

And, like, we just all, like,
actually talk to each other.

Like, everyone
in the group talked.

That was nice.

You're supposed to, like,
focus on yourself and really try

to get better for yourself,
but when I was there

and I was kind of one of the
people that were in better shape,

like, mentally,
than most people there.

So I actually felt like I could
do something positive there.

So, like, I helped the girls that
were bawling their eyes out.

I could comfort them, 'cause I actually
knew what they were going through.

One girl had scars, like, all the
way down her arm and her shoulders.

I said, "What are those scars? Like,
why did you do that to yourself?"

She told me, she's like,
"I feel so ugly."

And she's like,
"My boyfriend calls me fat.

He'll be liking other skinny
girls' pictures on Instagram."

And I felt so bad for her,
but then I couldn't be like,

"Oh, it'll be alright, get over
it." Because I do the same thing,

you know?
It's like, I can relate,

so I'm in the same boat with you

and I can't help you
'cause it sucks.

It was really rough
after I went home.

I haven't been treated
the same since I've been home,

'cause people are always
checking up on me and stuff.

Always like, taking my vitals
like, "How are you doing"

"on a scale of 1 to 10?" Just, I don't feel
like they are treating me like they used to.

I'm not, I'm not
as well as she is,

honestly.

So...

You know I'm... I struggle still.

I think she's afraid that
I'm going to tell her

everything's fine
when nothing really is OK.

And to be completely honest,

I'm kind of
afraid I'll do that too.

The only thing
that I have seen

that really helps teenage girls
is when they help others.

When they aren't
focused on themselves,

but they're focusing on others.

And that's when I see...

when I see things in them
that you don't see on Instagram.

I was just super...
I wouldn't say positive,

but very excited to be
out of the treatment program.

Just because I just wanted
life back, which is crazy

'cause a month ago
I didn't want life at all.

♪ Little do y'all know

♪ He taller, but that's
My li'l Bro and that's a fact

♪ I'm going to fight a noble win
Clothes, I'd come home

♪ For school like,
You all wear my shoes now

♪ Humza outside, right

♪ Right by the stool
With my shoes on

♪ I'm like, Yo,
What are you doing, bro?

♪ Why are you always
Wearing my clothes?

♪ Two years later,
Probably three or four

♪ Humza Deas is making
His own clothes

♪ Own socks Humzila,
That's my little nigga

♪ That's a fact we getting
Realla, 2016 bigger

♪ And I swap the hat, listen

♪ I'm so proud of my li'l bro

♪ wish old me was here right now
To see my li'l bro

♪ That's a fact right now
To see my little bro

♪ Yeah, Humza told me 'bout
These other white jocks

♪ Saying how he was
In Dubai taking flight jumps

♪ I'm like, damn
Where the fuck I'm at?

♪ That's my bro,
That's a fucking fact

On social media, you can edit
yourself into who you want to be.

Meanwhile, in person, you're
stuck with who you really are,

but it's like a constant battle that
everyone faces whether they admit it or not.

So many people want
to be like who they aren't.

You know what I mean? So many
people want to portray themselves

as being perfect
or having the perfect life.

I don't, like, want to be,
like, fake in that matter.

I want people to think of me
as a real person, and, like,

be relatable
and people to understand me.

I think I gave the people behind
the social media too much power.

'Cause, I mean, that's what
Instagram's all about, you know,

How many likes you get. And that literally
controls the power of your picture.

Now, I'm just like,
if I want to post a picture

"of a jellyfish, I'm going to."

I did, that's why I said that.

And so,

I did.

It's a nice picture.

It is.
It's a really good picture.

That's awesome-
Did you get a lot of likes?

I don't know. It doesn't matter.

Here we go. Yeah, wait.

- You know.
- You look good.

Woah.

Trying to get the...

What does it look like...
Wait, there, there.

- Oh, that's good.
- Ooh, the lighting.

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I gotta take another one.