Season Two Kickoff: Faith, Brotherhood, and Why This Season Is Women Only
Welcome back to Off the Beaten Path — Season Two, Episode One.
Cush and Breezy open the new season with gratitude, honesty, and a clear shift in focus. After the love Season One received (YouTube, shorts, shares, and the messages from listeners), they start this season by giving credit where it belongs: praise God for what He’s doing in their lives, their business, and this platform.
But this episode isn’t just a “welcome back.” It’s a reset. A reintroduction. And a behind-the-scenes look at how Cush and Breezy got here — from music to marketing, from wilderness seasons to purpose, and from a recording studio to Apex Mountain.
The Big Announcement: Season Two Is Women Only
Right out of the gate, Cush and Breezy explain what’s different this season:
Season Two features women only.
Why? Because women are shaping the outdoor and 2A spaces in real time — firearms, hiking, camping, canning, and everything in between. And in their words:
“We all came from a woman.”
“We got our name from a woman.”
And there are conversations happening among women in this industry that deserve the spotlight.
This season is their way of giving the mic to women’s stories — not as a trend, but as an intentional move to highlight a side of the community that continues to evolve and expand.
Where It All Started: Brotherhood Before Business
Before Apex Mountain. Before the podcast. Before the outdoor and firearms world…
There was a music store.
Cush and Breezy both worked at a big-box music retailer (no free promo), and their connection started with that classic moment:
“Yo… where do I know you from?”
Turns out they’d crossed paths before at a house party — and once they realized it, the friendship started to click fast. Music turned into conversations. Conversations turned into collaboration. And collaboration turned into something deeper:
Brotherhood.
Breezy puts it plainly: they built the brotherhood first, and the business came later. Through ups, downs, and life happening in real time, that foundation carried them.
The Moment That Changed Everything
One story in this episode hits hard — because it’s one of those moments that reveals what people are really made of.
A coworker in the warehouse was visibly sick. The next day, the team was called to the front corral: the coworker had passed away.
And then, in the middle of that moment, leadership made a comment along the lines of:
“Looks like we’ve got a position to fill.”
People laughed.
Cush and Breezy didn’t.
That moment wasn’t just uncomfortable — it was clarifying. It exposed something ugly: how easy it is for culture to normalize disrespect and dehumanization when “everyone’s laughing.”
Within a week or two, they were talking seriously about launching something of their own.
Forever Dope Media Group: Building a Studio With Pro Standards
They launched Forever Dope Media Group, a recording studio that ran for nearly eight years.
But they weren’t trying to be “just another local studio.”
Cush had experience in pro studios (including Miami) and knew the difference between:
a casual session, and
an industry-standard environment.
So they built something that trained artists for bigger stages:
three-hour minimums
producer camps
songwriting camps
heavy documentation and content
a high bar for professionalism in their city
They built a brand. A real one.
And then… the world changed.
COVID, The Delta Variant, and a Faith Turning Point
When COVID hit, they had the same fear every business owner had:
“What do we do now?”
Ironically, the studio blew up during the early pandemic — more time, more people recording, more demand.
But when the Delta variant hit, things turned into something else entirely.
Breezy shares a condensed version of his story:
he got COVID
tried to ride it out at home
declined quickly
ended up hospitalized
moved to ICU
woke up weeks later on a ventilator
couldn’t walk, talk, or move
had to relearn basic life functions over months
And it was in that isolation — stripped of movement, noise, distractions, and normal life — where Breezy says his faith truly began.
In his words, it was God unplugging him and pulling him close.
A forced quiet. A purpose moment. A testimony.
Cush’s Pivot: The Career Shift That Opened the Door
While Breezy was fighting, Cush was also wrestling with reality.
Doctors didn’t think Breezy was going to make it.
So Cush did what leaders do when life hits: he adapted. He got his resume back out and landed at an ammunition company, where he:
worked in marketing,
rebranded,
and got introduced to the outdoor + 2A world in a way he had never experienced.
That job became exposure. Exposure became opportunity. Opportunity became vision.
And eventually, Cush called Breezy with the idea:
There’s a lane for us here.
Leaving the Studio: When a Tailwind Becomes a Headwind
Even though they had built something real, they started to feel it:
What used to feel like momentum started to feel like friction.
Breezy admits he had to sit with it longer because of how much they had invested. Cush saw it as a black-and-white shift sooner. But they reached the same conclusion:
The studio season was ending.
They had just signed a new lease — but when they told the landlord what happened, the landlord let them out cleanly because they’d been such strong tenants.
That “clean cut” exit created space for the next chapter.
Apex Mountain: Bridging Urban and Outdoor Markets
During that year, they strategized hard:
What can we build that merges everything we are?
Music. Storytelling. Marketing. Relationships. Culture. Faith.
That became Apex Mountain — with a clear mission:
“Bridge the gap between the urban and outdoor markets.”
Because they are city boys. Cush is from West Palm Beach (Miami’s backyard). Their story includes city life, mistakes, growth, and real-world experience. And Cush shares something important:
He didn’t grow up believing gun ownership was for people like him.
He thought only two types of people owned guns: cops and street kids.
A big part of their mission now is correcting that misconception through education and storytelling — without pretending their past doesn’t exist.
“Grace in the Wilderness”: Coming Back to God
This episode is heavy with faith — not as a lecture, but as a thread.
Cush calls his agnostic period “the wilderness,” explaining he intentionally turned his back on God for years. The breaking point was Breezy’s near-death experience.
And in a moment of raw honesty, Cush shares that he challenged God to bring Breezy back — and Breezy’s condition improved rapidly after.
Cush kept his word and returned to faith, eventually getting baptized (they reference mid-2023/late-2022 as the period where that “new life” marker happened).
Their message isn’t “we’ve got it all figured out.”
It’s simpler:
You’re never too far from God.
As long as you have breath, it’s not too late.
They’re here to sow seeds — where it lands is between you and the Lord.
The Culture Piece: Hip-Hop, Comedy, Beats — and Keeping It Simple
They also address another Season Two adjustment: more intentional culture.
More hip-hop talk. More production. More beats. More of who they really are.
Breezy plays a beat and explains a principle that applies to music and life:
Sometimes you have to strip it down.
Sometimes the power is in simplicity.
They even get into a friendly debate:
Illmatic vs Stillmatic
…and take a quick detour through NYC rap vs Southern rap, classic road trip arguments, and that moment when New York finally “makes sense” when you’re standing in it.
Because that’s Off the Beaten Path: faith + culture + laughter + real stories.
Conclusion: Why This Episode Matters
This kickoff episode isn’t about flexing a journey.
It’s about showing the truth behind the brand:
friendship forged into brotherhood,
purpose formed through pain,
faith reclaimed in the wilderness,
and a mission that now points forward.
Season Two will spotlight women’s stories — while Cush and Breezy keep showing up as themselves: marketers, storytellers, producers, believers, and cultural nerds with a sense of humor.
Tap In, Join the Giveaway, and Ride With Us This Season
If you’re rocking with Off the Beaten Path, here’s what to do next:
Subscribe / Follow so you don’t miss the women-only guest lineup this season
Follow Apex Mountain on Instagram: @APXMNTN
Enter the monthly giveaway, featuring gear like:
Matador Mat-9 roller
Gideon Optics optic
Texas Star target from Crate Tactical
KCI magazines
Ammo credit (up to ~$200–$250)
And most importantly:
Keep building with us.
Season Two is here.
The stories are deeper.
The mission is clearer.
And the path… is still unbeaten.
