'I'm Going to Get Paid': Durell Smylie on the Rise of 'Where the Money Reside'

Durell Smylie, of "Where the money reside" fame, on going viral, getting his business in order, and where he plans on taking his exposure in the near future

Durell Smylie
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Image via Durell Smylie

Durell Smylie

Anyone can be a social media creator, but everybody can’t be a businessman. For Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s Durell Smylie, using his newfound internet fame to make some cash was an almost instant reaction. The car salesman went viral in early December after sharing a video of himself on Twitter inviting people to purchase a vehicle at the dealership he works at in Louisiana. Still, he put a creative spin on it. He began freestyling, and a phrase he improvised in his jingle, “Where the money reside,” has since taken on a life of its own. 

His social following has been growing ever since, and celebrities from Saweetie to Megan Thee Stallion to Ryan Destiny have been using the phrase on their social media pages. Within days of recognizing all of the attention he was getting, Durell created merchandise with his new catchphrase. He understands the importance of creating a brand and making sure that he profits from his creativity. Now that his larger-than-life personality has gotten him some recognition, he’s ready to take his new fans on a journey as he explores any avenue that will take him where the money resides.

Complex recently spoke with Smylie, who detailed the origin of this viral video, his decision to be about trademarking the phrase early, and what he plans on doing in the future.

“It started, basically, as a freestyle. ‘Where the money resides’ was a freestyle, and it was something that I thought of saying in March or May. It was something I would just sing all the way to work every morning. I would post it on Instagram [and] get 200 views on it. And then ‘Mary had a little lamb’ came from just me and one of my friends. His name is Donald. We would joke and clown and laugh and say crazy little jingles like that. I just was doing the video and improv and they just sided together. I posted it online and it just blew up. 

“One day, I was on the way [to work], I was getting on the exit to turn into my job. I said, ‘Money resides, money resides.’ The next day, it just kept sticking with me. I was like, ‘I'm going to make a video with this. I'll make a video with it.’ And then eventually I incorporated it into my job and hey, we're here now.”

Choosing to freestyle over “Salt Shaker”

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"Shout out to the Ying Yang Twins, of course. That was one of my favorite songs. That's one of my turn-up songs. I'm getting up for work in the morning, and I'm like, ‘Let's go. We going. Where the money resides.’ So that's my amp up song. I probably listened to the whole song, and as time progressed, I would hear that ending, and I would always just freestyle and rap, and play with it and everything."

The decision to create "Where the money reside" merch

The importance of trademarking “Where the money reside”

How he really feels about social media

He's ready to work

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“I actually had Taraji P. Henson, Niecy Nash, Big Boy, [and] Ricky Smiley [reach out],” he said. “BET [posted] me. I'm just hoping that they can put me somewhere and we can all do something. Work together. All these people that are posting me, I want to meet all of them. I want to be at BET headquarters. I just want to work with everybody, so if the opportunity prevails, I will take it. I would love to work with Fashion Nova, BET, Netflix, those kind people.”

Durell also spoke on a surreal interaction he had with a cast member of Starz's P-Valley. “I've even spoken with Nicco (Annan), who plays Uncle Clifford on P-Valley, and Katori Hall, who writes it and orchestrates P-Valley,” he said. “Shout out to all of them. Basically, it was just us showing a bunch of love to each other. I didn't really speak on it. I was very nervous to speak to them.”

During our conversation, Durell teased that he'd be hitting the studio soon, although he wouldn't spill the beans on what he's cooking up. “I simply can't say because I don't really know myself," he admits. "Everything I do is improv. Who knows what I might do when I get up there? I might say something crazy that blows up again. You just never know.”

How his job is dealing with his newfound fame

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“Everybody's extremely supportive. Even prior to me blowing up, my co-workers and my managers would shoot my videos for me, so everybody's just happy. Everybody's encouraging me, especially the owner of the dealership. They help me all the time as well. They've given me a lot of good advice, business advice, and everybody's just super supportive,” Durell said. “I have a lot of people that come and say hello. I have a lot of people that purchase cars, but I also have a lot of people who just come take pictures as well.”

His goals for the future

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