November 28, 2023 • 56 mins
Y’all it’s my first LIVE episode of #HERwithAmena recorded in Atlanta at WABE studios and I was so excited to interview Emmy award winning journalist, host of NPR/WABE radio show A Closer Look, Rose Scott. Listen in as Rose and I talk hip hop, barbecue, knowing your voice, and how she navigates the tough times our world is in. To stay connected to Rose’s work, visit https://www.wabe.org/people/rose-scott/.
To get transcripts, links, and details from each episode, check out the show notes. To continue your support of the podcast and my work, become a member of my Patreon community where you can get access to archived episodes, bonus episodes, and behind the scenes content. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter, for podcast clips, poetry quotes and random quips. For information on how to book me to speak or perform at an event, visit amenabrown.com. Thanks for listening and thanks for your support!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ooh, y'all, I'm so excited. I'm excited to be here
for two reasons. Number One, this is the first episode
of herd with the men and round recorder in front
of a live audience, So audience, let's give it up
for Also, I am interviewing a legend today. I'm excited
(00:30):
to welcome Emmy award winning journalist host of NPRWAB radio
show A Closer Look the Rose Scott.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Is you.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So? Rose? I have a lot of things I'm trying
to ask you. First of all, you are usually the interviewer.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
You have interviewed politicians, activists, entertainers, athletes. What are you
looking for when you're looking for a guest to come
on your show and be in the interviewee spot?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
To be authentic, to tell the truth, even if that
truth is they ain't none of your business roads which
you know some have politely said, I'm not telling you that,
and that's that's okay. You know, I tell people you
don't have to answer any question. It'll be a short interview,
but just folks, be you know, to be authentic and
(01:26):
be compelling and understand that I'm not using when my
producers when we have a segment. You know, we're not
trying to embarrass anybody. We're not trying to put anybody
on blasts. We do want to have a conversation. I
might ask some difficult or tough questions because that's my job.
But I always tell people was I fair? You cannot
(01:48):
like a question, but was I fair? You know my
father used to say that to me. He would say, now,
you don't like the fact that I'm asking you why
you coming home at one o'clock when your curfew is ten? No,
I ain't like it, But was it a fair question? Absolutely?
So that's kind of the approach that we take. You know,
(02:08):
We're not looking to embarrass anybody or I'm not looking
to create an emotion. I'm looking to have a conversation
and that might entail some very difficult and tough questions,
but they will be fair. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I like that. Yeah, what is it like to be interviewed?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I hate this ship and I'm so glad it's a
podcast because I was told I could cuss. Yes, yes,
So I don't get to cuss on radio. You know,
it's like you have public radio. We're not supposed to cuss.
So now it's it's it's interesting because I'm not I'm
not used to it, but I take the same advice.
I want to be authentic, I want to tell the truth.
(02:47):
If it's somebody don't want you all to know, I
ain't gonna tell you. You know, it's the same, you know, yeah,
same same, same application for me. I'm no different. So
it's a little you know, I'm kind of shy about
being interviewed. Really, Yeah, I believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, I could kind of see that because it's it's
different when you're in the seat of someone you know,
asking you the questions.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, I can see that. What's she going to ask me? Now,
she gonna ask me who I'm dating?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I feel like that would be like her after dark,
you know, we'll have to definitely would be yeah, way, way,
way way after dark. Margueritea's I want to ask you
about the importance of journalism. We're we're in an era
right now where we are we are dealing with a
lot of not facts, a lot of things that are
(03:38):
put out there that are actually not truth, but are
put out there as the truth. Journalism has always been important,
but in this moment, in this era of history, why
is journalism so important for us in this moment.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Because we've been battling probably the last I'll be fair.
I was going to start with twenty sixteen, but I'll
be fair the Internet, which has been a great advancement
for humankind. It's been wonderful, but we're battling against instant
(04:13):
you know, someone can put something up within the next
two seconds and it can get shared and read. It's
not Twitter anymore. Wherever the hell it is, it can
be rex reposted and people take that as being factual.
So we're in a space where we have to compete
with that. And I tell my producers all the time,
(04:34):
and I used to tell the journalists when I was
in the newsroom. You know, I don't want to be
first all the time, but I want to be right
because people remember when you get it wrong, you know,
they remember when you get it wrong. So we're up
against that. We're up against Uncle Bob putting someone out
(04:54):
there that says, you know, the president is really an
alien and then everybody shares that, you know, or we're
up against technology where people can create these these images
and these reels that look very real and they're not.
And so we're real up like, we're constantly up against
that and also competing for clicks and likes and all that,
(05:16):
because what does that do that drives sponsors and advertisers.
It used to be people wanted to know, hey, what
are your credentials? Right now, it's like how many followers
you got? You know, what are your socials? Like somebody
asked me that I had no idea. I was like,
my nephews like, auntie, what's your social is looking like,
I'm like, I don't know, you know, are they good?
(05:37):
He's like no, He's like, you need to have more followers.
I'm like, is that the only way you're going to
He listens to me because I'm his auntie. But he
gets his news from Instagram and what's that thing called
the shade room and the TikToker and all that stuff,
you know, and I know what it is, but it's like,
I would rather that he got his news from credible outlets.
(06:01):
And so we're up against that and we have to
change I think how we are delivering and disseminating information.
And it also means we need to call the BS
when it is out there. I'm constantly fighting with people
on my own family, like that's not true. You know,
my nephew's ex wife would not send my grandnephew to
(06:26):
school because she was told that Hamas was going to
come in and they were targeting the schools in Missouri. Wow,
And I had to kind of do you know, I'm like,
you can't keep him from being educated because it's something
that you see someone is posting as being factual. So
(06:47):
I'm constantly up against that with members of my own family.
So imagine in society at large what we're up against
and we have to we have to be on guard
about that all the time. But also tell people, you know,
y'all have to be better consumer of news. If you're not.
You know, the effort that you put in when you
get some new kicks or you go buy a car,
you do your homework right, do your research when you
(07:11):
bottom little lashes, y'all, y'all know what lashes to get
what lash is not to get right, right, So do
the same thing for your news. I read and listen
to a lot of different outlets, but they're credible, you know,
So do your research and be a better consumer of news.
And whether it's in PR or CNN or MSNBC or
(07:32):
BBC or Reuters. You know that's you know, I watched
some conservative news outlets, but ones that are that are
going to be fair, right. I don't care what your
political leaning is, but be fair in your assessment. And
we're in a space where people just aren't right.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
You know. Right when you were starting your career in
media and in broadcasting, there.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Was no Twitter. Well, I was no Facebook. I had
a pager.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
What do me?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
All who act like you don't know?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So when you were starting out in your career, it
seems like there was a type. There was a type
that maybe certain media companies or media outlets were looking
for on radio or we're looking for on TV, and
that type typically excluded people. It wasn't from marginalized communities, right.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It wouldn't. It wasn't me, it was I remember I
went for an interview news because my my career was
in sports. Man. My career began in sports, and I
was gonna be the next Robin Roberts, and you know,
I can talk about football, basketball, baseball, hockey, you know, NASCAR,
(08:44):
and I went to to be interviewed for this. It
was a TV job. It was a small market station
and it was a it was a brother on a
behind the desk and said, well, you don't need a
those job what And I hadn't. I hadn't started locking yet.
But you know, I was in that that pre lock stage.
(09:06):
Y'all know. Sisters knows that like brothers, y'all know too,
that pre lock stage with here was like, yeah, so
that that pre locked stage and coming off of perm,
that's rough. That's a tough time. You got to really
work hard to kind of come up with something. And
you know, I was, you know, I was in between
like Whoopy Goldberg and Tracy Chapman. That's with a little
(09:26):
bit of Bushwick bill. That's the time, right, I was.
I was that that hair was you know, my man
was like, well, first of all, I think you might
need to get a nose job and straighten your hair.
And I was like, no, man, I'm not doing that.
I remember I told my father and he was like,
you know, you don't need to do that. So the
first black woman I saw on television doing the news
(09:47):
was a woman named Carol Simpson for ABC News, and
and then Robin Smith and Saint Louis who's a local anchor,
and that that that for me, that was Okay, that's
what I want to do. But to go up against
these barriers from people saying I have to look like
and sound like Barbara Walters or you know, Jane Paul
or whoever. And I was like, and I always loved
(10:09):
radio too, but I was like, I'm not getting a
those job. I thought about it, I really thought about it.
And my father's like, you don't get no those job?
And I was like, I'm not. I wanted I want it.
I've always wanted locks, said I'm gonna lock my hair.
So I just didn't do it. I stuck with it.
And you know, radio has been a passion for mine anyway,
(10:29):
and so but I've been able to do TV and
documentaries and win an Emmy with locks. So go figure, yo, yo.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
What advice would you give to people who are coming
from marginalized communities and want careers in media and journalism?
So I give the same advice no matter what community
you're coming from, if you want to do this job,
if you want to be a journalist, and if you
want to be a credible journalist, because you want people
to either a learn learn from what you're disseminating or
(11:01):
you're bringing information that perhaps people haven't heard before. Your
lived experiences matter. You know, we all have lived experiences
and it matters, and it can help define or shape
how you approach any industry. But when it comes to journalism,
I think sometimes it's hard for people who are not
(11:23):
from a specific community to understand. You know, I've had
heated debates with colleagues about well, there should be this.
There's always an antagonist, there's this side and that side,
and I'm like, no, you know, I'm I don't believe
in objectivity.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I believe in being fair. There's a difference. And you know, Gwenneifel,
who's a she role of mine, would say, you know,
my job is to be fair. That's where I get
that from, because objectivity always implies that you have to
tell this other side. Well, I've covered sex trafficking, right, ain,
no other side, right, it's wrong. Now we can have
(12:04):
debates about policy and sentencing and all that, but it
is wrong. And I remember when I did the documentary
How to Stop the Candy Shop, which was about child
sex trafficking here in Atlanta in Georgia, and his lawyer
there was this infamous he was a pimp. I CALLI
a trafficker named Sir Charles, and you know, he would
(12:25):
have the girls marked with his moniker and all that.
And his attorney was like, you want to talk to him?
I was like, nah, right, what I want to talk
to him for now? If he has a story, that
might be an explanation. As far as I'm concerned, I
don't know what explanation excuse you can give for trafficking kids,
(12:45):
or trafficking anyone, but especially children. So it wasn't need
to talk to him, you know, it was don need.
So I understand that if you are covering a community
for which you may not be familiar with one, be
respectful when you go into that community research. You know,
(13:08):
don't go in there thinking you know all the answers.
Don't go in there with this this sort of process
of I want to show these people's pain. You know,
folks loved we called it pain porn. Folks loved to
profit off the suffering of people of color, right and
poor people.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And don't just drop in because it's a problem. Now,
I get it. Sometimes you got to cover that story.
That's your story. But for me, I'm not dropping into
these Atlanta communities. I'm in these Atlantic communities and they
can call me. I feel like all of the Atlanta
got my cell phone, so if you want it, I
just give it to you, because that's not fair. I'm
from that community, so I'm not gonna treat my people
(13:48):
like that. I'm gonna be fair because when you do wrong,
I'm gonna get you. But I'm not looking to try
to get you to cry or get you, you know,
to show this emotion because it will get me clear
or whatever. And I tell reporters, let a story breathe,
don't put your voice over another community. Don't put your
voice over another person. If I ask you a question,
(14:09):
I put the microphone. I'm gonna let you say what
you got to say. Yeah, we may have to edit
for time, but I don't need to come in and say,
you know, Jackson felt this way and let Jackson tell
his story. Yeah, you know. So that's where the whatever
community come from, you know, going with the the the
to me, the expectations that I'm doing a story, but
I might learn something else too, you know. And I'm
(14:31):
definitely not going in trying to make them say something
that I want them to say, because the editor thinks
that's what's gonna get people to read more or listen
or download or whatever. It don't work that way, ain't me. Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, it requires a certain kind of honor that you
want to give.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well'mna be fairy and then my people they my people,
they look like me, I look like them. I'm gonna
go in there and then you know, come on now.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Right, No, yeah, I want to transition to asking you
about your favorite things on this podcast. We have a
segment we do that's her favorite thing. So we want
to get into Rose Scott's favorite things. So I want
to start talking about snacks because that's very important for sure.
So a part of the premise of this podcast came
(15:17):
from me hanging out with my girlfriends in my living room.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And sometimes you know, depending on money or time, you
may not want to go to a restaurant. You might
want to be like, we need to talk about some things.
I need to come to your house and we might
not have money, maybe to get the charcuterie board of
our dreams. Right, I have some hummus I opened up
two days ago. You bring a bell pepper that you
cut last night. We're gonna bring our snacks together and
(15:43):
hang out. When you were in this type of moment
with your friends, with your people that you hang with.
What is your favorite snack to bring into this situation?
Are you a person who is going to buy a snack?
Do you have a snack you like to make? What
are the snack vibes?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So with my crew, we call O we you know,
we've been around for men, but we call ourselves a
wa kandins. But you know, and and and and some
of them are through Ja, you know, from the Caribbean.
So it's always gonna be some type of wings. Might
be some jerk wings, might be some women pepper wings.
It's gonna be some wings, probably some type of adulte bevere.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Love it, love it is There is there a favorite
spirits or liquor that you prefer?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So I love tequila, all right, all right, okay tequila
has some fans in the bill, right.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
But you know, as a journalist, you can't just be
going I love tequila. Just cant be going around saying that.
But I love tequila. I think it's it's a great.
You can just do a lot with it. Yeah, I
like wine, you know, I've been I've been digging snoop doggs,
high crimes, whine that Cali red is dope, right, I
mean it go with everything. So, but I like tequila,
(17:03):
I do, yeah, But as far as the other, you know, wings,
I like hummus too. You know, I can get down
with my hummus. You know, have a little bit more
than that. And you know, I'm a little bit older now,
so I can't do as much cake as I would
like to. But you put a brownie in front of me. Now,
(17:25):
when I say brownie, y'all nothing brownies, y'all be making
little stuff in there, but clear but.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Regular Okay, Yeah, give me the center. Okay, the center
brownie ice cream?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, And then I'm there. And and I like licorice,
big licorice, Yeah, licorice, the little gummy bears, sour patch kids.
My Dennis hates me steal listeners like why you tell
everybody you gonna be were so? Yeah, I'm a simple gal.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I'm from Saint Louis. I like barbecue. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So having had barbecue in Saint Louis and in Atlanta,
is it the same? Is it different? Discuss tell us?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, here we go. I gotta rip from up people now.
So in Saint Louis, you know, we we we like
it is about the meat, you know, And then I
think it's about the meat here. But if y'all boiling
ribs and putting sauce on it, I'm not saying y'all
doing that, but some people that some people do. You know,
you gotta marinate your meat and you clean it, you
(18:37):
gotta you gotta marinate it. And my father would marinate
pork pork states are pork steaks are real big in
Saint Louis. And he would marinate them in in coffee,
Vold's coffee and mandarin oranges, and then he put them
on that put him on the grill. Then he throw
(18:58):
some eggplant because he knew I had to eat some.
Was like, you got to eat your vegetables like egg plant.
It ain't no pork steak. But so yeah, and in
the sauce, Saint Louis's we're big on sauce too. They
a whole lot, but you just need enough just to
give it that nice little And I think in Saint
Louis too, we're more of a sweet sauce. Like in
(19:19):
Texas they like that that they're good on the dry
rub And yeah, they don't really do Yeah, y'all don't
really do sauce in Texas, but y'all do barbecue, y'all grilled.
There's a difference between barbecue and grilling. So and in
North Carolina they do a lot of that mustard and mustard, yeah,
which is it's not bad. But and then rib tips
(19:42):
are big. I think here in the South, y'all like tips,
but we do, you know, Saint Louis style pork ribs,
So y'all love Saint Louis. Like, I can't eat pork
a lot, but I can throw some chicken on there.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I enjoy swine on spec occasions. I think that's nice.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
If you get a chicken, if you go to the store,
I'm not gonna mich just no chicken. Is this the
chicken breast that's this big? Don't get that. Ain't no
chicken that big. Y'all. Your wings should be little. If
your wings like this is a problem. I'm just saying,
I ain't gonna get like Oprah with the beef and
get sued, right, But farmers' markets are usually gonna have
(20:22):
you know, or my dad we used to go. We
used to go straight to the barn to get the
dog meat. I mean straight to the like after the
dog had had his last rites read to him by
the priest. Yeah wow, yeah, So we used to you know,
picking greens and snapping peas. Now y'all know about snapping peas, yes,
(20:43):
and making hot water skilled corner bread hot water. You
know about some hot water corn bread? Speak about it
with some crackling in there. There you go.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
It took me to a place.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
And and neck bones as neck bones with some with
some butter beans.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I don't know where we're going to go to church today,
but I think for bringing that to us, I thank
you for bringing that.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
No, that's that's how I grew up so and I'm
proud of it. Oh. I love that I got the thighs.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Listen, listen, earned earned. Okay, tell us your favorite Atlanta eats.
I'm really curious about this ros because you get to
experience quite a few things around the city, like where
(21:36):
your a few we know you can't name all your favorites,
of course, but a few places that you would say,
are you you're stomping grounds?
Speaker 3 (21:44):
So vegetarian, Yeah, twisted. So it's a chef Deboraventary's placed
very good. I'm digging the bomb biscuit, and of course
both of them were just added to the Michelin recommendations.
But I want to get my any type of Korean
(22:06):
inspired and I just go up be fry Away and
pick a spot. Yeah you know, I'm not gonna mention
barbecue because I will get in trouble rights. They'll be
at my door with baseball bats. No, we don't need
you say my spot. You be over there every day.
I'm like a rod.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I get you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
So it was a good eat, So I like it. Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I know you're a hip hop fan all day, and
I too am a hip hop fan. And I feel
there's a question that used to be asked. That's that
was your You were going to a new school, you're
starting a new job, you're just meeting some people. There
was a time where that's the first thing you want
to know, is what's your top five MC's. People don't
(22:49):
people don't ask this question as much anymore. And I
want to put a parenthetical note, that's because there's you know,
there's not as many great MC's there used to be.
But anyways, that part, anyways, I want to hear your
your top five What would you say in no particular order, yes,
of course.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So uh KRS one, Chuck d NAS MC light and
it's like three people at number five, okay, uh l
l Andre three thousand and rock Kim. Yeah that's that.
(23:25):
That that's the starting five with some you know people
coming off the bench and then can't get get my
other ones. So I was mad at him for a while.
But you know ice Cube because Cube Cube got float Man,
you got crazy. He's just talking crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
He is right now, right now, you know?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, jay Z yeah Method, Yeah, that's my dude right there.
Pop you know. And and do y'all know who Jane
Gray is? Yeah? Yeah, oh Jean Bo so underrated, so underrated,
but yeah Gene got some snappache born yeah, Arry she
(24:06):
got some. And then you know Mama Man from the Locks,
Jada Jada Jada Jadabe killing people man.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So yeah, I like that. These are these are these
are good votes. Do you have newer or new ish
hip hop artists that you love? Do you have any
that stand out to you?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I want to put Eminem on that list too, that
backward because as he that boy got crazy. Uh you
know what I mean? I mean, I try not to
be like my dad when hip hop came out or
you know, because because what he said to me though,
he said, you know, if you're gonna do this, Because
Grandmaster flashed the message, I was like, oh, this is
he said. I want you to listen to these cast
(24:51):
even last poets, So the last poets Gil Scott here. Okay,
So I don't want to be I don't understand these
young people's music. I don't understand these young what they're saying.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, it's a struggle.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I don't know. My my nephew loves Kodak Black, and
you know, I hope you're listening, dude, what you're talking about.
I mean, you know, I'm trying to go. I'm trying
to I'm trying to flow with you. I don't know.
And I like Kendrick obviously, I like J Cole, I
like Rhapsody, But I mean I like the independence of
(25:39):
what people like Meg and Cardi are doing. I don't
necessarily really I'm not their target audience, and that's fine,
but I you know, I love it. Let them be them,
you know, because there's always a certain set of standards,
separate set of standards for the women. You know, I
don't have daughter, I have nieces, so I may not
(26:02):
want them to listen to some of this stuff until
they are, you know, older, because they already their influencers.
Let's be really clear. But also it's up to the
parents to say that. My dad said, I'm not with
n w A, but if you want to listen to it,
that's fine, but also said you're gonna listen to something else.
Now I think that's okay, you know. Now, them them
city girls, I had to grab a Bible to listen
(26:24):
to them.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Is this legal?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Is this moral? And I'm I'm kidding now, But they
got art and I want them to be themselves, you know,
but let them be, you know, because look when Little
Kim came, we was like, God, damn Little Kim, Yeah,
do it. But I grew up with like Ryan Queen
and Salt and Pepper and Sequence, you know, and and
(26:49):
and Yo yo. She said, don't play with me. So
I want them to because they'll eventually they'll they'll grow
away from that. I mean, we all do, right, So
I'm not gonna be one of these people. I wish
hip hop would still embrace its roots, you know, because
it was about matter of fact. Imcyl like told me this.
(27:09):
I interviewed her right around the corner over there in
Studio three. She said, you know, EMCs are like street journalists,
you know, telling the story. And some of these folks
they ain't telling their story. They're just telling something. And
I don't want to knock that. But you know, hip
hop was about to start as community, you know what's
(27:32):
happening with us, and it also having a good time.
But I realized, you know, things are different, and also
what's happening, you know, if it's police brutality, you know,
HIV aids. I mean, we had artists that we're talking
about that, so I get it. I just would hope
that it comes back a little bit, you know, and
then some of this the violence that is around it.
(27:53):
I mean, we don't need that. And when you start
making money, It's what Jeezi talked about. You know, you're
making money, you know, you need to leave all that alone.
I said the same thing, leave all that alone, right
and and and then take it give it back to
the community. I think some of these these guys that
were and women that were former street pharmacists, especially during
(28:19):
the crack epidemic, I hope that they can give back
to the community because we need centers, resource centers, drug
abuse centers, substances ordered centers to because we're still dealing
with the effect of y'all selling that crap in our neighborhoods.
I get it. You know, weren't no uber wre, no
door dash. I think there were other ways. But now
(28:42):
that you've made your money and you'll come up and
give it back to the people, y'all move out, which
is fine, but give back. Do something you know won't
need no boom of warbershops. Well, if that's what you got, okay,
find but do something because you know we we we
helped you make it.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
So yeah, I'm in agreement with all of all of
the top that you named. I always have honorable mention
for Black Thought, Okay, I enjoy It's like if there
were a most consistent MC award, like black Thought falls
in that category for me that I'm like, I really,
I really can't think of a bad verse like I
(29:20):
love jay Z and I can think of a couple
of bad verses.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I think of a whole bad songs. I mean, jay
Z was missogyns. I mean, look a lot of them were.
I'm not knocking I get it. Yeah, I'm not I'm
not knocking that because at least jay Z was talking
about his truth at that time, right, But jay Z
ain't talking about that now. And that's what other artist
should understand too, that that that is your template, that's
(29:44):
your model right there. Good Queen Latin. Some people don't
even know Queen Latifa came out with ladies first, that part.
They just think, oh, she actually black queen. No queen,
He's just spit that far, you know. Yeah, she said,
who you calling the bitch? I was like, hell, yeah, she.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Had the koofie. That was a time.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
That was the time.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I love it, love that for her, and I like you.
I'm trying. I'm trying not to become a hip hop curmudgeon.
I'm trying not to do that. But there is like
an era of it that I love very much, and
so I try to be about there's like a my
hip hop category that I don't get to decide what
is hip hop because hip hop is so broad and
(30:26):
has grown so much now. But I can say this
falls within my hip hop and that's the beauty of it. Yeah,
because everyone, I mean, you got different generations here, so
everyone can say, look, this is my hip hop. This
is my experience, this is my path, this is encapsulates
what was happening in my community or for me, and
that's okay.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, because eighty years from now, you know, people be
looking at, oh, what was going on when jay Z
was popping or you know, rock him or Kodak Black,
Kodak Man. If you listen, I'm trying to work with bro.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I just want to understand what you mean.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, but you be talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I'm normally not a new person who not a person
who listens to new music. And I actually got you
know how, like on the Apple Music app, they'll have
like a playlist that's like you can listen to new
music that's out now. So when CARTI was first coming out,
I actually decided I was gonna hate listen to this
new music playlist and I was like, let me listen
to this so I can decide what I don't like
about this. And then Bodak Yellow came on and I
(31:26):
was like, SIS said, I don't got to dance, so
I got money now, I got money shoes.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
That's her truth.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Right there.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Like to day she was like, I pay for these
teeth and it wasn't cheap. It wasn't cheap. It cost
me money to get these teeth.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
That's her truth. I got no problem with that.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
So I'm trying. I'm trying, Rose, I too, am trying
to take in a new artist every three years.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
And you better than me.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
My limitations.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Because my nephew will send me stuff. You like this person,
I'm be like, noa, now send him something. Do you
like this person? They could He don't want to admit that.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know that he might like it, and he might like,
like I sent him some x Klan.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
He's like, oh, they're coming hard. Yeah, I seen him
some poor righteous teachers.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Oh man. He was like, Damn, I can't. I can't
counter that. Said, No, you can't counter with that. You
gonna count that nobody. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I have always thought, because I shared a birthday with
Buster Rhymes, that if I could have an MC do
do a verse about me, I feel like I would
choose Buster because we share a birthday. That just seems
like it would make sense. Maybe he can make the
whole thing rhyme based on a mina, you know, like
he did some of his other verses. If you could
have an MC rap a verse about you, who would
(32:57):
you choose? Oh?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Without a doubt it would It would be MC like yeah, yeah,
it would be like yeah because she gets me as
a woman, as a black woman, and and yeah no,
I just say do what you gotta do. Yeah, I
would love to hear that, MC like, we know you
listen in second, it's gonna surprise some people. Second. Too short, Yo,
(33:21):
I got too short.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I'm interested. I'm interested in this because.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
I got too short sided. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I'm interested in this road, you know, I want to
know about this too short. I don't know if you're listening,
but too short. We want to hear this. We want
to hear this, Rose Sky versuuse. I will admit Rose,
you know I had a chance to hear too short
live at one music fest here in Atlanta, and it
really does clear the lungs when you can just say
(33:51):
those words with too short, you know, just just being
there and just out into the air. What's my favorite word?
I mean, wow, that's a time.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Rose.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
I can see why you would want him to be
to be the one there.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
And I like short because you know, he's like, I'm
not a good ropper. I'm just I'm just I'm just
I'm your nephew, And this is what we're talking about.
You know, Too Short is that guy you playing spades
the dominoes with and then he just gonna you do something.
You're just gonna snap on you and then come with
a line and y'all go, have you know a forty
or something like that. So yeah, you know, and and
(34:26):
I'm able to criticize to some of the other stuff
they talk about.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know, but we're looking for this Rose Scott mixtape
where you curate you know, where like you know, sort
of like you could be the Kalid of that, where
like you bring these artists together to make the songs
you have decided. I'm I want you to know we're
awaiting that because this sounds very fascinating. I mean, Too
Short an mc light right there on the same album
(34:50):
that just sounds it sounds like the thing Rose I
want you to consider.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Okay, you know, and Nellie's my homeboys from Saint Louis,
you know, so I got a fun side too. I
like to dance and party and all that. So I
can bring Nelly in for that. Because one thing about
Nelly again being true, you know, he wasn't trying to
come and say I'm this and that that song Country Grammar,
y'all seeing that video, I swear to half my cousins
in that video, I'm like, ain't that little bit daughter?
(35:18):
Ain't that so and so went to you? He kept
it real, you know? So, yeah, I can shows some
love for Nelly.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Last question for me, and then we'll take a couple
of questions from the crowd. As a journalist, you have
to and take in a lot of stories. Some of
them are heartwarming, some of them are heartbreaking. Also, how
do you keep joy in your life? What would you
what would you say is bringing you joy at this
(35:48):
season of life.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
The fact that I got through the pandemic and everything
else with that, with the social injustice rallies and cover
in that and the protests which were justified's be really clear,
polarizing politics which were crazy. But I had a lot
of grief during that time. From the end of twenty
(36:13):
nineteen through twenty twenty one, I lost my brother to
drug overdose. Then five months later my sister died. My
great uncle died and he was one hundred and two.
So he's ready to go. He's like, I'm out, y'all
got this pandemic, this wasn't. I wasn't ready for this,
so he just went to sleep, said I'm gone. We
(36:34):
was good with that. Lost some very good friends, and
then I had to put both my cats down, my
cat of twenty one years, she was a Siamese and
my main coon was fifteen. And it's like all this grief,
and I kept working through all of this right upstairs
in the studio for WABE where we're recording this podcast.
(36:57):
And I'll never do that again. I will never sacrifice
my mental health for my job. I ain't never doing
that shit again. But for me at the time, it
was like I got to get through this. And I
remember I found out my sister had passed twenty minutes
before I was to go on air, and I just
(37:18):
I don't remember the segment, you know, I just got
through it. And then I got home and I just cried.
And by the grace of some good girls. You always
gotta have good girlfriends, good boyfriends or whatever. You got
to have that, because you know, without them I probably
(37:38):
wouldn't have it was it was tough, it was rough,
but I should have taken time away from this job,
and I didn't do that. And then nobody was checking
really on the journalists, especially the black journalists. Nobody was saying,
how y'all getting through this? When you see you see
someone that looks like you from your community dying, And
(37:58):
you know, we've seen the video old cell phone for
stuff before, but George Floyd was so different. I'maut Aubrey.
You know Ray Sharp Brooks, you know Breonna Taylor, you
know you're constantly taking all this in and these are
these are your people?
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:13):
And then the pandemic and then who was early on
what communities were being greatly affected? There was a dispairy.
It was reural communities, poor communities, black and brown community.
So he got that going on. And so it was
an assister that I can't remember her name. I would
love to give her proper credit. She wrote up in
the New York Times about black journalist are not okay?
(38:37):
And I like retweeted it or posted it. And then
finally someone I went to college with, actually he worked
in sports information when I was in college. We worked together.
His name was Tom James. He just tweeted, Hey, Rose,
how you doing? And that meant the world for me
to me because nobody asked me how I was doing.
(38:58):
Nobody said what do you need? And so then as
I started to open up a little bit more and
my friends were like, hey, what can we do? And
I remember Gigi, she called me and she said, how
you doing. You didn't sound like yourself. She was listening
to the show and I was like, Gig, it's rough.
(39:19):
And she sent a wheen of those edible bouquets like
chocolate covered pineapples and bananas and all that and strawberries,
and she came up with a bottle of Puerto Rican rum.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Love to see it.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Now. I'm not saying that's how you deal with your issues,
but god, damn it, God, we dealt with it that
night and do the work and so but you know,
just just friends, you know, some really good friends. It
was just like, what do you need? We're here, and
I should I should have taken time. But I'll never
do that again because I think if I ever deal
with something like that again, it's gonna kill me right right,
(39:54):
And no job is worth that. Yeah, m hmm, yeah,
no job right now was bringing me joys And I
got through that and I'm I'm okay, I'm still you know,
still working things out with the universe about all this
death you know, lost some very good friends. But we're
gonna work it out.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, thank you, Rose,
Thank you. I want to take a couple of questions.
We have time for maybe two or three questions. If
anyone in the audience has good you can you can
say it out loud. I will also say it here
on the microphone, so we'll have it for the recording.
Anybody questions for Rose about snacks, anything? Yes, what you got?
Speaker 4 (40:35):
Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to make concise things. You got
to repeat it. You were able to win Emmy talking
about very sensitive subject with steering and refugees in Jordans
a few years ago.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
What advice would you give.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
To journalists today covering similar topics in a media environment
that has put a lot of more controls on what
people can and can't say.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Well, I think if you are working for an outlet
that is trying to control what you say or the
images that you all disseminate or show, I think you
need to reevaluate who you're working for. But I get
what you're saying. When I went to the Middle East
(41:30):
in twenty thirteen to cover the Serian refugees, I was
covering how care the Atlanta Organization here was helping them.
It's about people. Y'all can argue all day about policy
and politics, who's wrong, who's right. I'm talking about when
people are suffering, you know, and they have nothing to do,
(41:53):
or they are the consequences of the unintended or maybe
sometimes intended consequences of a greater issue.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
I'm in I'm always interested in the human story and
the human side of this. And you talk to a
woman who left Syria with six kids. Her husband his
arm was for I mean, he lost his arm in
a bomb blast and he bled out in the back
bedroom because there was no hospital to get him to
(42:24):
and she she still hadn't told the kids. By the
time I interviewed her, they still thought daddy was coming home.
That story, That's what people need to hear. Y'all can
argue y'all day about the government and all that, but
these are human lives here, So I'm trying to do
it with respect. I'm not trying to get her to
(42:46):
say something. And also in that instance, I'm with a translator.
So what was interesting about that trip was I had
interviewed another woman who fled with her daughter and first
of I was a sixteen hour flight from I had
to go to Chicago. From there to Ma and Jordan
straight and it's like seven eight hours different. So I
(43:07):
was tired the entire week. And I'm in this woman's
home and she says something and the translator laughs and
looks at me, and I was like, what she said.
She said, the American looks tired. So I'm gonna make
coffee for her. So she was worried about me. Wow,
she didn't have she had lost everything, you know. And
(43:28):
then I get a text from somebody in my family
they need a new phone. I'm like, no, let's put
things in perspective here. So in covering some sensitive or
complex or just tough issues or stories, what have you. You know,
my approach is to be respectful, to get what I can,
(43:52):
you know, to get the information I can do the interviews,
it's gonna be tough, and if I need to check
out at some point, I'm gonna check out. If it's
too much, you gotta disconnect, you know. The human traffic,
the sex traffing story, we made the center of that.
The core of that documentary was about a young woman
(44:16):
who was forced into it at the age of twelve
by somebody at her church, and so I wanted Keisha
to tell her story. And we did that interview right
over there in Studio A, and she said, no one
ever asked me my story. So we let her story
kind of guide the rest of the documentary, you know,
(44:40):
depending on what it is. Sometimes you have to really plan. Okay,
just get this voice, get this voice, get this voice,
get that. But then also sometimes if something's missing, I say, well,
there's got to be a human interest in here somewhere
who we missing, and let them tell their story, you know.
And there are times where I like, I had to
you know what, I'm sitting with the editor. It's just
for the documentary. I was like, you know what, I
(45:01):
can't anymore. I know we're on deadline, but I'm tearing up.
I cry. I'm human, I get emotional like everybody else.
So I have to disc I know, I have a
job to do. But when it comes to disconnect, disconnect,
then I go put on some meta Simone or Tupac
or whatever you know, led Zeppslin, whatever I gotta do
to you know, get through the night, and I come
(45:22):
back at it in the morning. I hope, I answered
your question.
Speaker 5 (45:25):
All right, Yeah, so this is actually kind of a
tough question for me.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
I'm Muslim, and uh a lot of places where I
I value the news we're covering Israel, you know, in
a light that was it was really tough to watch
the places that I you know, I respect.
Speaker 5 (45:55):
I can imagine I think, well, well, so what my
question is is what is your suggestion on how people
should navigate this type of stuff? Because even places that
you feel are safe for you to kind of ingest
what they're giving you, you realize that like they're driven
(46:16):
by you know, finances things like that. So what would
you suggest is a good solution for people to always
kind of stay on your toes, you know, as far
as the news cycle or.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Of the consumer in terms of the consumer or you know,
I look, I love America in a sense, but we
don't own the pat and know the rights to credible news, right,
you know, I mainstream media. You know, it's always interesting
(46:50):
in me to see how other international outlets cover things
in America. So I use that same approach to something
that was happening with Israel, and you know, I suggest
seek out other outlets. I'm gonna I think the BBC
has done a pretty good job. I think Reuters has
(47:11):
done a pretty good job. I don't think all of
the American based outlets are doing a very good job.
Look the wars between Israel and Hamas, all right, and
(47:32):
I think it's unfair to go after people if they're
echoing Christ for peace or echoing Christ to please be
so some humanity towards the Palestinians who are not the terrorists.
I think people have a right to say that's how
(47:53):
they feel, and they and they also at the same
time say we feel for these fourteen for these fourteen
hundred people that have been murdered by the Hamas right now.
Do we know the history of all that, Yeah, but
for right now, people are being killed, and people are
are the consequences of this and if you can't try
(48:14):
to work towards some type of peaceful resolution, because let's
be really clear about this, Israel has a very forceful
military and they should just like the US, right, hamasink
got no chance. But who's to say that you are
going to wipe all of them out? There has got
(48:35):
to be I'm not smart enough to know, well, I
have an opinion. I ain't gonna tell you I'm not
smart enough to know with the how they can come
together in terms of but there has to be a way.
There has to be a way because people are being murdered,
people and kids are being killed. There has to be
a way figure that shit out. There has to be
a way. And I don't want anybody being murdered, right.
(49:00):
You know, I lost my brother in the line of
My brother was murdered. He was a police officer, killed
a line of duty. So I know what that pain
is like to lose somebody, and to lose someone in
an act of violence. So I feel because we shouldn't
lump all Muslims under one umbrerother just like we do
with black folk and brown folk and white folks. You know,
(49:26):
And I wish I had the answer to tell you
that you could go here and magically you'll get all
the you'll get what you want to hear. Because let's
be clear too, people turn to the news because they
figure like they have their favorite news outlets, because they
want to hear what they want to hear. Most people, right,
Folks that watch Fox want to hear that. Folks that
(49:47):
watch the MSNBC, and they gonna hear that. You know,
my job where I am is I'm not trying to
tell you what to think of how to think, but
I do want to get something to think about. And
I'm gonna be fair about it, you know, And it
is is it complex? And covering this it can be
(50:08):
if you're not going to thoroughly come from a place
where you're really trying to see. Sometimes a story is
not the story. And what I mean by that is
we have this bigger story right with Israel and Mosity
and and Palestine.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
But I'm also interested in how are folks trying to
navigate through all of this. That's a story for me.
How are you navigating through this as someone who's Jewish,
as someone who's Muslim, as someone who's that can y'all
come together and work together as a and for the
good of the community. That's a story to me. That's
what I'm interested in. But if y'all want to argue
(50:48):
that my platform ain't that, ain't they ain't what we're doing.
I have a very powerful platform. I admit that it
took me a while to really kind of understand that
I have a very powerful platform. I'm not gonna misuse
it to attack anybody or to get people to think
one way or the other. That's not what y'all need
(51:09):
from me. So, yeah, answer your question. Did I ask
your question? Okay, all right, last one?
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yeah, who or what influenced you to.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
Want to journalism? That's a great question. So when I
was six years old, so my dad used to listen
to Cardinals baseball games on the radio because back in
the day, believe it or not, folks really loved listening
to games on radio. And there was a guy, say
Louis named Jack Buck. Loved Jack Buck. I'm a big
Cardinals fan. I mean, Braid's all right, but you know,
(51:43):
I look, I'm gonna rep Cardinals till I die, all right,
So I would hear Jack Buck. My dad would. My
dad would sit on the porch listen to the game.
We can have the TV on in the house. He
turned volume down and he turned on the radio because
he wanted to hear Jack Buck. Jack Buck was a
noun answer, and I was fascinated by how he would
(52:03):
just have my daddy hooked. Like I could get twenty
dollars for my dad. Dad, give me twenty dollars, I'd
go to white Castle. Here you go, cause he in
tuned the game. I I lost it. But anyway, so
I was I loved radio and I loved news and information.
You know, before the Jeffersons came on, I had to
watch sixty Minutes. I was like man or good Times
or whatever. So I watched the news. So Jack Buck
(52:27):
was an influence because while he could control this, his
anything around him coming out of this box. And I
used to take the antenna, remember radios at the antenna,
and I would pretend like I was broadcasting. I was
so cute. And then I watched sixty Minutes. I saw
these folks interviewing people. I saw an interview with the
(52:47):
Shaw of Iran. I was like, oh cool, you know,
interviewing all these people. And as I got older, I
knew I wanted to be a journalist.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (52:57):
I didn't really know about NPR UNTI a little bit later,
but I wanted to go into sports too. And so
when ESPN came about and Robin Roberts, and I was like, okay,
I'm gonna be like Robin Roberts. And then I actually
wrote to her. Wow. And and when I graduated from college,
I knew I was coming to Atlanta and knew I
was gonna get here. But I knew I was. I
(53:19):
was coming to Atlanta. I knew the Olympics were here,
and I wrote to her and I was like, I
want to come to Atlanta and she wrote me back.
She's like, Rose, Atlanta is a great place. There are
a lot of people that can help you, because she
had been here. But she said, the key is to
surround yourself with people who are willing to help you.
And that's a big difference. So you know Jack Buck,
(53:42):
Robin Roberts, Gwyneiffel, who is a big sheer of mine,
but also two people who were not in the industry,
Tony Morrison. I was a big fan, Argie Lord. I
used to read their stuff, Langston Hughes because that was
that that kept me in my blackness, because like, if
I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna stay blackly black, black,
black period, very black, so black every day, every every day,
(54:07):
unapologetic all the time. That's great, except when you go
to Alaska and.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
I'm just kidding, right, one last one, what you got.
Speaker 3 (54:16):
With all this heavy information that you receive all the time,
how do you take care of yourself? Another good question.
I disconnect, Like I said, you know, I'll come home
and I might put on the cartoon Network or may
not put anything, and I do. Look, I work in
this space, so I get the alerts from AP and
all that. But I'll disconnect. I'll go for walks, I'll
(54:39):
ride my bike, I'll hang out with friends, my dog,
sit my friends pets. I'm going on a trip. I'm
going to Ghana in a few months. So and sometimes
I just sit in silence and just listen to the universe.
I know that sounds very cerebral and all, you know,
cameing me ot and incense and all that shit, but
(55:03):
it's real that that's how I disconnect because it is
You're right, it's it's a lot of heaviness, and you
know you can't you can't let that. If it gets
to a point where it's draining on you, then you
gotta do something. Go do something else. I go, you know,
I'll go raise you know, Lamas or something like that.
But I'm not there yet. But I think I'm I
(55:25):
think I got maybe maybe six more years maybe, but
I'm gonna go do something else. Yeah, I ain't y'all
the future let the next folks do. And I just
hope I'm I'm leaving a pathway for them to be
better and do bigger and better things, for our industry
(55:46):
to really play a pivotal role because the power of
a free press and democracy go hand in hand. Yeah,
let's make about that.
Speaker 1 (55:58):
Give it up for God.
Speaker 3 (56:06):
Thanks, you got it? What an y'all?
Speaker 1 (56:11):
Her with Amina Brown is produced by Matt Owen for
Solbrophe Productions as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast
Network in partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening and don't
forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.
Ooh, y'all, I'm so excited. I'm excited to be here
for two reasons. Number One, this is the first episode
of herd with the men and round recorder in front
of a live audience, So audience, let's give it up
for Also, I am interviewing a legend today. I'm excited
(00:30):
to welcome Emmy award winning journalist host of NPRWAB radio
show A Closer Look the Rose Scott.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Is you.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
So? Rose? I have a lot of things I'm trying
to ask you. First of all, you are usually the interviewer.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
That is true.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
You have interviewed politicians, activists, entertainers, athletes. What are you
looking for when you're looking for a guest to come
on your show and be in the interviewee spot?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
To be authentic, to tell the truth, even if that
truth is they ain't none of your business roads which
you know some have politely said, I'm not telling you that,
and that's that's okay. You know, I tell people you
don't have to answer any question. It'll be a short interview,
but just folks, be you know, to be authentic and
(01:26):
be compelling and understand that I'm not using when my
producers when we have a segment. You know, we're not
trying to embarrass anybody. We're not trying to put anybody
on blasts. We do want to have a conversation. I
might ask some difficult or tough questions because that's my job.
But I always tell people was I fair? You cannot
(01:48):
like a question, but was I fair? You know my
father used to say that to me. He would say, now,
you don't like the fact that I'm asking you why
you coming home at one o'clock when your curfew is ten? No,
I ain't like it, But was it a fair question? Absolutely?
So that's kind of the approach that we take. You know,
(02:08):
We're not looking to embarrass anybody or I'm not looking
to create an emotion. I'm looking to have a conversation
and that might entail some very difficult and tough questions,
but they will be fair. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I like that. Yeah, what is it like to be interviewed?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I hate this ship and I'm so glad it's a
podcast because I was told I could cuss. Yes, yes,
So I don't get to cuss on radio. You know,
it's like you have public radio. We're not supposed to cuss.
So now it's it's it's interesting because I'm not I'm
not used to it, but I take the same advice.
I want to be authentic, I want to tell the truth.
(02:47):
If it's somebody don't want you all to know, I
ain't gonna tell you. You know, it's the same, you know, yeah,
same same, same application for me. I'm no different. So
it's a little you know, I'm kind of shy about
being interviewed. Really, Yeah, I believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, I could kind of see that because it's it's
different when you're in the seat of someone you know,
asking you the questions.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, I can see that. What's she going to ask me? Now,
she gonna ask me who I'm dating?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I feel like that would be like her after dark,
you know, we'll have to definitely would be yeah, way, way,
way way after dark. Margueritea's I want to ask you
about the importance of journalism. We're we're in an era
right now where we are we are dealing with a
lot of not facts, a lot of things that are
(03:38):
put out there that are actually not truth, but are
put out there as the truth. Journalism has always been important,
but in this moment, in this era of history, why
is journalism so important for us in this moment.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Because we've been battling probably the last I'll be fair.
I was going to start with twenty sixteen, but I'll
be fair the Internet, which has been a great advancement
for humankind. It's been wonderful, but we're battling against instant
(04:13):
you know, someone can put something up within the next
two seconds and it can get shared and read. It's
not Twitter anymore. Wherever the hell it is, it can
be rex reposted and people take that as being factual.
So we're in a space where we have to compete
with that. And I tell my producers all the time,
(04:34):
and I used to tell the journalists when I was
in the newsroom. You know, I don't want to be
first all the time, but I want to be right
because people remember when you get it wrong, you know,
they remember when you get it wrong. So we're up
against that. We're up against Uncle Bob putting someone out
(04:54):
there that says, you know, the president is really an
alien and then everybody shares that, you know, or we're
up against technology where people can create these these images
and these reels that look very real and they're not.
And so we're real up like, we're constantly up against
that and also competing for clicks and likes and all that,
(05:16):
because what does that do that drives sponsors and advertisers.
It used to be people wanted to know, hey, what
are your credentials? Right now, it's like how many followers
you got? You know, what are your socials? Like somebody
asked me that I had no idea. I was like,
my nephews like, auntie, what's your social is looking like,
I'm like, I don't know, you know, are they good?
(05:37):
He's like no, He's like, you need to have more followers.
I'm like, is that the only way you're going to
He listens to me because I'm his auntie. But he
gets his news from Instagram and what's that thing called
the shade room and the TikToker and all that stuff,
you know, and I know what it is, but it's like,
I would rather that he got his news from credible outlets.
(06:01):
And so we're up against that and we have to
change I think how we are delivering and disseminating information.
And it also means we need to call the BS
when it is out there. I'm constantly fighting with people
on my own family, like that's not true. You know,
my nephew's ex wife would not send my grandnephew to
(06:26):
school because she was told that Hamas was going to
come in and they were targeting the schools in Missouri. Wow,
And I had to kind of do you know, I'm like,
you can't keep him from being educated because it's something
that you see someone is posting as being factual. So
(06:47):
I'm constantly up against that with members of my own family.
So imagine in society at large what we're up against
and we have to we have to be on guard
about that all the time. But also tell people, you know,
y'all have to be better consumer of news. If you're not.
You know, the effort that you put in when you
get some new kicks or you go buy a car,
you do your homework right, do your research when you
(07:11):
bottom little lashes, y'all, y'all know what lashes to get
what lash is not to get right, right, So do
the same thing for your news. I read and listen
to a lot of different outlets, but they're credible, you know,
So do your research and be a better consumer of news.
And whether it's in PR or CNN or MSNBC or
(07:32):
BBC or Reuters. You know that's you know, I watched
some conservative news outlets, but ones that are that are
going to be fair, right. I don't care what your
political leaning is, but be fair in your assessment. And
we're in a space where people just aren't right.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
You know. Right when you were starting your career in
media and in broadcasting, there.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Was no Twitter. Well, I was no Facebook. I had
a pager.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
What do me?
Speaker 3 (08:01):
All who act like you don't know?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So when you were starting out in your career, it
seems like there was a type. There was a type
that maybe certain media companies or media outlets were looking
for on radio or we're looking for on TV, and
that type typically excluded people. It wasn't from marginalized communities, right.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
It wouldn't. It wasn't me, it was I remember I
went for an interview news because my my career was
in sports. Man. My career began in sports, and I
was gonna be the next Robin Roberts, and you know,
I can talk about football, basketball, baseball, hockey, you know, NASCAR,
(08:44):
and I went to to be interviewed for this. It
was a TV job. It was a small market station
and it was a it was a brother on a
behind the desk and said, well, you don't need a
those job what And I hadn't. I hadn't started locking yet.
But you know, I was in that that pre lock stage.
(09:06):
Y'all know. Sisters knows that like brothers, y'all know too,
that pre lock stage with here was like, yeah, so
that that pre locked stage and coming off of perm,
that's rough. That's a tough time. You got to really
work hard to kind of come up with something. And
you know, I was, you know, I was in between
like Whoopy Goldberg and Tracy Chapman. That's with a little
(09:26):
bit of Bushwick bill. That's the time, right, I was.
I was that that hair was you know, my man
was like, well, first of all, I think you might
need to get a nose job and straighten your hair.
And I was like, no, man, I'm not doing that.
I remember I told my father and he was like,
you know, you don't need to do that. So the
first black woman I saw on television doing the news
(09:47):
was a woman named Carol Simpson for ABC News, and
and then Robin Smith and Saint Louis who's a local anchor,
and that that that for me, that was Okay, that's
what I want to do. But to go up against
these barriers from people saying I have to look like
and sound like Barbara Walters or you know, Jane Paul
or whoever. And I was like, and I always loved
(10:09):
radio too, but I was like, I'm not getting a
those job. I thought about it, I really thought about it.
And my father's like, you don't get no those job?
And I was like, I'm not. I wanted I want it.
I've always wanted locks, said I'm gonna lock my hair.
So I just didn't do it. I stuck with it.
And you know, radio has been a passion for mine anyway,
(10:29):
and so but I've been able to do TV and
documentaries and win an Emmy with locks. So go figure, yo, yo.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
What advice would you give to people who are coming
from marginalized communities and want careers in media and journalism?
So I give the same advice no matter what community
you're coming from, if you want to do this job,
if you want to be a journalist, and if you
want to be a credible journalist, because you want people
to either a learn learn from what you're disseminating or
(11:01):
you're bringing information that perhaps people haven't heard before. Your
lived experiences matter. You know, we all have lived experiences
and it matters, and it can help define or shape
how you approach any industry. But when it comes to journalism,
I think sometimes it's hard for people who are not
(11:23):
from a specific community to understand. You know, I've had
heated debates with colleagues about well, there should be this.
There's always an antagonist, there's this side and that side,
and I'm like, no, you know, I'm I don't believe
in objectivity.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I believe in being fair. There's a difference. And you know, Gwenneifel,
who's a she role of mine, would say, you know,
my job is to be fair. That's where I get
that from, because objectivity always implies that you have to
tell this other side. Well, I've covered sex trafficking, right, ain,
no other side, right, it's wrong. Now we can have
(12:04):
debates about policy and sentencing and all that, but it
is wrong. And I remember when I did the documentary
How to Stop the Candy Shop, which was about child
sex trafficking here in Atlanta in Georgia, and his lawyer
there was this infamous he was a pimp. I CALLI
a trafficker named Sir Charles, and you know, he would
(12:25):
have the girls marked with his moniker and all that.
And his attorney was like, you want to talk to him?
I was like, nah, right, what I want to talk
to him for now? If he has a story, that
might be an explanation. As far as I'm concerned, I
don't know what explanation excuse you can give for trafficking kids,
(12:45):
or trafficking anyone, but especially children. So it wasn't need
to talk to him, you know, it was don need.
So I understand that if you are covering a community
for which you may not be familiar with one, be
respectful when you go into that community research. You know,
(13:08):
don't go in there thinking you know all the answers.
Don't go in there with this this sort of process
of I want to show these people's pain. You know,
folks loved we called it pain porn. Folks loved to
profit off the suffering of people of color, right and
poor people.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And don't just drop in because it's a problem. Now,
I get it. Sometimes you got to cover that story.
That's your story. But for me, I'm not dropping into
these Atlanta communities. I'm in these Atlantic communities and they
can call me. I feel like all of the Atlanta
got my cell phone, so if you want it, I
just give it to you, because that's not fair. I'm
from that community, so I'm not gonna treat my people
(13:48):
like that. I'm gonna be fair because when you do wrong,
I'm gonna get you. But I'm not looking to try
to get you to cry or get you, you know,
to show this emotion because it will get me clear
or whatever. And I tell reporters, let a story breathe,
don't put your voice over another community. Don't put your
voice over another person. If I ask you a question,
(14:09):
I put the microphone. I'm gonna let you say what
you got to say. Yeah, we may have to edit
for time, but I don't need to come in and say,
you know, Jackson felt this way and let Jackson tell
his story. Yeah, you know. So that's where the whatever
community come from, you know, going with the the the
to me, the expectations that I'm doing a story, but
I might learn something else too, you know. And I'm
(14:31):
definitely not going in trying to make them say something
that I want them to say, because the editor thinks
that's what's gonna get people to read more or listen
or download or whatever. It don't work that way, ain't me. Yeah?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, it requires a certain kind of honor that you
want to give.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well'mna be fairy and then my people they my people,
they look like me, I look like them. I'm gonna
go in there and then you know, come on now.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Right, No, yeah, I want to transition to asking you
about your favorite things on this podcast. We have a
segment we do that's her favorite thing. So we want
to get into Rose Scott's favorite things. So I want
to start talking about snacks because that's very important for sure.
So a part of the premise of this podcast came
(15:17):
from me hanging out with my girlfriends in my living room.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And sometimes you know, depending on money or time, you
may not want to go to a restaurant. You might
want to be like, we need to talk about some things.
I need to come to your house and we might
not have money, maybe to get the charcuterie board of
our dreams. Right, I have some hummus I opened up
two days ago. You bring a bell pepper that you
cut last night. We're gonna bring our snacks together and
(15:43):
hang out. When you were in this type of moment
with your friends, with your people that you hang with.
What is your favorite snack to bring into this situation?
Are you a person who is going to buy a snack?
Do you have a snack you like to make? What
are the snack vibes?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So with my crew, we call O we you know,
we've been around for men, but we call ourselves a
wa kandins. But you know, and and and and some
of them are through Ja, you know, from the Caribbean.
So it's always gonna be some type of wings. Might
be some jerk wings, might be some women pepper wings.
It's gonna be some wings, probably some type of adulte bevere.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Love it, love it is There is there a favorite
spirits or liquor that you prefer?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know?
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So I love tequila, all right, all right, okay tequila
has some fans in the bill, right.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
But you know, as a journalist, you can't just be
going I love tequila. Just cant be going around saying that.
But I love tequila. I think it's it's a great.
You can just do a lot with it. Yeah, I
like wine, you know, I've been I've been digging snoop doggs,
high crimes, whine that Cali red is dope, right, I
mean it go with everything. So, but I like tequila,
(17:03):
I do, yeah, But as far as the other, you know, wings,
I like hummus too. You know, I can get down
with my hummus. You know, have a little bit more
than that. And you know, I'm a little bit older now,
so I can't do as much cake as I would
like to. But you put a brownie in front of me. Now,
(17:25):
when I say brownie, y'all nothing brownies, y'all be making
little stuff in there, but clear but.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Regular Okay, Yeah, give me the center. Okay, the center
brownie ice cream?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, And then I'm there. And and I like licorice,
big licorice, Yeah, licorice, the little gummy bears, sour patch kids.
My Dennis hates me steal listeners like why you tell
everybody you gonna be were so? Yeah, I'm a simple gal.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I'm from Saint Louis. I like barbecue. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So having had barbecue in Saint Louis and in Atlanta,
is it the same? Is it different? Discuss tell us?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah, here we go. I gotta rip from up people now.
So in Saint Louis, you know, we we we like
it is about the meat, you know, And then I
think it's about the meat here. But if y'all boiling
ribs and putting sauce on it, I'm not saying y'all
doing that, but some people that some people do. You know,
you gotta marinate your meat and you clean it, you
(18:37):
gotta you gotta marinate it. And my father would marinate
pork pork states are pork steaks are real big in
Saint Louis. And he would marinate them in in coffee,
Vold's coffee and mandarin oranges, and then he put them
on that put him on the grill. Then he throw
(18:58):
some eggplant because he knew I had to eat some.
Was like, you got to eat your vegetables like egg plant.
It ain't no pork steak. But so yeah, and in
the sauce, Saint Louis's we're big on sauce too. They
a whole lot, but you just need enough just to
give it that nice little And I think in Saint
Louis too, we're more of a sweet sauce. Like in
(19:19):
Texas they like that that they're good on the dry
rub And yeah, they don't really do Yeah, y'all don't
really do sauce in Texas, but y'all do barbecue, y'all grilled.
There's a difference between barbecue and grilling. So and in
North Carolina they do a lot of that mustard and mustard, yeah,
which is it's not bad. But and then rib tips
(19:42):
are big. I think here in the South, y'all like tips,
but we do, you know, Saint Louis style pork ribs,
So y'all love Saint Louis. Like, I can't eat pork
a lot, but I can throw some chicken on there.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I enjoy swine on spec occasions. I think that's nice.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
If you get a chicken, if you go to the store,
I'm not gonna mich just no chicken. Is this the
chicken breast that's this big? Don't get that. Ain't no
chicken that big. Y'all. Your wings should be little. If
your wings like this is a problem. I'm just saying,
I ain't gonna get like Oprah with the beef and
get sued, right, But farmers' markets are usually gonna have
(20:22):
you know, or my dad we used to go. We
used to go straight to the barn to get the
dog meat. I mean straight to the like after the
dog had had his last rites read to him by
the priest. Yeah wow, yeah, So we used to you know,
picking greens and snapping peas. Now y'all know about snapping peas, yes,
(20:43):
and making hot water skilled corner bread hot water. You
know about some hot water corn bread? Speak about it
with some crackling in there. There you go.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
It took me to a place.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
And and neck bones as neck bones with some with
some butter beans.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
I don't know where we're going to go to church today,
but I think for bringing that to us, I thank
you for bringing that.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
No, that's that's how I grew up so and I'm
proud of it. Oh. I love that I got the thighs.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Listen, listen, earned earned. Okay, tell us your favorite Atlanta eats.
I'm really curious about this ros because you get to
experience quite a few things around the city, like where
(21:36):
your a few we know you can't name all your favorites,
of course, but a few places that you would say,
are you you're stomping grounds?
Speaker 3 (21:44):
So vegetarian, Yeah, twisted. So it's a chef Deboraventary's placed
very good. I'm digging the bomb biscuit, and of course
both of them were just added to the Michelin recommendations.
But I want to get my any type of Korean
(22:06):
inspired and I just go up be fry Away and
pick a spot. Yeah you know, I'm not gonna mention
barbecue because I will get in trouble rights. They'll be
at my door with baseball bats. No, we don't need
you say my spot. You be over there every day.
I'm like a rod.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
I get you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
So it was a good eat, So I like it. Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I know you're a hip hop fan all day, and
I too am a hip hop fan. And I feel
there's a question that used to be asked. That's that
was your You were going to a new school, you're
starting a new job, you're just meeting some people. There
was a time where that's the first thing you want
to know, is what's your top five MC's. People don't
(22:49):
people don't ask this question as much anymore. And I
want to put a parenthetical note, that's because there's you know,
there's not as many great MC's there used to be.
But anyways, that part, anyways, I want to hear your
your top five What would you say in no particular order, yes,
of course.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
So uh KRS one, Chuck d NAS MC light and
it's like three people at number five, okay, uh l
l Andre three thousand and rock Kim. Yeah that's that.
(23:25):
That that's the starting five with some you know people
coming off the bench and then can't get get my
other ones. So I was mad at him for a while.
But you know ice Cube because Cube Cube got float Man,
you got crazy. He's just talking crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
He is right now, right now, you know?
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, jay Z yeah Method, Yeah, that's my dude right there.
Pop you know. And and do y'all know who Jane
Gray is? Yeah? Yeah, oh Jean Bo so underrated, so underrated,
but yeah Gene got some snappache born yeah, Arry she
(24:06):
got some. And then you know Mama Man from the Locks,
Jada Jada Jada Jadabe killing people man.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So yeah, I like that. These are these are these
are good votes. Do you have newer or new ish
hip hop artists that you love? Do you have any
that stand out to you?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I want to put Eminem on that list too, that
backward because as he that boy got crazy. Uh you
know what I mean? I mean, I try not to
be like my dad when hip hop came out or
you know, because because what he said to me though,
he said, you know, if you're gonna do this, Because
Grandmaster flashed the message, I was like, oh, this is
he said. I want you to listen to these cast
(24:51):
even last poets, So the last poets Gil Scott here. Okay,
So I don't want to be I don't understand these
young people's music. I don't understand these young what they're saying.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, it's a struggle.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
I don't know. My my nephew loves Kodak Black, and
you know, I hope you're listening, dude, what you're talking about.
I mean, you know, I'm trying to go. I'm trying
to I'm trying to flow with you. I don't know.
And I like Kendrick obviously, I like J Cole, I
like Rhapsody, But I mean I like the independence of
(25:39):
what people like Meg and Cardi are doing. I don't
necessarily really I'm not their target audience, and that's fine,
but I you know, I love it. Let them be them,
you know, because there's always a certain set of standards,
separate set of standards for the women. You know, I
don't have daughter, I have nieces, so I may not
(26:02):
want them to listen to some of this stuff until
they are, you know, older, because they already their influencers.
Let's be really clear. But also it's up to the
parents to say that. My dad said, I'm not with
n w A, but if you want to listen to it,
that's fine, but also said you're gonna listen to something else.
Now I think that's okay, you know. Now, them them
city girls, I had to grab a Bible to listen
(26:24):
to them.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Is this legal?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Is this moral? And I'm I'm kidding now, But they
got art and I want them to be themselves, you know,
but let them be, you know, because look when Little
Kim came, we was like, God, damn Little Kim, Yeah,
do it. But I grew up with like Ryan Queen
and Salt and Pepper and Sequence, you know, and and
(26:49):
and Yo yo. She said, don't play with me. So
I want them to because they'll eventually they'll they'll grow
away from that. I mean, we all do, right, So
I'm not gonna be one of these people. I wish
hip hop would still embrace its roots, you know, because
it was about matter of fact. Imcyl like told me this.
(27:09):
I interviewed her right around the corner over there in
Studio three. She said, you know, EMCs are like street journalists,
you know, telling the story. And some of these folks
they ain't telling their story. They're just telling something. And
I don't want to knock that. But you know, hip
hop was about to start as community, you know what's
(27:32):
happening with us, and it also having a good time.
But I realized, you know, things are different, and also
what's happening, you know, if it's police brutality, you know,
HIV aids. I mean, we had artists that we're talking
about that, so I get it. I just would hope
that it comes back a little bit, you know, and
then some of this the violence that is around it.
(27:53):
I mean, we don't need that. And when you start
making money, It's what Jeezi talked about. You know, you're
making money, you know, you need to leave all that alone.
I said the same thing, leave all that alone, right
and and and then take it give it back to
the community. I think some of these these guys that
were and women that were former street pharmacists, especially during
(28:19):
the crack epidemic, I hope that they can give back
to the community because we need centers, resource centers, drug
abuse centers, substances ordered centers to because we're still dealing
with the effect of y'all selling that crap in our neighborhoods.
I get it. You know, weren't no uber wre, no
door dash. I think there were other ways. But now
(28:42):
that you've made your money and you'll come up and
give it back to the people, y'all move out, which
is fine, but give back. Do something you know won't
need no boom of warbershops. Well, if that's what you got, okay,
find but do something because you know we we we
helped you make it.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
So yeah, I'm in agreement with all of all of
the top that you named. I always have honorable mention
for Black Thought, Okay, I enjoy It's like if there
were a most consistent MC award, like black Thought falls
in that category for me that I'm like, I really,
I really can't think of a bad verse like I
(29:20):
love jay Z and I can think of a couple
of bad verses.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I think of a whole bad songs. I mean, jay
Z was missogyns. I mean, look a lot of them were.
I'm not knocking I get it. Yeah, I'm not I'm
not knocking that because at least jay Z was talking
about his truth at that time, right, But jay Z
ain't talking about that now. And that's what other artist
should understand too, that that that is your template, that's
(29:44):
your model right there. Good Queen Latin. Some people don't
even know Queen Latifa came out with ladies first, that part.
They just think, oh, she actually black queen. No queen,
He's just spit that far, you know. Yeah, she said,
who you calling the bitch? I was like, hell, yeah, she.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Had the koofie. That was a time.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
That was the time.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
I love it, love that for her, and I like you.
I'm trying. I'm trying not to become a hip hop curmudgeon.
I'm trying not to do that. But there is like
an era of it that I love very much, and
so I try to be about there's like a my
hip hop category that I don't get to decide what
is hip hop because hip hop is so broad and
(30:26):
has grown so much now. But I can say this
falls within my hip hop and that's the beauty of it. Yeah,
because everyone, I mean, you got different generations here, so
everyone can say, look, this is my hip hop. This
is my experience, this is my path, this is encapsulates
what was happening in my community or for me, and
that's okay.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, because eighty years from now, you know, people be
looking at, oh, what was going on when jay Z
was popping or you know, rock him or Kodak Black,
Kodak Man. If you listen, I'm trying to work with bro.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I just want to understand what you mean.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, but you be talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I'm normally not a new person who not a person
who listens to new music. And I actually got you
know how, like on the Apple Music app, they'll have
like a playlist that's like you can listen to new
music that's out now. So when CARTI was first coming out,
I actually decided I was gonna hate listen to this
new music playlist and I was like, let me listen
to this so I can decide what I don't like
about this. And then Bodak Yellow came on and I
(31:26):
was like, SIS said, I don't got to dance, so
I got money now, I got money shoes.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
That's her truth.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Right there.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Like to day she was like, I pay for these
teeth and it wasn't cheap. It wasn't cheap. It cost
me money to get these teeth.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
That's her truth. I got no problem with that.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
So I'm trying. I'm trying, Rose, I too, am trying
to take in a new artist every three years.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
And you better than me.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
My limitations.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
Because my nephew will send me stuff. You like this person,
I'm be like, noa, now send him something. Do you
like this person? They could He don't want to admit that.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
You know that he might like it, and he might like,
like I sent him some x Klan.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
He's like, oh, they're coming hard. Yeah, I seen him
some poor righteous teachers.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Oh man. He was like, Damn, I can't. I can't
counter that. Said, No, you can't counter with that. You
gonna count that nobody. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I have always thought, because I shared a birthday with
Buster Rhymes, that if I could have an MC do
do a verse about me, I feel like I would
choose Buster because we share a birthday. That just seems
like it would make sense. Maybe he can make the
whole thing rhyme based on a mina, you know, like
he did some of his other verses. If you could
have an MC rap a verse about you, who would
(32:57):
you choose? Oh?
Speaker 3 (32:59):
Without a doubt it would It would be MC like yeah, yeah,
it would be like yeah because she gets me as
a woman, as a black woman, and and yeah no,
I just say do what you gotta do. Yeah, I
would love to hear that, MC like, we know you
listen in second, it's gonna surprise some people. Second. Too short, Yo,
(33:21):
I got too short.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I'm interested. I'm interested in this because.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
I got too short sided. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
I'm interested in this road, you know, I want to
know about this too short. I don't know if you're listening,
but too short. We want to hear this. We want
to hear this, Rose Sky versuuse. I will admit Rose,
you know I had a chance to hear too short
live at one music fest here in Atlanta, and it
really does clear the lungs when you can just say
(33:51):
those words with too short, you know, just just being
there and just out into the air. What's my favorite word?
I mean, wow, that's a time.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
Rose.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
I can see why you would want him to be
to be the one there.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
And I like short because you know, he's like, I'm
not a good ropper. I'm just I'm just I'm just
I'm your nephew, And this is what we're talking about.
You know, Too Short is that guy you playing spades
the dominoes with and then he just gonna you do something.
You're just gonna snap on you and then come with
a line and y'all go, have you know a forty
or something like that. So yeah, you know, and and
(34:26):
I'm able to criticize to some of the other stuff
they talk about.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
You know, but we're looking for this Rose Scott mixtape
where you curate you know, where like you know, sort
of like you could be the Kalid of that, where
like you bring these artists together to make the songs
you have decided. I'm I want you to know we're
awaiting that because this sounds very fascinating. I mean, Too
Short an mc light right there on the same album
(34:50):
that just sounds it sounds like the thing Rose I
want you to consider.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
Okay, you know, and Nellie's my homeboys from Saint Louis,
you know, so I got a fun side too. I
like to dance and party and all that. So I
can bring Nelly in for that. Because one thing about
Nelly again being true, you know, he wasn't trying to
come and say I'm this and that that song Country Grammar,
y'all seeing that video, I swear to half my cousins
in that video, I'm like, ain't that little bit daughter?
(35:18):
Ain't that so and so went to you? He kept
it real, you know? So, yeah, I can shows some
love for Nelly.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Last question for me, and then we'll take a couple
of questions from the crowd. As a journalist, you have
to and take in a lot of stories. Some of
them are heartwarming, some of them are heartbreaking. Also, how
do you keep joy in your life? What would you
what would you say is bringing you joy at this
(35:48):
season of life.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
The fact that I got through the pandemic and everything
else with that, with the social injustice rallies and cover
in that and the protests which were justified's be really clear,
polarizing politics which were crazy. But I had a lot
of grief during that time. From the end of twenty
(36:13):
nineteen through twenty twenty one, I lost my brother to
drug overdose. Then five months later my sister died. My
great uncle died and he was one hundred and two.
So he's ready to go. He's like, I'm out, y'all
got this pandemic, this wasn't. I wasn't ready for this,
so he just went to sleep, said I'm gone. We
(36:34):
was good with that. Lost some very good friends, and
then I had to put both my cats down, my
cat of twenty one years, she was a Siamese and
my main coon was fifteen. And it's like all this grief,
and I kept working through all of this right upstairs
in the studio for WABE where we're recording this podcast.
(36:57):
And I'll never do that again. I will never sacrifice
my mental health for my job. I ain't never doing
that shit again. But for me at the time, it
was like I got to get through this. And I
remember I found out my sister had passed twenty minutes
before I was to go on air, and I just
(37:18):
I don't remember the segment, you know, I just got
through it. And then I got home and I just cried.
And by the grace of some good girls. You always
gotta have good girlfriends, good boyfriends or whatever. You got
to have that, because you know, without them I probably
(37:38):
wouldn't have it was it was tough, it was rough,
but I should have taken time away from this job,
and I didn't do that. And then nobody was checking
really on the journalists, especially the black journalists. Nobody was saying,
how y'all getting through this? When you see you see
someone that looks like you from your community dying, And
(37:58):
you know, we've seen the video old cell phone for
stuff before, but George Floyd was so different. I'maut Aubrey.
You know Ray Sharp Brooks, you know Breonna Taylor, you
know you're constantly taking all this in and these are
these are your people?
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (38:13):
And then the pandemic and then who was early on
what communities were being greatly affected? There was a dispairy.
It was reural communities, poor communities, black and brown community.
So he got that going on. And so it was
an assister that I can't remember her name. I would
love to give her proper credit. She wrote up in
the New York Times about black journalist are not okay?
(38:37):
And I like retweeted it or posted it. And then
finally someone I went to college with, actually he worked
in sports information when I was in college. We worked together.
His name was Tom James. He just tweeted, Hey, Rose,
how you doing? And that meant the world for me
to me because nobody asked me how I was doing.
(38:58):
Nobody said what do you need? And so then as
I started to open up a little bit more and
my friends were like, hey, what can we do? And
I remember Gigi, she called me and she said, how
you doing. You didn't sound like yourself. She was listening
to the show and I was like, Gig, it's rough.
(39:19):
And she sent a wheen of those edible bouquets like
chocolate covered pineapples and bananas and all that and strawberries,
and she came up with a bottle of Puerto Rican rum.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Love to see it.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Now. I'm not saying that's how you deal with your issues,
but god, damn it, God, we dealt with it that
night and do the work and so but you know,
just just friends, you know, some really good friends. It
was just like, what do you need? We're here, and
I should I should have taken time. But I'll never
do that again because I think if I ever deal
with something like that again, it's gonna kill me right right,
(39:54):
And no job is worth that. Yeah, m hmm, yeah,
no job right now was bringing me joys And I
got through that and I'm I'm okay, I'm still you know,
still working things out with the universe about all this
death you know, lost some very good friends. But we're
gonna work it out.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, thank you, Rose,
Thank you. I want to take a couple of questions.
We have time for maybe two or three questions. If
anyone in the audience has good you can you can
say it out loud. I will also say it here
on the microphone, so we'll have it for the recording.
Anybody questions for Rose about snacks, anything? Yes, what you got?
Speaker 4 (40:35):
Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to make concise things. You got
to repeat it. You were able to win Emmy talking
about very sensitive subject with steering and refugees in Jordans
a few years ago.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
What advice would you give.
Speaker 4 (40:56):
To journalists today covering similar topics in a media environment
that has put a lot of more controls on what
people can and can't say.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
Well, I think if you are working for an outlet
that is trying to control what you say or the
images that you all disseminate or show, I think you
need to reevaluate who you're working for. But I get
what you're saying. When I went to the Middle East
(41:30):
in twenty thirteen to cover the Serian refugees, I was
covering how care the Atlanta Organization here was helping them.
It's about people. Y'all can argue all day about policy
and politics, who's wrong, who's right. I'm talking about when
people are suffering, you know, and they have nothing to do,
(41:53):
or they are the consequences of the unintended or maybe
sometimes intended consequences of a greater issue.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
I'm in I'm always interested in the human story and
the human side of this. And you talk to a
woman who left Syria with six kids. Her husband his
arm was for I mean, he lost his arm in
a bomb blast and he bled out in the back
bedroom because there was no hospital to get him to
(42:24):
and she she still hadn't told the kids. By the
time I interviewed her, they still thought daddy was coming home.
That story, That's what people need to hear. Y'all can
argue y'all day about the government and all that, but
these are human lives here, So I'm trying to do
it with respect. I'm not trying to get her to
(42:46):
say something. And also in that instance, I'm with a translator.
So what was interesting about that trip was I had
interviewed another woman who fled with her daughter and first
of I was a sixteen hour flight from I had
to go to Chicago. From there to Ma and Jordan
straight and it's like seven eight hours different. So I
(43:07):
was tired the entire week. And I'm in this woman's
home and she says something and the translator laughs and
looks at me, and I was like, what she said.
She said, the American looks tired. So I'm gonna make
coffee for her. So she was worried about me. Wow,
she didn't have she had lost everything, you know. And
(43:28):
then I get a text from somebody in my family
they need a new phone. I'm like, no, let's put
things in perspective here. So in covering some sensitive or
complex or just tough issues or stories, what have you. You know,
my approach is to be respectful, to get what I can,
(43:52):
you know, to get the information I can do the interviews,
it's gonna be tough, and if I need to check
out at some point, I'm gonna check out. If it's
too much, you gotta disconnect, you know. The human traffic,
the sex traffing story, we made the center of that.
The core of that documentary was about a young woman
(44:16):
who was forced into it at the age of twelve
by somebody at her church, and so I wanted Keisha
to tell her story. And we did that interview right
over there in Studio A, and she said, no one
ever asked me my story. So we let her story
kind of guide the rest of the documentary, you know,
(44:40):
depending on what it is. Sometimes you have to really plan. Okay,
just get this voice, get this voice, get this voice,
get that. But then also sometimes if something's missing, I say, well,
there's got to be a human interest in here somewhere
who we missing, and let them tell their story, you know.
And there are times where I like, I had to
you know what, I'm sitting with the editor. It's just
for the documentary. I was like, you know what, I
(45:01):
can't anymore. I know we're on deadline, but I'm tearing up.
I cry. I'm human, I get emotional like everybody else.
So I have to disc I know, I have a
job to do. But when it comes to disconnect, disconnect,
then I go put on some meta Simone or Tupac
or whatever you know, led Zeppslin, whatever I gotta do
to you know, get through the night, and I come
(45:22):
back at it in the morning. I hope, I answered
your question.
Speaker 5 (45:25):
All right, Yeah, so this is actually kind of a
tough question for me.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
I'm Muslim, and uh a lot of places where I
I value the news we're covering Israel, you know, in
a light that was it was really tough to watch
the places that I you know, I respect.
Speaker 5 (45:55):
I can imagine I think, well, well, so what my
question is is what is your suggestion on how people
should navigate this type of stuff? Because even places that
you feel are safe for you to kind of ingest
what they're giving you, you realize that like they're driven
(46:16):
by you know, finances things like that. So what would
you suggest is a good solution for people to always
kind of stay on your toes, you know, as far
as the news cycle or.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Of the consumer in terms of the consumer or you know,
I look, I love America in a sense, but we
don't own the pat and know the rights to credible news, right,
you know, I mainstream media. You know, it's always interesting
(46:50):
in me to see how other international outlets cover things
in America. So I use that same approach to something
that was happening with Israel, and you know, I suggest
seek out other outlets. I'm gonna I think the BBC
has done a pretty good job. I think Reuters has
(47:11):
done a pretty good job. I don't think all of
the American based outlets are doing a very good job.
Look the wars between Israel and Hamas, all right, and
(47:32):
I think it's unfair to go after people if they're
echoing Christ for peace or echoing Christ to please be
so some humanity towards the Palestinians who are not the terrorists.
I think people have a right to say that's how
(47:53):
they feel, and they and they also at the same
time say we feel for these fourteen for these fourteen
hundred people that have been murdered by the Hamas right now.
Do we know the history of all that, Yeah, but
for right now, people are being killed, and people are
are the consequences of this and if you can't try
(48:14):
to work towards some type of peaceful resolution, because let's
be really clear about this, Israel has a very forceful
military and they should just like the US, right, hamasink
got no chance. But who's to say that you are
going to wipe all of them out? There has got
(48:35):
to be I'm not smart enough to know, well, I
have an opinion. I ain't gonna tell you I'm not
smart enough to know with the how they can come
together in terms of but there has to be a way.
There has to be a way because people are being murdered,
people and kids are being killed. There has to be
a way figure that shit out. There has to be
a way. And I don't want anybody being murdered, right.
(49:00):
You know, I lost my brother in the line of
My brother was murdered. He was a police officer, killed
a line of duty. So I know what that pain
is like to lose somebody, and to lose someone in
an act of violence. So I feel because we shouldn't
lump all Muslims under one umbrerother just like we do
with black folk and brown folk and white folks. You know,
(49:26):
And I wish I had the answer to tell you
that you could go here and magically you'll get all
the you'll get what you want to hear. Because let's
be clear too, people turn to the news because they
figure like they have their favorite news outlets, because they
want to hear what they want to hear. Most people, right,
Folks that watch Fox want to hear that. Folks that
(49:47):
watch the MSNBC, and they gonna hear that. You know,
my job where I am is I'm not trying to
tell you what to think of how to think, but
I do want to get something to think about. And
I'm gonna be fair about it, you know, And it
is is it complex? And covering this it can be
(50:08):
if you're not going to thoroughly come from a place
where you're really trying to see. Sometimes a story is
not the story. And what I mean by that is
we have this bigger story right with Israel and Mosity
and and Palestine.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
But I'm also interested in how are folks trying to
navigate through all of this. That's a story for me.
How are you navigating through this as someone who's Jewish,
as someone who's Muslim, as someone who's that can y'all
come together and work together as a and for the
good of the community. That's a story to me. That's
what I'm interested in. But if y'all want to argue
(50:48):
that my platform ain't that, ain't they ain't what we're doing.
I have a very powerful platform. I admit that it
took me a while to really kind of understand that
I have a very powerful platform. I'm not gonna misuse
it to attack anybody or to get people to think
one way or the other. That's not what y'all need
(51:09):
from me. So, yeah, answer your question. Did I ask
your question? Okay, all right, last one?
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Yeah, who or what influenced you to.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
Want to journalism? That's a great question. So when I
was six years old, so my dad used to listen
to Cardinals baseball games on the radio because back in
the day, believe it or not, folks really loved listening
to games on radio. And there was a guy, say
Louis named Jack Buck. Loved Jack Buck. I'm a big
Cardinals fan. I mean, Braid's all right, but you know,
(51:43):
I look, I'm gonna rep Cardinals till I die, all right,
So I would hear Jack Buck. My dad would. My
dad would sit on the porch listen to the game.
We can have the TV on in the house. He
turned volume down and he turned on the radio because
he wanted to hear Jack Buck. Jack Buck was a
noun answer, and I was fascinated by how he would
(52:03):
just have my daddy hooked. Like I could get twenty
dollars for my dad. Dad, give me twenty dollars, I'd
go to white Castle. Here you go, cause he in
tuned the game. I I lost it. But anyway, so
I was I loved radio and I loved news and information.
You know, before the Jeffersons came on, I had to
watch sixty Minutes. I was like man or good Times
or whatever. So I watched the news. So Jack Buck
(52:27):
was an influence because while he could control this, his
anything around him coming out of this box. And I
used to take the antenna, remember radios at the antenna,
and I would pretend like I was broadcasting. I was
so cute. And then I watched sixty Minutes. I saw
these folks interviewing people. I saw an interview with the
(52:47):
Shaw of Iran. I was like, oh cool, you know,
interviewing all these people. And as I got older, I
knew I wanted to be a journalist.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (52:57):
I didn't really know about NPR UNTI a little bit later,
but I wanted to go into sports too. And so
when ESPN came about and Robin Roberts, and I was like, okay,
I'm gonna be like Robin Roberts. And then I actually
wrote to her. Wow. And and when I graduated from college,
I knew I was coming to Atlanta and knew I
was gonna get here. But I knew I was. I
(53:19):
was coming to Atlanta. I knew the Olympics were here,
and I wrote to her and I was like, I
want to come to Atlanta and she wrote me back.
She's like, Rose, Atlanta is a great place. There are
a lot of people that can help you, because she
had been here. But she said, the key is to
surround yourself with people who are willing to help you.
And that's a big difference. So you know Jack Buck,
(53:42):
Robin Roberts, Gwyneiffel, who is a big sheer of mine,
but also two people who were not in the industry,
Tony Morrison. I was a big fan, Argie Lord. I
used to read their stuff, Langston Hughes because that was
that that kept me in my blackness, because like, if
I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna stay blackly black, black,
black period, very black, so black every day, every every day,
(54:07):
unapologetic all the time. That's great, except when you go
to Alaska and.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
I'm just kidding, right, one last one, what you got.
Speaker 3 (54:16):
With all this heavy information that you receive all the time,
how do you take care of yourself? Another good question.
I disconnect, Like I said, you know, I'll come home
and I might put on the cartoon Network or may
not put anything, and I do. Look, I work in
this space, so I get the alerts from AP and
all that. But I'll disconnect. I'll go for walks, I'll
(54:39):
ride my bike, I'll hang out with friends, my dog,
sit my friends pets. I'm going on a trip. I'm
going to Ghana in a few months. So and sometimes
I just sit in silence and just listen to the universe.
I know that sounds very cerebral and all, you know,
cameing me ot and incense and all that shit, but
(55:03):
it's real that that's how I disconnect because it is
You're right, it's it's a lot of heaviness, and you
know you can't you can't let that. If it gets
to a point where it's draining on you, then you
gotta do something. Go do something else. I go, you know,
I'll go raise you know, Lamas or something like that.
But I'm not there yet. But I think I'm I
(55:25):
think I got maybe maybe six more years maybe, but
I'm gonna go do something else. Yeah, I ain't y'all
the future let the next folks do. And I just
hope I'm I'm leaving a pathway for them to be
better and do bigger and better things, for our industry
(55:46):
to really play a pivotal role because the power of
a free press and democracy go hand in hand. Yeah,
let's make about that.
Speaker 1 (55:58):
Give it up for God.
Speaker 3 (56:06):
Thanks, you got it? What an y'all?
Speaker 1 (56:11):
Her with Amina Brown is produced by Matt Owen for
Solbrophe Productions as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast
Network in partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening and don't
forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.