Discover the raw edges where culture and competition collide, as I, Chad Sanders, guide you through an analysis of Jerrod Carmichael's entry into reality TV, the game recap of LSU v IOWA, and Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album.
Tune in Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12PM ET to watch the show live on Youtube. Follow @chadsand on Instagram and subscribe to the Nothing But Anarchy Youtube channel for full interviews and more anarchy!
Executive Produced by: Chad Sanders
Produced by: Morgan Williams
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Nothing but Anarchy.
I am Chad Sanders.
Gotta remind you, if you'rewatching on YouTube, wherever
you're watching, like subscribe,go follow me at Instagram, at
Chad Sand.
You probably already do ifyou're listening to this, but
all right, let's get to it.
We have a bunch of stuff totalk about today.
Today we're going to talk aboutthe Jared Carmichael show or is
(00:33):
it, gerard?
I don't know?
Lsu versus UConn, the women'sgame that was played last night,
and among a few other thingsLSU versus Iowa.
Wow, that was a lie LSU versusIowa as well as USC versus UConn
.
Okay, so here's where we'restarting.
We are starting with the GerardCarmichael reality show.
(00:54):
To give context to this, foranyone who has not been familiar
with Gerard Carmichael, who hasnot been familiar with Gerard
Carmichael, anybody who does notknow what Gerard Carmichael
does which that was me about, Iguess, two years ago.
I had heard the name.
I knew that he had a sitcomthat he created that featured
(01:19):
Lil Rel, among others, which Ibelieve was self-titled the
Gerard Carmichael Show, amongothers, which I believe was
self-titled the GerardCarmichael Show.
I knew that he was vaguely likeone of the what's the way to say
(01:39):
this of intellectually andartistically accepted Black
folks that and when I sayaccepted, I mean accepted by
(02:11):
white people as such who areseen as being able to exist in
circles of black art and TV andmedia, et cetera, but who have,
who are seen as beingintellectual, who are seen as
being, you know, creativelyinspired, on the edge, et cetera
, by white people, like they'rethe kinds of black people who
white people know, especially inNew York City and Los Angeles,
and they're the kind of blackpeople who white people know,
especially in New York City andLos Angeles and they're the kind
of black people who whitepeople will follow.
And you know what?
I think I'm one of those typesof people.
(02:33):
To be honest with you,different black artists who
exist in that realm, especiallysomeone with as big a profile as
this guy, have different waysthat they either steer into or
away from that place of standingRight.
(02:54):
It's like do you?
Somebody asked me recently doyou think you get to choose who
your audience is?
And that was them reflecting tome on watching the armchair
expert audience, for instance,gravitate toward me and, by
their point of view, I was beingcoy or being a little bit
(03:15):
flippant about accepting thataudience or even accepting that
sort of community at large,community at large.
And my answer to that questionwas I guess somebody could
choose their own audience.
But I personally feel like whatI want to do is do what is
(03:35):
exciting and inspiring to me andwhat feels like something
that's good that I should beputting out and see who that
attracts, and then continue todo that process over and over
and over again.
And so you know I have talkedad nauseum about what my
audience looks like.
But this guy's audience jerrodcarmichael, I think, judging by
(03:57):
his having a show on hbo maxwhich features him as the main
character, as the centralcharacter, um, judging by the
response to his stand-upRothaniel, which was, among
other things, his telling thestory of his own coming out of
the closet, his own presentinghimself to his family and the
(04:19):
world as gay gay, judging bywhat I see in his appearances on
(04:48):
, you know, his appearances onJimmy Kimmel or Seth Meyers or
any one of the white boy latenight standup shows.
I see someone who, as I see it,is steering into but sort of
the East and West Coastliberal-leaning art snob world
(05:11):
that is mostly inhabited bywhite folks.
And then this thing came out,this special came out.
It's not a special, it is a.
I guess I would call it aseries.
It's supposed to be a realityseries and it is called the
Gerard Carmichael reality show.
(05:32):
It came out a few days ago.
I want to say it came out onThursday, no, friday night, 11
PM, that's when episodes air,only one episode.
And I was home over the weekendin Maryland.
I was at my parents' house.
My mom was actually out of town, so it was me and my dad
hanging out.
For the first time in forever.
I did not watch this with mydad, just to be clear, but I did
(05:54):
watch it in my childhoodbedroom on my cell phone.
That way, because when I foundout about this show and the
premise of it, when I watchedthe trailer and the premise of
it, as far as I can tell, itlooks like Dracar Michael taking
(06:18):
a camera to himself, as he putit, truman showing himself to
tell the story of what he isactually going through right now
(06:40):
, as someone who has recentlyouted himself, unaccepted by his
family, unaccepted by hismother, unaccepted by his father
, treated like someone who isnot just saying to the people
around him I'm queer, buttreated by someone who is saying
, treated by them, as someonewho is saying there's something
wrong with me, wrong with me,and their response to that is to
(07:12):
say in a fraught way uh, welove you anyway, even though
this thing about you is broken,and we're going to pray for you
and we're going to hope that Godwill heal you from this thing
that is broken about you, whichis your queerness, which is how
you, you know, how you aresexually oriented.
Okay, that is me doing my bestto like, sort of frame the setup
of this show.
That's my.
That's me doing my best to,without entering my own
(07:34):
criticism or my own you know howI see it um, into what the show
is.
So I turn on the first episode.
The first episode is called theEmmys and it is chronicling him.
It's a good title.
There are several tricks playedin the pilot episode of this
thing to get you as the audienceto stay and to tune in in the
(08:00):
first place.
One is the title the Emmys.
It's a sexy title.
We know.
People know that he won an Emmyfor, for his special rothaniel.
People know that he, um, Ithink did he host the emmys.
It was either the emmys or thegolden globes.
Do you know the answer to that,morgan?
Which one it was?
I think it was the golden globesyeah, um, it's a sparkly title
(08:22):
and it and I watched this thingtwice.
I watched it once by myself andthen I watched it again with
Tim a couple days ago.
And right at the beginning youare pulled into this storyline,
which is him getting ready to goto the Emmys.
But it's not actually just himgetting ready to go to the Emmys
him revealing who his friend is, that he mentions in his
(08:49):
special rothamiel, who he hasunrequited love for.
So, said differently, he is inlove with someone that is a
close friend of his.
That person does not, is not inlove with him.
And he reveals who that is andis tyler the creator, which
again is a pilot choice, Iimagine, one that he chose when
he was trying to sell this thingto hbo max, which is when you
(09:11):
go sell a series, you got totell them what's in the pilot,
you got to tell them how thething starts, and it's very
buzzy and it's very sexy to sayI'm gonna have tyler the creator
in that first episode.
That's my friend and I'm alsogoing to drop this bomb on him,
whether or not he knows, beforewe actually start filming or not
, that I'm in love with him andwe're going to get up to speed
(09:34):
throughout the episode on howTyler, the creator, is
responding to that.
Okay, this is a fucking mouthful.
I'm trying to describe to youguys something that has a lot
going on and I'm realizing, like, if you are not familiar with
these characters or the setup orthe premise of this show, like
what I'm spitting at you rightnow might sound confusing,
(09:56):
partially because I am still alittle bit disoriented by this
show.
The show is supposed to be areality show.
The show is supposed to be areality show.
It's supposed to be like noteven just a reality show, but
like the Truman Showspecifically, which is one of my
favorite movies.
Which is to say, I am trying topresent to you objective truth
(10:17):
about what's going on with meand what's going on with him, as
far as I can tell in the show,is this person is hurting.
This person is probablyexperiencing depression.
This person is experiencingisolation.
This person is alsoexperimenting with his newly I
(10:39):
don't even want to call itexperiencing he is expressing
his newly self-outed queerness,which is to say he's on Grindr
throughout the episode.
He's got guys coming over tohis house throughout the episode
.
They sort of allude to sexthat's happening at his
apartment.
They show you in intimatesettings with some of the guys
that are coming through and andthis part was very buzzy on the
(11:02):
internet they show this niggasucking on somebody's toe on the
couch as a part of this episode.
Um, and there's something to be.
There's something else to berepresented here which is like
Tyler the creator is.
I mean, if you don't know whohe is, you can Google him in a
(11:23):
heartbeat.
He is a very brown-skinnedblack man, very in my opinion.
He is stereotypically masculinein a lot of ways, like of an
athletic build.
He is very alpha in how hemoves and how he walks around,
like he is braggadocious.
(11:43):
He is arrogant in in hispersona.
Um, fantastic, in my opinion.
Fantastic rapper, smart,successful, rich, etc.
Whatever.
Um, and like I said at thebeginning of all of it, a very,
very much a black man.
I want to say I don't even needto say I want to say it's so
(12:05):
that every other guy thatappears in the special as dating
sexual partner, whateversomebody who's coming through
for Gerard Carmichael is a verylight-skinned, either white or
Latin dude.
(12:25):
They all kind of like fit acharacter mold and he pokes fun
at himself in the special bysaying you know that he's going
to go find himself, like I thinkhe says, like a Mexican twink,
(12:48):
like, like, like a fuckingsteamroll through a bunch of
things that are said in termsthat I was not even familiar
with before watching this.
So forgive me if I'm sayingsomething, um, something that I
just don't understand because Idon't know.
I still don't know what a twinkis.
I've only ever heard the wordtwink used in this special.
So, morgan, do you want to tellme what a twink is?
You're smiling.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Well one.
I don't know if it's somethingthat straight people can really
say.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I've only heard gay men use it in reference to each
other, but I don't really knowthe direct definition, but it's
very commonly used.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, okay.
So you don't know what it means.
It is commonly okay.
So you don't know what it means.
It is commonly used.
I don't know what it means andyou don't know if I can say it.
So great work by us.
Okay, let me continue because,fuck, this is a lot of fucking
setup.
I'm done with setup.
If you guys just don't watch it, I'm done setting it up.
I gotta say what I gotta sayhere.
I've used 20 minutes of setup.
(13:44):
It's fine.
I think it was pretty goodsetup.
All right.
This is what happened.
I watched it.
I got texts from friends whodon't normally text me about TV
being like yo, did you watchthis?
And I think that's because itmade them feel something.
I think it's because they knewfor sure it would make me feel
(14:05):
something.
They knew I would be curious.
They knew I want to see what'sup with this thing because I
have.
When I watch this person, timsays to me in the car we're
driving in the car down toMaryland and I'm driving.
He's in the passenger seat.
He's reading from his phone.
He says oh shit, gerardCarmichael and I was like oh
(14:30):
damn.
I was like damn.
He's going to tell me somethingterrible happened to Gerard
Carmichael and what he actuallysaid was his show is out.
That's how I found out that theshow was out, but I had the
knee jerk reaction to the nameand the tone that I think a lot
of people are having right nowto Gerard Carmichael as a
presence, which is this personlooks troubled.
This person looks like he isself-chronicling.
(14:55):
His demise feels a little toointense, but maybe just like his
misery, his spin out in someways.
And I, while watching, had thisquestion for myself several
(15:16):
times and then, after I watchedit, I continue to have this
question for myself, which is amI enjoying this experience?
Like, do I want to watchsomeone be miserable?
Do I want to watch someone feelisolated by their family and
also, in some ways, I think, invery honestly, very savvy and
(15:38):
sort of almost sophisticatedways attacking that his family,
a family that has made him feelalone and has made him feel not
accepted?
Do I want to watch that?
And, as somebody who personallybelieves in transparency as an
effective form of entertainment,it's making me question where
(16:02):
are the lines on that Like,where does it hit a backstop?
Where it's like okay, you arenow sharing too much and you
need to save some for yourself.
You need to save an inner lifefor yourself.
For example, when I did Yearbook, which is an eight-part series
chronicling a year of my highschool life part series
(16:25):
chronicling a year of my highschool life I brought my
family's voices into thatproject in a way that I have not
in other things that I'veworked on, and in doing so I
felt mostly clear, but a littlesting, a little tinge of like
you are now presenting yourpeople, your closest people,
(16:47):
into a public light that I can'tsay they didn't ask for because
they were willing toparticipate, but like they might
not even totally understandwhat the ramifications of that
might be.
And furthermore and in yourbook I was incredible, I think I
, like I didn't say or doanything particularly critical
(17:07):
of my family, even though I didtalk about a time where my dad
cried because I had failed him.
I was who feels hurt by myfamily.
(17:50):
I am someone who has felt letdown, broken, attacked, pushed
away, marginalized.
My family is bigoted.
He's telling us that.
And what this special I keepcalling it fucking special, what
this show is making me questionis like, as such, do you still
(18:12):
owe, owe them anything in theway of grace and I'm not going
to even as much as you have hurtme.
I'm not going to put you onfront street for it, even if it
(18:33):
will further my career, even ifit is what I have an impulse to
express, I'm going to policemyself.
He's chosen.
It sounds like he's chosen.
No, and I've only seen thefirst episode of the show, so
we'll see how it goes.
But like, that's what thetrailer tells me, that's what
his interviews tell me.
Another question I have aboutthis show and I'm just going to
get.
(18:54):
I'm going to get to the pointlike, right here, I'm going to
say the thing out loud because Idon't want to, I don't want it
to go unsaid as I discuss this.
I do not trust what he is doing.
Like, I do not actually trustthis is someone who is trying to
convey, this is someone who ismeaning to convey transparency
(19:17):
and clarity and that's it.
I don't believe that.
I did not believe that when Iwatched Rothaniel.
I do not believe that whilewatching this, I could go back
and forth with someone and tryto intellectualize the reasons
why I don't believe that.
But let's say, my greatesthonesty is I do not believe it.
(19:38):
I think that what I see issomeone who is trying to express
a point of view and someone whois trying to reconcile some
anger and some feelings ofmarginalization, which I
completely can understand.
I see someone who is trying tosay something about his own
genius, but I don't believe thatthis is someone just saying I'm
(20:00):
going to turn the camera onmyself and show you guys who I
am and what I'm going through.
Part of why I don't believe thatwatching the show presents a
character who has control overthe words that are said, in
(20:27):
terms of how it can be edited,the scenes that are, that are
depicted, what's cut, whichcharacters walk in and out
setting up for example, I'm inlove with this black man, but
all of my other dating and loveinterests and sex interests are
these bright and white boys.
But don't forget, I'm in lovewith this black man.
(20:48):
That feels like that feels likea sort of artistic manipulation
.
That feels like something thata straight dude would do if he
was going to make a show about aguy sleeping with a bunch of
white girls is lead off, startedoff with.
But don't forget, I'm in lovewith this black woman and she
doesn't like me back.
We've covered this ad nauseumon this show.
I don't want to like go downthe road too much.
(21:12):
There's a frame early in thebeginning where you see Gerard
Carmichael talking to computermuch like I am right this second
talking to his computer screenand he says there's something
about talking to a camera thatmakes it feel paraphrasing, like
it's stupid to lie.
Paraphrasing like it's stupidto lie.
(21:33):
In other words, he's setting upat the top of this you can
trust me, you can trust me, youcan trust me.
One way to get me to not trustyou is to tell me I can trust
you.
That is like a trust issomething I think that like
grows from the memory of otherpeople who pattern match to the
person you're talking, to thefeelings that come up, that you
(21:54):
reflect onto that person.
When I see older black women, Ihave a natural reflex to trust
them because they remind me ofmy mom, who, for the most part,
I trust in a lot of ways, who,for the most part, I trust in a
lot of ways.
When I see a 25-year-old whiteguy, I generally have to.
(22:21):
It takes a lot of work for meto trust them because I pattern
match to the white guys that Iknew early in life who betrayed
me, this person.
I have no reason to distrusthim until he starts selling me
on trusting him throughout theduration of the show.
And I'm coming in with baggage,which is that I also watched
his special, which is that Ialso watched some of his
interviews.
(22:46):
Frankly, myself, when I amtrying to manipulate for the
sake of my career, and otherpeople who I have watched do the
trick of look how see-through Iam, look how emotional I'm
willing to be in front of you,look how vulnerable I'm willing
to be in front of you, and thenyou watch them build a castle on
(23:09):
that vulnerability andtransparency and now, like he is
serving us the ultimate chip oftransparency, like the ultimate
trading chip of transparency,which is I'm gonna do a whole
show about my pain and assomebody who has done some art
making recently um, about pain,among other things I know that
(23:35):
that is not something thatpeople do with completely pure
ambitions.
It costs too much to do it, forsomebody to do it that way.
So, anyway, I have now spent 30minutes talking about this show
.
I think you guys should watchit for yourselves.
But, as you can see, I have alot to fucking say about this
show.
I think you guys should watchit for yourselves, but, as you
can see, I have a lot to fuckingsay about this.
We're probably gonna do not 30minutes, but like a couple
(23:57):
minutes on this show every weekas it rolls out.
I hope that the show issuccessful because, frankly, I
want to see more black showshave opportunities on networks
now that everybody's budgetshave been cut.
Um, and I hope that this personis going to be okay, because I
think he is very clearly tryingto tell us through his medium
(24:18):
he's not okay.
So all I all, emotionally, allI can come back to that with is
I hope he's okay, because Iwould feel terrible.
This is selfish.
I would feel terrible havingtuned into this person's demise.
That would really suck.
I hate that.
So I hope that doesn't happen,okay, um, mortgage what do we do
(24:38):
to filibuster here as we justswitch segments?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
um well, I was just gonna say, I mean you kind of
said it at the end, but likenobody, like there's no version
of this show, of anybody doing ashow like this, where it
wouldn't seem slightlydistrustful.
I feel like, or do you thinkthat is possible?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
yeah, okay, I don't.
I mean, I think the closestthing that we can get and it's
difficult to get it right now tolike something that is pure in
a visual medium, this, theclosest thing, I think, is like.
One is like, maybe,documentaries that are created
by an unleveraged filmmaker, um,or and this is like why I think
(25:27):
this show even got a chanceright now, and this is going to
sound crazy.
But the other is like socialmedia.
It's probably as close to likeunfiltered, raw images of what
life is and, of course, likethat's editorialized too.
People are making choices aboutwhat they share and what they
don't share, but the compositeof everything that is shared, I
(25:48):
think, does give you somewhat ofa snapshot of what society and
what life looks like.
This, I mean, if you watch itlike it doesn't, you know, in
some ways it does very much feeljust like regular mundane life.
(26:11):
You're watching somebody sitaround, scroll Grindr, choose
clothes, talk to their friends,go on car rides, do mushrooms.
Those parts feel pretty realand pretty subtle, or pretty
mundane almost, but like he hasbeen telling this story to us
(26:32):
now for a couple years, thestory of him outing himself and
how his family is responding tothat and how it's hurting him.
And in some ways I bet heprobably had to get Tyler in the
first episode to get it made.
But in doing so, all I couldsee once I saw tyler there was
(26:57):
oh yeah, this is a tv show,because the tv show needs stunt
casting to get the pilot made.
And as soon as you startgetting in, delving into the
business of like I got toinclude this to get it green lit
and I got to do this and it'sit's contaminated at that point
like it is no longer now.
That's not to say I can't eventrust the message, which is I'm
in pain, I need help.
I do trust that message.
I believe it.
I think that is what's going onwith him, but not in the way
(27:21):
that he is describing it.
I do think his family'sisolation of him and
marginalization of him ishurting him, is hurting him.
But I think there's somethingmore real here, which is this
person wants a larger acceptancethat is not just about his
sexual orientation.
That is about wanting to beaccepted as genius, wanting to
be accepted as person, loveinterest, wanting to be accepted
(27:44):
as just him.
And this is ah.
Thank you for asking this,morgan, because it reminds me of
the thing that the cautionarytale in all of this for me is
that sometimes I can be prone tothe idea of, if I show somebody
exactly who I am in a bare andraw way and they will accept me
(28:06):
in that way, that that meansthat I'm good enough, that that
means that like I, that thatthat means that like I, that
that will be good for myself-esteem.
And I think the broken part ofthat theory is that someone
else's way of seeing you shouldhave an, should have any effect
on how you feel about yourself,how you love yourself, how you
(28:27):
esteem yourself, the esteem youhave for yourself.
And I think that right now heis like ah, I'm going to bare
soul for all to see and theywill either have to accept me or
reject me as I am.
Um, and it's like, but why?
So I'll continue watching.
Last question I have actuallyhere, morgan, I'm curious for
(28:48):
your, for your.
I told Tim after I watched itthe first time the next day I
was thinking to myself I wishthere was more of the show, and
that was a signal to me that Imust like the show.
If I want more, I must like it.
And he disagreed.
He felt like you can feelconnected to something, want
(29:10):
more of something, feel theimpulse to grab for more of
something, but that doesn't meanthat you like it.
It might just mean that, like Idon't know, that you're curious
about it, that you'reinterested in it.
Whatever, it doesn't mean youlike it.
What do you think about that,though?
In my opinion, like as far asmedia is concerned, if I keep
wanting more of it, I think thatmeans, like, I like it.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
maybe it just means I'm addicted to it.
Um, I would agree with thelatter half of that.
But I also think, um, you'vebrought up like likability of
characters before and I Idefinitely, in the past few
years, have moved into like hatewatching where, like, I feel
like I went on a downward spiralof watching a lot of shows
where I literally hated, like Ididn't like any of the
characters, but I kept watchingbecause I don't know if it was
(30:02):
because I was hoping maybe theywould show me something else and
then I would like them.
Or I was intrigued by, like,the decisions that they were
making, because I didn't thinkthey made sense or anything in
that realm.
And so I think you've saidbefore, like you don't think a
character has to be likable,they just have to be interesting
(30:24):
.
Or I think I've heard thatsomewhere, but I think that
falls into the vein of yeah, youcan still want to watch
something even if you don't likeit, because there's something
about it, and I don't reallythink it matters what that thing
is, as long as you want more ofit, like, I think that's the
whole point.
So that's my two cents.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yes, sense.
Yes, I think that the characterneeds to be compelling and the
stakes of what's happening withthe character must be compelling
, and both of those check out ahundred percent on this show.
The character is compelling andthe stakes he's not saying it,
but while I'm watching it I'mlike the stakes kind of seem
(31:09):
like life or death.
I hope that's not like I knowit's not an exaggeration to say
I bet other people feel the sameheaviness while watching this
character.
Like the stakes feel grave, ifnot like life or death, like the
acceptance or, I don't know,betrayal of your family, family
(31:31):
is.
Those are also really highstakes.
So, regardless, the stakes arethere.
Um, I'm gonna say last thingI'm gonna say on this is this
has the makings of, this has themakings of recently, while
(32:03):
pitching, going to meetings withproducers, going to meetings
with, talking to my agents, allkinds of shit, people are
telling me, basically the postGeorge Floyd window of
celebrating blackness, feminism,um, you know, pro LGBTQ,
(32:25):
messaging in media, inentertainment, hollywoodwood,
etc.
Like the window, basically, ofif you want to get something
sold, you gotta put some windowdressing on it that makes it
feel god I'm gonna use this wordthat has been so bastardized
you gotta make it feel woke,like the era of that.
(32:48):
They're telling me in nouncertain terms.
Some of them have told me justthis, bluntly they're like
that's over, okay, so thatthey're just.
They're not even telling mewhat to do with that information
, but they're just telling meit's over.
They're not telling me you gotto stop making this, that and
the third, whatever.
(33:08):
But, like I have alreadyinternalized on some level,
probably six months ago as I wasfinishing my book, I have
internalized that that's overand this show I think two years
ago if it had come out, wouldhave.
I'm sure I mean it already hasquite a buzz and I think it's
(33:29):
already going to have like alarger conversation around it.
But I think if this show haddropped in like 2022 or 2021, I
think it would have explodedupon impact because of all of
the themes of blackness,queerness, religion, family
(33:50):
dynamics.
I'm sure there's like going tobe some bipartisan conversations
around this thing with regardsto how people in this part of
the country see it and how thispart of the country, whatever.
I think it would have explodedon impact.
I think it would have had ahuge flame behind it and now I'm
curious to see how it does.
All right, that's been a longtime talking about our first
segment, so we got to move on toour second segment.
(34:10):
Okay, um, I'll just go.
So lsu versus.
There were two huge games inthe women's game basketball last
night college basketball, ncaatournament, elite eight games
these were like candy for theadvertisers on these networks
(34:33):
who produce these basketballgames.
Last night it was ESPN LSUversus Iowa, followed by UConn,
which is the most successfulwomen's basketball program of
all time, against USC and theirstar Juju Watkins, who is a
(34:56):
prodigy freshman.
But the first game was the mainevent.
The first game was the mainevent for a bunch of reasons,
including last year.
These two teams faced off inthe NCAA tournament and LSU won
and there was some shit talkingbetween LSU star Angel Reese and
(35:17):
Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
(36:16):
Like opposing mix of people,like opposing sort of brands, is
very Southern conservative in away that is jarring.
I think women are scary tonon-white people.
You should familiarize yourselfwith more women like Kim Mulkey
.
There are so many of them.
She is not a rarity, she is atype of a, she is one of a
certain type of people and that,like that searing nature of
(36:40):
like, this is how we do things,and I don't give a fuck what
anybody else says.
I am a part of a tradition andthis tradition goes this way I
am, and like I don't give a shitwhat you guys are tweeting
about.
I don't give a shit what thisreporter from the New York Times
or the Washington Post thinksabout how I, how I move, how I
live my life, like I am a partof the real American tradition.
(37:03):
Ok, I'm from the south.
I go to a southern ass churchwhere other people are telling
me you're doing the right thinghere, keep those so-and-sos in
line and don't fuck around with,for instance, that gay shit.
Don't fuck around with thatlesbian shit.
Like, stay in order of god'sorder.
Like that woman that person isliving with as far as she can
(37:30):
see, I'm certain she is livingwith all 10 toes on the ground.
And the rest of you are theones who are presenting some woo
woo bullshit.
The rest of you are the ones onsome new age shit that's going
to disintegrate into dust, andso you will leave me the fuck
alone about how I live my lifeand how I position myself in
this world, and I'm just goingto be honest, like the thing
(37:54):
that continues to make morepeople print out in this version
similar to the tech bro whichcontinues to print out over and,
over and over again is like sheis so successful with this
brand of how you run a life anda program and young people.
She is churning out wins now, anational championship and a
(38:19):
bunch of star players who aregoing to like, who are already
millionaires, who are alreadylike future WNBA stars, who are
already like media entities intheir own right, who, when they
get a microphone in front ofthem, they are able to move
culture and tell a story aboutthemselves and about what's
(38:39):
happening with them in a waythat is impactful.
So, like you guys, you are notgoing to change her, like she
will not be changed, changed she, and I don't think she will be
remorseful either about that,and and and I don't see any
other way around that.
But let me get back to the game.
Let me actually talk aboutbasketball for a second before I
(39:00):
start talking about the culturewars between iowa and lsu.
If I even get to that, um, iowawon, which made me I was
rooting for LSU.
I think, uh, I would get, Iwould venture to guess, 95% of
black people watching this gamewere rooting for LSU and they
(39:23):
won.
It was a really good game.
I mean, it was like both teamscame out firing, both teams came
out shooting at a highpercentage, both teams were
filling it up from three.
But I must be honest in thestorytelling of this game.
The second best experience inlife is when you go into
something with a certain set ofexpectations.
(39:44):
Like you go to a oh my God,this is great, we all love this.
When you go to a burger spot inthe middle of nowhere, like you
just pull over, you're drivingsomewhere.
You pull over to a burger spotor a burrito spot or whatever it
is that you like to eat and yousit down, you wait for that
(40:06):
burger.
It's like a burger you've neverhad before.
It's not McDonald's, it's not,you know.
It's not fast food, it's notlike some super cute bougie
boutique shot like shit that hasan Instagram.
Like it's just a fucking burgerspot.
Like it's just like hey, comein here and get a burger.
And you look at it and you'relike, oh, it looks pretty good.
(40:47):
And you bite into it and it'slike, wow, holy shit, this is a
phenomenal burger.
Second best experience in lifeis when you go into something
with very high expectations,like you go into it almost with
the goosebumps already, likethat fun crackle of tension and
anticipation, cause you know,you've been sitting with it for
(41:08):
two days knowing, ooh, about toget that shit, I'm about to have
that thing that I want, thatthing that I like, that thing
that everybody is saying is thatcrack, I'm going to have that.
And then you get it and it'sthat and it meets the
expectations that you had thatare through the roof right, that
(41:28):
is fire.
Through the roof right, that isthe, that is fire.
That is like, because what yougot on the front end was that
you got to live with thattension of anticipation.
So that's two, three, four aweek, a month, a year.
That's all that extra time thatyou got to sort of dream about
and think and feel like asyou're going through the
mundanities of life.
You got to look forward to it.
(41:49):
You got to have that in theback of your head.
Ooh, you got to feel that waythat you wake up a little bit
earlier each day as it getscloser, because you're excited
about that thing and yourheartbeat, your heart races and
you're as you're doing otherthings.
You're like I don't even give ashit about having to take my
car to the shop because I knowI'm going to have that thing on
Thursday.
And then when the thing hits,and it hits the way that you
(42:14):
thought it was going to hit,that's the best experience and
this game was that experience.
Even though the team that Iwanted to win lost, I still felt
treated to somethingspectacular and that met the
moment.
But and I got to be real aboutthis because we're just talking
about basketball okay, kaitlynClark delivered on those
(42:40):
expectations, period.
There was not a moment in thatgame, there was not a second.
I promise you you will not beable to point to the moment in
that game where Kaitlyn Clarkdid not live up to the
expectations.
That doesn't mean she didn'thave a turnover, because she had
plenty.
That doesn't mean she didn'tmiss a shot because she missed
(43:00):
plenty and she did somethingthat is a hallmark of
superstardom across mediums,spectrums, sports industries,
jobs, personalities, whatever.
When someone is great atsomething and in her case it is
(43:22):
shooting and controlling a gamewith her shooting, and they lean
into that thing unabashedly,it's… that is how you meet those
expectations and that's whatshe did the first play of the
game is Kaitlyn Clark dribbling,remember, sorry, she tries to
(43:42):
go around the screen but shecan't.
She goes under the screen.
Kaitlyn Clark steps back, pow.
It's her first three out ofnine that she would go on to hit
(44:03):
in this game.
Kaitlyn Clark was extremelySteph Curry-like that is not her
hyperbole.
Every time down the court thepossession.
For Caitlin, most mostbasketball players, the
possession starts when you knowthe point guard kind of like
(44:23):
dribbles down or like there's akick up to the guy, to the
person in the wing or whatever.
The possession starts whensomeone is approaching the three
point line.
That's usually in a basketballgame.
Where the possession startsthat's when someone is
reasonably in a scoring threatposition on the court and
everybody else, all of the nineplayers, need to be aware of
(44:46):
what's happening because a shotcan go up.
For people like Steph Curry andKaitlyn Clark, the possession
and there are few of them onearth, there may only be two of
them on earth the possessionstarts at half court.
The possession starts as soonas that person crosses half
court.
As soon as Caitlin Clark cameacross half court it was mayhem
because she would pull up from25 feet, 27 feet, 28 feet, 30
(45:12):
feet.
She was ready to pull up andshe was ready.
She was looking to hit thejugular vein on every possession
of the entire game.
There was a moment, only one,that I saw in the whole game
where Kaitlyn Clark.
It was probably in the thirdquarter.
Kaitlyn Clark doesn't have theball.
Someone else has it.
Kaitlyn Clark comes off of ascreen on the right side.
(45:32):
This person's holding the ballon the left side, the person on
the right side, this person'sholding the ball on the left
side.
The person on the left side islooking at the woman on the
block.
She's looking to bump it downto the lady on the block Caitlin
Clark does like an Iverson, cutacross, through, you know,
around a screen over to aboutthe free throw line, with her
hands up, like ready to catchthe ball, both hands up, she's
open and the lady with the ballbumps it down to the big woman
(45:56):
and, like I don't know if wecall it a big man or big woman,
I think big, big woman, I don'tknow bumps it down to the post
player and caitlyn clark doesn'tget the look and she's the look
of frustration.
She claps her hands at the womanwho passed the ball down she's.
Her face is like frowned up,like yo it is.
She is saying everything exceptgive me the fucking ball.
(46:19):
And she's almost saying thatshe may have said that and that
is like that's what you want tosee from a superstar.
And, to be clear, you saw thatfrom her and Angel Reese on the
other side.
Even though Angel Reese wasn'thaving a phenomenal game, she
still finished with 17 and 20.
But like she got hurt duringthe game.
She hurt her ankle, like shewas in some ways neutralized
because Iowa knew that they,that LSU was looking to feed her
(46:40):
on the block.
So much throughout the game.
But Kaitlyn Clark stole theshow.
It was that it was the KaitlynClark experience and I've seen
Kaitlyn Clark play before.
But, like, stakes are what makes.
Someone asked me the other daywhat makes a good story stakes.
Stakes make the whole story.
Stakes make rooting.
(47:01):
You don't root for a maincharacter unless there's.
You don't root for anythingunless there are stakes.
If winning or losing it's allthe same, there's nothing to
root for.
And the stakes of this gametranscended the NCAA tournament.
The stakes of this game werethere's race behind it.
There's people trying topresent these two teams as good
(47:24):
and evil.
There's politics behind it.
There are newbies like metuning in to see who really does
run this, this women'sbasketball shit like.
Is Kaitlyn Clark really thatperson like that?
There's.
So there are such stakes.
Kaitlyn Clark even told someoneone of the reporters that the
stakes of the game were makingher feel pressure the whole week
(47:45):
, that the stakes of the gamewere affecting her.
Now she didn't say she wasnervous, she made a point to say
I'm not nervous.
She said I slept like a babylast night, in so many words,
but I'm not nervous.
She said I slept like a babylast night in so many words.
But she could feel.
You can feel when there arestakes.
And to speak to those stakesand I wondered about this man,
(48:06):
did I love watching the fuckingLSU women play?
I'm going to tell you exactlyreally why.
Now for one, these people canjust hoop.
Flau'jae is a like, in a way,kayla Clark is obviously a
better player and she's awesomeand she's going to be a great
WNBA player in my opinion.
But I have no idea how thisgame translates to the pro game.
Well, I'll find out.
(48:29):
Flau'jae, flau'jae, flau'jae.
I'm so sorry.
I'm such a newbie to this this.
I'm sorry, I did mispronouncepeople's names.
Please, please, don't.
Please, don't be mad at me.
She is a dynamic basketballplayer, a dynamic athlete, and
she moves and plays in a waythat I think is on the cutting
edge of the modern sport, likethe stuff that kids are
(48:50):
practicing right now.
To have all these euro stepsputbacksbacks, step backs, like
she has all of it.
And they talked about hertraining schedule.
She wakes up at five in themorning and does her first
workout.
She works out three times a day, like you see it all there.
And I think she's a sophomore.
You see it all there.
She's the one who also has arecording, a record deal at rock
nation.
She's recording artist.
(49:10):
She is, I believe, named afterher, her father, who was a
rapper.
I love everything about the LSUwomen's basketball team.
Let me be blunt.
Part of it is that they'reblack as hell.
They are fucking black as shit.
They came in with hair done,eyelashes done, skin popping.
(49:34):
With hair done, eyelashes done,skin popping, Like there is a
flair and a style not only tohow they present themselves but
also to how they play the game.
That there's no other way forme to describe it.
Besides, it's black and we cango through history and talk
about, oh well, who inventedbasketball and basketball's
origins are in Indiana, and this, that and the history of these
(49:56):
games is blah, blah.
It's like no, that is dumb shit.
I don't give a fuck about anyof that.
This is a black sport and theseare some black ass people
playing this sport in a blackway and that is something that I
celebrate.
(50:22):
I could not help myself but tohear.
I mean, for part of it is likeliterally one of the ladies on
the LSU team is a recordingartist, but like I couldn't help
myself to hear Glowrilla, yeah,glow in my head.
I'm not lying to y'all, I'm not.
This is not a corny little likething.
I'm laying over this to y'all,I'm not.
This is not a corny little likething, I'm laying over this.
Like I literally was hearingthat song, yeah, glow in my head
over and over and over and overthroughout the duration of this
entire game, and it brought meto.
(50:44):
I was thinking about this thisthis morning.
It brought me to like how I, Imy actual thought was somebody
should Make some sort ofsomething A documentary, a
YouTube series, whatever Likethe connection between Hip hop
and basketball, which are.
Again, I'll be extremely blunt,these are Black forms of
(51:07):
expression Period that otherpeople participate in, but like
they're black, the this momentof black women transcending in
hip hop and black womentranscending particularly in the
college game Because I thinknow South Carolina is probably
(51:30):
going to win the NCAAchampionship in the women's game
, led by black players Like Iwould love to see somebody do a
side-by-side and I know I'm thesame one who was like stop
comparing John Morant to rappers, blah, blah, blah but like,
okay, I would love to seesomeone do a side-by-side sort
of analysis, storytelling,exploration of those two things
(51:52):
and the ways that they areconnected especially because we
have a women's star who isactually a recording artist and
the dynamics of larger societytaking so long to have an
appreciation for and a love for,and honor and honor and give
respect to this game and thismedium as played by black women.
(52:15):
I would love to see somebodyexplore those two things and
just like the boom that ishappening right now as those two
things really take center stage.
I'm definitely going to watchthe men's final four, I'm
definitely going to watch thechampionship game, but I'm going
to have to make up reasons toroot for some of the teams that
(52:35):
are involved.
I really don't care who winsUConn, I don't care.
I'll probably try to root forNC State, just because they got
the big boy and they're just funto watch, because they don't
look like a basketball team,because of their center he looks
like a football player or Shrek.
I want to root for that, butlike I don't care, I cared last
(52:59):
night and caring is stakes andthat's what makes the story and
so I don't know.
I want to see somebody makethose.
I want to see somebody makethat happen.
All right, I've run out of time.
I can't even do another segment.
Who's texting me?
Whose number is this?
We did two segments today.
I don't even care, I like it.
(53:19):
I think that's good.
We did a good job.
It was thorough.
All right, I'll do it quickly.
Cowboy Carter, this is going tobe extremely, extremely quick
analysis.
Cowboy Carter, beyonce'scountry album, which she's
(53:52):
saying is not a country album,it's a Beyonce album.
Fine, whatever Love, capitalletters, l-o-v-e.
I have listened to the albumnow twice, one time while road
tripping, which was the best wayto listen to an album like this
is driving on the open highway.
I'll start with the one.
There's literally only one badthing I have to say about this
thing, which is hate the title.
Bad title, don't like it, Idon't, I don't.
It's not for me to choose forher, but like I don't want
anything that evokes Jay-Z inthe title of this album.
(54:15):
He's not on the album, he's notBeyonce, and this type of album
from Beyonce is a singular featthat I believe only Beyonce
could pull off, which is andthis is the feat she made an
album that feels one is.
(54:38):
Now.
I did not have to be baptizedthis way because my mom loved
country music.
My mom loves country music, andso I listened to a good amount
of country music growing up.
Mom is from the South, myfamily's from the South.
Country music is not foreign tous.
I can there are, I know, acouple of Bonnie Raitt and
(54:59):
Shania Twain songs, word forword for word for word.
I can, I can.
I got it.
Ok, I was already primed.
I was looking forward to this.
This was not a reach, this wasnot something I had to be
baptized into, but a feat she ispulling off is people.
I've already heard people whowanted to look the other way on
country music and who don't feelled into country music change
(55:21):
their tune because this albumnot just because it's Beyonce,
but because this album is sogood I love the first and last
songs of this album and theyrepresent what is there in
that's packaging.
That's bookending Okay,bookending is important.
It's like the cover and theback cover of a book and they
represent what is there in pack.
That's packaging.
That's book ending okay, bookending is important.
It's like the cover and theback cover of a book.
The sound quality is so distinctand so ultimate, it's like so
(55:51):
peak, it is so crisp, um, and atthe same time damp, and at the
same time her voice comes.
Her voice is like in yourheadphones.
She is there with you.
She has a way of I'm gonna, I'mgonna be so real, which is like
I don't even know how much I'mgonna be able to listen to this
(56:11):
album, because listening to itis an emotional and spiritual
experience in that it is Beyoncedoes not let you free from
humanity, she doesn't let youavoid while listening to her
music, especially in this album.
She doesn't let and I'm not.
It's not even.
(56:32):
It's not the writing, it's notthe words, it's not the messages
, it's just this.
It's just the musicianship,it's just the clarity, it's just
the.
It is so cinematic.
Whiskey and cigarettes and Levijeans and cowboy hats and straw
(56:58):
and space.
I can see those things whilelistening to this album.
I can feel them.
It reminds me go.
My mom is in Bolivar, tennesseeright now, visiting family.
My family has a farm in Bolivar, tennessee.
It reminds me, go back to thatfarm.
There is something for youthere, something, and she's
(57:21):
giving us that in this album.
She's giving us when I say myfamily, I mean my extended
family, like 50 of us.
But she is giving something thatall artists do not give right
now, because for most of us andI mean across mediums there is
(57:46):
the urgency and the pressure tocreate at volume, just to stay
afloat, just to get your money,just to get your notoriety, just
to get allowed to be invited tothe next thing.
There's a volume play happeningand she has managed to
accomplish both volume becauseit's a long ass album and she
(58:07):
just put out an album, I guesstwo years ago.
It's long, but it is thorough,it is dense, it has feeling, it
is raw, it is full, it isdripping with.
This is what is real.
So it's my favorite Beyoncealbum.
I'm not even gonna act like I'ma Beyonce stan, because I'm not
(58:29):
, but this one is doing thething, so check it out.
All right, I'm out of here.
Goodbye, this is nothing butanarchy.
We will see you guys Thursday.
No, I don't know.
We'll see you guys when thepodcast drops, cause that's what
, how, how this really goes now.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
Thank you.
Outro Music
Welcome to Nothing but Anarchy.
I am Chad Sanders.
Gotta remind you, if you'rewatching on YouTube, wherever
you're watching, like subscribe,go follow me at Instagram, at
Chad Sand.
You probably already do ifyou're listening to this, but
all right, let's get to it.
We have a bunch of stuff totalk about today.
Today we're going to talk aboutthe Jared Carmichael show or is
(00:33):
it, gerard?
I don't know?
Lsu versus UConn, the women'sgame that was played last night,
and among a few other thingsLSU versus Iowa.
Wow, that was a lie LSU versusIowa as well as USC versus UConn
.
Okay, so here's where we'restarting.
We are starting with the GerardCarmichael reality show.
(00:54):
To give context to this, foranyone who has not been familiar
with Gerard Carmichael, who hasnot been familiar with Gerard
Carmichael, anybody who does notknow what Gerard Carmichael
does which that was me about, Iguess, two years ago.
I had heard the name.
I knew that he had a sitcomthat he created that featured
(01:19):
Lil Rel, among others, which Ibelieve was self-titled the
Gerard Carmichael Show, amongothers, which I believe was
self-titled the GerardCarmichael Show.
I knew that he was vaguely likeone of the what's the way to say
(01:39):
this of intellectually andartistically accepted Black
folks that and when I sayaccepted, I mean accepted by
(02:11):
white people as such who areseen as being able to exist in
circles of black art and TV andmedia, et cetera, but who have,
who are seen as beingintellectual, who are seen as
being, you know, creativelyinspired, on the edge, et cetera
, by white people, like they'rethe kinds of black people who
white people know, especially inNew York City and Los Angeles,
and they're the kind of blackpeople who white people know,
especially in New York City andLos Angeles and they're the kind
of black people who whitepeople will follow.
And you know what?
I think I'm one of those typesof people.
(02:33):
To be honest with you,different black artists who
exist in that realm, especiallysomeone with as big a profile as
this guy, have different waysthat they either steer into or
away from that place of standingRight.
(02:54):
It's like do you?
Somebody asked me recently doyou think you get to choose who
your audience is?
And that was them reflecting tome on watching the armchair
expert audience, for instance,gravitate toward me and, by
their point of view, I was beingcoy or being a little bit
(03:15):
flippant about accepting thataudience or even accepting that
sort of community at large,community at large.
And my answer to that questionwas I guess somebody could
choose their own audience.
But I personally feel like whatI want to do is do what is
(03:35):
exciting and inspiring to me andwhat feels like something
that's good that I should beputting out and see who that
attracts, and then continue todo that process over and over
and over again.
And so you know I have talkedad nauseum about what my
audience looks like.
But this guy's audience jerrodcarmichael, I think, judging by
(03:57):
his having a show on hbo maxwhich features him as the main
character, as the centralcharacter, um, judging by the
response to his stand-upRothaniel, which was, among
other things, his telling thestory of his own coming out of
the closet, his own presentinghimself to his family and the
(04:19):
world as gay gay, judging bywhat I see in his appearances on
(04:48):
, you know, his appearances onJimmy Kimmel or Seth Meyers or
any one of the white boy latenight standup shows.
I see someone who, as I see it,is steering into but sort of
the East and West Coastliberal-leaning art snob world
(05:11):
that is mostly inhabited bywhite folks.
And then this thing came out,this special came out.
It's not a special, it is a.
I guess I would call it aseries.
It's supposed to be a realityseries and it is called the
Gerard Carmichael reality show.
(05:32):
It came out a few days ago.
I want to say it came out onThursday, no, friday night, 11
PM, that's when episodes air,only one episode.
And I was home over the weekendin Maryland.
I was at my parents' house.
My mom was actually out of town, so it was me and my dad
hanging out.
For the first time in forever.
I did not watch this with mydad, just to be clear, but I did
(05:54):
watch it in my childhoodbedroom on my cell phone.
That way, because when I foundout about this show and the
premise of it, when I watchedthe trailer and the premise of
it, as far as I can tell, itlooks like Dracar Michael taking
(06:18):
a camera to himself, as he putit, truman showing himself to
tell the story of what he isactually going through right now
(06:40):
, as someone who has recentlyouted himself, unaccepted by his
family, unaccepted by hismother, unaccepted by his father
, treated like someone who isnot just saying to the people
around him I'm queer, buttreated by someone who is saying
, treated by them, as someonewho is saying there's something
wrong with me, wrong with me,and their response to that is to
(07:12):
say in a fraught way uh, welove you anyway, even though
this thing about you is broken,and we're going to pray for you
and we're going to hope that Godwill heal you from this thing
that is broken about you, whichis your queerness, which is how
you, you know, how you aresexually oriented.
Okay, that is me doing my bestto like, sort of frame the setup
of this show.
That's my.
That's me doing my best to,without entering my own
(07:34):
criticism or my own you know howI see it um, into what the show
is.
So I turn on the first episode.
The first episode is called theEmmys and it is chronicling him.
It's a good title.
There are several tricks playedin the pilot episode of this
thing to get you as the audienceto stay and to tune in in the
(08:00):
first place.
One is the title the Emmys.
It's a sexy title.
We know.
People know that he won an Emmyfor, for his special rothaniel.
People know that he, um, Ithink did he host the emmys.
It was either the emmys or thegolden globes.
Do you know the answer to that,morgan?
Which one it was?
I think it was the golden globesyeah, um, it's a sparkly title
(08:22):
and it and I watched this thingtwice.
I watched it once by myself andthen I watched it again with
Tim a couple days ago.
And right at the beginning youare pulled into this storyline,
which is him getting ready to goto the Emmys.
But it's not actually just himgetting ready to go to the Emmys
him revealing who his friend is, that he mentions in his
(08:49):
special rothamiel, who he hasunrequited love for.
So, said differently, he is inlove with someone that is a
close friend of his.
That person does not, is not inlove with him.
And he reveals who that is andis tyler the creator, which
again is a pilot choice, Iimagine, one that he chose when
he was trying to sell this thingto hbo max, which is when you
(09:11):
go sell a series, you got totell them what's in the pilot,
you got to tell them how thething starts, and it's very
buzzy and it's very sexy to sayI'm gonna have tyler the creator
in that first episode.
That's my friend and I'm alsogoing to drop this bomb on him,
whether or not he knows, beforewe actually start filming or not
, that I'm in love with him andwe're going to get up to speed
(09:34):
throughout the episode on howTyler, the creator, is
responding to that.
Okay, this is a fucking mouthful.
I'm trying to describe to youguys something that has a lot
going on and I'm realizing, like, if you are not familiar with
these characters or the setup orthe premise of this show, like
what I'm spitting at you rightnow might sound confusing,
(09:56):
partially because I am still alittle bit disoriented by this
show.
The show is supposed to be areality show.
The show is supposed to be areality show.
It's supposed to be like noteven just a reality show, but
like the Truman Showspecifically, which is one of my
favorite movies.
Which is to say, I am trying topresent to you objective truth
(10:17):
about what's going on with meand what's going on with him, as
far as I can tell in the show,is this person is hurting.
This person is probablyexperiencing depression.
This person is experiencingisolation.
This person is alsoexperimenting with his newly I
(10:39):
don't even want to call itexperiencing he is expressing
his newly self-outed queerness,which is to say he's on Grindr
throughout the episode.
He's got guys coming over tohis house throughout the episode
.
They sort of allude to sexthat's happening at his
apartment.
They show you in intimatesettings with some of the guys
that are coming through and andthis part was very buzzy on the
(11:02):
internet they show this niggasucking on somebody's toe on the
couch as a part of this episode.
Um, and there's something to be.
There's something else to berepresented here which is like
Tyler the creator is.
I mean, if you don't know whohe is, you can Google him in a
(11:23):
heartbeat.
He is a very brown-skinnedblack man, very in my opinion.
He is stereotypically masculinein a lot of ways, like of an
athletic build.
He is very alpha in how hemoves and how he walks around,
like he is braggadocious.
(11:43):
He is arrogant in in hispersona.
Um, fantastic, in my opinion.
Fantastic rapper, smart,successful, rich, etc.
Whatever.
Um, and like I said at thebeginning of all of it, a very,
very much a black man.
I want to say I don't even needto say I want to say it's so
(12:05):
that every other guy thatappears in the special as dating
sexual partner, whateversomebody who's coming through
for Gerard Carmichael is a verylight-skinned, either white or
Latin dude.
(12:25):
They all kind of like fit acharacter mold and he pokes fun
at himself in the special bysaying you know that he's going
to go find himself, like I thinkhe says, like a Mexican twink,
(12:48):
like, like, like a fuckingsteamroll through a bunch of
things that are said in termsthat I was not even familiar
with before watching this.
So forgive me if I'm sayingsomething, um, something that I
just don't understand because Idon't know.
I still don't know what a twinkis.
I've only ever heard the wordtwink used in this special.
So, morgan, do you want to tellme what a twink is?
You're smiling.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Well one.
I don't know if it's somethingthat straight people can really
say.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I've only heard gay men use it in reference to each
other, but I don't really knowthe direct definition, but it's
very commonly used.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, okay.
So you don't know what it means.
It is commonly okay.
So you don't know what it means.
It is commonly used.
I don't know what it means andyou don't know if I can say it.
So great work by us.
Okay, let me continue because,fuck, this is a lot of fucking
setup.
I'm done with setup.
If you guys just don't watch it, I'm done setting it up.
I gotta say what I gotta sayhere.
I've used 20 minutes of setup.
(13:44):
It's fine.
I think it was pretty goodsetup.
All right.
This is what happened.
I watched it.
I got texts from friends whodon't normally text me about TV
being like yo, did you watchthis?
And I think that's because itmade them feel something.
I think it's because they knewfor sure it would make me feel
(14:05):
something.
They knew I would be curious.
They knew I want to see what'sup with this thing because I
have.
When I watch this person, timsays to me in the car we're
driving in the car down toMaryland and I'm driving.
He's in the passenger seat.
He's reading from his phone.
He says oh shit, gerardCarmichael and I was like oh
(14:30):
damn.
I was like damn.
He's going to tell me somethingterrible happened to Gerard
Carmichael and what he actuallysaid was his show is out.
That's how I found out that theshow was out, but I had the
knee jerk reaction to the nameand the tone that I think a lot
of people are having right nowto Gerard Carmichael as a
presence, which is this personlooks troubled.
This person looks like he isself-chronicling.
(14:55):
His demise feels a little toointense, but maybe just like his
misery, his spin out in someways.
And I, while watching, had thisquestion for myself several
(15:16):
times and then, after I watchedit, I continue to have this
question for myself, which is amI enjoying this experience?
Like, do I want to watchsomeone be miserable?
Do I want to watch someone feelisolated by their family and
also, in some ways, I think, invery honestly, very savvy and
(15:38):
sort of almost sophisticatedways attacking that his family,
a family that has made him feelalone and has made him feel not
accepted?
Do I want to watch that?
And, as somebody who personallybelieves in transparency as an
effective form of entertainment,it's making me question where
(16:02):
are the lines on that Like,where does it hit a backstop?
Where it's like okay, you arenow sharing too much and you
need to save some for yourself.
You need to save an inner lifefor yourself.
For example, when I did Yearbook, which is an eight-part series
chronicling a year of my highschool life part series
(16:25):
chronicling a year of my highschool life I brought my
family's voices into thatproject in a way that I have not
in other things that I'veworked on, and in doing so I
felt mostly clear, but a littlesting, a little tinge of like
you are now presenting yourpeople, your closest people,
(16:47):
into a public light that I can'tsay they didn't ask for because
they were willing toparticipate, but like they might
not even totally understandwhat the ramifications of that
might be.
And furthermore and in yourbook I was incredible, I think I
, like I didn't say or doanything particularly critical
(17:07):
of my family, even though I didtalk about a time where my dad
cried because I had failed him.
I was who feels hurt by myfamily.
(17:50):
I am someone who has felt letdown, broken, attacked, pushed
away, marginalized.
My family is bigoted.
He's telling us that.
And what this special I keepcalling it fucking special, what
this show is making me questionis like, as such, do you still
(18:12):
owe, owe them anything in theway of grace and I'm not going
to even as much as you have hurtme.
I'm not going to put you onfront street for it, even if it
(18:33):
will further my career, even ifit is what I have an impulse to
express, I'm going to policemyself.
He's chosen.
It sounds like he's chosen.
No, and I've only seen thefirst episode of the show, so
we'll see how it goes.
But like, that's what thetrailer tells me, that's what
his interviews tell me.
Another question I have aboutthis show and I'm just going to
get.
(18:54):
I'm going to get to the pointlike, right here, I'm going to
say the thing out loud because Idon't want to, I don't want it
to go unsaid as I discuss this.
I do not trust what he is doing.
Like, I do not actually trustthis is someone who is trying to
convey, this is someone who ismeaning to convey transparency
(19:17):
and clarity and that's it.
I don't believe that.
I did not believe that when Iwatched Rothaniel.
I do not believe that whilewatching this, I could go back
and forth with someone and tryto intellectualize the reasons
why I don't believe that.
But let's say, my greatesthonesty is I do not believe it.
(19:38):
I think that what I see issomeone who is trying to express
a point of view and someone whois trying to reconcile some
anger and some feelings ofmarginalization, which I
completely can understand.
I see someone who is trying tosay something about his own
genius, but I don't believe thatthis is someone just saying I'm
(20:00):
going to turn the camera onmyself and show you guys who I
am and what I'm going through.
Part of why I don't believe thatwatching the show presents a
character who has control overthe words that are said, in
(20:27):
terms of how it can be edited,the scenes that are, that are
depicted, what's cut, whichcharacters walk in and out
setting up for example, I'm inlove with this black man, but
all of my other dating and loveinterests and sex interests are
these bright and white boys.
But don't forget, I'm in lovewith this black man.
(20:48):
That feels like that feels likea sort of artistic manipulation
.
That feels like something thata straight dude would do if he
was going to make a show about aguy sleeping with a bunch of
white girls is lead off, startedoff with.
But don't forget, I'm in lovewith this black woman and she
doesn't like me back.
We've covered this ad nauseumon this show.
I don't want to like go downthe road too much.
(21:12):
There's a frame early in thebeginning where you see Gerard
Carmichael talking to computermuch like I am right this second
talking to his computer screenand he says there's something
about talking to a camera thatmakes it feel paraphrasing, like
it's stupid to lie.
Paraphrasing like it's stupidto lie.
(21:33):
In other words, he's setting upat the top of this you can
trust me, you can trust me, youcan trust me.
One way to get me to not trustyou is to tell me I can trust
you.
That is like a trust issomething I think that like
grows from the memory of otherpeople who pattern match to the
person you're talking, to thefeelings that come up, that you
(21:54):
reflect onto that person.
When I see older black women, Ihave a natural reflex to trust
them because they remind me ofmy mom, who, for the most part,
I trust in a lot of ways, who,for the most part, I trust in a
lot of ways.
When I see a 25-year-old whiteguy, I generally have to.
(22:21):
It takes a lot of work for meto trust them because I pattern
match to the white guys that Iknew early in life who betrayed
me, this person.
I have no reason to distrusthim until he starts selling me
on trusting him throughout theduration of the show.
And I'm coming in with baggage,which is that I also watched
his special, which is that Ialso watched some of his
interviews.
(22:46):
Frankly, myself, when I amtrying to manipulate for the
sake of my career, and otherpeople who I have watched do the
trick of look how see-through Iam, look how emotional I'm
willing to be in front of you,look how vulnerable I'm willing
to be in front of you, and thenyou watch them build a castle on
(23:09):
that vulnerability andtransparency and now, like he is
serving us the ultimate chip oftransparency, like the ultimate
trading chip of transparency,which is I'm gonna do a whole
show about my pain and assomebody who has done some art
making recently um, about pain,among other things I know that
(23:35):
that is not something thatpeople do with completely pure
ambitions.
It costs too much to do it, forsomebody to do it that way.
So, anyway, I have now spent 30minutes talking about this show
.
I think you guys should watchit for yourselves.
But, as you can see, I have alot to fucking say about this
show.
I think you guys should watchit for yourselves, but, as you
can see, I have a lot to fuckingsay about this.
We're probably gonna do not 30minutes, but like a couple
(23:57):
minutes on this show every weekas it rolls out.
I hope that the show issuccessful because, frankly, I
want to see more black showshave opportunities on networks
now that everybody's budgetshave been cut.
Um, and I hope that this personis going to be okay, because I
think he is very clearly tryingto tell us through his medium
(24:18):
he's not okay.
So all I all, emotionally, allI can come back to that with is
I hope he's okay, because Iwould feel terrible.
This is selfish.
I would feel terrible havingtuned into this person's demise.
That would really suck.
I hate that.
So I hope that doesn't happen,okay, um, mortgage what do we do
(24:38):
to filibuster here as we justswitch segments?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
um well, I was just gonna say, I mean you kind of
said it at the end, but likenobody, like there's no version
of this show, of anybody doing ashow like this, where it
wouldn't seem slightlydistrustful.
I feel like, or do you thinkthat is possible?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
yeah, okay, I don't.
I mean, I think the closestthing that we can get and it's
difficult to get it right now tolike something that is pure in
a visual medium, this, theclosest thing, I think, is like.
One is like, maybe,documentaries that are created
by an unleveraged filmmaker, um,or and this is like why I think
(25:27):
this show even got a chanceright now, and this is going to
sound crazy.
But the other is like socialmedia.
It's probably as close to likeunfiltered, raw images of what
life is and, of course, likethat's editorialized too.
People are making choices aboutwhat they share and what they
don't share, but the compositeof everything that is shared, I
(25:48):
think, does give you somewhat ofa snapshot of what society and
what life looks like.
This, I mean, if you watch itlike it doesn't, you know, in
some ways it does very much feeljust like regular mundane life.
(26:11):
You're watching somebody sitaround, scroll Grindr, choose
clothes, talk to their friends,go on car rides, do mushrooms.
Those parts feel pretty realand pretty subtle, or pretty
mundane almost, but like he hasbeen telling this story to us
(26:32):
now for a couple years, thestory of him outing himself and
how his family is responding tothat and how it's hurting him.
And in some ways I bet heprobably had to get Tyler in the
first episode to get it made.
But in doing so, all I couldsee once I saw tyler there was
(26:57):
oh yeah, this is a tv show,because the tv show needs stunt
casting to get the pilot made.
And as soon as you startgetting in, delving into the
business of like I got toinclude this to get it green lit
and I got to do this and it'sit's contaminated at that point
like it is no longer now.
That's not to say I can't eventrust the message, which is I'm
in pain, I need help.
I do trust that message.
I believe it.
I think that is what's going onwith him, but not in the way
(27:21):
that he is describing it.
I do think his family'sisolation of him and
marginalization of him ishurting him, is hurting him.
But I think there's somethingmore real here, which is this
person wants a larger acceptancethat is not just about his
sexual orientation.
That is about wanting to beaccepted as genius, wanting to
be accepted as person, loveinterest, wanting to be accepted
(27:44):
as just him.
And this is ah.
Thank you for asking this,morgan, because it reminds me of
the thing that the cautionarytale in all of this for me is
that sometimes I can be prone tothe idea of, if I show somebody
exactly who I am in a bare andraw way and they will accept me
(28:06):
in that way, that that meansthat I'm good enough, that that
means that like I, that thatthat means that like I, that
that will be good for myself-esteem.
And I think the broken part ofthat theory is that someone
else's way of seeing you shouldhave an, should have any effect
on how you feel about yourself,how you love yourself, how you
(28:27):
esteem yourself, the esteem youhave for yourself.
And I think that right now heis like ah, I'm going to bare
soul for all to see and theywill either have to accept me or
reject me as I am.
Um, and it's like, but why?
So I'll continue watching.
Last question I have actuallyhere, morgan, I'm curious for
(28:48):
your, for your.
I told Tim after I watched itthe first time the next day I
was thinking to myself I wishthere was more of the show, and
that was a signal to me that Imust like the show.
If I want more, I must like it.
And he disagreed.
He felt like you can feelconnected to something, want
(29:10):
more of something, feel theimpulse to grab for more of
something, but that doesn't meanthat you like it.
It might just mean that, like Idon't know, that you're curious
about it, that you'reinterested in it.
Whatever, it doesn't mean youlike it.
What do you think about that,though?
In my opinion, like as far asmedia is concerned, if I keep
wanting more of it, I think thatmeans, like, I like it.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
maybe it just means I'm addicted to it.
Um, I would agree with thelatter half of that.
But I also think, um, you'vebrought up like likability of
characters before and I Idefinitely, in the past few
years, have moved into like hatewatching where, like, I feel
like I went on a downward spiralof watching a lot of shows
where I literally hated, like Ididn't like any of the
characters, but I kept watchingbecause I don't know if it was
(30:02):
because I was hoping maybe theywould show me something else and
then I would like them.
Or I was intrigued by, like,the decisions that they were
making, because I didn't thinkthey made sense or anything in
that realm.
And so I think you've saidbefore, like you don't think a
character has to be likable,they just have to be interesting
(30:24):
.
Or I think I've heard thatsomewhere, but I think that
falls into the vein of yeah, youcan still want to watch
something even if you don't likeit, because there's something
about it, and I don't reallythink it matters what that thing
is, as long as you want more ofit, like, I think that's the
whole point.
So that's my two cents.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yes, sense.
Yes, I think that the characterneeds to be compelling and the
stakes of what's happening withthe character must be compelling
, and both of those check out ahundred percent on this show.
The character is compelling andthe stakes he's not saying it,
but while I'm watching it I'mlike the stakes kind of seem
(31:09):
like life or death.
I hope that's not like I knowit's not an exaggeration to say
I bet other people feel the sameheaviness while watching this
character.
Like the stakes feel grave, ifnot like life or death, like the
acceptance or, I don't know,betrayal of your family, family
(31:31):
is.
Those are also really highstakes.
So, regardless, the stakes arethere.
Um, I'm gonna say last thingI'm gonna say on this is this
has the makings of, this has themakings of recently, while
(32:03):
pitching, going to meetings withproducers, going to meetings
with, talking to my agents, allkinds of shit, people are
telling me, basically the postGeorge Floyd window of
celebrating blackness, feminism,um, you know, pro LGBTQ,
(32:25):
messaging in media, inentertainment, hollywoodwood,
etc.
Like the window, basically, ofif you want to get something
sold, you gotta put some windowdressing on it that makes it
feel god I'm gonna use this wordthat has been so bastardized
you gotta make it feel woke,like the era of that.
(32:48):
They're telling me in nouncertain terms.
Some of them have told me justthis, bluntly they're like
that's over, okay, so thatthey're just.
They're not even telling mewhat to do with that information
, but they're just telling meit's over.
They're not telling me you gotto stop making this, that and
the third, whatever.
(33:08):
But, like I have alreadyinternalized on some level,
probably six months ago as I wasfinishing my book, I have
internalized that that's overand this show I think two years
ago if it had come out, wouldhave.
I'm sure I mean it already hasquite a buzz and I think it's
(33:29):
already going to have like alarger conversation around it.
But I think if this show haddropped in like 2022 or 2021, I
think it would have explodedupon impact because of all of
the themes of blackness,queerness, religion, family
(33:50):
dynamics.
I'm sure there's like going tobe some bipartisan conversations
around this thing with regardsto how people in this part of
the country see it and how thispart of the country, whatever.
I think it would have explodedon impact.
I think it would have had ahuge flame behind it and now I'm
curious to see how it does.
All right, that's been a longtime talking about our first
segment, so we got to move on toour second segment.
(34:10):
Okay, um, I'll just go.
So lsu versus.
There were two huge games inthe women's game basketball last
night college basketball, ncaatournament, elite eight games
these were like candy for theadvertisers on these networks
(34:33):
who produce these basketballgames.
Last night it was ESPN LSUversus Iowa, followed by UConn,
which is the most successfulwomen's basketball program of
all time, against USC and theirstar Juju Watkins, who is a
(34:56):
prodigy freshman.
But the first game was the mainevent.
The first game was the mainevent for a bunch of reasons,
including last year.
These two teams faced off inthe NCAA tournament and LSU won
and there was some shit talkingbetween LSU star Angel Reese and
(35:17):
Iowa star Caitlin Clark.
(36:16):
Like opposing mix of people,like opposing sort of brands, is
very Southern conservative in away that is jarring.
I think women are scary tonon-white people.
You should familiarize yourselfwith more women like Kim Mulkey
.
There are so many of them.
She is not a rarity, she is atype of a, she is one of a
certain type of people and that,like that searing nature of
(36:40):
like, this is how we do things,and I don't give a fuck what
anybody else says.
I am a part of a tradition andthis tradition goes this way I
am, and like I don't give a shitwhat you guys are tweeting
about.
I don't give a shit what thisreporter from the New York Times
or the Washington Post thinksabout how I, how I move, how I
live my life, like I am a partof the real American tradition.
(37:03):
Ok, I'm from the south.
I go to a southern ass churchwhere other people are telling
me you're doing the right thinghere, keep those so-and-sos in
line and don't fuck around with,for instance, that gay shit.
Don't fuck around with thatlesbian shit.
Like, stay in order of god'sorder.
Like that woman that person isliving with as far as she can
(37:30):
see, I'm certain she is livingwith all 10 toes on the ground.
And the rest of you are theones who are presenting some woo
woo bullshit.
The rest of you are the ones onsome new age shit that's going
to disintegrate into dust, andso you will leave me the fuck
alone about how I live my lifeand how I position myself in
this world, and I'm just goingto be honest, like the thing
(37:54):
that continues to make morepeople print out in this version
similar to the tech bro whichcontinues to print out over and,
over and over again is like sheis so successful with this
brand of how you run a life anda program and young people.
She is churning out wins now, anational championship and a
(38:19):
bunch of star players who aregoing to like, who are already
millionaires, who are alreadylike future WNBA stars, who are
already like media entities intheir own right, who, when they
get a microphone in front ofthem, they are able to move
culture and tell a story aboutthemselves and about what's
(38:39):
happening with them in a waythat is impactful.
So, like you guys, you are notgoing to change her, like she
will not be changed, changed she, and I don't think she will be
remorseful either about that,and and and I don't see any
other way around that.
But let me get back to the game.
Let me actually talk aboutbasketball for a second before I
(39:00):
start talking about the culturewars between iowa and lsu.
If I even get to that, um, iowawon, which made me I was
rooting for LSU.
I think, uh, I would get, Iwould venture to guess, 95% of
black people watching this gamewere rooting for LSU and they
(39:23):
won.
It was a really good game.
I mean, it was like both teamscame out firing, both teams came
out shooting at a highpercentage, both teams were
filling it up from three.
But I must be honest in thestorytelling of this game.
The second best experience inlife is when you go into
something with a certain set ofexpectations.
(39:44):
Like you go to a oh my God,this is great, we all love this.
When you go to a burger spot inthe middle of nowhere, like you
just pull over, you're drivingsomewhere.
You pull over to a burger spotor a burrito spot or whatever it
is that you like to eat and yousit down, you wait for that
(40:06):
burger.
It's like a burger you've neverhad before.
It's not McDonald's, it's not,you know.
It's not fast food, it's notlike some super cute bougie
boutique shot like shit that hasan Instagram.
Like it's just a fucking burgerspot.
Like it's just like hey, comein here and get a burger.
And you look at it and you'relike, oh, it looks pretty good.
(40:47):
And you bite into it and it'slike, wow, holy shit, this is a
phenomenal burger.
Second best experience in lifeis when you go into something
with very high expectations,like you go into it almost with
the goosebumps already, likethat fun crackle of tension and
anticipation, cause you know,you've been sitting with it for
(41:08):
two days knowing, ooh, about toget that shit, I'm about to have
that thing that I want, thatthing that I like, that thing
that everybody is saying is thatcrack, I'm going to have that.
And then you get it and it'sthat and it meets the
expectations that you had thatare through the roof right, that
(41:28):
is fire.
Through the roof right, that isthe, that is fire.
That is like, because what yougot on the front end was that
you got to live with thattension of anticipation.
So that's two, three, four aweek, a month, a year.
That's all that extra time thatyou got to sort of dream about
and think and feel like asyou're going through the
mundanities of life.
You got to look forward to it.
(41:49):
You got to have that in theback of your head.
Ooh, you got to feel that waythat you wake up a little bit
earlier each day as it getscloser, because you're excited
about that thing and yourheartbeat, your heart races and
you're as you're doing otherthings.
You're like I don't even give ashit about having to take my
car to the shop because I knowI'm going to have that thing on
Thursday.
And then when the thing hits,and it hits the way that you
(42:14):
thought it was going to hit,that's the best experience and
this game was that experience.
Even though the team that Iwanted to win lost, I still felt
treated to somethingspectacular and that met the
moment.
But and I got to be real aboutthis because we're just talking
about basketball okay, kaitlynClark delivered on those
(42:40):
expectations, period.
There was not a moment in thatgame, there was not a second.
I promise you you will not beable to point to the moment in
that game where Kaitlyn Clarkdid not live up to the
expectations.
That doesn't mean she didn'thave a turnover, because she had
plenty.
That doesn't mean she didn'tmiss a shot because she missed
(43:00):
plenty and she did somethingthat is a hallmark of
superstardom across mediums,spectrums, sports industries,
jobs, personalities, whatever.
When someone is great atsomething and in her case it is
(43:22):
shooting and controlling a gamewith her shooting, and they lean
into that thing unabashedly,it's… that is how you meet those
expectations and that's whatshe did the first play of the
game is Kaitlyn Clark dribbling,remember, sorry, she tries to
(43:42):
go around the screen but shecan't.
She goes under the screen.
Kaitlyn Clark steps back, pow.
It's her first three out ofnine that she would go on to hit
(44:03):
in this game.
Kaitlyn Clark was extremelySteph Curry-like that is not her
hyperbole.
Every time down the court thepossession.
For Caitlin, most mostbasketball players, the
possession starts when you knowthe point guard kind of like
(44:23):
dribbles down or like there's akick up to the guy, to the
person in the wing or whatever.
The possession starts whensomeone is approaching the three
point line.
That's usually in a basketballgame.
Where the possession startsthat's when someone is
reasonably in a scoring threatposition on the court and
everybody else, all of the nineplayers, need to be aware of
(44:46):
what's happening because a shotcan go up.
For people like Steph Curry andKaitlyn Clark, the possession
and there are few of them onearth, there may only be two of
them on earth the possessionstarts at half court.
The possession starts as soonas that person crosses half
court.
As soon as Caitlin Clark cameacross half court it was mayhem
because she would pull up from25 feet, 27 feet, 28 feet, 30
(45:12):
feet.
She was ready to pull up andshe was ready.
She was looking to hit thejugular vein on every possession
of the entire game.
There was a moment, only one,that I saw in the whole game
where Kaitlyn Clark.
It was probably in the thirdquarter.
Kaitlyn Clark doesn't have theball.
Someone else has it.
Kaitlyn Clark comes off of ascreen on the right side.
(45:32):
This person's holding the ballon the left side, the person on
the right side, this person'sholding the ball on the left
side.
The person on the left side islooking at the woman on the
block.
She's looking to bump it downto the lady on the block Caitlin
Clark does like an Iverson, cutacross, through, you know,
around a screen over to aboutthe free throw line, with her
hands up, like ready to catchthe ball, both hands up, she's
open and the lady with the ballbumps it down to the big woman
(45:56):
and, like I don't know if wecall it a big man or big woman,
I think big, big woman, I don'tknow bumps it down to the post
player and caitlyn clark doesn'tget the look and she's the look
of frustration.
She claps her hands at the womanwho passed the ball down she's.
Her face is like frowned up,like yo it is.
She is saying everything exceptgive me the fucking ball.
(46:19):
And she's almost saying thatshe may have said that and that
is like that's what you want tosee from a superstar.
And, to be clear, you saw thatfrom her and Angel Reese on the
other side.
Even though Angel Reese wasn'thaving a phenomenal game, she
still finished with 17 and 20.
But like she got hurt duringthe game.
She hurt her ankle, like shewas in some ways neutralized
because Iowa knew that they,that LSU was looking to feed her
(46:40):
on the block.
So much throughout the game.
But Kaitlyn Clark stole theshow.
It was that it was the KaitlynClark experience and I've seen
Kaitlyn Clark play before.
But, like, stakes are what makes.
Someone asked me the other daywhat makes a good story stakes.
Stakes make the whole story.
Stakes make rooting.
(47:01):
You don't root for a maincharacter unless there's.
You don't root for anythingunless there are stakes.
If winning or losing it's allthe same, there's nothing to
root for.
And the stakes of this gametranscended the NCAA tournament.
The stakes of this game werethere's race behind it.
There's people trying topresent these two teams as good
(47:24):
and evil.
There's politics behind it.
There are newbies like metuning in to see who really does
run this, this women'sbasketball shit like.
Is Kaitlyn Clark really thatperson like that?
There's.
So there are such stakes.
Kaitlyn Clark even told someoneone of the reporters that the
stakes of the game were makingher feel pressure the whole week
(47:45):
, that the stakes of the gamewere affecting her.
Now she didn't say she wasnervous, she made a point to say
I'm not nervous.
She said I slept like a babylast night, in so many words,
but I'm not nervous.
She said I slept like a babylast night in so many words.
But she could feel.
You can feel when there arestakes.
And to speak to those stakesand I wondered about this man,
(48:06):
did I love watching the fuckingLSU women play?
I'm going to tell you exactlyreally why.
Now for one, these people canjust hoop.
Flau'jae is a like, in a way,kayla Clark is obviously a
better player and she's awesomeand she's going to be a great
WNBA player in my opinion.
But I have no idea how thisgame translates to the pro game.
Well, I'll find out.
(48:29):
Flau'jae, flau'jae, flau'jae.
I'm so sorry.
I'm such a newbie to this this.
I'm sorry, I did mispronouncepeople's names.
Please, please, don't.
Please, don't be mad at me.
She is a dynamic basketballplayer, a dynamic athlete, and
she moves and plays in a waythat I think is on the cutting
edge of the modern sport, likethe stuff that kids are
(48:50):
practicing right now.
To have all these euro stepsputbacksbacks, step backs, like
she has all of it.
And they talked about hertraining schedule.
She wakes up at five in themorning and does her first
workout.
She works out three times a day, like you see it all there.
And I think she's a sophomore.
You see it all there.
She's the one who also has arecording, a record deal at rock
nation.
She's recording artist.
(49:10):
She is, I believe, named afterher, her father, who was a
rapper.
I love everything about the LSUwomen's basketball team.
Let me be blunt.
Part of it is that they'reblack as hell.
They are fucking black as shit.
They came in with hair done,eyelashes done, skin popping.
(49:34):
With hair done, eyelashes done,skin popping, Like there is a
flair and a style not only tohow they present themselves but
also to how they play the game.
That there's no other way forme to describe it.
Besides, it's black and we cango through history and talk
about, oh well, who inventedbasketball and basketball's
origins are in Indiana, and this, that and the history of these
(49:56):
games is blah, blah.
It's like no, that is dumb shit.
I don't give a fuck about anyof that.
This is a black sport and theseare some black ass people
playing this sport in a blackway and that is something that I
celebrate.
(50:22):
I could not help myself but tohear.
I mean, for part of it is likeliterally one of the ladies on
the LSU team is a recordingartist, but like I couldn't help
myself to hear Glowrilla, yeah,glow in my head.
I'm not lying to y'all, I'm not.
This is not a corny little likething.
I'm laying over this to y'all,I'm not.
This is not a corny little likething, I'm laying over this.
Like I literally was hearingthat song, yeah, glow in my head
over and over and over and overthroughout the duration of this
entire game, and it brought meto.
(50:44):
I was thinking about this thisthis morning.
It brought me to like how I, Imy actual thought was somebody
should Make some sort ofsomething A documentary, a
YouTube series, whatever Likethe connection between Hip hop
and basketball, which are.
Again, I'll be extremely blunt,these are Black forms of
(51:07):
expression Period that otherpeople participate in, but like
they're black, the this momentof black women transcending in
hip hop and black womentranscending particularly in the
college game Because I thinknow South Carolina is probably
(51:30):
going to win the NCAAchampionship in the women's game
, led by black players Like Iwould love to see somebody do a
side-by-side and I know I'm thesame one who was like stop
comparing John Morant to rappers, blah, blah, blah but like,
okay, I would love to seesomeone do a side-by-side sort
of analysis, storytelling,exploration of those two things
(51:52):
and the ways that they areconnected especially because we
have a women's star who isactually a recording artist and
the dynamics of larger societytaking so long to have an
appreciation for and a love for,and honor and honor and give
respect to this game and thismedium as played by black women.
(52:15):
I would love to see somebodyexplore those two things and
just like the boom that ishappening right now as those two
things really take center stage.
I'm definitely going to watchthe men's final four, I'm
definitely going to watch thechampionship game, but I'm going
to have to make up reasons toroot for some of the teams that
(52:35):
are involved.
I really don't care who winsUConn, I don't care.
I'll probably try to root forNC State, just because they got
the big boy and they're just funto watch, because they don't
look like a basketball team,because of their center he looks
like a football player or Shrek.
I want to root for that, butlike I don't care, I cared last
(52:59):
night and caring is stakes andthat's what makes the story and
so I don't know.
I want to see somebody makethose.
I want to see somebody makethat happen.
All right, I've run out of time.
I can't even do another segment.
Who's texting me?
Whose number is this?
We did two segments today.
I don't even care, I like it.
(53:19):
I think that's good.
We did a good job.
It was thorough.
All right, I'll do it quickly.
Cowboy Carter, this is going tobe extremely, extremely quick
analysis.
Cowboy Carter, beyonce'scountry album, which she's
(53:52):
saying is not a country album,it's a Beyonce album.
Fine, whatever Love, capitalletters, l-o-v-e.
I have listened to the albumnow twice, one time while road
tripping, which was the best wayto listen to an album like this
is driving on the open highway.
I'll start with the one.
There's literally only one badthing I have to say about this
thing, which is hate the title.
Bad title, don't like it, Idon't, I don't.
It's not for me to choose forher, but like I don't want
anything that evokes Jay-Z inthe title of this album.
(54:15):
He's not on the album, he's notBeyonce, and this type of album
from Beyonce is a singular featthat I believe only Beyonce
could pull off, which is andthis is the feat she made an
album that feels one is.
(54:38):
Now.
I did not have to be baptizedthis way because my mom loved
country music.
My mom loves country music, andso I listened to a good amount
of country music growing up.
Mom is from the South, myfamily's from the South.
Country music is not foreign tous.
I can there are, I know, acouple of Bonnie Raitt and
(54:59):
Shania Twain songs, word forword for word for word.
I can, I can.
I got it.
Ok, I was already primed.
I was looking forward to this.
This was not a reach, this wasnot something I had to be
baptized into, but a feat she ispulling off is people.
I've already heard people whowanted to look the other way on
country music and who don't feelled into country music change
(55:21):
their tune because this albumnot just because it's Beyonce,
but because this album is sogood I love the first and last
songs of this album and theyrepresent what is there in
that's packaging.
That's bookending Okay,bookending is important.
It's like the cover and theback cover of a book and they
represent what is there in pack.
That's packaging.
That's book ending okay, bookending is important.
It's like the cover and theback cover of a book.
The sound quality is so distinctand so ultimate, it's like so
(55:51):
peak, it is so crisp, um, and atthe same time damp, and at the
same time her voice comes.
Her voice is like in yourheadphones.
She is there with you.
She has a way of I'm gonna, I'mgonna be so real, which is like
I don't even know how much I'mgonna be able to listen to this
(56:11):
album, because listening to itis an emotional and spiritual
experience in that it is Beyoncedoes not let you free from
humanity, she doesn't let youavoid while listening to her
music, especially in this album.
She doesn't let and I'm not.
It's not even.
(56:32):
It's not the writing, it's notthe words, it's not the messages
, it's just this.
It's just the musicianship,it's just the clarity, it's just
the.
It is so cinematic.
Whiskey and cigarettes and Levijeans and cowboy hats and straw
(56:58):
and space.
I can see those things whilelistening to this album.
I can feel them.
It reminds me go.
My mom is in Bolivar, tennesseeright now, visiting family.
My family has a farm in Bolivar, tennessee.
It reminds me, go back to thatfarm.
There is something for youthere, something, and she's
(57:21):
giving us that in this album.
She's giving us when I say myfamily, I mean my extended
family, like 50 of us.
But she is giving something thatall artists do not give right
now, because for most of us andI mean across mediums there is
(57:46):
the urgency and the pressure tocreate at volume, just to stay
afloat, just to get your money,just to get your notoriety, just
to get allowed to be invited tothe next thing.
There's a volume play happeningand she has managed to
accomplish both volume becauseit's a long ass album and she
(58:07):
just put out an album, I guesstwo years ago.
It's long, but it is thorough,it is dense, it has feeling, it
is raw, it is full, it isdripping with.
This is what is real.
So it's my favorite Beyoncealbum.
I'm not even gonna act like I'ma Beyonce stan, because I'm not
(58:29):
, but this one is doing thething, so check it out.
All right, I'm out of here.
Goodbye, this is nothing butanarchy.
We will see you guys Thursday.
No, I don't know.
We'll see you guys when thepodcast drops, cause that's what
, how, how this really goes now.
Speaker 2 (58:47):
Thank you.
Outro Music
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!