Episode 20: Harmony and Discord: Dissecting Hip-Hop’s Grammy Paradox and the Echoes of Industry Evolution

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on?
Y'all tuned in to anotherepisode of Exposure and I be
aboard the Global Zoo and I'mwith the game Eric Biddens,
draco Mill and today's show isbrought to you by the one and
only Sovereign Brands,exposure's official drink of
choice.
Talk about exposure.

(00:20):
You need the exposure.
You gotta touch the streets,need that street credibility
need that promotion.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
And that's where exposure.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Provides for the peace.
Welcome to the main enemy teamside out here in my a corner,
like I always do Watch theexposure in the head with that
exposed.
No, what it is?
Them down dollars relo numberone, dj's number one, promoter
for show from Palm Beach it'sexposed us wide open now Y'all
check it out, you know sayingkeep it locked all over the
floor and you are watchingexposure.

(00:54):
I, let's get right into it,though, man.
We fun to get right into it.
We in front of whole back,fresh off the press, big killer
Mike, man.
Killer Mike did something veryphenomenal over the weekend.
One in three Grammys.
You know, I'm saying shout outto hip hop, shout out to killer
Mike.
I saw the speech, man, and Iliterally had tears of joy.

(01:15):
If I could, I ain't crying ahot little minute, but that
would have been the reason, likeI was really close to it and
seeing killer Mike with thealbum.
Three Grammys, three Grammys atthat.
You know what I'm saying.
So it was best rap performance,right, best album and best Song
right.
There you go.
So that is engineers andscientists dope album.

(01:39):
If you haven't heard it, Ithink he was bringing back bars
and real hip hop back.
But also, I don't know, when Isee them getting arrested, I'm
like, wait a minute.
We had an all-time high and nowwe're leaving in cuffs.
I'm like, man, I hope thatdidn't ruin the moment, but what
a great win for hip hop, man,great win for hip hop, yeah,
that's definitely ain't Ruin.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Ruin the moment and I want to interject and add our
investment as a hip hopcommunity in the culture I'm
surrounding hip hop, ourinvestment in the Grammys Awards
, like what was given to killerMike, shows that our investment

(02:21):
is paying off and.
I'm pay our patience and Waitingand still showing up as we
which we will get into, likeJay-Z said, still showing up and
being there for it andappreciating the platforms that
allow and recognize the thingsthat we're doing right.

(02:41):
So Shout out to the Grammys fordoing that.
For killer Mike, it definitely,and this is my opinion, I'm
speaking on behalf of those whothinking like me All right, um,
the killer Mike Awards is, isn'tit?
Don't pay off for the ones thatwas missed in the past, for
those who we feel like shouldhave gotten awards?

(03:02):
Absolutely.
But it definitely shows thatthey are trying to get it right
with authenticity and not justmetrics and data and what went
viral.
They are looking at things thathave substance, activism,
personality.
He's a family man, he's beenconsistent, he, he.

(03:25):
Yeah unapologetic Him, ceo,businessman, barber shops, like
it shows the growth and thematurity in that the
Infrastructure and theorganization, the organization
or the administration behind theGrammys is also Expanding to
really get a grasp on what theculture is about and who the

(03:49):
culture actually Cosines to berepresented on our behalf.
Gotcha, absolutely, it wasbeautiful.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
No, absolutely so, as we on that topic.
So most Grammys wins by arapper.
We got Jay Z at 24, we gotKanye at 24, kendrick at 17.
Wow, eminem with 15.
Hmm, pharrell with 13.
Okay, lauren Hill.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Hey oh.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Andre 177.
Dr Dre at 7, outcasts at 6 andwe got tired.
At 5 we got Drake, wayne andGambino.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Um, how I'm surprised to see Drake and Wayne so low.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Kind of I said the same thing.
Well, don't forget.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Where did Drake get like five at one time, I think
he was in one setting was.
I don't know, I'm surprised atone, yeah, just that one setting
memory.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
He has so much you couldn't hold him in his hand.
But that ain't got nothing todo with this list.
He read off If this is, if thislist is, um, legit, yep, the.
I'm surprised because Drake andWayne is so low on there on on
the on volume.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
That's interesting.
Drake is probably one of the Imean as a relevant and current
artist probably the hottest aswe look right now.
That's interesting, but doDrake?
I think some of these recordsthat get the Grammys is like, I
don't know.
I feel like Drake can he ain'tno excuse.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
No, no way you miss you.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
No, I'm thinking longevity, I'm thinking the
records, like Drake, can adaptto the current times.
I feel like the records wouldbe good for now.
But, like, do you always goback in the archive and bumper
Drake record or does he know howto keep up with whatever the
current trend?
Is he just always hot at that?
Moment we don't have a rapperwith the stats that Drake have

(05:47):
outside of like in the historyof the planet, of Planet of Raps
.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
We don't have the planet of rap, whatever rhythm
and poetry is, we don't havenobody with the volume that
Drake was able to produce, thefuck, and and I'm not saying
taking nothing from everybodyelse on this list, but it's I'm
surprised that he's so far away.
Okay, okay, other people are inthe teens and he had he in

(06:13):
single digits, gotcha.
So somebody, um, somebody, Iwon't say drop the ball.
You can see where the politicsmay may play out, where he went
in too much over here.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
We can't Give him everything here Absolutely, cuz
some people can Devoureverything.
If you're gonna go with this,with the metrics and the numbers
and sometimes the metrics andthe numbers do make it hard to
Dismiss what a person deservelike Kendrick, is really high.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
So I like the Kendrick, he deserve it.
He's really high, so you get it.
You get it right there, butthen you miss it with.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Drake and what not that you said.
That is hitting me different,because I would say Drake, body
of work has to be triple time,right the amount of Kendrick
right Right.
Yeah, come and then he go.
That's Kendrick.
What, how many albums can you?

Speaker 2 (07:09):
43.
But but Kendrick been hittingever since the intro, like ever
since the beginning.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
Drake man.
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
He's been getting the Grammy since he started the
game Okay.
Drake wasn't in.
Get wasn't getting him.
He did a mixtape.
Did he get it Grammy for amixtape?
I think he did.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
I think it was nominated.
I was nominated, okay, the bestside of the head, the best of
right, so I was a mixtape and Iwas a mixtape so.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
But again, kendrick came was getting it at the very
start of his career.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Drake didn't, wasn't getting it like that but you
still ain't gonna find nobodyhave more singles.
I agree, chart the way Drake isthe amount of singles he have
in relationship to his album.
It's he having four plussingles per album.
He doing the equivalent whatLauren Hill was was doing.
He doing equivalent what DMXwas doing.
He doing the equipment likewith ease.

(07:59):
So the part where I see isunfair.
If I'm justifying why that heain't getting the Grammys, it's
because you're dominating toomuch over here.
If we give you, you for doinggood, yeah, because you're doing
so good, it's gonna show thefavoritism that in.
It's gonna show how youswallowing the game.

(08:21):
That's the LeBron effect.
Yeah, the LeBron, exactly theLeBron.
It is a real thing because youwant to, you want to, you want
to be fair and your sportsmansportsmen like Conduct.
But what I'm saying is andgoing back to what Jay Z say,
which we may get into later yeah, sometimes they get it wrong.
What you should get it close toright, it ain't no way.

(08:43):
Jay Drake is at five whileother people are at 15 17 and
things like that he should.
His numbers should be when alongthe lines in the teens, with
where Kendrick numbers are,because Kendrick probably got
the shortest catalog ofeverybody almost of everybody

(09:05):
you mentioned on there, that's,his Grammys are much higher.
Yeah, which which Now I'mgetting into a formula, formula
that may on favor in thesesituations where less Is more in
the nominations and where moreit more can do more for you in

(09:29):
charting in the other needle,movers, movers but it may not
necessarily Really impact the uh, the grammy, um, um.
What's the people that's on thegrammy?
the board the yeah committee,yeah, the grammy committee.
It may not.
It may not necessarily impactthe grammy community.

(09:50):
I could see where you like.
Like you ain't.
You ain't surprised that LeBroncan do a 360 through on
windmill?
Dump between his leg, you like?

Speaker 1 (09:59):
uh, that's LeBron, Even though he, he's doing some
amazing stuff.
Yeah, you like uh.
Uh a.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Drake dropped us a song, chris Brown, it's a banger
.
Huh, of course it's Chris Brownand Drake.
You look at it, not keep inmind.
That is very difficult to do.
Yeah, because if I was gonnaget a Chris Brown feature, I
would be scrambling to find whatbeat, what song, I'm gonna be
like.
Oh, we gotta get this right.
Da da, da, da da.
So the things some artists aredoing Easy, we still ain't

(10:31):
giving them credit of howcomplicated it still is to outdo
yourself, and that is somethingDrake have managed to do.
He have managed to outdohimself Even with some of his
lower performing records.
They still outdid what was donebefore and it shows this

(10:52):
geniusness.
And I don't like how I'm.
I'm riding the Scorpio wagonright now.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, you slapped him over your.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
I had the Slow down.
I saw like one of them, uhsports announced where they're
getting in.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Hey man, it's all good, it's all good, it's all
good.
But shout out to killer mic,man, I hope everything's all
right.
I heard he was released already.
So from, from, from jail.
So, killer mic, shout out toyou, man, big accomplishment,
and we salute you from exposureAlso.
Uh, we speaking on that, on the, on the on hot topic, we also
have the Nicki Minaj and makethe style in the beefs the beefs

(11:33):
right.
We had the, the the big footrecord Release.
Uh, megan came out with thesong.
His has out.
Y'all boys had a chance tolisten to his by any chance.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
No, I heard, I've seen a few Drake.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
It seems like nah, that ain't it?
Yeah, jiggle.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
I heard it is drago.
You might know, drago, I can'tsay too much, you know.
Call me a hater.
Nah, I'm not a meg fan.
Regardless, I'm going, I'm a go, whoever going against the
period, regardless of the record, listen, listen.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Wait, why you don't like me?

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Hold on, let me say it real quick Team Tory man.
That's all I had to say.
I'm on a team tour.
Anybody against megan?
I'm I'm against.
I'm not a megan fan, I justknow he, he.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Oh, did he confirm he shot her in the foot, Allegedly
man.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
This story still don't make no sense.
Yeah, still doesn't.
It still got some how you onthe, so how you on the foot
shoot this time they saying Torydon't want to be labeled a
snitch.
So he ain't really sayingeverything that happened,
because he would look like asnitch but you I rather look
like a snitch than look like Ishot a one eye foot and you and

(12:38):
I would be on the same team, butour mindset, the way everybody
don't look at it like that.
I guess, especially when you areso called a rapper to when you
got that rapper title, you don'twant to lose your credibility
in his mind, like in his mindhe's gonna.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
He rather, he rather takes that L, so when he's
released he can still be able toget a win.
He not out.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
No they gave him 10 years Tory and jail.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Almost a year now.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
I mean, I'm sure some one of his dad's can get me
chickens in jail.
I don't see some kind of meats,I don't even know where it
comes from.
In jail, you like how the helly'all making burritos and steak
and how does?
How do you transport the meatfrom the kitchen to the never
man.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
I seen Gucci man on microphones.
I seen Xboxes.
I seen all type of stuff in themicrowaves.
I'm like I don't.
I don't know if jail is made upin that set like the concept of
what we are sold on jail being.
Yeah, they be looking happy.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Don't forget, you got that kind of money you can get
At that kind of caliber man, youprobably can get what you want
in there, as long as you ain'tyou know you know Hurting or you
know helping everybody else todo nothing stupid, and I think
they got their own space man.
I don't think it's like thatman.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Okay, I think the term they use is sometimes it's
called a white collar prison.
There you go where it ain't iscrazy.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
You know, there's a celebrity, the circumstances
ain't as hectic.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
There's celebrities, the other prisons and in in
jails that exist.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
So I'm still lost on the, the megan and nicky thing.
We got to go and go back.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
So yeah, I just I mean, I heard both records.
Um so mag, the beat was morecurrent, she was flowing.
She said what she had to say.
She's coming for anybody who'scoming for her.
She defended herself and shetalked about her ex.
She talked about what's current.
She talked about her, herbody's, her body.
She popped the shit.
To me personally, she poppedthe shit.

(14:34):
I was more of a fan of the magrecord than the nicky record,
the nicky delivery.
I don't know, maybe she wastrying to think outside the box
with the float, but it kind ofseemed like she was playing with
it, right, but trying to beserious at the same time.
And I don't see how you coulddo that when it comes to a diss
record.
Like, if that makes sense, Isee what you're saying.

(14:55):
So that's what threw me off hertone, her voice.
She's trying to say is shesaying some stuff?
But if you come in with a hardbeat and she's gonna talk that
talk, I think she should havecame with more of a delivery and
a better beat.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
From me personally, right, nicky was definitely
playing with.
Uh, we make, but the big footthing was kind of funny Like she
had the whole theme and talkedabout the big foot.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
Like you can laugh, you're gonna chuckle.
I feel like she used more of a50 cent tactic.
When it comes to the, thecomical side, right, but for the
bars and the, what I, what I?
Wanted to hear the major gotbig feet or something you I
guess for a woman you can.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
She can say so yeah, she called herself a stallion,
bro, so she's like it's supposedto be a bigger size.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Y'all saw her feet.
What size, huh?
Y'all saw her feet.
Um, I, I saw her feet, but whatconsidered?
Now I'm actually something mostwomen what?
What you would consider bigfeet for a woman, or considered
big Because most women typicallyhave small.
We usually will say, oh, yousize eight, right, seven and
kids when you think about it.
So what is, megan?

(15:56):
I think when you start goingpast the 10 to some I'm not
saying everybody to some thatwill be kind of a big is she
tall.
I don't know how tall megan is.
We have to, we have to factcheck, uh, megan's height, let's
find out.
I can fact check megan's heightBecause she, she looked.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
She looked proportional, like any any.
So now, what do?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
you can see all seara got big five, ten that's we
would consider that Big girl,that's a big girl.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
We would consider that to Nicki.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Minaj is five two.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, okay, so we would.
So if we're saying, even ifmegan is, stallion was 11.
That's not, that's not big fora five.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
No, that's big, that's big girl for five ten.
Average size.
Average height girls five, fivebro, that's the average size.
She was 11.

Speaker 3 (16:47):
Uh-huh, and she five, ten, that's not no, that's not
for female.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
No.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Yeah that's not a that's not a fair bigfoot and if
we saying this in woman, awoman shoe bigfoot.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, she's wearing men shoes, man.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah, you can wear men shoes.
She's wearing men shoes.
You can wear a woman shoes, nono, no, she's wearing men size.
You can wear a woman, you canwear a woman's 13, according to
studies.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
If we're gonna go to cap the current average sizes
between eight to eight and ahalf, that's what averages.
So if you were in a 10, like Iknow, 13, I don't know if y'all
especially if you go shopping inperson, like I know, for men,
like anything over 13, youprobably gonna have to special
order that thing.
You're gonna have to have theone pair for the what you call
that the show display.

(17:34):
Right and they're gonna be likewhen you want that, you want to
come pick it up here or sent toyour house.
She go to rack room andprobably, but god knows, I ain't
been to rack rooms insideschool, or you go on you go on,
uh, um the far right side of thewall at marshals, or else.
So size 15 is up.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Hey, marshals, be having 17s.
And you see cleats that you waslike, definitely get them
shacks.
Yeah, hey, marshals, marshalsand ross, they take any shoe.
That that um the outletdistributors again, you know.
They get some of the thingsthat don't sell.

(18:15):
That be Good stuff, some name,some high-end popular things,
but they go to marshals and belike, hey, we can't get rid of
these, these size 18.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
I got my first I recends at marshals man.
What's it, marshals ross?

Speaker 1 (18:28):
man, I got my irises, the three box, yeah, okay and
now and now they sell it for 90dollars.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Listen, you will find some gems In the rock rosses
and marshals, because the people, when they can't get rid of
something, is just sitting thereRandomly in a warehouse,
they'll send it out to all ofthese outlets.
The tj max is the ross is themarsh.
I got lucky at burlington, ifyou burlington yeah, nice Things
, uh, nice kicks.
At burlington it's people thatare go to these places and

(18:56):
they'll resell and they'll makea 50 dollar profit.
Mm-hmm air max is being in alltypes of things for 60 dollars.
Yes, I done seen some gems and Iwas like what they got these?
He got the irises in there.
If he could have held on.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Now they're not 90 dollars, they're brung them back
.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
They probably 200 and you go to the right spot.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, a lot of things is coming back to a lot of
kicks.
I see, like they, they havetheir periods and the right
person you just the time, theseason bringing them back.
That's pretty dope when itcomes to the kicks.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
Can I say our generation Is still holding it
down for sneakers because eveneven in my sons, all of their
most popular shoes the littleboy, high schoolers and now the
most popular shoes are shoesthat came from my era.
No, yeah.
Like the, like the jorgens, the,the air max, um, a lot of the

(19:52):
dunks, like I just got the shoes.
Our air is still got the best,the most popular design shoes.
Okay, even when they making newversions with modifications for
certain athletes, it's stillComing from our era, era.
I don't see too many outside ofadidas and NMDs and NSM.

(20:18):
I'm not a sneaker here, so Iwish, I wish I knew Well what I
was talking about.
There is sneakers that haveinnovated like, uh, everything
that Kanye did, obviously they,they're newer designs.
But a lot of these shoes, thatthese sneaker heads and these
kids, and see the stuff my sonwearing as a high school, high

(20:40):
schooler it's, it's our shoes.
They still rocking the AirForce one oh.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Air Force ones ain't going nowhere, they ain't going
nowhere.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
All the all the jorgens from our era.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
They still rocking the ones that's still popular
the vans still rocking the theclassic still some of those go
before our era.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
I'm taking credit for shoes that ain't ours, but like
some of the vans and the chucktailors, I'm saying the shoe
game ain't really Evolving likeas fast as like technology and
all the other stuff.
We still like liking a lot ofthe things from the past when it
comes to feetwear.
Footwear, hmm, I said feet.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
I wonder what.
I wonder what's causing that,though.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Hmm, like you just said the design man we're
talking about high school.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
Now the design the design.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
The designs are the designs on the gate the
gatekeepers is stopping it,because you ever see these
replicas, um, um.
You ever see the uh Fakes, the,the, yeah, the fakes and the ai
generated shoes and all thesedesigns.
You see some concepts.
Well, people, that's modifyingshoes.
Mm-hmm, it's some fire stuff.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah, I ain't gonna let the forces.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Listen, there's some stuff out there and you'd be
like I don't know why this ain'tin the store.
They got technologies that'scoming out, that innovate 3d
printing shoes, like all.
They got all this other stuff,just like when cunye did that
technology, that that phonetechnology with the um adidas.
That technology was sittingaround for a long time.

(22:12):
Mm-hmm and when he went there,they showed him stuff that they
had that wasn't necessarilytaken off of being utilized and
he was like, oh, I want thistechnology, we're gonna design
this like this.
Then fast forward.
That technology took off, um,and it just moved.
Now they still got all theseapplications with new designs

(22:35):
that people ain't necessarilyPeople ain't necessarily rocking
with like you, and you got alot of shoes.
You got some shoes.
I won't, I won't necessarilysay is the 400 dollar shoe
brackets, but I see features onsome of your sneakers that I'm
like this is a dope feature.
I ain't see this feature onnothing.

(22:57):
Why ain't this taken off Then?
you would see yeah, you wouldsay.
Oh, it must be politics.
Like what a I don't know whatnone is over there.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Are we claiming crocs because crocs was always the
thing back in the day?

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Crocs dope, I love, I ain't.
I can't say.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, I rock with the crops they comfortable.
Oh you gotta make a song.
I can see I can get more ofthem.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
I rock the crocs, rock, rock, rock with the crocs,
rock, rock, rock the crocs.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
You gotta be featured on it.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
You gotta be featured on it.
If you don't do it, let mecheck.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
You gonna make the beat.
Check crocs.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Drago on the beat.
Drago on the beat.
Rock with the crocs, no, and Ialso uh.
So I mean, guys, it's been uh,you know it's, it was 2024 very
excited to see.
You know, I mean we, we, we, westrong, we, we dropping and we
doing our thing.
And you know, it was kind ofinteresting because you know,
when you're in the podcast world.
So, seeing what happened withcat Williams and Shannon sharp,

(23:59):
that interview, I mean that wasthe last interview.
If you were to ask me if youwoulda gave me 50 names and said
which one would do thesenumbers, I sure enough didn't
think a Cat Williams interviewwould've broke the internet for
two weeks in a row, a hot topic.
I mean 50 million views inalmost two days.

(24:20):
It was crazy Numbers and I meangreat conversation.
He spoke his truth and shoutout to Club Shay, shay.
So I guess what I'm trying tosay is do y'all think that
interview and do you think thatinterview helps Shannon Sharp
platform?
Put them on the map now, causeI noticed every interview is

(24:40):
getting a million views, right,and you've got some.
Some of these people been onthe Breakfast Club.
They been on big platforms andthey not even doing those kind
of numbers, only like six, ninewas doing them kind of numbers.
And Birdman was the last onethat went viral and did Birdman.
You had, like Takashi, six,nine and you actually had Usher
not Usher, what's his name,soldier boy, soldier boy With

(25:03):
the whole drag.
Yeah, that episode was likeinternet breaking numbers.
And now Cat Williams come outthe gate talking breaking the
internet.
Man, I thought that was prettyinsane.
I watched the whole three hours, whatever it was, two hours and
plus minutes, cause it was.
I was in, I was in tune to theconversation, the gyms, his

(25:24):
story, he went in depth and nowthey're saying that of course
Club Shea Shea is like a safespace.
So now you see the countrywanes.
You just saw Usher recently,man and a 21 Savage, so I guess
he's doing this thing, man.
So I just wanted to say shoutout to Club Shea Shea man on
breaking the internet and didy'all, you got a chance to watch

(25:45):
it.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, I think I watched like 75% of it, 75% of
it.
It was a long ass episode.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
It was long but I couldn't.
I can't lie, I couldn't stoponce I started when I seen how
long I was like I ain't gonnawatch the whole thing.
I got further into it than Ieven imagined and I had this
stop a few times and I went inand did a group chat.
I looked at the numbers.
I was like man they doingnumbers.

(26:13):
It didn't feel like what washappening.
Average.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
He was talking about some greats man.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
It's crazy cause some of the facts is already out
there and people was able topull them up.
You know, it was just crazy,especially about Bernie, so
that's why I was wild man.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, I didn't know none of this stuff was going on.
I didn't even know like thecomedy game had beef.
I guess it ain't as funny as wethink.
So I didn't know a lot of thatstuff.
So it was interesting to hearjust the tension and kind of
resonate with that part.
But overall the performance,the performance was entertaining

(26:56):
.
I gotta say the performance wasentertaining.
Shani Sharp did a good job ofkeeping it going and acting
sharp and staying neutral too,which was hard.
You gotta let a person talk howthey wanna talk but then, you
know, not necessarily take sides.

(27:17):
It was beautiful and I washappy for the numbers to go out
how they did.
From an entertainingperspective, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Absolutely.
That just was amazing man.
I'm like dang.
I didn't think it was possible.
Then he put out the clips themclips was doing numbers as well
from the interview, but he saidyou're a natural allegiance to
losers.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
It's unlikely.
Ha ha, ha ha.
And so alone I was likeeverybody knew that was going
viral.
Yeah, everybody knew it waswhen he stood up and said hold
on, hold on what's sadrick inhis stomach.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Y'all didn't really, y'all didn't really, y'all
didn't really capture, show allthe viral moments that he did.
He did the meme faces onpurpose, he did the position.
He did all of that on purposecause he know it can be a gif,
it can be a meme, it can be aclip that people can use.
He played it really reallysmart man, he did a great job.

(28:18):
Gotta give it to him.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
I think half of it was.
I think half of it he had.
He had definitely had an agenda.
I don't wanna say definitelyHalf of it.
He had an agenda.
He had something he wanted tosay, he needed to say, but then
there was entertainment.
There was entertainment.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Oh, a lot of it, A lot of it.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
So the performance he let you know I'm a comedian
first.
Then he labeled everything elsethat was going down the line,
but he definitely was.
I feel like he was sayingsomething that was important in
that if you go past all, if youjust get left at the

(29:02):
entertainment, you'll miss theother things that he might be
trying to say His agenda and hiswell, his motive behind the
things he was saying and why hechose this time to speak on them
.
And a lot of those things waslike it was years ago, some of
the stuff that was ongoing andthe time was perfect.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
So I don't think you get enough credit, kat Williams,
and I think, like you said, thetime was perfect.
Why I said this is sointeresting?
Because after that interview,why did like pretty much
everything he fact checked,showing your timeline Right.
I swear it's like you talkedabout Steve Harvey.
You start seeing.
The other joke was said, Idon't know when he did the joke

(29:48):
then you see, when said just theentertainer did the joke
similar.
He talked about Steve Harvey.
You see the jokes very similar.
He talked about this person.
It was like holy smoke, youain't see it while it was
happening.
But boy, that's the algorithm,lord.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Yeah, man, and they're like oh, here we go, we
got y'all, we see what y'all aredoing.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,
ah, ah.
That was the craziest part tome.
I'm like, damn Kat ain't toocrazy.
Then you notice he got a tourcoming up and you know, and Tory
Hart is part of the tour.
Like what Tory Hart is, kevinHart's ex-wife?
Yeah, bro, is she a comedian.
So, believe it or not, she usedto help Kevin with a lot of his

(30:34):
material.
Yeah, I did not know that.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
If you think about it and go back to his own stuff,
he would never have thought hewould have talked about his
family like that.
He talked about his kids, hisex-wife, all of it, man, oh, I
didn't know.
And if you see, her stand up.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
You almost see the early Kevin.
Yeah, it's kind of scary, likeit's very believable that she
wrote and helped with a lot ofher material.
It's what I'm saying.
It's almost like shit, I don'tknow.
It's like, I'm trying to think.
It's almost like when you, youknow, when you a rapper, do a
reference and you could believe,oh no, that rapper wrote like

(31:12):
you can see, hear that flow ofthe rapper, for example.
Very similar.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
I'm glad you kept that in.
Yeah, we got respect for themboys.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Respect Was he ever accused of her, like giving him
material.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
So I want to say that she felt like she.
She's part of that success thathe has Like she and of course
the relationship didn't work out.
But I think D down, when you,when he's, you know, on his role
doing this thing, she feel likethen as part of me.
I'm sure he looked that.
I think that's why theirrelationship is where it's at,
like it's good, it's on goodterms.
I'm sure he looked out, she'swell taken care of.

(31:51):
But you know she was part ofthat success when it comes to
writing the materials or whetherit's how I was delivered, etc.
When I seen her stand upbecause I was curious now and
when I seen it I'm like, damn,who she remind me of Kevin Hart,
like the animation, the whole,the whole body language, all

(32:13):
Kevin bro, hmm, all Kevin.
So that was very interesting tosee.
She's pretty good, she's prettygood she got delivery to.
She's pretty good.
I'm actually going to see TIthis.
Hey, cat Williams, petty forthat man, low.
Yeah, that's why I was going atwith it.
I was like I thought that wasinteresting but good roll out
for for Cat Williams man, and hegave a lot of gyms in it too,

(32:35):
though there was a lot of gymsin that episode, so I was, I was
thrilled to be a part of it andto watch it.
Man, good stuff there.
Good stuff there.
What was the other thing?

Speaker 3 (32:49):
You said you're going to see TI.
Yeah, you do.
On the stand up set.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
They're coming to the Amrant Theater in Fort
Lauderdale.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, D.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
Ray Davis DC Young Fly.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Oh, they got a.
What's this called again Isthat that's a whole name for
that.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
We the ones?
Yeah, I heard his.
His stand up is pretty good.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
TI.
Yeah, I'm kind of excited tosee it.
I heard makes you?

Speaker 2 (33:13):
I heard makes reviews , but yeah, I would down to give
him a try, definitely.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
And I don't mind if he get out of the mic and just
put on a show.
He could do that too, Becausethe Duval do his stand up and
then he go.
He bust out the records on theback end.
What you know about that?

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Come on what I know about that.
I'm like, I'm with it.
That's a TI song, that's thesong.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
That's the song, yeah no, no, I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I'm with you, he most deaf, do stand up as well.
He got a few things where hedid stand up.
He went overseas, he did somesets.
So a lot of I would say a lotof artists can do, can do stand
up Speaking of most deaf.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
You heard what he said recently.
No, About Drake, Uh oh.
Drake's not, he says not arapper.
He said he's not like hip hop.
He's not, he's a rapper, butnot.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
He's pop, there you go.
He said he's pop.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Which he would put him in that category.
That's what he said.
We would.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
We would agree that he got popular music If you go
on by the definition of pop.
Did you?

Speaker 1 (34:20):
just you flip to the popular music when you said pop.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
Pop is popular music.
Yeah, we'll, we'll say blackeyed peas and sink and things
like that, but those, they,those that music transcends like
geographic margins.
So there may be a large groupthat's consuming in sync, a

(34:47):
large group when MichaelJackson's was the king, was the
king of pop, a large groupconsuming and loving Michael
Jackson.
It's not how like country is inthis margin.
This is in this sub margin.
So Drake transcends to a pointto where he becomes bigger than
hip hop.
I got you Like you not going insaying he better than like a

(35:12):
most of the stuff that embodieship hop.
It's just you ain't gonnadominate this person in the hip
hop category, but you are biggerthan this vessel where
everything else extends from.
So I ain't, he ain't, and hesaid it.
Some people was looking at itlike a disc.
I don't think Drake would takeit as a disc.

(35:34):
I don't think he even meant itmeant it as a disc.
He was just speaking the bestand honest, honest as he could
he could, given the what we seethese fabrics of music being,
and hip hop have to obtain andprotect its integrity.

(36:00):
That is somewhat marginalized.
That's not necessarily foreverybody to understand.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Most of gave us most of gave a great example.
Like you walk into a store, whoyou gonna hear?
You're not gonna hear mostdeath, you're not gonna hear
really a Jay Z, you're not gonnahear who you gonna hear who you
most like you're gonna hearwhen you walk into a store, a
public or a Marshalls or a mall.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
I mean which artist between Drake and most that
you're gonna?

Speaker 2 (36:31):
hear Drake.
He said that's what he said.
You walk into a store you'regonna hear Drake.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
That's why he called it pop yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Everything.
I mean, I don't think I gotsome, because he got some and he
also got some hoes.
Yes, hip hop song.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Right.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
I don't think he I don't know if that's gonna
change that though.
Like I don't think it's fair ifI have the ability to do both
for me to not be considered ahip hop artist.
Like I just don't.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Yeah, it's like you, you, you are.
You transcend the hip hopcategory, the global zoos
catalog, his music, music, histape taste, his production, his
bodies of work, transcends ofmarginalized category to the

(37:16):
point where you basically had tomake up your own genre, right.
So it's not a bad thing.
But will you be offended ifsomebody say a, your bars ain't
you if you ain't, if we was tomeasure you and Eric's bars over
a hip hop J Dilla?

Speaker 1 (37:38):
beat.
Would you know what that is?
I wouldn't even know what tosay.
That is yeah.
That ain't that, ain't.
Yeah.
I don't know what that is.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
That's why.
That's why I'm saying I don'tthink it was a disc.
A disc, oh.
But I feel like this, me on myscorpion wagon again.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
We know, he can rap, yes.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
He got some songs where there's bars and most of
them know that, but what he'ssaying is that's not where he's
positioned.
No matter what he capable of,that's just not where he's
positioned.
Was he asked how does?

Speaker 2 (38:17):
somebody ask listen, listen.
So they ask him, but if you'veseen it, it's not bad.
Oh, but the thumbnails sold theinterview, or, yes, the
thumbnail one, and worked theclickbait.
That's exactly what it is.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
This is why it's hard for us to get rappers on to do
interviews, or artists I ain'tgonna say rappers.
This is why artists are veryhesitant to do interviews,
because you just don't know howyour words can be misinscrued or
used.
Because clickbait is a realthing, right, and I get it.
I wouldn't want someone to takewhat I said out of context or
don't put the whole clip.
They just take a certain partand it sounds like you're

(38:54):
talking about a certainindividual saying something
crazy.

Speaker 3 (38:58):
I can say rap, rap, because I don't think it don't
seem that R&B and country musicand pop and gospel like they not
.
I don't see them in thecontroversy that rappers get
into when they say something onan interview and it ended up

(39:21):
going viral or it had its dominoeffect with impacting so many
other people lives Rappers bewanting to smoke.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
I had hard, I got one .
I'm gonna go way left field.
So Kurt Franklin, what is he?
A hype man.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Oh no, he more than he, I would say he's a producer,
yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, but he started out a hype man.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Right, he's a orchestrator.
Yeah, I like that, I just likethat, that's safe.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Okay, yeah, I just do it out there.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, he puts it all together.
Okay, yeah, he's a maestro,he's definitely a producer.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Yeah, whatever the guy who was holding the things.
He's that for gospel.
Yeah, because I believe he'svery hands on in the making of
the music, but he's smart enoughto sit back and say all right,
your vocals is.
Obviously you're a bettervocalist than me, so I'm gonna
have you do this.

(40:17):
I respect people who do that,but he definitely bring the hype
.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Yeah, I was just thinking I never see nothing.
I was just I just went back tohis early music.
Just if you didn't know who heis and you saw him in the early
music in the videos, I'm like,all right, we got a gospel hype
man here, so that's, you knowthat's how.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
That's what it sound like early on right.
Because I didn't know.
First, you didn't know how longhe was gonna be around, but
then you also never heardnothing like this.
So it appears to be like thisthe guy that's hyping everything
up, but you're not knowing, hethe guy Right, he the maestro.
Yeah, you're not knowing.

(40:53):
You didn't know that in thebeginning.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
And I know he just found out who his real father
was Plyes.
No, it was not deep enough toinput his thoughts or my purpose
.
He still claims Ply's still.
He still claims Ply's.
But his real biological dadlived close to him his whole
life when he was growing up andto this day his mom's still
denied it.
So they're not on the best ofterms.
But he finally found out whohis real dad was, and I think it

(41:20):
was after a funeral, aconversation and certain people
talking you know what you callit.
It used to be what.
And then, sure enough, he didthe test twice.
Mom's still denied it.
That's his father.
There's no way that could behis dad.
But he did the test with theman twice and then, yeah, he
said he had no idea.
He said he knew they messedaround.

(41:41):
But he said if he even had ideaor even questioned that he was
the father, he would havepursued and try to figure it out
.
But because he said he justnever thought of it like that,
he never pursued it and hedefinitely said he was a fan.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Respect to Kurt Franklin.
His story is incredible to keephis faith, to stay within his
religion, to make music, to beas vulnerable as he has with all
that he have to carry openly.
That is not easy to do at all.
So I never say nothing againstKurt Franklin and his story and

(42:21):
process.
The exposure is happy that yougot to meet your father.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Hey man, that was a beautiful moment.
Yeah, I saw that.
I saw his documentary.
He did a documentary of thisrelease and the tour.
It was really great to see.
Great to see we also haveValentines coming up.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Oh, oh, oh oh, oh, fresh about the show.
Hey, these dudes made.
These dudes made.
I'm not even in a podcastformat right now, I'm just
talking to y'all right now.
These dudes made a nasty,freaky song.
I'm advocating that they haveit released by Valentines.

(43:07):
It's nasty.
Fresh about the shower.
Y'all already know what they'retalking about.
It's probably one of theglobozo hardest verses, and I
don't mean to say hard.
First of all, Balls right Ballsright, yeah big balls, big

(43:27):
balls.
But this is one of his.
I don't know the other word inhard.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
You gotta send me the record again.
I gotta make sure I save it,yeah they did.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Who produced it?
Drago, oh, you produced it.
All right, drago produced it.
I don't even know what the nameof the song is.
Eat that, okay.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
Haha Yo okay.
Hey, why are you?

Speaker 3 (44:01):
standing like that Eat that.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
What did you just say ?
We for the promoting record didhey, you might as well.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
It's one of the global's oldest verses.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
The production was already dope Drago playing in
the background.
It was running about threetimes before I even knew what I
was hearing.
Oh, okay, he do the hook.
I don't know if he did verses.
I don't know if I heard verses.
I don't know if I heard verses.
Yeah, I don't know if he'sgonna do it, but it's a dope
song, Valentine's Day coming up.
Hopefully y'all get it.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
If you get someone else on the record, don't play
my verse, you better let me knowif you didn't.
Oh no, I didn't, I didn't Ijust sent it to him like that.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
I hit him up, I got you, but I never got the track
back.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
But the background on it basically.
First about the shower.
They like to be able to get, bein the kuchi and booty hole
everything.
They don't want nothing outsideof the shower that's gonna
limit them for performing theirmanly duties upon the lower
faces of the woman.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
So you know we grown now we eat that and we got kids.
And half the time you have apartner that works maybe during
the day and the other one worksduring the night.
So you know you just want to beable to spend time and you know
you just want to get that nicequickie in.
So they're just trying to makeit in, you know, a nice form to.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
You know, to that ain't sounding like it's quickie
.
First about the shower ain'tsounding like no quickie.
It's sounding like a.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
It's grown full.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
Now you is ready.
Grown full, you say eat that.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Grown full.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Be on the lookout for that.
Dreg O Mill featuring GlobalZoan who else, I don't even know
.
Eric.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
He gonna put some verses on that.
Oh, you know what Eric mighthave to jump on that.
Let's stop playing.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Eric got records.
Now he got bad bras.
I'll loan me.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
But now I'm not loan me, I fell off.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
I fell off.
No, it's dead.
It's always dead.
Eat that I don't know.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
You gotta get triple J to call Eric.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
And.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Tripp called Eric.
We can get the Eric verse outof this.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
You gotta put it in here.
I don't know what to saybecause y'all said it's nasty
stuff.
Especially it's already twodudes.
So if we were to shoot a videoand all of us gotta be, who said
we shoot a video?

Speaker 1 (46:21):
No, we're gonna leave that one alone, hey why can't
it be a girl?

Speaker 3 (46:25):
We can't get a Snapper, we can't get a Dunn.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
I'm sure, I'm sure A show Dreg O Mill can work.
That's an age.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
You don't want to triple dude it up.
I see you throw some good namesout there.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
But we'll see.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Okay To be continued.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Y'all be on the lookout for it.
But I wanted to talk about whenit was Valentine's Day.
I used to get the girlschocolate.
I used to make these mixed CDs,call them the wet sensation,
and I would put like 18 slowbangers, like the 112s, the
H-Town, anything that was KC andJoJo, and I used to just give

(47:04):
it to the girls and be like boyhoping one of them pull up.
You know, I was just back to mygame, still Still Ding in my
bag, okay, but I'm just laughingbecause I'm starting to think
of those times.
I'm just laughing because I'mstarting to think of those times
that deli ain't hunting, thatdeli ain't hunting.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
Rose Rose.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Rose.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Hey.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Hey go ahead.
And the boys still get busy.
You go to one of them shows.
Now they be performing theirhearts out dawg, when I was.
And who was that?
Wait a minute, I went to the.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
James Hill.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
No no, this one was at the Miami Theater, miami
Arena, miami Arena yeah, theybrought a show.
They doing a good show now.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
They was better than 112.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
112.
I only noticed Slim, and it wasfour background dancers Could
have fooled me.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
I mean he ain't gonna come through.
Yes, sir, but that was mylittle.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
That was my way to try to getsome play, get the girls to
notice me.
So now we in adulthood, like,what did you?
You had a girlfriend in highschool.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
Yeah, I came to try to beat everybody with the
biggest bear, okay, you broughtit to school though.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
Did you bring it to school or you celebrated
Valentine's outside of?
I brought it to school to makesure.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Because the women used to like, they liked to show
off.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
I was the flower, the big bear.
I tried to write some bars inthe In the car.
Oh, you wrote bars in the car.
Yeah, and then I got into themix game outside of school so we
were in the middle of the nightOutside of school.
So if I would hit someoneoutside of school I'll do a
little mix tape.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Okay, but I used to put a little cover on there too.
Man, I ain't go that far.
Put the lips in like a candy.
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Man, I used to put usher interludes to confession
in between other songs thatconnect with other songs.
I used to really give it somethought, man Look.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
Alright, copyright infringement man some.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
I should go to K-Mingot, you boy, yeah.
So what do Now?
What do we do today?
That's what I was about to say.
That's a good one, man.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
I mean, it's usually dinner flowers.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
You saying it's so boring.
No, no, no.
Now it's like a gift for, andyou come up with a gift for
choice.
You always try to switch it up,but you got to think about it.
I started going on.
Traditional Sometimes.
Valentine's that day I'm likethe point.
Sometimes I'm like the daybefore or the day after I would
just choose to go to a spot, soI've been breaking away from

(49:55):
that.
The dinner's always nice, but Ifeel like flowers and chocolate
is standard In a car.
That's like the package, bareminimum package, you still.
That's like, still your thing.
I always try to do anexperience.
So that's part of it, butthere's always going to be an
experience.
We're going to go somewhere, soI try to think about something

(50:18):
that you ain't never done before, or experience, and then go do
it.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
That's nice.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
I did a, I went all out.
One time.
I did a connecting thing whenshe I sent her hair and then,
once it was done, they alreadyhad another location for her to
go To get her hair and her nailsdone.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
That's what's up.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
You dropped the bag on the hill, my dog said the
hair done and then she said thatto go get a wax and all that.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Okay, fresh about this hour, Fresh about this hour
.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
And then so the wax do you have to know her
preference and the things she'sinto?
Before she used to go.
She already had an account.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
But she didn't know.
I used to drop off but I didn'tgo up.
I never went up.
So I told them once she getsthat done, but with her address
and location they go to the nextlocation.
This time she didn't know whereshe was going, but she followed
the location, met me there andwe got a whole full body couple
of massages for like an hour anda half.
So that's where we ended it,because the full thing was

(51:27):
always there.
We did it, but not on theValentine's.
So I just tried that.
That was the biggest one I'veever did Really spent some money
on that one.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
So yeah, that one's really good.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Yeah, that's good yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Y'all embarrassed me.
Yeah, I would embarrass it,because I don't have scores.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
You had to go out on some Valentine's.
You got a store.
You ain't just been living on.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
No Build-A-Bear or nothing like that.
I never did a Build-A-Bear.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
I see you drawing some shit, I see you putting
something together.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
No, I did, but not like what he just mentioned.
Not like I know.
Not like Because you're a goodplanner too.
You are far more organized thanI am.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
I try to be.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
Yeah, you planned, hey, the global Zoby a couple of
months before it even happened.
I try to be, but I wasrebellious in all things I want
to say structure in liketraditions for a while, and so I

(52:41):
was that weird person that youknow how people be weird People
like you don't know whatChristmas is, they just want to
get into it.
I wasn't that person, but I waskind of like using it.
I would use it as a reason tonot get involved in something I
didn't really understand.

(53:02):
So then, when it came toactually just enjoying, you know
, the culture that we're a partof, you kind of miss out, trying
to overthink, or be so true toyourself in knowing what you're
doing, that you ain't, you ain'tproperly celebrating the themes

(53:26):
.
That's creating these memories.
And I ain't really evenunderstand that until I had kids
and you're forced to do it foryour kids.
But when it comes to people,you're involved with a person.
You're involved with notpressuring you to follow the
traditions of Christmas,thanksgiving or whatever the

(53:47):
case may be, because theyrespect them.
So I say all that to say Iprobably sucked as a Valentine
year for a long time because Inever had it within me and maybe
this could be from my JehovahWitness background.

(54:08):
I never had it within me toreally set up the foundations to
participate in celebratoryseasons and holidays.
I never had that within me.
It was always in planning to mestay away from it.
So then it also gave me areason to be cheap too.

(54:30):
So I could kind of I'm alreadynot conditioned to really follow
through.
So I'm like alright, we could dosomething.
Look cool, man, what you wantto do Go to movies or go and
hunch a little bit better thanwe hunched.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
Do us a month.
Go for some effort.
We're going to get ready Alittle bit.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
It's going to be a little bit more maybe.
Maybe about an outfit.
Maybe go light candles thistime and whatever the case may
be, there wasn't no Uber Eats.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
So did you acknowledge it, though, when you
knew Valentine's Day was coming?
Does it make you, do you seeand hear other people doing
activities and say, damn, maybeit didn't even really bother you
that everyone else is trying todo something.
I?

Speaker 3 (55:21):
was the Scrooge in some ways.
I never expressed it, but in mymind I'm like I see everybody
doing this because, because it'sthe season to do it.
I don't know if, like in myhead, if this was how you wanted
to perform with your partner,you could do this throughout the

(55:44):
year, and that's so.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
I was.

Speaker 3 (55:47):
There was a hater in me that was just hating.
Like we can do this anytime,while we gotta stop now,
especially when you coming up inrelationships and you ain't got
y'all don't have the money,like that February getting ready
to come around there's all thispressure around that to meet up

(56:08):
that expectation when thatpressure is on you like, we can
do this anytime we don't have tomeet this date for everybody
else.
I don't care about nothing thateverybody else got going on.
We can do this today if we wantto we can do this tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
My valentine wasn't always my girl, it was just
someone.
I asked and it was someguaranteed nookie at the end of
that you said nookie, you wentJackie on us that was a say I'm
just trying to keep it clean alittle bit but no real talk.
So it wasn't always my girl.
And then it was somebody I hadmy eye on and I asked, and then

(56:48):
it kind of grew and I was likeI'm going to be in two
relationship or past.
That got straight into what Ireally wanted.
But let me tell you a storyreal quick.
Real quick.
I had a valentine and she didn'tshow up and I walked around
with a big ass bear and a bigass bouquet of flowers.
The car I got rid of because itwas for her man, the person I

(57:11):
always have.
Y'all know who she is too.
We grew up with her, especiallyyou, eric.
She definitely was around yourfolks with elementary, with the
middle and high school, with along story short.
Again, she didn't show up and Ihad it in class and I was like

(57:33):
you know what?
I made it look like it was forher and I went ahead and just
gave it to her and she just wentcrazy over it because she
didn't have a valentine.
But I just went ahead and gaveit to her and she was like, can
you beam a valentine.
That was the end of it.
I never went for more ornothing like that, but I just
wanted to see her reactionbecause I always had an eye on

(57:54):
her but yeah, that was weird.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
Yeah, my valentine didn't show up the person it was
meant for that's still weird,your valentine she didn't show
up.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Long story short, she was in the streets.
That person was in the streets.
High school we used to do itback in the day.
There's cut school to be withthe older guy back in the day.
So long story short the person.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
I had an eye on.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
We never seen that I know right.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
We never really given down back in the day the
brother that I was able to pullup after school in the car when
we could it dry.
We never say I used to be alittle jealous like that made me
get my car earned bad one andhe could dry.
I used to be like, damn, Inever think like how old is this
?
How old is this?
Dude it's weird, but fastforward.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
I look at who we would consider older.
I look at them as young now too, because they might have been
24 years old.
Messing with an 18 year old, Iwasn't 16 years old both of them
.
I was a freshman both of thembaby, the 24 year old and 18

(59:09):
year old back in the day.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Guys was driving like that at that age cause I'm sure
it was that easy.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
I don't know, I don't know who that was.
I can't even imagine.
I do look at a 24 year old as ababy, as I would look at an 18
year old at my age now and Iain't 100 but, it's just
everybody all of them are.

(59:42):
The mind state is still veryyoung and youthful.
Go to your mind state at 24 no,no, no, when we was in school
that at 24?

Speaker 2 (59:55):
I was grinding at 24 my mom was even on that but you
think you was a man.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Well, I think I was a man, I had to be.
When I say that and I only saythis because I guess my
upbringing was so different,like when I say this, not like
it's like we did OK, but like myhouse was so small, like I

(01:00:27):
remember every Saturday if I hadsomebody coming over, a friend
of mine, like it was just sosmall, like I try to clean it to
make it feel like it was moreto offer.
Like I don't know if that's whatthat makes sense, but in my
mind I'm like I ain't got muchto show.
The zonetality so if the roomis only this big, let me vacuum.
I took the back in the day.
Haitians, we had those plasticmats covering as much carpet,

(01:00:49):
like the pathway from the doorto wherever you go.
You had that piece of plasticthat laid on the carpet Spikes
at the bottom of it.
You killed it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
It was really white, but it turned like gold.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Turn yellow so.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
I used to take that, put soapy water in it and hit it
with the broom and try to cleanthat up.
But it was only so big.
It was a two room apartment, soit was only so big.
So you had the living room,kitchen and that area, patio in
the center and then you had thetwo bedrooms in the back.
So if you came to the crib mostpeople didn't make it to the

(01:01:23):
back.
So that front presentation, Ihad to stay up on it.
But I just kept saying and whatI'm saying that is, I felt like
I had to hustle.
So like mix CDs, I felt like tomake money and to buy the things
I wanted.
I had to figure out a way to dothat, because my parents didn't
always have it to say here yougo, you know what I mean.
So the hustle culture for me Ithink it started at 15.

(01:01:46):
When I had a computer,downloaded music and making CDs,
I used to come to school withthe whole spender and I'm trying
to sell that because I'm likethis is going to be my five Back
in the day.
Five teas was for 20.
X studio was $30 an hour.
I could buy school lunch.
So back then you were on thefrutopia cookie.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
Ooh, you was balling if you was getting a frutopia.
You know what I'm sayingCowzones.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
So can you imagine?
This is how I did all this, bro, with the spindle of CD.
You feel me.
But what I'm saying is I feltlike.
And then I left the house at 19because me and my dad had a big
argument.
But since that same day I'venever had to look back and ask
my parents for nothing at thesame time.
So I just felt like when I leftthe house at 19, I didn't know

(01:02:31):
where I was going to go.
I just had to.
I said you know what?
I'm gone, I got to figure itout.
So I started hustling even more,figuring out what's the way to
make money.
So, giving you an example, likeback in the day, once I learned
how to print business work forgraphics, I actually started
doing design.
I learned Photoshop on the side.
I started doing small businesscars, small party flyers,

(01:02:53):
because I was broke and I saidif I could design, that's some
money.
Then I learned certain peopleneeded their graphics printed.
So somebody's hitting me.
Yo, hey, man, I'm trying to getmy things printed.
I was able to get the wholesaleprice from the distributor and
add on $40.
And they still winning.
I add on $40.
All I did was for the flyer fora print job and I just made $40

(01:03:17):
by hitting the forward one onmy email.
So what I'm saying is I startedlearning all these little traits
and that's what kept me afloat,because I don't know if y'all
remember, but back in the day, zhad a van rat.
Yeah, they had me on there.
Full pound was on there onDirty Boy.
It was that red rat and I hadto pay to get my face on that on

(01:03:41):
the van.
I had to pay for my spot.
But at the same time I'm livingin this 2-2 apartment and,
listen, my check was only $400 aweek.
I'm trying to live, put food inthe fridge, be a rapper.
It was just so many thingsjuggling so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
I learned you was balling at that time, at that
age.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
What?
$400 a week.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
No, I think $800.
Think about what rent was.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
Rent was like $900.
But you still had the internet.
You had like a little ticket.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Today.
Look at, you can't even do thatwith double.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
No, it wasn't five.
It would buy, like if you'redoing like six, seven, yeah.
If you're doing like eight.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
What a 2-2 cost today 19.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
2 bands 2 bands it's about 2.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
So it's over double that and people still ain't,
everybody ain't make the cost ofliving to increase drastically
from what it was back then I wasliving.
To check, to check.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
I remember going to the places where you could
borrow money.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
The loans, the loans, there you go.
Payday loans.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
That's all I was doing.
I did that every other week.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Payday loan, yeah so.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
I don't know, maybe I was in doing I swear I was
doing it right.
I could barely do anything andI was just trying to do music,
playing for my little studiotime and whatever I could pay
for at that time.
That's when we was on the runwith 4 Pound.

Speaker 3 (01:05:12):
So is that what made you feel like a man?

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
Absolutely, because I had nobody else to lean on,
like I wasn't going to go backto the parents' crib.
I had to figure it all out andI did it respectfully, though I
didn't have to do nothing, Ihadn't robbed nobody, I hadn't
had to harm nobody.
I did it legit, figured it out,bost up, became an assistant,
moved up and managed me.

(01:05:38):
I did all that during thedarkest and hardest times, like
trying to figure it out.
I'm like shoot.
But when I say a man yeah,because I think it comes with
maturity, responsibility it's aman Like that's what I would
want for my son, if anythingelse.
Because you can't, you ain'tguaranteed them going to college

(01:05:58):
, you ain't guaranteed whatroute they're going to take, but
when they that responsibilitytreating people with dignity and
respect and knowing how tosurvive that's important to any
black child in today's world.
With the stuff we got to dealwith from police to just
maneuvering out here you knowyours got to be five steps ahead

(01:06:19):
.
So I think that's the mostimportant attributes when it
comes to a man and a provider,because I survived, I survived.
So, yeah, I had to figure thatout from 19.
And I never looked back, but at19, a lot of that started
happening Because I wasn't readyfor bills.
But I look at people and theyolder than me like it's like

(01:06:42):
they.
I hear their situation.
You know how you be.
Like you just try to analyze,ok, but like, I hear you.
But if I had to figure it outat 19, how can I say it?
It's not, you don't feel bad.
But I don't feel as bad BecauseI'm like you got more resources
and you should be able to.
You have more of an advantagethat there was no internet.
There was a lot of side hustles.

(01:07:04):
Now you can do a lot morehustling today than we had back
then.
At least I feel that way whenit comes to that.
No, that's facts.
Yeah like it was just hard, bro.
It was hard, but that's what Itell people.
But when they see you today,they just think you just had it
made.
I got people on the outside.
They just think, oh, you justgot it like that, you had this

(01:07:24):
and that, and it's like.
No, there was sometimes why Ididn't know how it was going to
go.
Or there's sometimes I had towatch people perform on plenty
platforms on plenty stagesbefore I got a chance to go on
that stage.
I had to work, I had to figureit out.
I remember chasing Z to be whenyour boys was a slab and when I
was doing shows.
I remember chasing Z for threemonths to get on the show and at

(01:07:48):
first he never gave me the timeof day, like, for example.
But if I would have just said,ah, he a hater, if I had that
attitude, where would I be today?
But I kept chasing him, chasinghim, chasing him.
And I remember this this iswhat I mean by hustling right.
He gave me a call one time and Ieven wasn't ready.
He said, hey, I got a show,send me a picture.

(01:08:09):
I ain't got no picture, but Ihad a little digital.
At least I had a digital camera.
So me and my dog went by hiscrib.
He took some pictures of me.
I took pictures of him andthank God for Photoshop, I ain't
do that.
That was my photo shoot.
I'm like, yes, best I could seehim.
I ain't know how to book ashoot yet or none of that, and I

(01:08:29):
had to send him a picture.
We made the flyer and it wasgame time, but that was a win in
my book.
I'm like man.
We on our first flyer Met upwith Z.
He gave me a good amount and Imade sure everybody I knew had a
copy.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
He's nice.
Those are the days, those arethe days dawg.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Yeah, you just brought me back.
I'm going to take it like damn.
That's a story for you, but itwas grind and I think that's one
thing Z really liked.
It was like he going to see youwork.
He's like I could work withthis.
I'm going to put you on a lotof flies, but yes, sir, yes sir.

Speaker 3 (01:09:03):
That's nice.
I like your definition Of a man.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
I ask that sometimes, often Because it get cloudy.
It get cloudy because and I askmy mom, my mom and this like if
she was to give a definition ofa man, like somebody, like a
person who is like the ultimatedefinition of a man, she

(01:09:34):
couldn't even think of nobody,like in pop culture or people
she knew or anything, becauseshe could find something she
didn't like that I guess shecould find something she didn't
like about what made that mannot be a man.
But then for me, I've seen alot of good men being talked

(01:10:01):
down upon when they were goodmen.
But if they, I want to say thatcertain choices didn't make
sense.
Example it was a dude.
He was involved with a lot ofwomen.
Ok, you would call him a hoe,but he was a father to all of

(01:10:29):
these women that didn't havedaddies around.
So when he passed away, it waslike three different women and
their families and their kidswho felt for him and considered
him a father figure Becausetheir daddies wasn't there.
Now me, I'm going back.
I'm like that's a man.

(01:10:49):
He stepped up yeah, he gotkoochie, but he stepped up and
he filled a void when theseother men was absent.
But everybody called him a hoe,but the kids was just happy to
see the presence of a man intheir life.
He be mine, he probably a hunchin a few On single moms around

(01:11:18):
the county or the city orwhatever the case may be, but he
left a very great impressionwhen there was no other
impression.
So I'm like that was a gooddude.
I can't say nothing about him,and even all the children of the
people that would talk badabout him appreciate him being

(01:11:40):
that, even if it was just forone conversation.
So that's an example.
I would say he's still a man,he was a good dude.
I would say even he evenstepped up and did something
that others would say is frownedupon, correct, but those people

(01:12:02):
wouldn't have had that presencethat was there to make them
know that, hey, it's man thatcare and I was one of those
children, by the way, that hewas around and just let you know
it's man that care, even ifit's just a few times, it's man
that care.
My mom wasn't the only one, weall knew that, but everybody

(01:12:26):
felt his presence because he wasa good dude.
When he showed up and he gotkuchi Is that bad?

Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
Played his role.
I guess Some role.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Some people be impacted by him getting kuchi
absolutely All right, becauseyou know there's some women
that's gonna be hurt, becausethey, you know, rightfully so,
they feel like you know if wetogether, we gotta have that
trust in you, you don't wannalose that trust right, but
that's still a man to me,although he may have some flaws
that don't take away from yourown.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
Or are they enhancements or are?

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
they enhancements.
I guess it depends what you got, what kind of agreement you got
right, because there's somerelationships where that works.

Speaker 2 (01:13:14):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Right, there's some relationship where that works,
where it's like we already knowwhat it is and it's in what you
call it, the comedian D-RayDavis.

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
Yeah, he's in a three way relationship.

Speaker 1 (01:13:29):
Exactly.
It works for him, it works forthem.
You know what I'm saying, so Ireally think it's how you
present the situation.
It sound like Kevin Gates talkabout it too.
I guess, when you upfront andwe honest about it.
And we understand what this is.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
If they're with it now.
If they're with it now, yeah,then that's the thing.
It's always a killer when itcomes later and they find out
for themselves.
If you can say it upfront, it'sa different story.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
I'm about to say I guess that's what you gotta do.
If that's what that personwants to pursue and they find
the right person to receive andunderstand it, then I'm with it.
All right, what's your?

Speaker 2 (01:14:04):
I think it's a lot more too.
I think it's probably maybe two, three different parts of
growing into a man.
Of course, the hustling part isdefinitely a big part of it.
I say that because myexperiences, I think when my son
was announced that she waspregnant, something just clicked

(01:14:24):
in me, it just went straight tohustle mode and I never would
have thought the way I, you'vebeen doing these things, yeah.
So I did so many things that Isaid I would never do and I did
them.
And then from that, from that,I think, with more time going by

(01:14:48):
not including my son or nobodyit's just becoming the man
becoming that man.
Like finding myself and knowingit still writes from wrongs,
and knowing how to move and allof that, just that completes you
, like when you find yourself.

(01:15:08):
I think that's when you becomethat man.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
You can claim and say you that man.
But when you really findyourself and you know what you
stand for, I think you become aman.
When other people can be likeyeah, that's a man, right there.
That's when I can, you canverify it like, okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
You found yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
Oh yeah, I'm gonna say I'm 29, bro, I'm 29, 30.
And I didn't realize it untillike maybe three years, four
years later, because I wasn't.
I want to say with everything,like my kid girls, all of it,
with life period, Like I wasdone with, it was easy to say no

(01:15:51):
, okay, hard no to All right.
So okay, here's what it is.
I stopped being a peoplepleaser, I think, when I stopped
becoming a people pleaser, whenI stopped that, as in, I was
doing things to please peopleand it wasn't helping me, I was
just doing it to.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Put another's first.

Speaker 2 (01:16:11):
That too, but please another people not really taking
care of myself Not put myselffirst.

Speaker 3 (01:16:16):
How about that?

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
Okay.
So when I found that, when Irealized that and I became and
that was just a part of it, butwhen that part clicked in,
that's when I knew I became thatman, you know what I'm saying.
So I just think it's part, it'srosin, you know what I'm saying
?
You gotta grow into that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:37):
Man, how do we get you?

Speaker 3 (01:16:38):
I don't know you a people pleaser.

Speaker 2 (01:16:40):
I think I used to be a people pleaser.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
I like people pleaser .

Speaker 2 (01:16:44):
I used to no, no, no, I probably okay, I hate to say
it, I probably was that.
Yes, man, at back in the day, Iwouldn't tell you no.

Speaker 3 (01:16:51):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
No, no, it wasn't healthy.
Now, yes, man's a littledifferent.

Speaker 1 (01:16:55):
It wasn't healthy this man like goes with
everything, like yeah yeah, I'mdown with it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
Oh, it's whatever, let's do it, let's do it.
And I know it wasn't healthy,it wasn't healthy.

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
Oh, so things that were being done.
You know it wasn't right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
Right, but I was down for it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:08):
So was you, then you wasn't doing it out of the
kindness of your heart.

Speaker 2 (01:17:15):
I used to, yes, but I used to get them both confused.
You know what I'm sayingBecause I was a people pleaser.
I used to love to help people.
I still kinda do now, but nowit's a whole different.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
But you feel like you got it when you say it like
that.
So you kinda how did it makeyou feel good too though?

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
Oh yeah, man.
Yeah of course, it made meproud that I hold a heart.
No, no, I'm good, I'm good.
I know what.
I knew how to move.
I knew how to become Drago.
I wasn't fully me.
I wasn't there for me.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
Because I was only asking in a sense, like you know
how some people like buildingpeople that's broken like trying
to fix Correct, in a sense.
Correct and like I'veexperienced this a few like in
my younger days, where you meetsomebody and you feel like I
really can help you, like Ireally got this, and I kinda
caught myself a few times likeoh shit, you broke like this,

(01:18:07):
ain't that?
Like what am I doing?
I'm wasting my time like this,ain't that?
That person's gotta want to bebetter and do better.
There you go, and I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
Let's just say.
Let's just say and I have to, Itake accountability.
I knew where my flaws were andI fixed them.
That's what I meant.
That's another part of itBecoming a man when you know
where you fuck up and you own toit and you fix it.
So it definitely makes you abetter person.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
So that's part of becoming a man With yourself
Without nobody involved in thatsituation.

Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
So it was a time you thought you were a man.
You was a man and you wasn't.

Speaker 2 (01:18:47):
Yeah, yeah, like Global said, like at 23, bro,
I'm flying across seas.

Speaker 1 (01:18:52):
Yeah, you did some shit.
Yeah, yeah, you did some shit.
I left I left, bro.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
I left the US.
I never traveled.
I said I would never travel.
And when I went I loved it.
I started doing things I neveroutdo bro.
Take care of family, bro.
I put my family first.
My life was on the line I saidI would never do some stuff like
that, and I did it when I didit, bro.
Left my wife home Cause we bro.

(01:19:16):
We were I'm be honest, we wasbroke.
You know what I'm saying had ababy, I was making money at home
, but I was working Walmartshe's prego, she's working and
it just wasn't enough.
It just wasn't enough.

Speaker 1 (01:19:34):
What was her Walmart paying back then?

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Shit, what was I getting?
825?
.
No no, no, I was overnight.
Maybe like 11 and some change.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
Okay, you was up there.
Say you was up there.

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
You was up there If we went back and they say you
were up there.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
Yeah, this is 2009, 2009, 2010.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
Okay, but yeah, I just I was like no, I forget
that and I'm not gonna lie toyou, bro, I went and when I came
back on vacation, you got there, right, I went back to fucking
flaws and then motherfuckersfaces, bro Cause motherfuckers
was disrespecting me when I wasin that bitch.
But yeah, so I came back, itjust felt good to be able to

(01:20:11):
take care of family man and getus out of situations.
So that did make me feeldifferent, but I was still young
.
I was still young minded atthat age.

Speaker 1 (01:20:21):
Okay, yeah, Damn Awesome good stuff.
That's a good conversation.
Slap what the whole.
What makes a man.
I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:32):
I like it you gotta put my perspective.

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Y'all put a lot of things in it.

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
I would love to hear what the ladies have to say
about that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
Man, I think they'll make it more about see if it's
gonna be beyond being a father.
I think it's a difference.
The way Slap was the way we wasjust talking.
We ain't really fatherhood isimportant, but we didn't make it
all about fatherhood Cause youknow, that's just.
I feel like that's differentcategory.
You know what I'm talking about.
But that's a.
It was good.
It was really good.
It made me just think a littlebit.

(01:20:58):

Speaker 3 (01:21:00):
I will and I question my mannerism if I guess you use
that word that kind of flow,nice, yeah, I do, because I try
to take into consideration thereference of what others would
consider a man to be and how aman would carry yourself, and

(01:21:23):
then I kind of I'm at conflictwith some of those, I want to
say traditional references,cause there's things that men
had to do to make things happenthat I probably would never do.
Like you might respect the manthat do whatever it is necessary

(01:21:47):
, by any means necessary toprovide for his family, you
might.
You, it's fair to respect theman that do that?
Yes, sir, you ain't no questionabout that.
But then I say, is it alsorespectful, is it also fair to

(01:22:07):
respect a person that ain't justgoing to do anything, what's?

Speaker 1 (01:22:13):
anything.

Speaker 3 (01:22:13):
I think that's a like to do anything to survive, like
there's things we can allprobably do to live a better
life, but we chose not to.
We chose not to take that route, opposed to some of our peers.
So are you not going?

(01:22:36):
Would you not respect that man?
Like when you said you dideverything legit, getting them
$400 a week cash advance, youdid whatever you had to, even
though you knew you probablycould have did some other things
to make some moves, but youchose not to do that.
So we'll, we'll respect the manthat will do all them other

(01:23:00):
things to take it to the nextlevel, so they don't have to do
that cash advance and what youstruggle doing.
But should we not respect youfor allowing yourself to
struggle just to do it the rightway, just to do it the way that
you chose, without some of therisks that may come with other

(01:23:25):
options?

Speaker 1 (01:23:31):
And I guess it could be illegally, then that's what
I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:23:34):
Yeah, yeah, that's what we're saying.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):
It sucks, I get it, man.
So I had a friend, you know,and he he did things good to me,
but also he would share certainthings he did.
And I'm like, damn, why are youdoing that?
Cause I don't even see thischaracter in them.
And I would talk to him fromtime to time when I did bump

(01:23:59):
into him, I would talk to him, Italked to him.
I'm like, bro, man, you couldjust.
And one time he's like allright, so what you suggest I do,
and I'm like I'll do somesuggestions.
And he couldn't do it because ofhis background and et cetera.
And he was like dog, you know,like, for example, I remember
one time he was like dog, if Ilike, even if my auntie like, if

(01:24:19):
he's so drugged to his auntie,like if I don't do it, somebody
else will.
It's what I was told.
And it was also like, if youcan't give me something to
replace this with, you ain'tsaying nothing at all, Mm-hmm,
and some people mentality,that's right.
And I kind of caught myselflike, damn, I am trying to
preach the right word, but Idon't got a solution for what

(01:24:42):
you're doing Ain't nothing.
And I kind of caught myselfthat day, like so usually when I
hear somebody's circumstance,if I can involve or help if I
know I got a solution.
I feel like that's when I'm morevocal.
But I can't go preaching tosomebody about how they provided
and how they feeding, because Idon't know their circumstances

(01:25:03):
or what all they got going on,right?
So sometimes I'd rather justnot know.
You know what I'm saying, whatsomebody is doing.
But that did wake me up.
When he talked to me that way,I was like damn, you're right,
I've got something that'sworking for me and I understand
it.
But your circumstances andbackgrounds and your priors

(01:25:25):
won't allow you to do what I'mdoing or for me to even help you
.
So how can I tell you to stopfeeding your family if that's
the way you do it?
I was stuck, I just left thatalone.

Speaker 3 (01:25:38):
So that's where my crossroads with what a man is,
because you got men that willmake it happen that way, and
they making it happen and yourespect it.
But then you have a man thatsay I'm not taking those risks
to make it happen.

Speaker 2 (01:25:58):
OK.

Speaker 3 (01:26:00):
Maybe it got to work out another way.

Speaker 2 (01:26:02):
Here's the thing If you're a man, you got to know
how to crush your ego at timesto be able to hustle to get what
you need to get done.
I'm talking about the right wayIf you can crush your ego.
And I'm going to give you anexample.
I said this to someone and theywere doing the bad thing.

(01:26:24):
I told them I was like, bro,that ego you got, you got to get
rid of it.
Because he rather do that thanto go work at McDonald's.
I said, bro, if I have to startover, I will, Because that's
what I told them.
And at that time I had money inmy pocket.
But I told them I don't care.
I started real talk.
I started over three times, butif I have to do it again, I

(01:26:47):
will do it again.
Then I know where I'm going toend up if I don't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:26:54):
You get what I'm saying His ego.
He rather do something bad thanto go fucking flip a burger.
It makes some change and yougot no record or nothing.
I'm over there making bread.
I'm telling you to come.
You heard about the goons thatwe have out here.
That's 10 times worse than whatwe got at home, you feel me.

(01:27:17):
So these boys, when they gokill, they go try to kill
thousands.
One person trying to getthousands, but you got this one
guy in his homie that's drivingto do a drive by and trying to
get away with it.
These guys ain't caring abouttheir life.
When they come and they get you, their life is going with you,
but with 15, 20, 50,000 peoplego with one person.

(01:27:40):
So you heard about them.
Then these guys over here,there's one, two guys in the car
that's trying to get away afterthrowing bullets at you.
How that makes sense.
So I've said that before.
I'm like I will start over.
I will go to McDonnells andstart over again.

Speaker 3 (01:27:56):
So will we.

Speaker 2 (01:27:58):
You got to break that ego, bro.
Is he a man for what he doesRight now?
Right now, I'm going to say toyou In that situation, not now,
but in that situation.
Nah, man, he coward.
You scared what you scared of.
If you were real, break thatego.
Break that ego, man, who youshowing.

Speaker 1 (01:28:17):
I guess people's opinion, People saying oh son
such and such.
I'm not connecting toMcDonald's.

Speaker 2 (01:28:23):
Bro break it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:24):
You don't want to be picked on.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
Break it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:26):
People talk bad about you.

Speaker 2 (01:28:28):
That's what I mean by that.
That's what I mean by that.
So what's going to happen?

Speaker 3 (01:28:32):
So, you see where this dynamic of a man starts to
get fuzzy, because you got thesituation where you respect the
man doing what he need to dojust legal or illegal but then
you also don't respect the manDoing what he doing legal or
illegal.

Speaker 1 (01:28:53):
But you see, I think that's the difference, that's
the key.
You said respect.
He's still a man.
We still acknowledge he's a man, but we don't respect it.
I think maybe that's thedifference.

Speaker 3 (01:29:03):
So not it, that's a good question.
Respect a man, we respect thegrind.

Speaker 2 (01:29:08):
We respect the grind.

Speaker 3 (01:29:10):
He brought up something that I didn't take
into consideration.
Are you a man if you don't haverespect?

Speaker 2 (01:29:21):
Oh, I think that's it right there, Because then I
feel like yeah that's it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:30):
I don't even got to answer to that.
I said it, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:29:32):
No no, but I'll be honest If I'm not respected as a
man, then I'm going the otherway, bro, Because to me that's a
big on that Right Respect,because I feel like I won't
affiliate with you.

Speaker 1 (01:29:45):
That's it If I feel that way.

Speaker 2 (01:29:47):
Easy.

Speaker 1 (01:29:47):
Anybody I felt that way about, because if you cross
the line or I don't think youstand for the things I stand on,
then definitely to me that'sthat's, that's not that that
leads to other things that canlead into worst case scenarios

(01:30:07):
or bad outcomes.
I've seen like that gut feelingwhen you see somebody do some
flaw or a shady stuff and thenlater down the line I hear a
story.
I'm be like, oh, I'm not, whenyou not shocked because you like
, damn, you were moving likethat.
That's what I think sometimesthat could lead into.
Bro, if you don't, I don'tthink you should be rocking with
it.

(01:30:28):
Folks that you feel like youcan't respect them, I don't want
to be around it, I don'tassociate myself with that
because I feel like I don't know, I can't keep it a hundred.
I got to be myself around youto your point, like, and as a
man I don't know.
Like, let's say, you are outwith somebody, I want to know if
I respect you.
I feel like if a situation wereto occur worst case scenario we

(01:30:51):
would have each other's bestinterests at heart.
Yep, when you don't haverespect for, like, if that
person got flaws in, bad habitsor things, that's just not right
.
Here I feel like dawg, that,depending on where you are, you
wouldn't want certain shit topop off because I feel like you
on your own, yeah, and Iwouldn't want to want.

(01:31:12):
I wouldn't want to be in thatposition.
If you see what I'm saying,like that's why when people, and
that's why I respected the OGs,like back in the day when I was
old, when I was around certaincrazy stuff, though, do you know
the OGs always telling you youknow all young, but we doing
this over here, you got to godown that way.
Go play sports, go do like.

(01:31:33):
They always wanted to see yougo the opposite way, although
they about to get in some shitright over here.
Look at you like what you goingLike you know you, you like.
I think that's what's missing.

Speaker 2 (01:31:45):
That's where you belong, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:31:47):
And today, like we don't got the OGs looking out
for the younger or saying, no,this ain't it, bro, you we'll do
this, go, go, try to get an NFL.
Like try to make it to the NFL,bro, we rooting for you, we
want to see you on the screen.
Like go out there, go hit theweight room.
Like I don't see that guidance,like the kids today,

(01:32:07):
unfortunately, because that's alot of single family homes too
Like, but that was that's what'smissing, cause I remember my
coach was like a dad.
Like when you play football,for example, whatever coach said
, you respected it.
You thought it was everything.
You know what I'm saying?
And we need more figures likethat.
We need more old Gs to stand onprinciple.

(01:32:28):
That's all right, cause I hadall my friends, at least when I
was coming up with older andthey they guided me always right
.
They always gave me a gyms andtold me go that way.
No, do this like this.
I don't see enough of that.
I don't mind giving game tosomebody who's up and coming and
younger on a bro.
You might want to go that way,cause this way, this is what

(01:32:50):
that leads to.
We need more of that,especially in our culture.
We need way more of that, youknow who was that for me?

Speaker 2 (01:32:58):
Rest in peace, Mr Officer Pun.
I don't know if you rememberOfficer Pun.
I remember Officer Pun.
It was a zoo yeah, it was a zoo.
Down on the motorcycle accidentyeah, he was a zoo, officer Pun
, I don't know.
When I grew up he was acrossthe tracks.
The cops fucked with us.
They showed us love.

(01:33:19):
But we grew up as kids.
They played ball with us, theyplayed football with us.
They played basketball Likethey even helped us get a
basketball goal.

Speaker 1 (01:33:28):
So let me say a name and you probably going to agree
with me.
So there was okay, like evenyou know, even as faith.

Speaker 2 (01:33:33):
Yeah, he cut hair.
He advanced with another.
He was older, he advanced withanother.

Speaker 1 (01:33:36):
But always guiding you to do Like.
You see what I'm saying?
I'm just giving you an evername.
You said the part I'm thinkingabout, og I knew that area OG
was like he'll cut my hair, whatyou doing with the music?
He was always trying to guideand, like yo, I want to see you
do this, do that.
Hey, look out for this.
Like there was always an OGaround all guided.

Speaker 2 (01:33:58):
He definitely.
Yeah, he definitely.

Speaker 1 (01:33:59):
He was one of me, he was always solid, bro, From day
one that was you know I had toswitch the topic, but that was
therapy.

Speaker 2 (01:34:08):
Barber shot for me.
One on one right there.
Okay, One on one for me, man.

Speaker 1 (01:34:12):
Because I know he was across the track.

Speaker 2 (01:34:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:34:15):
I used to just go for football Like we used to play
football out there all daydrinking water after water hole.

Speaker 2 (01:34:20):
I remember Chris.

Speaker 1 (01:34:21):
House we used to go to Chris.

Speaker 2 (01:34:22):
House.
Yeah, I was two houses downfrom him, okay, you know what
I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:34:25):
Like that's where I was at, what was out there all
day, all the whole year.

Speaker 2 (01:34:31):
Yeah, we don't have it, no more bro.

Speaker 1 (01:34:34):
Now that park be dry.
Playground nice and pretty, butdry I don't know what the kids
at.
No more bro.

Speaker 2 (01:34:41):
So what Jay Z say?

Speaker 3 (01:34:44):
Oh.
So Jay Z gave a speech.
He got the Dr Dre.
It was a Dr Dre award, umimpressed award.
I forgot, I don't know theexact name for it Um, they gave
it to Jay Z and he appreciatedit.
He gave thanks to Dr Dre andmany others around him.

(01:35:07):
He knew his facts, he knew hishistory.
He definitely prepared to um,uh, accept the war and um and
honor to those before him.
But then he also went on to sayhe spoke about the Grammys and
was like you know, we want toget things right, at least close

(01:35:28):
to right.
And he let them know how therewere situations where it was
obviously wrong and whereartists went to boycott, boycott
as Dr Dre boycott, as manyother artists boycott and as Jay
Z himself boycott it before.
And he brought up that there'san artist Everybody's assuming

(01:35:51):
he's talking about Beyonce.
He didn't say her name, hedidn't say the artist's name at
all, but he said they got themost Grammys and never got album
of the year and so it don't.
It don't even make sense whenyou're doing the math, when
you're just doing the basic math, just as we see what Drake did

(01:36:11):
and he got so little little aGrammy awards.
So he brought that up to say atthis point it's a huge flaw.
We want to keep supporting this.
We do appreciate it, we do likeit.
We still got to keep showing upand I definitely like that part

(01:36:32):
because he showed that you knowpeople can come across bitter
and that they don't care to youbut like so why say anything?
Just stop showing up, stopsupporting it.
You know, especially the urbancommunity be about things.
Yeah, the culture, how theculture can be about things like
that.
He let it be known Honestly.
No, we do appreciate this.

(01:36:53):
Don't think we don't want aGrammy, like it's a goal.
We appreciate it.
It is what it is, but we wanty'all to get it right and we
have the right to speak on it.
So people have certainasteroids, have to step out
there and catch those commentsfor us to be able to say this is

(01:37:14):
something we want to get right.
We ain't complaining, but thosewho are in position to speak
and throw their self out thereto speak, it's very brave for
them to do so, even if theperson we assume it is about is

(01:37:35):
his wife.
So I really appreciate itbecause it was real honest.
He showed his nervousness.
He shows his humility, hisbravery, his honesty and that he
appreciated.
But he also checked them.
He said some people don't evenbelong in the category.

Speaker 1 (01:37:58):
That was probably the boldest thing he was on his cat
Williams energy.

Speaker 3 (01:38:02):
Yeah, yeah that, cat William.
Energy is cosmic, so it'ssomething that's floating around
.
Don't be surprised if we don'tsee more of it, where people
speaking in mind oh it's totallyyeah that you like what?
Is going on in the atmosphereBecause people saying something

(01:38:24):
to this exposure oh, that's thepodcast.
Yeah, hey, we own, we own.
Point with the astronomicalalignment yes, we are.
Yeah.
So, as Cat Williams said, hey,this is the season of exposure.
We exposing things.
As Kanye West said, it's up.

(01:38:46):
As Cardi B said, it's up, it'sup, it's up.
As Jay Z said, we got to getthings right.
As many others are saying, wehave to get things right.
This, that just might be thetheme of the season to where we
ain't gonna be able to suppresscertain.

(01:39:07):
Yeah, we just ain't gonna beable to suppress.

Speaker 1 (01:39:15):
Shout out to Jay Z.
I think that was a that wasdope, well needed.
I think Jay Z gets a lot offlack for not speaking enough,
especially on certain topics.
I know the NFL thing was a bigthing, what with Jay Z.
They wanted to know what he wasgoing to do.
But shout out to Jay forspeaking up.
Like you said, I think it's thebest of both worlds.

(01:39:35):
He acknowledged the Grammys andthe importance of it and, at
the same time, things that needto be addressed.
And when it comes to a certainartists maybe not being
nominated or winning, he talkedabout it and I think we can only
respect that and that's dope.
So shout out to Jay forspeaking up and standing on on

(01:39:58):
business.
What they say today standing onbusiness.
Hold on what you got, drake onit.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
I was just gonna say where applause said about it.
I guess he said white folksdon't care about not being
accepted by the black folkship,in parentheses the the BT awards
.
So why black folks care so muchabout being accepted by the
white folkship in parenthesesthe Grammys.

Speaker 1 (01:40:30):
I want to say, because I feel like BT is so
yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:40:35):
I don't know.
It's come on, it's BET blackentertainment.
It's only black entertainment.

Speaker 1 (01:40:41):
I just feel like the Grammys is broadcast right
global different, skin correctand presented different, where
you mean people actually dressup and right.
Right, and I ain't saying Iknow everybody got different
tastes, we can accept that.
But sometimes you go to the Byou watch a BT showing people
barely got clothes on.
So the club, I think it's goingto give you a different kind of

(01:41:03):
attention.
I think if BT changed some ofthe standards, if they a, this
is optional, but I think if weactually change some of the
standards and because they dogreat I know the Humanitarian
Award, they got different awardsout there Lifetime Achievement
Awards, they got some dopeawards.
But I think sometimes the otherbikinis, the two pieces, like

(01:41:26):
people, come to these BT awardsbarely dressed.
Now it starts.
That's this image.
I'm thinking Brandon, I thinkit starts with that.
What kind of attention or howfar do we want to go if people
make it?
Pretty much?
When you think of the award show, you know I think it just has
to be presented better.
If you ask me, I do lookforward to some of the

(01:41:48):
performances, but when I thinkGrammy's in BT, to your point,
that's what it is Like.
Why do people want to see some?
If they want to use the wordsnow, ratchet or ghetto they
might that that I could see howothers on the outside will look
at that, like what the hell isthat?
We?
Y'all want me to take thisserious.
I could see that, so we.

(01:42:09):
I just think whoever is incharge of that, they'll just
have to present it better, and Ithink the I think more people
will be willing to participate,sponsor and appreciate it more.
So that's just how I feel.
On on Ply's take I get whathe's saying, but I don't know
when the last time Ply's been toa BT awards though.

(01:42:31):
So I mean, our people got tocontinue to support what we have
, because that is ours, right,right.

Speaker 3 (01:42:37):
I like that.
I like that question Ply'sasked because he left it as a
question right Right.
Yeah, he questioned market.
He didn't know.
Make it seem like he he knew,no, what the answer was.
He didn't.
So I'll respond and say who issaying that.
What makes us think whitepeople don't care about the BT

(01:43:02):
awards or black people don'tcare about the Grammys?
I see people care.
I only know about it because Iknow many people that care about
it.
No platform can survive withoutthe other demographic also

(01:43:25):
embracing it At least these two.

Speaker 1 (01:43:30):
I think it's coming from from someone who's you know
some of.
So.
When the Grammys come, moreblack artists complain about not
winning Correct and it beingrigged.
They're more vocal on that.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
And.

Speaker 1 (01:43:46):
I think that's what Ply's is coming from.
That's when he says the whitesin the blacks, whatever that.
That's what that's coming from,because more black artists have
been vocal about not winningthe Grammys.
And didn't somebody piss on theGrammy?

Speaker 2 (01:43:58):
Can't.
Yeah, that's what it has tomake an example.

Speaker 3 (01:44:02):
But we, so we, we put black entertainment into a
margin.
Right, yeah, that's what.
So it's marginalized.
This is a limited.
That's why I put my scope.
Yes, so you can't expect alimited, a limited scope to have

(01:44:24):
the expensive reach as anexpanded scope as the Grammys
that also cater to the Latindemographic, that also cater to
the European demographic, theinternational demographic and
the black African demographicand the subgenres around it.

(01:44:47):
The Grammys is bigger than anyone color.
Whether we see lighter skinsbeing represented, the reality
may be.
This person is European, thisperson is Irish, this person is
Italian, this person is fromGermany, these producers are

(01:45:08):
from Asia.
This they take an order inconsideration and we still see
in tone.

Speaker 1 (01:45:15):
Yeah.
So would a white rapperparticipate in a black
entertainment Like so, withEminem performing?
That BTO was before yeah, happy, yeah.
I want to say yeah.
I probably want to damn suresay yeah.
So, to your point.
I get you.
That's a good point.
I get so, with that being said,because I'm like so what do we
do with white rappers?
We're not going to everacknowledge him on a BTO World

(01:45:37):
Show because it's blackentertainment, is what you're
saying.

Speaker 3 (01:45:41):
Have we?
That's a good question.
I don't know the stats on there, but I feel like Machine Gun
Kelly Mack Miller, mc Hammer.

Speaker 2 (01:45:54):
So we had hip hop awards, right, we got hip hop.

Speaker 3 (01:45:56):
Vanilla Ice.
What's MC Hammer?
Vanilla Ice?
Oh okay, I call Vanilla Ice MCHammer.
No.

Speaker 1 (01:46:03):
Oh, I'm saying hey, forgive me 1980s, forgive me 19.

Speaker 2 (01:46:10):
The turtle's gonna hunt you yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:46:13):
Yeah, I mean I get.
I'm just saying like I get whatyou and that's a good one,
that's a good one with plot,like I guess what other awards
show, and I'm assuming it canonly be the BTO Awards right,
because there's no award showand we ain't got no source, no
more.

Speaker 2 (01:46:29):
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
I can be broad and not belocked in like a hip hop or BTO
or we don't got nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:46:38):
Yeah, we.
It's fair to accept that some,some people might not want award
just because they black.
They might not want award justbecause it's from a black
organization that they onlygetting this award, because it's
from black entertainmenttelevision, it might feel like

(01:47:04):
an upgrade to get an award froma general organization.

Speaker 1 (01:47:13):
The.

Speaker 3 (01:47:13):
Grammys don't if there's no color zone or
anything but doesn't doesn'tSpotify or Pandora?

Speaker 2 (01:47:23):
don't they give awards?
Now?
I think they do now, don't they?
I don't know.
You know, I've heard, yeah,they got categories, but I don't
know if they get they do theyjust name it.
They just name no award.
That's what they do.
They don't it?
You know, present it.

Speaker 3 (01:47:36):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:47:36):
Just name it on the shows.
I think TikTok actually has onenow too, but with the news with
TikTok they took a couple ofthem.
They took record labels, tooktheir music off of TikTok.
So, yeah, oh, I know that.
Yeah, that's universaluniversal, and that's, it's a
lot, it's, it's a bigaccommodated what they want.

(01:47:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:48:00):
So you know I guess I don't and I don't know how much
TikTok is paying becausethey're not paying the labels
what it would make sense for usto use the music in the videos.
So that's one platform I knowthat universal and I'm sure
others will follow to remove andTikTok going to have to figure
it out or eventually have tonegotiate so we can keep those

(01:48:24):
music on those platforms.
Because don't you, when you usethe video, the song in a video
don't accumulate extremes now,because I know when you upload
on, like this show or you getthe tune, you get the TikTok
logo.
So I know it might not be awhole lot, but it's going to be
some work to be done to generatethat.
So I'm all for it.

(01:48:44):
I think the artist should begetting accommodated for their
work.

Speaker 3 (01:48:48):
Yeah, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:48:50):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:48:51):
If they make some money and move the needle.

Speaker 1 (01:48:54):
More money in my pocket.
I'm for it.

Speaker 2 (01:48:57):
Right now is no money but problems.

Speaker 1 (01:49:00):
I'm all for it.
So, with that being said, y'alltuned into another episode of
exposure and we are home.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

The Joe Rogan Experience

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 20: Harmony and Discord: Dissecting Hip-Hop’s Grammy Paradox and the Echoes of Industry Evolution

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

The Joe Rogan Experience

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

Episode 20: Harmony and Discord: Dissecting Hip-Hop’s Grammy Paradox and the Echoes of Industry Evolution

Stuff You Should Know