August 6, 2025 • 22 mins
In this week’s All On Front Street, Jaguar Wright and Wolfgang Amadeuz dig into the surprising indefinite pause of two cornerstone events—the Soul Train Awards and the BET Hip-Hop Awards. What’s really pulling the plug on these cultural institutions: budget cuts, shifting streaming strategies, or a deeper rollback of DEI initiatives under the Trump-aligned lawsuit against Paramount? We’ll explore:
- The announcements: what BET and Paramount have said (and what they’re not saying)
- How recent legal attacks on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion funding might be chilling Black-centered media
- Trump’s ongoing battle with Paramount over “DEI programs”—and why awards shows could be collateral damage
- Industry reactions: from artists to executives, and the growing call to protect our creative spaces
- What it means for representation, and how the community can push back
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I hear you loud and clear, boss, All on Front
Street with Me, Jaguar right and Wolfgang Ama. Dais is
where truth takes in a stage and no topic gets
tucked away. This unapologetic, unfiltered podcast puts the real out front,
conversations that matter, stories they don't want told, and voices
(00:21):
the mainstream tries to silence, from entertainers and authors to influences,
journalists and independent business owners. No guest is off limits
and no conversation is too raw. If it's shaking culture,
exposing industry games, or breaking generational curses.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's all going on Front Street.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Expect bold interviews, street wise commentary, behind the scenes revelations,
and moments that'll make you laugh, gas or rethink everything
you thought.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You knew of dot.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yeah, oh yeah, you are.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Great. Put your ass on blast, no cannon? What up?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Oh nothing?
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Nothing, Just sitting over here, you know, humming under my breath,
thinking about that midnight flight the balley.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Oh damn, not that that that riff sound dope though,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
Well, you know, it's so funny, like I hear people
refer to me as so many different things. I don't
ever consider myself a former anything or retired anything.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I just am what I am.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
So it's nice when I get acknowledged for you know,
one of my guests.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, nah, I mean you know, there's no there's no
has been, want to be none of that.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
You know what I'm saying. You you are what you are.
Can't nobody deny that, know, So you want.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To know what's while.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I remember once upon a time, like there's nothing that
I wouldn't have done to be able to stay in
the in the graces of the right people, to just
keep doing that, and now like there's nothing they could
get me to do to want to stay in their
good graces, Like I want to just be able to
do me and to not have to worry about having
(02:25):
an answer to stuff that I don't believe in or
live up to things that ain't real. And that's wild
because here we are putting it all out on Front
Street and it's a lot of things going on that
just seemed to be like, hella unreal. Right now, I
don't know, like is it you or is it me?
Or is it breaking news or breaking wind or what?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
No, that's what it is right now. I guess right now,
there's just a whole bunch of there's a lot going on.
I'll just let me let's let's just let's let's just
start with this right now. Look, and it seems like
we're in the damn twilight zone. But is this the
Is this the end for hip hop?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Now? I say that. I say that because B E
T basically Viacom Paramount.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
They announced that they're in definitely suspending the BT hip
Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards can be honest,
not the Soul Train Awards too.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
The Soul.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Train And it sounds like it's all going down the dream.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Like for real.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
Look, I can't even remember the last time I watched
any of these shows important. I can't even remember anybody
who's really down for the culture, who really believes in
the art forms and the true artists behind the game,
that even watched these things. It all became like a
part of the pop culture Milly or million or whatever,
(04:13):
you know. And yeah, like I bon voyage. As far
as I'm concerned, The question is what drove it to
that point?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, Well, I'm under the impression that the powers that
be have said, hey, you know what, hip hop we
no longer need you.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And I'm talking about all.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
These people who participated in the you know, the hip
Hop fifty the ceremony.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
That was so wack.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Can we just take the second and say, you know
what I mean, like, rest in peace to the fiftieth
anniversary of hip hop that totally just got trash with
all of their fake stats and with all of their
lack of true acknowledgment and all of the you.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Know, the the circle jerk. It was a mess.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
I didn't even like watching it, honestly, because all I
could do is sit there and look at all of
the people that were supposed to be there, all of
the people that should have been on it, you know,
And you know, for that alone, I'm glad it's being discontinued.
May the ghost of hip hop past be the reason
why all of this is gone?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Well, yeah, it's it's It's a good thing, I think,
because that opens up a lane.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
For the real culture. Hip Hop has never been the
commercial side.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I think people get things twisted and they think, you know, oh,
you know, record sales is what make hip hop, or
you know, how much money you got is what makes
you important in hip hop, when the true culture really
is just about how you represent. You know what I'm saying,
(06:09):
what you represent? How dope are you? So if you
talk about someone like a carriage one, you know, he's
knowledgeable on a lot of things and he does what
he does. You got someone, you got someone like, you know,
a dope graph artists? You know, how does this person
represent the culture? It's gonna be different from another graph artist.
(06:31):
You're you get what I mean. So it never was
about how much money you got, you know, you know,
or you know, I'm a billionaire and I'm married to
another billionaire. It never was about all that that's to
get out of here with that bull ish right.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, man, So it's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
What they did was they set a false standard.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
They set a false standard that never existed, and they
essentially they got people to cooperate with this false standard.
You know what I remember most about hip hop, just
to piggyback on what you were saying, was the purity.
(07:16):
You know, when I think of purity and hip hop,
I think of Rock Hemp. When I think of purity
and hip hop, I think of DMX. When I think
of purity and hip hop, I think of Big L.
When I think of purity and hip hop. I think
of Malick b like when I think of real emces
(07:38):
and how far rappers have gotten from the art of lyricism,
like seriously, like you know, it used to be all
about how tight your lyrics were, not how tight your
genes were.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
It used to be all about, you know what I'm saying,
how fluid you could be in your vernacular, switching from
one beat to another, from from one you know what
I'm saying, flow to another. And now it's all about
you know, whose pants you're flowing in and out of,
whose private parts you're in and out of, Like it's nothing.
(08:19):
Nothing that we grew up knowing and honoring and for real,
for real.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
The hip hop community.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
That was our church, that was our alternative religion, and
now here we have all these false standards. So yeah,
I agree with you.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But my thing is is.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
What does being a billionaire have to do with being
an amazing artist?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Nothing? Nothing, nothing, And that's the that's the thing. That's
the thing.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
That's why I say it's a good thing because the
corporatization of hip hop mm hm, it's pretty much it's done.
It's a rap and this is a sign that it's done.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Now.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Now I'll also go on record and say I also
see the correlation between Donald Trump getting that Viacom. Now,
if you guys don't know, b BT is owned by Viacom,
Donald Trump and Paramount.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Right, Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Got rid of a lot of the what is it,
the DEI stuff? Right, he got rid of all that
DEI stuff. Paramount was on his target because he sued Paramount.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Let me not say something that's.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Not not factual, right, So let me do the research
real quick.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Donald Trump in his case.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
With no I thought I heard something about that. I
thought I heard that he sued and he won.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, I think he did one. He won a settlement.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Yeah, because right after that, what was it, the Stephen
Colbert Show got canceled. Yeah, some wild stuff about Trump,
and I guess it didn't go over too well.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I was gonna bring that up. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
I didn't want to say anything that was incorrect. So
there was a legal battle that Trump and Paramount just settled.
So Trump had sued CBS, and that's owned by Paramount,
and he sued them for alleging deceptive editing of a
sixty minutes interview.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
That featured the Vice president.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Then Vice President Kamala Harris, and this was back in
October twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
The lawsuit claimed Trump no.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Trump had claimed that CBS deceptively edited the interview to
Boss to boost Harris's election chances, and he demanded twenty
billion dollars twenty billion. So CBS denied the accusations and
(11:20):
they just said the editing adhere to television standards. Legal
experts said that the lawsuit was baseless. So Paramount, though
agreed to pay sixteen million to settle the lawsuit.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Why they would pay now?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
This sixteen million went to Trump's future presidential library and
it covered his legal views. Paramount stated, the settlement doesn't
include an apology on acknowledgment or wrongdoing.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
So the settlement.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Occurred in the midst of Paramount seeking approval for its
merger with sky Dance Media. I've seen sky Dance and
Media around sometime before, and.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
It required FCC to to approve it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
The merger or whatever. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders. They sent
a letter inquiring about the possible side deal and whether
bribery laws were broken, and it was also about the
timing of the cancelation.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Of the Steve Colbert Show. That that what you were
talking about.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, And then it's funny because south Park they released
an episode a couple of weeks back their their their
new season, and they went in on Trump and they
were clowning.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Now. They they they got a settlement, not a settlement.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
They agreed to put south Park out there, and you know,
I think they had a deal where it was on
HBO as well, but it was some type of deal
that they had with Paramount before where they had like
longer versions of south Park that were just supposed to
be exclusively on Paramount. Now they went ahead and inked
(13:19):
the deal for one point five billion dollars to exclusively
release their content on Paramount. And they did like a
big middle finger to Paramount and Trump on.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Their first episode. And I saw it.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
I kind of didn't see it, but I saw it,
and I was just like, oh, yeah, they clowned it it.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Basically, it's it's wold, it's wild.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
But I'm putting on my ten fo o hat and
I'm saying, yeah, I think this has something to do
with this whole thing with Trump's legal battle with Paramount
and why all of a sudden we are no longer
having the Soul Train of Wars or the BT.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Hip Hop Awards.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Well, let's just be clear, a lot of the people
that probably would have been appearing at these award shows
were also campaigning for Scammela Harris and a lot of
them got paid. So I don't know, when you think
about it, they were really relying on hip hop to
(14:21):
bring home a Democratic vote. Like you look at everybody
that they had campaigning, when you look at everybody that
was present, and it's just wild because I was, you know,
doing a little research and listening to an interview that
the Dender had did when Trump was running a few
(14:44):
years back, and he has some real, real, real cold
blooded things to stay Oh. And it's wild because the
Breakfast Club dug this up after Charlamagne just went back
and for you know, going back and forth with the
president for what reason, I do not know, but they
(15:06):
pulled this whole thing up and didd he is said
there talking about how Trump was like it was the
end of civilization and that if people voted for him,
it was going to be a race war and Trump
was was inciting race wars and it was voted die
and we better do this because the white man is
(15:28):
doing this like all of his wild stuff talking about you.
We cannot let him back in the office. Like he
was going so hard for the Dems. He was going
so hard for the Dems, and now like all of
their little monuments are just falling down.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It's really wild.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
M M.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Yeah, no, this is interesting, Like I say, I look
at it, this vacuum that's happening. We'll see who's gonna
fell it or who's gonna fall out, and.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We'll see.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
But no, no, no, no more BET Awards, Hip Hop Awards.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Definitely, yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
More Soul Trained wards.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Somebody attributed I think Dwane b He attributed to Fat Joe.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I mean a bad curse.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Look, the curse of Fat Joe and all of that.
Or is it the curse of Big Pun. But that's
a long little Big Pun always a player in this
life and the next. But I mean the truth is this,
I'm not mad like the Soul Train Awards, Like I'm
not interested in seeing who they want to be asking
the host.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I'm not.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
It was the same old people. It was the same
people involved in the same kind of crap. It was
the same kind of gate keeping going on, and it
really wasn't given to.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
The culture at all.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I mean, truth be told, do we need any more
gate keeping awards ceremonies?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Isn't the Grammys and enough?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah? I think so, all right, I do? I think
so what?
Speaker 5 (17:14):
That lacks so much soul at the end, like it
really did lack a lot of soul and a lot
of class.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I got.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
I hate to see what's happened to our culture because honestly,
it makes me I feel like those old people that
oh man, you know, back in the good old days,
and oh, it's just that I feel like that now
because it's everything that we see is it's so unreal.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's just unreal and it's it's wild. But yeah, you
know rock on viacom.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
You know, well, I think.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Us starting something with Cruelty Free would be a good
time right now to start getting you know, and curulty
free doesn't necessarily happen be all hip hop.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
It's just you know, cruelty free.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Cruelty free. Artistry is exactly what it is. And there's
more to artistry, you know, than one form. There there's
so many different access you know, points to art, whether
it's painting, whether it's digital art, whether it's dancing, all
the different forms of a free expression. Just I really
(18:29):
am looking forward to being able to take that construct
and turning it into a place where you don't have
to worry about a Grammy Awards, you don't have to
worry about.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
A Soul Train Awards, you don't have to worry.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
About you know, b T Hip Hop Honors and the
BET Awards, and like they got rid of all of
these other awards shows, I ever say, get rid of
the BT Awards along with it. Like anybody who's not
seeing all of the demon time symbolism that they doing
everything dipped in blood, bread, a bunch of vampires running
(19:05):
around and looks like like all of this stuff is crazy.
It's crazy, and everybody knows it's crazy. But for whatever reason,
you know, especially all people, we seem to be bewitched
and mesmerized by all of this nonsense. Man, what I
wouldn't give for cruelty free to just become that space
(19:27):
where people can say, you know what, I just want
to focus on my art.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, I just do that.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
Like I was just talking about Black Lily the other
day when we were having that conference call, and I
was thinking about how dope that was, and I started
thinking back to Lollapalooza and thinking back to the Smoking
Grooves towards you know, stuff like that, like all just eclectic,
real awesome art.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
And it wasn't you know, it wasn't all this other stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Man.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
I did an interview and they were asked what I
thought about hip hop, and I was like, for someone
who loves hip hop as much as I do and
is beloved as hip hop is to me, it's painful.
It's good to see people making money, and it's good
to see people getting paid, and it's great to know
that people can become millionaires and multimillionaires. We're even a
billionaire now, you know, doing this art form.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
But at what costs?
Speaker 5 (20:23):
I said, you know, once upon a time, hip hop
was like an exclusive.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Club, like like a you know, like like.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
It was a tree house, you know what I mean,
in the woods, and it was a place where only
certain people knew how to get to it. And then
as it grew, and as it grew, and as it grew,
it changed and we started seeing all different kinds of
people coming in and out of the club house. And
then somebody said, you know what, we don't need to
do a treehouse anymore. We're gonna do it in a
penthouse over here in this hotel. And then it got
(20:56):
really corporate, and it got really sterilized, and now I
don't think any of us recognize what hip hop is anymore,
you know. And the truth is, hip hop and rap
are two different things all together. Now, Like I don't
even feel comfortable with calling a lot of this stuff
hip hop. Let's just call it the rap thing or
whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
But I would love.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
It, man, if Cruelty Free could become a construct where
hip hop can live again, you know, in that awesome place,
in that raw space where it's really just about fellowship
and inspiration. I can't remember the last rapper that I
listened to that actually inspired me, but yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Rest in peace to the old, corporate, greedy, nasty part
version that they called hip hop.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
And this is.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
A rebirth of the real hot Let's just say it
like that, all right.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I like that real hop
I hear you loud and clear, boss, All on Front
Street with Me, Jaguar right and Wolfgang Ama. Dais is
where truth takes in a stage and no topic gets
tucked away. This unapologetic, unfiltered podcast puts the real out front,
conversations that matter, stories they don't want told, and voices
(00:21):
the mainstream tries to silence, from entertainers and authors to influences,
journalists and independent business owners. No guest is off limits
and no conversation is too raw. If it's shaking culture,
exposing industry games, or breaking generational curses.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's all going on Front Street.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Expect bold interviews, street wise commentary, behind the scenes revelations,
and moments that'll make you laugh, gas or rethink everything
you thought.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You knew of dot.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Yeah, oh yeah, you are.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Great. Put your ass on blast, no cannon? What up?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Oh nothing?
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Nothing, Just sitting over here, you know, humming under my breath,
thinking about that midnight flight the balley.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Oh damn, not that that that riff sound dope though,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
Well, you know, it's so funny, like I hear people
refer to me as so many different things. I don't
ever consider myself a former anything or retired anything.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I just am what I am.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
So it's nice when I get acknowledged for you know,
one of my guests.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, nah, I mean you know, there's no there's no
has been, want to be none of that.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
You know what I'm saying. You you are what you are.
Can't nobody deny that, know, So you want.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To know what's while.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I remember once upon a time, like there's nothing that
I wouldn't have done to be able to stay in
the in the graces of the right people, to just
keep doing that, and now like there's nothing they could
get me to do to want to stay in their
good graces, Like I want to just be able to
do me and to not have to worry about having
(02:25):
an answer to stuff that I don't believe in or
live up to things that ain't real. And that's wild
because here we are putting it all out on Front
Street and it's a lot of things going on that
just seemed to be like, hella unreal. Right now, I
don't know, like is it you or is it me?
Or is it breaking news or breaking wind or what?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
No, that's what it is right now. I guess right now,
there's just a whole bunch of there's a lot going on.
I'll just let me let's let's just let's let's just
start with this right now. Look, and it seems like
we're in the damn twilight zone. But is this the
Is this the end for hip hop?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Now? I say that. I say that because B E
T basically Viacom Paramount.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
They announced that they're in definitely suspending the BT hip
Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards can be honest,
not the Soul Train Awards too.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
The Soul.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Train And it sounds like it's all going down the dream.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Like for real.
Speaker 5 (03:47):
Look, I can't even remember the last time I watched
any of these shows important. I can't even remember anybody
who's really down for the culture, who really believes in
the art forms and the true artists behind the game,
that even watched these things. It all became like a
part of the pop culture Milly or million or whatever,
(04:13):
you know. And yeah, like I bon voyage. As far
as I'm concerned, The question is what drove it to
that point?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, Well, I'm under the impression that the powers that
be have said, hey, you know what, hip hop we
no longer need you.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
And I'm talking about all.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
These people who participated in the you know, the hip
Hop fifty the ceremony.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
That was so wack.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Can we just take the second and say, you know
what I mean, like, rest in peace to the fiftieth
anniversary of hip hop that totally just got trash with
all of their fake stats and with all of their
lack of true acknowledgment and all of the you.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Know, the the circle jerk. It was a mess.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
I didn't even like watching it, honestly, because all I
could do is sit there and look at all of
the people that were supposed to be there, all of
the people that should have been on it, you know,
And you know, for that alone, I'm glad it's being discontinued.
May the ghost of hip hop past be the reason
why all of this is gone?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Well, yeah, it's it's It's a good thing, I think,
because that opens up a lane.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
For the real culture. Hip Hop has never been the
commercial side.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I think people get things twisted and they think, you know, oh,
you know, record sales is what make hip hop, or
you know, how much money you got is what makes
you important in hip hop, when the true culture really
is just about how you represent. You know what I'm saying,
(06:09):
what you represent? How dope are you? So if you
talk about someone like a carriage one, you know, he's
knowledgeable on a lot of things and he does what
he does. You got someone, you got someone like, you know,
a dope graph artists? You know, how does this person
represent the culture? It's gonna be different from another graph artist.
(06:31):
You're you get what I mean. So it never was
about how much money you got, you know, you know,
or you know, I'm a billionaire and I'm married to
another billionaire. It never was about all that that's to
get out of here with that bull ish right.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, man, So it's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
What they did was they set a false standard.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
They set a false standard that never existed, and they
essentially they got people to cooperate with this false standard.
You know what I remember most about hip hop, just
to piggyback on what you were saying, was the purity.
(07:16):
You know, when I think of purity and hip hop,
I think of Rock Hemp. When I think of purity
and hip hop, I think of DMX. When I think
of purity and hip hop, I think of Big L.
When I think of purity and hip hop. I think
of Malick b like when I think of real emces
(07:38):
and how far rappers have gotten from the art of lyricism,
like seriously, like you know, it used to be all
about how tight your lyrics were, not how tight your
genes were.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
It used to be all about, you know what I'm saying,
how fluid you could be in your vernacular, switching from
one beat to another, from from one you know what
I'm saying, flow to another. And now it's all about
you know, whose pants you're flowing in and out of,
whose private parts you're in and out of, Like it's nothing.
(08:19):
Nothing that we grew up knowing and honoring and for real,
for real.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
The hip hop community.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
That was our church, that was our alternative religion, and
now here we have all these false standards. So yeah,
I agree with you.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
But my thing is is.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
What does being a billionaire have to do with being
an amazing artist?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Nothing? Nothing, nothing, And that's the that's the thing. That's
the thing.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
That's why I say it's a good thing because the
corporatization of hip hop mm hm, it's pretty much it's done.
It's a rap and this is a sign that it's done.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Now.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Now I'll also go on record and say I also
see the correlation between Donald Trump getting that Viacom. Now,
if you guys don't know, b BT is owned by Viacom,
Donald Trump and Paramount.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Right, Donald Trump.
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Got rid of a lot of the what is it,
the DEI stuff? Right, he got rid of all that
DEI stuff. Paramount was on his target because he sued Paramount.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Let me not say something that's.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Not not factual, right, So let me do the research
real quick.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Donald Trump in his case.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
With no I thought I heard something about that. I
thought I heard that he sued and he won.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, yeah, I think he did one. He won a settlement.
Speaker 5 (10:10):
Yeah, because right after that, what was it, the Stephen
Colbert Show got canceled. Yeah, some wild stuff about Trump,
and I guess it didn't go over too well.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I was gonna bring that up. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
I didn't want to say anything that was incorrect. So
there was a legal battle that Trump and Paramount just settled.
So Trump had sued CBS, and that's owned by Paramount,
and he sued them for alleging deceptive editing of a
sixty minutes interview.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
That featured the Vice president.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
Then Vice President Kamala Harris, and this was back in
October twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
The lawsuit claimed Trump no.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Trump had claimed that CBS deceptively edited the interview to
Boss to boost Harris's election chances, and he demanded twenty
billion dollars twenty billion. So CBS denied the accusations and
(11:20):
they just said the editing adhere to television standards. Legal
experts said that the lawsuit was baseless. So Paramount, though
agreed to pay sixteen million to settle the lawsuit.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Why they would pay now?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
This sixteen million went to Trump's future presidential library and
it covered his legal views. Paramount stated, the settlement doesn't
include an apology on acknowledgment or wrongdoing.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
So the settlement.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Occurred in the midst of Paramount seeking approval for its
merger with sky Dance Media. I've seen sky Dance and
Media around sometime before, and.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
It required FCC to to approve it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
The merger or whatever. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders. They sent
a letter inquiring about the possible side deal and whether
bribery laws were broken, and it was also about the
timing of the cancelation.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Of the Steve Colbert Show. That that what you were
talking about.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, And then it's funny because south Park they released
an episode a couple of weeks back their their their
new season, and they went in on Trump and they
were clowning.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Now. They they they got a settlement, not a settlement.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
They agreed to put south Park out there, and you know,
I think they had a deal where it was on
HBO as well, but it was some type of deal
that they had with Paramount before where they had like
longer versions of south Park that were just supposed to
be exclusively on Paramount. Now they went ahead and inked
(13:19):
the deal for one point five billion dollars to exclusively
release their content on Paramount. And they did like a
big middle finger to Paramount and Trump on.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Their first episode. And I saw it.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
I kind of didn't see it, but I saw it,
and I was just like, oh, yeah, they clowned it it.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Basically, it's it's wold, it's wild.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
But I'm putting on my ten fo o hat and
I'm saying, yeah, I think this has something to do
with this whole thing with Trump's legal battle with Paramount
and why all of a sudden we are no longer
having the Soul Train of Wars or the BT.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Hip Hop Awards.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Well, let's just be clear, a lot of the people
that probably would have been appearing at these award shows
were also campaigning for Scammela Harris and a lot of
them got paid. So I don't know, when you think
about it, they were really relying on hip hop to
(14:21):
bring home a Democratic vote. Like you look at everybody
that they had campaigning, when you look at everybody that
was present, and it's just wild because I was, you know,
doing a little research and listening to an interview that
the Dender had did when Trump was running a few
(14:44):
years back, and he has some real, real, real cold
blooded things to stay Oh. And it's wild because the
Breakfast Club dug this up after Charlamagne just went back
and for you know, going back and forth with the
president for what reason, I do not know, but they
(15:06):
pulled this whole thing up and didd he is said
there talking about how Trump was like it was the
end of civilization and that if people voted for him,
it was going to be a race war and Trump
was was inciting race wars and it was voted die
and we better do this because the white man is
(15:28):
doing this like all of his wild stuff talking about you.
We cannot let him back in the office. Like he
was going so hard for the Dems. He was going
so hard for the Dems, and now like all of
their little monuments are just falling down.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
It's really wild.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
M M.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
Yeah, no, this is interesting, Like I say, I look
at it, this vacuum that's happening. We'll see who's gonna
fell it or who's gonna fall out, and.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We'll see.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
But no, no, no, no more BET Awards, Hip Hop Awards.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Definitely, yeah, no.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
More Soul Trained wards.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Somebody attributed I think Dwane b He attributed to Fat Joe.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I mean a bad curse.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Look, the curse of Fat Joe and all of that.
Or is it the curse of Big Pun. But that's
a long little Big Pun always a player in this
life and the next. But I mean the truth is this,
I'm not mad like the Soul Train Awards, Like I'm
not interested in seeing who they want to be asking
the host.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I'm not.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
It was the same old people. It was the same
people involved in the same kind of crap. It was
the same kind of gate keeping going on, and it
really wasn't given to.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
The culture at all.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I mean, truth be told, do we need any more
gate keeping awards ceremonies?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Isn't the Grammys and enough?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Yeah? I think so, all right, I do? I think
so what?
Speaker 5 (17:14):
That lacks so much soul at the end, like it
really did lack a lot of soul and a lot
of class.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I got.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
I hate to see what's happened to our culture because honestly,
it makes me I feel like those old people that
oh man, you know, back in the good old days,
and oh, it's just that I feel like that now
because it's everything that we see is it's so unreal.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It's just unreal and it's it's wild. But yeah, you
know rock on viacom.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
You know, well, I think.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Us starting something with Cruelty Free would be a good
time right now to start getting you know, and curulty
free doesn't necessarily happen be all hip hop.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
It's just you know, cruelty free.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Cruelty free. Artistry is exactly what it is. And there's
more to artistry, you know, than one form. There there's
so many different access you know, points to art, whether
it's painting, whether it's digital art, whether it's dancing, all
the different forms of a free expression. Just I really
(18:29):
am looking forward to being able to take that construct
and turning it into a place where you don't have
to worry about a Grammy Awards, you don't have to
worry about.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
A Soul Train Awards, you don't have to worry.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
About you know, b T Hip Hop Honors and the
BET Awards, and like they got rid of all of
these other awards shows, I ever say, get rid of
the BT Awards along with it. Like anybody who's not
seeing all of the demon time symbolism that they doing
everything dipped in blood, bread, a bunch of vampires running
(19:05):
around and looks like like all of this stuff is crazy.
It's crazy, and everybody knows it's crazy. But for whatever reason,
you know, especially all people, we seem to be bewitched
and mesmerized by all of this nonsense. Man, what I
wouldn't give for cruelty free to just become that space
(19:27):
where people can say, you know what, I just want
to focus on my art.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Yeah, I just do that.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
Like I was just talking about Black Lily the other
day when we were having that conference call, and I
was thinking about how dope that was, and I started
thinking back to Lollapalooza and thinking back to the Smoking
Grooves towards you know, stuff like that, like all just eclectic,
real awesome art.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
And it wasn't you know, it wasn't all this other stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Man.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
I did an interview and they were asked what I
thought about hip hop, and I was like, for someone
who loves hip hop as much as I do and
is beloved as hip hop is to me, it's painful.
It's good to see people making money, and it's good
to see people getting paid, and it's great to know
that people can become millionaires and multimillionaires. We're even a
billionaire now, you know, doing this art form.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
But at what costs?
Speaker 5 (20:23):
I said, you know, once upon a time, hip hop
was like an exclusive.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Club, like like a you know, like like.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
It was a tree house, you know what I mean,
in the woods, and it was a place where only
certain people knew how to get to it. And then
as it grew, and as it grew, and as it grew,
it changed and we started seeing all different kinds of
people coming in and out of the club house. And
then somebody said, you know what, we don't need to
do a treehouse anymore. We're gonna do it in a
penthouse over here in this hotel. And then it got
(20:56):
really corporate, and it got really sterilized, and now I
don't think any of us recognize what hip hop is anymore,
you know. And the truth is, hip hop and rap
are two different things all together. Now, Like I don't
even feel comfortable with calling a lot of this stuff
hip hop. Let's just call it the rap thing or
whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
But I would love.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
It, man, if Cruelty Free could become a construct where
hip hop can live again, you know, in that awesome place,
in that raw space where it's really just about fellowship
and inspiration. I can't remember the last rapper that I
listened to that actually inspired me, but yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Rest in peace to the old, corporate, greedy, nasty part
version that they called hip hop.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
And this is.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
A rebirth of the real hot Let's just say it
like that, all right.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I like that real hop
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