Black Farmers & Brandon Nicole

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
We talked week these after they talk on w p
P m l P Philadelphia one O six point five FM.
We talked weeklies after they talk with your boy Charles
Gregoren and beautiful Lawrence and we are definitely in the building.
Thanks for tuning in, Ladies and gentlemen, real quick, let's
take let's take care of some thing. Let's see if
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Speaker 3 (00:26):
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(00:46):
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Speaker 1 (01:02):
That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right. So then
you have it. Ladies and gentlemen, make sure that you
donate any like she said, like the Sizzle said, no
donation is too small. Dollar signs We talked weekly and
send us a little something a dollar two you know,
I don't find out something. You know, that's how we
continue to support the community, amplify the community, to give

(01:23):
them a platform to speak their truth, speak what they're doing,
speak their engagement. And and today we're going to talk
a little bit about engaging the community and some great
people that's in the community, because we're going to talk
a little bit about the community and some things that's
happening in the community. So I'm your boy, Charles Gregory
with the.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Beautiful Lauren Sizzle.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
So you know, before we start anything, cizil, tell me
how was your day? How was your day?

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Well, my day was kind of calm up until recently
had some family stop by and visit and that just
kind of threw everything off track. But it's always good
to see family, and you know, I had a nice
day pretty much. And now I'm here to stay focused

(02:08):
because it's so much going on right now in the
world as as we just learned about breaking news with
the shooting that just happened at Trump's rally, and there's
so much that's just unfolding right now. I believe they
said that two people have been confirmed to be deceased.

(02:29):
One was a bystander and one was the actual shooter.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, So and Trump, I believe he was injured.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
He was shot, I.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Believe, I believe. So he was raised in his ear.
So he was at the podium and he was, you know, talking,
he does his goes on his tangent and then next
thing you know, you hear something that sound like firecrackers
and he grabs his ear and goes down. So secret
Service that are all that that were all there. They

(03:02):
all jumped on the stage and surrounded him. Then you
could hear screaming in the crowd. You could see the people.
Some people didn't look like some people didn't know what
was going on. And I think the people that were
actually right there where the shooting occurred, they were over
there screaming. So it was just a lot of chaos.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
They were able to surround Trump and then he stood
up and they whisked him away to the truck and
then they got him out of there. And I believe
he's still being treated. But they did say that the
shooter is confirmed decease. And there's a bystander, there were people,

(03:48):
there was somebody there that was talking and just describing
the incident as an unfolded that person said that he
really believed that the the shooter was aiming at Trump,
but they standers.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Head was in the way.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
I don't know that's true right now, I understand where
they Yeah, so it's it's just crazy.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
And President Biden did release a statement, you know, he
said that he was glad the Secret Service was able
to get Trump out of there and that he's safe.
He said he's frank for Trump. And you know, it's
just it's just a tragedy. It's really sad. It's really sad.

(04:31):
It's scary, it's scary.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, hopefully he'll be okay, contrary to you know, whatever
feelings that you have for anyone any political uh you know, opponent,
you know, any political person, you don't want anyone to
And so hopefully he'll be okay. And I guess once

(04:56):
you find out any more news, if anything break, just
let us know, you jump right on, let us know
as we go through today's show and interview. And so yeah, okay,
so you know, well, congratulations on your day, busy, you know,
thanks for that news. Sometimes breaking news like that we

(05:16):
have to report as it goes. So if something comes
across your information, some slides let us know, so you
can just jump right on and talk a little bit
more about it. And so, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen,
I'm your boy Charles Gregor with the beautiful Lawrence. And
we have someone with whom I have a tremendous amount
of respect for. You know, I love the interviews. And
why do I love the interviews because we get to

(05:39):
talk to the real people, the good people, the people
who are doing things. You know, I love the community.
So if you're doing something in the community, you my
favorite person already. So without further ADU says, well, let
me know who do we have today? Who do we
have today?

Speaker 3 (05:53):
So we have the amazing doctor Carol Simmons. He is
a weaving from Those Healthy Living. Her education includes a
psychology degree, a master's teaching certifications, and her doctorate and
urban education leadership. She has been a vegan. She has

(06:15):
been a vegan plant based for over fifty years and
has owned two vegetarian restaurants. She has a host of books,
some entitled Faith through Fearlessness, a vegetarian cookbook, Eat Vegetables,
Don't Become One, three children's books, and quotes through Faith.

(06:36):
So doctor Simmons is the executive director of the Black
Farmers Cooperative BFC, an organization that has launched a transformative
initiative to address the urgent need for sustainable agriculture, education
and urban city food deserts, particularly focusing on Philadelphia. And

(06:57):
she is the administrative director of the International Institute for
Advanced Instruction and a nonprofit, and on the board of
the elm Elmwood Eastwiss Empowerment is the umbrella for the BFC,
and for the last decade she has supported senior citizens

(07:19):
by providing meals and she is committed to the empowerment
of the community. Welcome, give a round, a warm round.
Welcome for doctor.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Hello?

Speaker 5 (07:38):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Ludge?

Speaker 5 (07:40):
God, that was such a warm welcome. I'm so appreciative
and very humbled to be here. And I really am
a community active and Michael is to leave this planet
better than I found it, and hopefully I can accomplish that.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
You are accomplishing that. Your accolade speak for itself. But
I want to rewind just a little bit. First of all,
how are you? Because I like to start there, like,
how were you? How was your day? Tell us a
little bit about your day and how you.

Speaker 5 (08:20):
You know, today was very special because I really didn't
have to run any errands.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
I go out.

Speaker 5 (08:29):
Daily in this heat. We have so much to do
because the Black Farmers Cooperative, we have so many events
and there's a lot to do. So today I was
able to stay home and work from home, but really
take it easy. So I feel wonderful.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Fantastic if I'm getting around for.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
It.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
I love it. I love it. I wonder I want
to start from I want to start, and then we'll
go to the beginning because I would love to know
because you're such empowering. You're such an activist so to speak.
You've been doing a lot of things in the community,
which is amazing. But I would like to know, like,
how did that start? How was your family? How was

(09:17):
your parents? Were your parents, you know that driven as
well as you are. Were they into even farming activism.
Let's talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
Oh I love talking about that. I grew up in
West Philadelphia.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Oh there you go, shout out to West Philly, and.

Speaker 5 (09:37):
My parents and grandparents pulled their resources. So in nineteen
forty four they purchased a house in West Philadelphia, and
I think that was such a fantastic idea because it
gave me and my sisters a really a good quality life,

(09:59):
and they were the third African American family to move
on Packson Street through one hundred block between fifty first
and fifty second in Arch and Race. I had absolutely
amazing childhood. I thought everyone lived like that, but because
my grandparents and parents had the insight to it, like

(10:21):
I said, pulled their resources, they provided us with I
would say, just a remarkable life. You know, I played,
I did everything. I had my own business at thirteen
years old. My parents were very open and encouraged me

(10:46):
and my grandparents. I was the baby in the family,
so you know, I really got a lot of attention.
So my childhood, as I look back now, Charles, it
was just great. I don't have anything I could say.
You know, some people say, well, my parents didn't do this,

(11:07):
my parents didn't do that. My mother in our house,
I'm going to talk about that. She made sure that
she was always upgrading the house. You know, I basely
looked like a little mini club, and it was always
upgrading and making things better. Now farming, my grandfather had

(11:34):
ducks and rabbits in the backyard. We had a peach tree,
pear tree, grapevines. My grandmother canned food and she made
wine in the white and brown. It was half and
half crop. And I watched her do all of this,

(11:56):
and so I started cooking myself and prepared caring food
at an early, very early age. And I would watch
my grandmother make the pound cake and she would say.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Carol, you got it.

Speaker 5 (12:11):
Stir a three hundred times? You know, really, who was
a number three hundred? After you create the eggs and
the butter and and and so forth. So at eight
years old, my grandmother allowed me to bake sugar cookies
on my own, and I've been preparing food ever since.

(12:33):
That's how I moved into two vegetarian restaurants, one in
Camden and one in Philly.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Interesting, so you still have restaurants.

Speaker 5 (12:43):
No, no, no, that was back in the day. I no.
Once I finished with the restaurants, that's when I went
into teaching. Okay, so I am a retired professor and teacher.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Fantastic fantastic soldier. Since you talked about being a professor,
I want to talk a little bit about your alma mater, right,
because reading your bio, you kind of left out the
bio that you sent to me. But I'm reading your
book here, right, and uh, let me pull arn back up,
and I'm reading your book here and it says, let

(13:18):
me see background educational health related concepts. Doctor Simmons received
the undergraduate degree in psychology from Rutgers University. Yes, a
master's degree in education from we're doing Temple University. And

(13:40):
the reason I bring that up, when is your birthday?
Real quick? February twenty Pisces? Okayus got you got you
get along with them fire sign of.

Speaker 5 (13:51):
A rising of Capricorn and moon.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
Libra pantam okay. My mother was a Libra, the balancing
and learn as a Libra. And and so the reason
I brought up Temple University. So listen, uh the education
from Temple University and Doctorate of Education in Urban Education

(14:19):
my masters. I had a dual masters Temple University and
education concentration in urban ad. Wow, right there you go, right,
And so it started out as a they called a
certificate in Learning in Urban Education, urban education, and then
it turned into a degree. I went back got the

(14:41):
masters and and so in political science for the concentrations
and policy right, and so I thought that, uh, that
was interesting because and the expansive uh learning and as
Temple University is a research one based oranization or university,

(15:01):
I would like to know a little bit about you know,
your your studies as it relates to pushing you toward
possibly food, vegetarianism, nutrition. Did they have anything to do
with you in terms of the community Black folks anything
like that? Oh?

Speaker 5 (15:19):
Absolutely. When I my husband when we got married, he
was a vegetarian and he said to me, you know,
just fix my food, you know how, you know the
way he needed it. You Once you go plant based,

(15:41):
it's you see the bigger picture. You see people who
are not eating properly. You see the health issues within
the particularly the Black community, like diabetes, which I firmly
believe can be heard through through diet. Interesting, but it's

(16:04):
not just eating. Is you have to be spiritual the
lifestyle or their lifestyle and positive thinking thoughts all the time.
I always speak in the affirmative always, and we have
to understand the power of the spoken word. We because

(16:25):
what we speak, we manifest. So we have to speak
in a very positive way. But vegetarianism allow me. Now
veganism and now totally plant based has allowed it gives
you a discipline about life, not just about eating, but

(16:46):
about life. And people used to make fun of me back.
So I've been doing this fifty one years.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
You've been a vegetarian.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
I've been a plant based for years.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay, so let's let's let's let's jump on that real quick,
because I want to know because there's a lot of
different different conversation based around the terminology, right, and so
let's talk a little bit about and then we'll go
back fifty years. But I just want to stop there
and talk a little bit about plant based versus vegetarianism

(17:19):
and the lifetime.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
I can explain it real quick. I was originally a
lacto ovo vegetarian, which meant I ate eggs and cheese.
I graduated to being a strict vegetarian, and strict vegetarians
wonn't even need honey and from the bees. Bees, but

(17:43):
the bees don't die, so you know, so I did honey,
and then I moved toward veganism, which meant that I
didn't partake in any alcohol. I never smoked, you know,
I never did drugs. But it's it's a discipline that happens,

(18:06):
and as you go to each level, the highest level
you ready for this, yes, is being a breath atarian.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
There.

Speaker 5 (18:16):
They're not many on the planet.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
What a breath.

Speaker 5 (18:21):
They breathe nutrients right from the air they've breathing. But
you have to be in certain parts of the planet,
and you have to be in the mountains, and uh,
there are a few around. Dick Gregory was a fruitarian
and you know I you know I've read his books

(18:45):
and you know, read up about him. But for years,
greg Charles I did smoothies, you know. And what's happening
now as you mature, you need less food, So you
have to find that balance where you can eat just enough.

(19:10):
I had a young lady, the daughter of my executive,
my executive administrative daughter, Emani, just a week ago, and
she said to me, this is the first time I've
ever seen you eat. I eat very little because you

(19:31):
want your energy to do things, and when you eat,
that means your energy is going towards digesting your food.
So you have to find that balance. Everyone is different.
I know everyone can go as long as I go
without eating, or eat as little as I do. But

(19:52):
there's some days I need more than others. But I
will what I'd like to say to the audience, ask
you sure, you have to make that shift. You have
to tune in to your body and see what it needs,
not what what you want or what tastes good, but
what the body needs to do, what it has to do.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Interesting. Interesting? Uh so so because I heard I heard
conversations based around Dick Gregory and the conversation around fruit
and it's this, uh this gentleman by the name I
believe his name is Jacquie Awakening, where he talks a
lot about us are people being fruvivores, right, and and

(20:38):
how important it is for us to consume fruits and
the different colors of fruits and the variations of fruits
because we are not supposed to eat certain things, especially
seeds and things of that nature. Right. And so just
kind of like paraphrasing his position. I don't want to
speak for him, but I have been trying to follow

(20:59):
this whole kind of movement on what's the best way
to go through healthy life right, healthy eating, consuming the
right nutrition, nutritional value of the things that we consume. However,

(21:19):
I heard a huge conversation based around you need to
go to not necessarily nutritionis but you need to understand
your blood type first, because your blood type will tell
you what you can actually eat or what you're able
to consume. Have you heard anything like that?

Speaker 5 (21:36):
Absolutely? I didn't follow through on it, but many years
ago I heard about that. But personally I go by
how I feel.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Your body will tell you yeady, if.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
You listen attention, it will tell you.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Per and a lot of us kind of ignore the signs.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Right.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
We start, we start to like we'll eat something, and
then we start pelching a lot and think that's what's
supposed to happen after you eat. No, your body's talking
to you, yeah, right, or your stomach get upset, or
you get a lot of phlim you know, it's your
body's talking to you. It's not just because you just
happen to get that right, And so I think we
think of we think a literal kind of ideas on

(22:20):
what your body is saying, like something is hurting, as
opposed to different you know, I guess different changes within
a body that's actually talking to you to say, hey,
this isn't something that's wrong here.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
It's not working. It's not working, and people, particularly our
people are ignoring that and eating the things they like
rather than paying attention, But it boils down to being aware, awareness,
and being disciplined and wanting to make that shift. So

(22:56):
it's not easy, but I've been doing it so many years.
It's just it's I'm okay with it.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
Okay, so let's let's go. Let's go back there because
that's where we kind of like jump forward fifty one years.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Right, you've been of a plant. I'll just say plant,
all right.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
So let's let's let's start there, right, So what does
that actually mean? Just plant beast kind of what what
what would a plant based diet or mill look like
for you.

Speaker 5 (23:26):
Within the world of veganism, It means that you don't
eat anything that has a face or mother. Think about that, okay,
face or mother, That's what it really means. It means
that you're only eating things grown in the in the soil,

(23:48):
and and and as fresh as as possible.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (23:53):
Yeah, and and then and fruits are really included in that, right,
And I suggest to people.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
That you eat.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
Melons like watermelon. We're gonna have watermelon tomorrow at our.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Need to be where is it? Where is it? Real quick?
From the Black Black Farmers Cooperative.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
Farmers market. We're in partnership. We give fresh daily. It's
at fifty second in Pine from ten to two. And
we're going to have corn from Maryland, corn so sweet
that you just pull the hust down and you can
eat it braw.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
We have squash. We have airloom tomatoes grown grown by
farmer John, and we have u oh from Cheney University.
We have butterleaf, lettuce and fresh basil.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Do you have well, you have seeds? Do you have seeds?

Speaker 5 (25:02):
Seedings?

Speaker 1 (25:03):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (25:04):
If we're going to Amanda, No, we're not gonna have
seedlings there, but we do have them.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Okay, so let's let's talk. So all right, so fifty
one years what was the impetus to start you on
this life style?

Speaker 5 (25:19):
When I met him, he was a vegetarian and he said,
just prepare my food this way. And on a Saturday night,
I was getting ready to prepare some food and I said,
this is it. I'm becoming a vegetarian. And that's when,
in nineteen eighty I wrote my first book, Vegetables Don't

(25:42):
Don't Become one. So what's that school? Yeah, that's cool? Cool, Yeah,
And from that point on, it's been uphill.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Yes, Lauren I have a question. I'm sorry, and you
just made me remember that. I was just having this
conference station with my mom and we were talking about
how some kind of way we were talking about news,
we were talking about food deserts, and we were talking
about how now people have all of these high blood pressure,

(26:17):
they have diabetes, they have have either had a stroke
or a heart attack or something like that. And we
were talking about how we just weren't raised to eat properly,
and how eating healthy is so expensive. How do we

(26:38):
because that's not something that we learned when when were
you were poor? So how do we teach our children now?
Or you know how we teach I guess how do
we teach our children now?

Speaker 5 (26:51):
How to? That's a great question, Lauren, great question. I've
been through the years people said have said to me,
it's so expensive because I shop at places where the
food is organic and it's a little bit more expensive.
I said, there is no price on health. You have

(27:15):
to do what is necessary to maintain your your health's
that's your greatest thing. To be able to wake up.
I wake up feeling great, no aches of pains, and
I'll I'll say I'm seventy eight, I'm pushing eighty. So

(27:38):
Charles looking at me real quick, look amazing, thank you.
So I feel great.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
I do a lot.

Speaker 5 (27:47):
I'm very extremely active. But throughout my life I've exercised.
I did yoga for years, I walked a job, I
do a host of things. And right now walking, I think,
at the age that I am is the best exercise
I can have. But with our youth, we are bringing

(28:11):
them to a farm. We have three farms, farm one, two,
and three, and we bring the youth to volunteer and
we show them how to plant. We prepare meals for
them to.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Taste.

Speaker 5 (28:29):
We're having a tea party next Sunday, and all the
food is vegan except for one item someone requested tuna fish.
But everything else I'm making the vegan chicken salad, vegan
tofu egg salad, guacamole. We have vegan cakes, we have

(28:54):
vegan tea. I can actually say that many What makes
it vegan is sweetened with a govey.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Gotcha, I got you, got you my mouth ordering as
you as you're talking about that, Lauren, you froze for
a second. There you go, uh and so wow, amazing,
amazing if okay, So moving forward, I want to get
into the Black Farmers. Yes, right, please, let's talk a

(29:25):
little bit about the history, how it was, I guess
organizer created from then and where you guys are today
are today?

Speaker 5 (29:37):
It was two years in May that we have been
in existence and it came through Pastor Darien Thomas and
Elder Harville Brown. Elder Brown is from North Carolina and
he was a farmer. He grew up on a farm

(29:57):
and they got together along with Shirlene Moore and Nelville
Moore and Clinton Tapper, and they got together and say
let's do a farmer's market. And they asked me to
be a part of it, and we got together and

(30:19):
here we are. We brought Amanda our executive administrator, Amanda Ayawa,
our Master Farmer Levi joins and we have a host
of members that support the Black Farmers and we have

(30:39):
numerous partners. For example, we have partner with Shop Right,
with the Food Trusts and phs and I could go
on and on.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
And the goal is.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
To be able to teach, not just to teach, but
to educate our youth and our adults through various forms
of how they can grow their own food. We do hydroponics,

(31:16):
which is something you can do right in your home.
It's done by water and the product is outstanding. We
do operaponics at Chaining University and we also do pots

(31:36):
planting and pots planting and raised beds. You can if
you have a yard or if you have a patio,
a front yard, backyard, sideyard, you can grow food. So
there was a quote today I got on Facebook that

(31:58):
Amantha sent me. When you grow your food, you're you're
creating your own paycheck. So we have to think about
it as a real commodity that it will enhance our economics,
it will improve our health and our spiritual being being

(32:24):
because touching the soil grounds you. It brings energy into
your body. And I'm telling you, at the end of
the day after we've been at the farm, you sleep
so much better. So it is it's holistic and getting

(32:46):
our people to a better place emotionally, spiritually, economically.

Speaker 1 (32:53):
Fantastic, fantastic. I'm just excited that you're here today because
you know, I want to think the CDC in Southwest
because you know, we're doing a special where we amplify
those who are doing fantastic things like yourself coming out
the community. And so do you see in those areas

(33:17):
a need for you know, as they call it, the
local farms. Do you see you know that making change
in the community people are doing. I'm seeing like their
backyards now, I'm seeing things like you know, as they
call it, the little land plots. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that
they did. So, So what have you knowed since you know,

(33:42):
you guys have been kind of in the community. What
have you noticed around because of the work that you
guys are.

Speaker 5 (33:49):
Doing here, I can say this is growing the gardening,
the home gardening, the lot gardening. People come to us
and said, I don't know anything how to plan, and
we teach them.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I was about to say that you guys give classes.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
I was going to tell you we do educational forums
as schools, so we are not just doing adults. We're
doing the youth and families. We try to get the
families to do it. So, yes, we have educational forums.
We just had a business summit where we talked about

(34:30):
starting a nonprofit and maintaining it. Financial literacy and insurance,
so we have our own insurance person as Smalls. We
have our own bank WSFS, one of our partners. We
have two of their vice presidents there and we had
doctor Wesley Proctor, a nonprofit expert. I like to say

(34:55):
to our folks, we have to do our homework and
we have to do the business side. But I want
people to know, if you got any type of land
or just a front porch, you can grow your own food. Tomatoes, zucchini,
egg plants, all of it, peppers and it's nothing better,

(35:22):
Charles then going out into your yard. And I used
to go pick my string beans and run back into
the house, runs and throw them into the pan and
steam them. Nothing beats that, all organically grown. I want
to say one thing. When you go to the supermarket,

(35:43):
if you look at.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
The numbers, yeah, that's a good thing.

Speaker 5 (35:48):
Number nine means if it starts with a nine, it
was organically grown.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Number eight real quick, real quick, So people understand. So
when you see apple or or any fruit of vegetable,
it is a little sticker on there, right, and it
has a group of numbers on there. That's what the
doctors is about to explain, right now, go ahead, thank you, Charles.

Speaker 5 (36:10):
I appreciate.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (36:12):
So when you see the number nine is organically grown,
eight is genetically modified, and four pesticides. Yeah, most of
the stuff.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Is forced lead for alone.

Speaker 5 (36:29):
Number right, And you know people, I see people in
the super market buying the seedless watermelon. Yeah, you know
the Carters at eighty fourth and Limberg. They've been there
for over thirty years. Their father there. Uh, it's a
whole family. Yes, yeah, they will be there tomorrow. So

(36:54):
you'll be able to get a watermelon with seeds. And
they can there watermelon experts and they can knock on
that watermelon tell you if it's ready or not. And
they have been there and they are trying their best

(37:15):
to keep the watermelons with the seeds. I remember as
a child we would sit on the steps and eat
watermelon and then see who could fit the watermelon seeds.
But you know, I ate plenty of fruit when I
was a child, constantly grapes, Everything has seeds, you know.

(37:37):
So I'm telling people avoid the seedless fruit because it's
been genetically modified, you know.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
And I want to I do want to say something
about that, because unfortunately, I want to say about a
few months, I'm starting to see more seeds now. I
think that's because there's a push to half season in watermelons, right,
But for a while, you couldn't locate a watermelon in
a supermarket with seeds. Correct, you couldn't locate it, So

(38:06):
I mean literally, that's all we were eating. But now
I'm seeing a lot of season. Shout out to them
up there. We'll have them on the show. I'm definitely
gonna pop up. But I want to shout out. I
believe it's like sixty first in market. They have watermelons
right there. He was on the show before. Then it's
sixty third, and I want to say, have it for

(38:27):
sixty four while losing, or have it for you? Remember
Lauren the vegetable truck right there? I can't remember, but
they have watermelons there, and I love to see because
it looks like they're all looking like us. Yes, so
I like that. I like that, right and so? But

(38:48):
but is there because because I usually like I eat
the watermelon, I swallow the seas pauls right, I swallow
the seas, right, yeah, because I'm like, I don't had
no time to be spitting out the season no giddy right.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
I take a dry seeds, yeah, but no Charles taking
seeds and dry them out.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Then you can really see. And listening to some people
on the internet, they say, oh it's you have you
can't grow watermelons because our environment isn't conducive of you know,
supporting watermelons. It has to be. So you're saying that
I can truly?

Speaker 5 (39:23):
Am I right? Farmer Amanda?

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Absolutely, she's a fantastic yeah.

Speaker 5 (39:29):
Yeah. And we have watermelons at Farm one, and Amanda
came up with wrapping them in the liner that we used,
the line the raised beds and.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Can you turn that mic to you? Yep? Can you
explain it, Amna? Let me see if I can get
this mic up for you. Go ahead, let me see,
let me see, let me see if I get you up.
Try again. Hello, there you go? There you go? Perfect? So, yeah,

(40:06):
explain it? Yeah, how do we do it?

Speaker 3 (40:08):
You know?

Speaker 4 (40:09):
So, so with our watermelons that we have at Farm one,
we've used tomato cages okay, and I made I would
say cradles, okay, small cradles made out of the landscaping
fabric that we had and that was just to hold
up the weight of the watermelon so that the vines

(40:29):
wouldn't snap or become become damaged at all.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Okay, Okay, So so why don't you like walk us
through it? If someone would like to know, like how
can they start from a seedling? Or a seedling is
when it sprouts a little bit, right, yeah, okay, so
how can they start from a seed to a seedling
all the way up to a nice plump watermelon?

Speaker 4 (40:50):
Okay, okay, Well, there's there's many different ways. One of
the ways that I would suggest doing that is, of course,
you want to make sure that you're getting you're buying
organic airloom preferred seeds and you can grow them in
a few different types of medium. Something that someone would
be able to get a hold of pretty quickly is

(41:11):
just some potting soil, which is which is fine, and
I mean you can actually, you know, you don't really
need much. You can you can get a plastic cup,
styrofoam cup. You can poke some holes on the bottom,
and that's just to help with water drainage. You want
to fill it up with soil and put your seed
in there, make sure you water it heavily. And then

(41:33):
if you've got a window sill, or you've got you know,
like a lamp or a light that you can put
over top of it. Because seeds so it's they definitely
want to make sure you keep them watered and that
they have a lot of sunlight or just just light
in general. So you can start seeds indoors or outdoors
whatever you have the space for it.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
So what so, you know, Philadelphia tends to get really cold,
right and snowy, right, So what will someone in Philly
if you do to kind of maintain you know, the
process of planting watermelons and taking care of it through
the winter. Sure.

Speaker 4 (42:08):
Absolutely, So it really depends on what stage you're you're
asking about. But in terms of doing seedlings, so you
can you can grow your seeds indoors from from just
a seed all the way up to like a seedling,
which would be kind of like a teenager plant if
you will, and then transplant that outside.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
And so.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
Things like watermelon don't do too well in cold weather,
so that's not something that I would want to suggest
that someone plant during the winter. But we also using hydroponics,
so that's a way to be able to grow all
year round.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
So what's a hydrophonic for those who don't know?

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Okay, so for those who don't know, so hydroponic is
being able to grow your own food through water, so
not really using any type of soil or anything like that.
You would simply you'd start, you'd start, your start your
seeds and then and then they would then continue to

(43:04):
grow in a hydroponic tank. And that's something that we
show people how to be able to make. We have
whole workshops around that. So we'd love to be able
if anyone is interested in that, we'd love to be
able to show them how to do that.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
I love that because that's an excellent creans. I mean,
I can't even believe it's already nine o'clock. I had
y'all I could talk to y'all. Let me tell you something.
I can talk to y'all until the show was over.
Because I'm learning a lot here and I appreciate you
guys for coming, and so because of that, how can
they get in contact with you guys learn more of
that information and all that good old stuff.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely so. If you're interested in learning more
information about the Black Farmers co Op, please feel free
to give us an email, and our email address is
Blackfarmers Outreach at gmail dot com. And again that's Blackfarmers

(43:56):
Outreach at gmail dot com.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Black Farmers Outreach at gmails dot com. I love it
real quick. Uh, you know, when when we talk about
you know the idea of or kind of like the
history of farmers, right, A lot of that kind of
you know predates me and you know we goes to

(44:19):
like our ancestors and you know the idea of like
you know us in you know, slavery and our four
acres and a mule. Do you have any thought on
kind of like the idea of like you know, getting
our four acres, you know, and having our own land
and stuff like that. What's your thoughts on that?

Speaker 5 (44:36):
We're in the midst of that now? Really there is
a revolution going on? What wow?

Speaker 2 (44:45):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (44:46):
We are that awareness and mindfulness for for for the land,
right is there's a certain awareness you see you look
throughout Philadelphia. There's lots of gardens, little men, many farms,
but more and more people. We are constantly you know,
people are calling us and asking us about certain things,

(45:10):
how to grow this and can can we do that?
There is a movement?

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Wow wow, So be encouraged. Fantastic, fantastic. I want to
leave you with the last word to the community's what's
something that you would like to leave them with? You know,
people that are watching and becoming inspired because you know
they can now plant their own food and I'm gonna
try to plan the watermelon. I'm telling you, let me

(45:38):
get some seeds. I'm getting move watermelon and I'm gonna
start from then, drattle seeds out right, start planting. So
what what would you like to leave those who will
watch this? Shout out to Southwest CDC, shout out to
all those who are watching. But what would you like
to say to those who will be watching this, you know,
rewinding this because this is gonna live forever. What would
you tell them?

Speaker 5 (45:58):
You know, I would tell them to look around at
their community. We all can do something, you know, if
just do a little bit, and if everyone did something,
it will make for a major movement. We have to
believe that we can make a difference. But it doesn't

(46:22):
have to take a lot of money, doesn't have to
take a lot of time. Just pay attention to what
your community needs and do something about it. Do something,
Get the work done.

Speaker 4 (46:35):
Do the work.

Speaker 5 (46:37):
You know, I say that all the time. Do the work,
and when a project comes to us, we get it done.
You find a way to get it done. But you
have to care. Is to caring about what's going on
around you and see what needs your assistance. Everyone can

(46:58):
can do.

Speaker 1 (46:59):
Something amazing, amazing, amazing. Well, there you have it, ladies
and gentlemen. I'm sitting here stunned, like, Wow, this is great,
this is fantastic. I learned a lot today. I like
to thank you for coming to the show. You know,
I think this was something that the people needed to hear.
And you know, one thing I say is, once you

(47:20):
come to the show, your friend to the show, so
you're always welcome to come back.

Speaker 5 (47:25):
Right, Thank you, Charles. It's been a wonderful and amazing experience.
Ye're a great interview, and thank you.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
No, thank you, thank you as an absolute pleasure. And
when I'm gonna do right, we're gonna cut to a
quick commercial break, and I guess I shouldn't say commercial break, right,
but we're gonna cut to a little break real quick,
and then we're gonna have someone with whom I have
a tremendous mout of respect for been hearing about this
person and all of the work that they have been doing.

(47:53):
And Lauren, I'm gonna let you kind of take the
lead with that as I walk the doctor downstairs, make
sure she is okay. But why don't you let us
know real quickly?

Speaker 5 (48:04):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (48:04):
You know what, I want you all to go anywhere
when we come back. We got Lauren sister wanna tell
us who our next interview is today, So don't go nowhere.
We'll be right back, y'all. Let me find a little
clip that we can here we go.

Speaker 3 (48:15):
What's going on you guys, This is Bridge Kelly and
you are locked into We talked.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Weekly talk weeklies after the talk with w p P

(48:56):
m l P Philadelphia one o six point five FM.
We talked weeklies after the talk with your boy Charles
Berg being a beautiful Laurence Sizzle and we are here
and we talk weekly and next we have someone with
my tremendous amount of respect for Sisil. Who do we
have today? Who do we have to day?

Speaker 3 (49:13):
So we have the amazing branding the Coal and Atlanta
based musician and multi instrumentalists. She is gearing up to
release her highly anticipated single Smoking on June eleventh. Known
for her innovative fusion of jazz and contemporary styles, Brandon

(49:34):
Nicole has already made waves in the music scene with
previous hits like Beachside, which showcase her unique blend of
trap and jazz influences. Raised in a military family branding
the Coal Uh. Brandon Nicole's diverse musical palette draws inspiration
from a wide range of artists, including Cypress Hill, The Veronicas,

(49:59):
Bob Marley Prince, and John Coltrane. A true musical prodigy,
she began playing piano at the age of fourteen. At
the age of four and by fourteen, excuse me was
already teaching music. Her talent span across multiple instrument instruments,
including drums, bass, guitar, and saxophone. Beyond her musical pursuits,

(50:23):
Brandon the Cole is deeply committed to humanitarian efforts and
is currently pursuing a PhD in educational leadership. Her upcoming single,
Smoking promises to deliver a soulful yet contemporary sound that
reflects her rich musical journey and influences. Reflecting on her

(50:44):
latest work, Brandon Nicoles, Brandon Nicole shares creating Smoking was
an incredible journey. She says, I wanted to blend the
soulful elements of my past influences with a contemporary vibe
that resonates today and she is excited for everyone to
hear it. So make sure you go and check out

(51:05):
the release of Smoking and I want everyone to get
a warm We talked weekly. Welcome you.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
There, you go. How are you? How are you? Let's
just dan, she go, how are you? How are you?

Speaker 2 (51:26):
I'm doing really good. How about yourself?

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Fantastic, fantastic. Thanks for coming to the show. Thanks for
coming to the show. Yeah, you're ready, You're ready for this.
You ready for this because we heard so much about you.
We heard so much about you. But real quick, I
got to handle some business real quick. So Lauren, why
don't you take it. I'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah. So, you know, we're so excited to have you
here with us this evening. And I'm just blown away
about you taking those lessons at fourteen, at four and
by the time you turn fourteen, you're teaching music lessons.
How did that happen?

Speaker 2 (52:08):
Well, I've always had this kind of natural gift for
Boston people around, so I just put into work, you know.
But no, I actually I knew I wanted to be
a band director when I grew up really young, probably
as young as kindergarten. That was my little speech on
the stage, you know. So I started teaching. I was

(52:30):
a minister of music at a church at Rose, Spain.
I was teaching sailors how to play guitar and piano
and some of my own classmates at the time. I'm
also a band director now I'm still just trying to
give back to the youth. So, yeah, Boston people around
twenty four to seven, you know.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Yeah, you were just a kid prodigy.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Everybody.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
But what were some of your influences, Like what made you,
I guess, get into music.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Well, music has always been big in my family. My
dad sings. My mom also sing in church choir. That's
really where I started. We were at Randolph Air Force
Base in San Antonio, Texas. I was always sitting under
the pews playing five and six years old, listening to
my mom singing the church choir. And my dad. He

(53:24):
thinks we don't listen to him, but he's always walking
around the house singing. He sings rather well. Wow, I
have my brother plays percussion. I have cousins that play
trumpet and all kinds of things. So we have music
in the family, and I just that's something that's always
been natural to me.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Yeah, that's what you know. You have a whole family
of musicians, so it's like, there's no way you're not
gonna get into music or at least be influenced by.
So that's that's awesome. That's awesome. So that you know
that the the range of artists, the Cypress Hill, the Veronica,

(54:05):
the Bob Marley, you know that, that is just amazing. Like,
tell me a little bit about that.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
Well, living overseas as a military brat, we didn't always
get the most current music. Sometimes it would be eighties
rock and that's all you could get in Japan. Or
when I came back to the States and came to
college and kind of started mingling with more civilians, I

(54:32):
would say I started listening to like Snoop Dogg and
Cypress Hill and at the time the Veronica's because I
played guitar, I didn't start learning how to read music
until I got to college. So one way I learned
how to play all of my instruments was to listen
to all of these different people. I couldn't learn how
to play electric guitar like Prince from listening to just

(54:54):
Snoop Dogg, so I had to listen to some other
things too.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
Yeah, that's what makes you a better, you know, well rounded,
well versed artist is when you you know, you listen
to and I love music. I listened to so many
different genres from like I like Mozart, I like yeah,
Like it just seems like it goes from one end
the spectrum to the other, and I feel like that

(55:20):
makes you a better artist exactly.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
The more perspective you have, the more genres you have,
the more influence you can bring to the table.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Absolutely. Absolutely, So let's talk a little bit about you know,
your your working in Smoking.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Well, since since I was working at Smoking, I wanted
to blend sort of like the new trap style that
we have going on from like Kendrick Lamar, even Drake J. Cole,
and also bring John Coltrane or Grover Washington to the
table and just mixing together and see how they sound.

(56:04):
I also, I like that you said Mozart because I
also I went to College Classic for classical music. I
wanted to incorporate some strings from that era as well,
So I just mixed it all together. One of the
things that I wanted to really highlight with this album
is that I was able to produce and record all

(56:27):
of the parts and perform them all myself. And then
I just I'm working in partnership with CSP Music Group
and Chris Starr and they were able to mix and master.
So this is kind of it's a project that pushed
me over my limits and it's still pushing my comfort
zones in a lot of different ways, and I'm really

(56:48):
proud of it. I'm so surprised everybody's loving that. I
didn't really expect everything that's happening to be happening. So
I'm really glad to see where this can take me,
especially put in some good work.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
Absolutely absolutely that you know, that's just it's it does
sound like it's a lot of work, and that's just amazing,
and and it just seems like it's going to touch
so many different Areas's that's going to be phenomenal. Tell
us a little bit about your humanitarian efforts when you

(57:24):
start to put your you know, your PhD and educational leadership.
I'm not even sure how you have time to do
all of it.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
It's all on a prayer, I'm telling you. But I
feel very strongly about education. Like I said, I came
up with music through school, even when I was at home.
That was something that I was able to challenge myself
and teach myself. And I felt I've always been told

(57:53):
that that's a God given gift. So a way to
give back is to teach. And I enjoy teaching kids.
This is my eighth year teaching and I'll be I've
taught JK through twelfth grade and I just want to
keep education running. Also that music is a way to

(58:15):
express yourself even when you don't have words. That's one
reason why I wanted to start with instrumentals, because you
don't always need words to express yourself. And that's just
another way that we can do that, and we should
be teaching children to do that so they're better adults.
Now I need. I'm hoping to get picked up by

(58:37):
a record label or somebody that can help me keep
up with some of these some of these big stars
on these charts I'm managing. But I need not only
for me myself, but I have the being the Cole
Education Foundation, And what I would like to do is
put schools across the nation they have what they call

(58:58):
corporate schools, and be able to educate children and mainly
at rik children, in whatever form that may be. So
if I really wanted to do that and was really
serious about that, I would need to learn how to
lead schools or even lead school districts, hence the PhD.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
Yes, Yes, And I'm just almost sure that that you
know what you're building, you know, and you have a
firm foundation in a higher power. So you know, I'm
just sure that you know, because of all of your

(59:36):
efforts and all that you're doing, and you have a
good heart, that that's going to come to fruition, that
that team that you're supposed to have is going to
come right to you.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
I just got to keep going right, absolutely, absolutely right now,
that's just so important because there's so many kids out
here now that are getting into the wrong things because
they don't have they don't have leadership, they don't have
the right mentors and things like that in their lives.
So that's something that's definitely needed. Yes, absolutely absolutely. So

(01:00:11):
where do you see yourself? I guess in the next
what's your plan for the next two years?

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
My plan for the next two years is to continue
producing albums and continuing to try and get recognized and
picked up by a label. And I will also be
finished with my PhD next year. I'm working on a
principal certification. Yes, I'm sure, like keep it going, keep

(01:00:39):
it going, But I'm also working on my principal certifications
so I can start working on my superintendent certifications. And
I don't know how much support it would take or
how much funds it would take, but if I could
get Thompson Unified School District for the performing outs or
the performing arts out there, I'm ready. I'm ready to

(01:01:01):
start getting these kids, some of them going. I'm also
wanting to start getting some community service initiatives going. I'm
I'm kind of in Phoenix right now. I just wanted
to move out west a little bit to see what
that's like. But one thing that I just wanted to do,
I was like, what can I do to just help anybody.

(01:01:21):
I didn't want to just go to Goodwill or the
Salvation Army and take them my old raggedy clothes, you know.
But so I was like, Brandon, you should go buy
like ten cases of water, put them in some coolers,
and just walk them around out There are so many
homeless people everywhere, and it's so hot in Phoenix. So
the best thing I think I could do for anybody

(01:01:43):
and that he take them a bottle of water and
you're really just try and get out there and maybe
even like slap my name on the water bottle with
a sticker or something. So when they think back to it, Oh,
I don't know where they came from, but the Brandon
Nicole Education Foundation was out here helping me.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
I have a box, yes, yes, and it is is
so hot. I mean I can't imagine because I know
it's more hot in Phoenix than it is in Philadelphia.
But this heat is like the eat top of the
humidity has just been horrible. But what's the legacy that

(01:02:20):
you want to leave behind?

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
My legacy? My legacy is still forming. But as of
right now, I would like to say that Brandon tried.
Brandon messed up plenty of times. Boy, that girl was funny,
but she made it and she didn't stop until she did.

(01:02:46):
So I want to be able to leave behind schools.
I want to be able to leave behind well educated youth,
well trained artists, musicians. I want to be able to
leave behind housing, healthcare, and maybe those things can shape
like change and shape our nation in the future.

Speaker 3 (01:03:09):
Oh, it definitely will. It definitely will. So if you
could work with any artists like who who were? I
guess who's your top five artists that you will want
to work with?

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
All right, well, it's a mixed bag. I'm not gonna lie.
I would love to obviously, I would love to work
with straight up it's got to be Beyonce. I am
at creative teams. I couldn't imagine everything that I could learn.
Oh man, my head would be so swollen by the
time I came up their studios. So I would love her.

(01:03:49):
I would also like Kendrick Lamar to uh maybet on
one of my songs. I would love to hear maybe
even like offset any of these, anyone that brings any
thing different to the table. I would also like to
work with Sheila I liked. I really love her percussion
back you know, it was killing. She had cushion, I

(01:04:10):
have keyboards and wins. We could we could really put
together something amazing. And I would say my fifth artist
gotta be gotta be Taylor Swift. You know, I've been
a Tailor Swift fan since the beginning US, since she
was in Nashville singing about the tear drops on her
guitar and all of that. It's good to see the

(01:04:33):
come up.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Yeah yeah, I like that. Top five Actually like that
you're talking about some of the great as some like
some great artists right there, their their their body of
work individually is just incomparable, incomparable. So I mean, I
definitely could see you with any of those people, if

(01:04:56):
not hopefully all you know, yes, and.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Hopefully some more, like I could name them all day,
as they said, a high.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Standard exactly exactly. Now, I know you you mentioned Kendrick
Lamar and and everything that's going on. What's your thoughts
about you know, the the rat thief and everything that's
that's unfolding from that is I mean, you got the good,
the bad, and the ugly.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
The day, I'm like on the internet and on social media,
I'm like, hey, guys, can we all just get along? Like,
even though Drake's stats have been better personally and I
hope I don't get canceled too early for this, I
vibe with Kendrick. I'm all day like, I cannot gentify

(01:05:46):
with that. Even walking around just being around other musicians
and just seeing how they may not be like their
work ethic may not be there, or they say they
want to make it and they're not trying to do
all of the work that it takes. They're not like us.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
Yeah, exactly example.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
I love that, But I also think that a lot
more people can vibe with Kendrick too. I don't think
that is just. It could also be the times because
Drake has been out since at least like two thousand
and eight, and he was even known before that. But
Kendrick has really been coming up and in these hits
and being on these churance here the last few years.

(01:06:24):
So I don't think it's finished yet.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
No, no, absolutely not. And I agree with you. I
think when you say can't we all just get along?
I feel like a lot of people are. They're in
that middle space where they're like I like Kendrick and
I like Drake, and like, why can't we just all
get a Yeah, that's why try to be neutral. You
don't want to lean to you know, too far to

(01:06:49):
either side. But they're like they're great artists, like their
their work, their body of work is just it's phenomenal.
It's phenomenal. And they both then making some numbers that
is just it's as crazy. But what's your thoughts on
like the female lyricists that have been kind of blowing up.

(01:07:12):
Now you got the sexy red, you got the glow rillas,
and you've got I was just thinking to day it
just seems like female artists are just taking over.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Well, I'm glad that I'm on I'm glad that I'm
kind of on the train myself. I'm trying to get
further further in the stage coach, if you know what
I mean. I'm trying to get the first class myself.
But I was I wanted to say that there is
a lot of good stuff coming out here. I don't
really like these rivalries, like the I love Nicki Minaj

(01:07:44):
and I've liked Nicki Minaj almost as long as i've
liked Drake. It's been like over a decade, so. But
I also like Cardi B too, and it's been tough
trying to navigate the waters about that. But I think
that there's plenty of room at the top for US
females and they really showing it, like these shows have

(01:08:04):
been phenomenal, the Beet Awards and all of that, and
I'm just trying. I'm just praying that I can get
some stuff together and I can keep up because I'm ready.

Speaker 3 (01:08:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can. I know that you
you know you're going to be right up there with them,
because you know, when I was looking at your website,
I was just like, man, this is awesome. I said,
she's really like a one woman band like you. You know,
you're you really are a one woman band, and you

(01:08:37):
work hard, so I know that you're just gonna be
catapulted into your own genre. And I could see you,
as you know, the getting inducted into the Hall of Fame,
you know, and all that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
So and that's a part of the goal too, Yes, generally,
not just to set standards and then education, but set
standards with the Recording Academy and all listeners and everything.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
Absolutely, So tell us everybody again about your you know,
your latest projects that you were just working on. For
those who are just tuning in, now tell them again.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
Well, my latest single smoking just tune eleventh and it's
a mix of trap from beats and percussion to jazz
with featuring instruments like saxophone and a little orchestral music
as well, with strings like violins and cellos. And I
just wanted to be able to bring it all together

(01:09:41):
and bring the influences of the past and the present,
and I even added a little synth in there for
the future, just to keep it all together and really
put together something special. It can be found on Apple Music, Spotify,
I can be found on Facebook and Instagram is out there.
So I would really love it if all of if

(01:10:03):
the whole audience would just go listen to it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
Absolutely, And I have one more question. Do you have
any instruments with you right now?

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
You can play?

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
That's right, good question, good question.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
I did not, but I have I do have one
if I could go.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Get it, there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:10:27):
Yes, So that's awesome. We have the amazing brand in
the Coole. She's going to give our audience a little
treat and and I just love what she is doing.
It's just phenomenal and and just to see I just
know amazing things are going to come out of everything
she's doing. She has a good heart, and she is

(01:10:48):
trying to getting her PhD so she can start these
schools and give some much needed performing arts education to kids.
That's I'm looking for ward to that for her.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. I've been listening to the interview.
I was like, oh, this is a great interview. You
go in and take it with you. That was great.
That was great, good stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:11:11):
I love the saxophone.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
Oh my gosh, there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (01:11:15):
Inclusively a Hamner music. It's a stated to your sex.
Oh yeah, coming from the eye. That is so beautiful.

Speaker 3 (01:12:05):
I could have I really could listen to that all day,
but I'm going to listen.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
To the music. That's right. That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
Yeah, that was just so beautiful. It made you made
me make me think of when I was kind of
growing up in church and I love music. But now
that I'm older, I want to learn how to play instruments.
I'm like, is it harder to learn as an adult
than it is as a child.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
Like, no, no, it's not. No. Well I've taught some adults.
I think the oldest student I've had he was like
sixty seven, and we did have to have this talk.
I was like, look, if you struggle to listen, you're
gonna struggle to learn. Wow, So you don't know everything.
I mean, I'm not trying to I'm only like thirty two.

(01:12:54):
That was a really hard conversation to happen with me.
O person, right, what I was like, look, you have help, Yes,
I'm certified. Come on the state. If someone's trying to
help you, you need to listen. If you want to learn,
you need to listen. And that's it. So I don't
think anyone should ever struggle to learn. That's really what

(01:13:17):
it is. If you wanted to learn how to ride
a bike, you could. If you wanted to learn how
to do your own taxes you could. If you wanted
to learn to play piano, you could. Yeah, help, I
got you.

Speaker 1 (01:13:31):
I know that's right. Do you have it? Ladies and gentlemen,
then listen. This is an amazing interview, very much a
dynamic talent, and I appreciate you for coming to the show.
Is it anything you want to leave someone with? Like
all the people who are watching, maybe new fans, people
who would look up to you, look up to you

(01:13:52):
and want to do some of the things you do.
Is it anything that you want to tell the masters
who are watching today.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
If you if you want to try, try and you
can do. I come from very humble lineage. I didn't
have much and I'm out here doing interviews talking to
Chris Starr some like the industry legend from like boys
to men. I think he represented Ariana Grande and I'm

(01:14:24):
I'm My parents are from Kingsland, Georgia. That's nowhere. If
you blink, you'll if you're driving down the highway and
you blink, you'll miss it. So just believe, believe in something,
pray and like I like to say, you got to
show up in order to blow up. So if you

(01:14:44):
ever get these opportunities, bring everything you got because they
may or may not ever come around again.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
I know that's right. Let me get you a rounded
for close for that so real quick before we let
you go. U how can they one more time? How
can they get in contact with you? How can they
find all your music? All that good old stuff?

Speaker 2 (01:15:05):
All right? I'm on Instagram at cloud beating Nicole. I
can be found on Facebook. It's Brandon Nicole. My music
is streaming on Pandora. It's available for purchase on the
Apple Music. It's also on Spotify. If you go look
for a Brandon Dash and the Coal and type in

(01:15:26):
smoking or my debuting album, which is Beachside, and google,
everything will come up everything you need to know.

Speaker 1 (01:15:34):
Fantastic. Where there you have, ladies and gentlemen. I don't
want you to go anywhere because when we come back,
we got the sizzle. But before we let you leave,
I just want to thank you for coming to the show.
One thing that we say on the show was once
you come to the show. You're a friend to the show,
so you're always welcome to come back. Really appreciate you,
and I want you and I want to continue to

(01:15:55):
support and continue to wish you much success because that's
one of those talents that we don't see every day.
So I appreciate you coming till we talk weekly.

Speaker 2 (01:16:04):
Thank you, Thanks for having me. I got a lot
of family in Philly too, so if I'm ever in town,
I'll come check you guys out.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Pull up, pull up, hold up, So there you have it.
Don't go on the whin when we come back. We
got the sizzle, y'all will be right back after this,

(01:16:56):
and we're back. We talked weeklies after the Talk on
w p p P Philadelphia one o six point five FM.
We talked week least after the Talk with your boy
Charles Gregory and.

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
Beautiful Lauren Sizzle.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
And you already know what we got coming up next, right,
what we got.

Speaker 3 (01:17:12):
We got the sizzle, no doubt. Give it to me,
all right, So before we jump right into this sizzle,
make sure you guys, you already know what time it
is and you already know what to do. Make sure
you guys subscribe to We Talk. We can want all
social social media platforms and major platforms support us by

(01:17:36):
making dollar Salar time. We talk weekly, all right, So
we've been going four a minute, so we're back with
the jump off. Got a little little news this going
back a little bit, but just want to highlight some things.

(01:17:56):
So Kendrick Lamar to pop out Pen and France concerts
and this was on June nineteen. Thousands of fans showed
up in Englewood to see the performance. The concert mark
nd Lamar's live performance debut of his miss track Drake

(01:18:17):
Drake this track, So Kendrick started to show is this
track Victoria, but then he changed the lyrics stuff to
include this new line talking about give me, give me
Tupac's ring back, and I might give you a little respect.
So you know, back in twenty twenty three, Drake purchased
Tupac's self design custom gold movie and Diamond Crown ring

(01:18:42):
for over one million at the Subby's auction. So this
may this purpose made pos ring the most valuable hip
hop momentum eversode that auction. So y'all don't know how
big this is for Drake to own this piece. So
the fact that Kendrick Lamar threw that end and he

(01:19:04):
was just like, you know, just give me back Toupo's
ring and I might give you a little respect now,
you see. It was talking about So Kendrick performed his
other Drake this this song sixty sixteen in La and
Not and liked that. But when it came time for

(01:19:24):
Drake to perform this track not like Us, which was
like going crazy. This song is just you can't go
anywhere and now I hear the song. He performed the
song five times back to back. So Kendrick had also
thirty celebrities on the stage. It was like he performed
it and then when it went off, he performed it again.
He performed it again five times back to back. So

(01:19:47):
Kendrick had almost thirty celebrities on the stage during this performance.
He had yg Ty Dollassan, Roddy rich Tyler, the Creator,
He had DJ Mustard, Russell Westbrooks was on on the
stage and Doctor Dre And at the end of the show,
all the celebrit came back to the stage and they
took a goop picture, which I thought was really dope,

(01:20:08):
and Kendrick said, we done lost a lot of homies
to this music. Stuff, a lot of homies to some
street stuff, for all of us to be on the
stage together, unity from each side of the mother freaking la.
He said, this is so shout out to Kendrick Lamar

(01:20:29):
because he in the midst of him, you know, still
doing this thing, still on that, you know, on a
tight time, this indric and celebrating who track and has
come up. He's still bringing those communities together. So yeah, kudos,
all right. Eminem dropped his FLK album Death of Slim

(01:20:51):
Shading and who the gard I was even practicing in.
I had a hard time with that. So on the
track Lucifer, he took shot at Candace Owen, so he said,
a Candice, Oh, I ain't mad at her. I ain't
gonna throw the fact he forgot she was black, back

(01:21:12):
at her, laugh at her like the crackers. She's backing
after her back is turned. And a cute maga had
with her brand new white Lives Matter shirt or say
this mega dirt bag and the skirt just opened the
biggest can of worms on the whole planet Earth. Called
her Grand Wizard Clan this or Grand Dragon or like

(01:21:37):
the national anthem. I won't stand for the tramp clan,
this plan, this.

Speaker 2 (01:21:47):
Planing.

Speaker 1 (01:21:53):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:21:54):
Well, she appeared on the episode of the TMG podcast
and she was asked about her thoughts on the lyrics.
She said, I could not have laughed harder when somebody
sent this to me. I just think it was so lame.
He has now cemented himself as a lame person. I'm
calling this now his she can't compare it. I'm calling

(01:22:17):
this now his Hillary Clinton hot sauce moment. He's just
so desperate to show black people that he's real. He's
just aged out. It's time for Eminem to hang it up.
So what's your thoughts on that. You think he You
think he's using this as just like stay relevant or.

Speaker 1 (01:22:36):
No if you if you can remember he did a
I believe it was on to be t cipher that
he did something against Trump. But he's always been speaking
against uh like he's been supporting, you know, like he's
been he's in, he's dug in the community. After a while, Like,
how much do you have to prove that you support
the community, Like I think. I think Eminem get a

(01:23:00):
bad rap from those who those who want to keep
hip hop black, And I get that, right, I get
that because I don't think you should let anyone colonize
which you have created and invented. Right. That said, even

(01:23:25):
in slavery, we had some white friends that got us
out that hit us, right. I mean, it is what
it is, right, and so I don't want to compare
it to slavery. I'm just this kind of tongue in cheek, right,
But I think there's merit to how a good Eminem
is and how much he did for the culture, and

(01:23:46):
I respect him for that, Yeah for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
Yeah, so are you kind of you know, I don't
want to say. I don't want to say kind of
along the lines of what doctor Lumar said about Eminem.
He can't be the goat I do.

Speaker 1 (01:24:04):
I'll say if there was another title aside from goat
of hip hop, because I don't think. I don't think
anyone that's not of the of the of that's not
of descent black descent, can be the goat of someone's
actual creator creation that was of black descent. I don't
think anyone can do that. That said, I will say

(01:24:26):
if there was something next to that Eminem with that
I like him and I think he definitely would be
He gave, he gave many people who look like us jobs.
He Hey, you gotta give Eminem some love. Man, It's
no way you can take it from him. But no,
But I do agree with doctor Umar. And if I
think some people overstand, you know, I think some people are, uh,

(01:24:52):
there's I don't think there's ever a time where you
can be too ook, so to speak. But I do
think that, uh, you do have to be fair in
your in your assessment of whatever the situation is. And
that situation being Eminem. I think he needs some grease,
and he needs some grease, Yeah for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:25:15):
All right. So during the pandemic, the Versus series, created
by producers Swiss Beats and Timberland, took the country by
storm with some of the most iconic versus battles including
Brandy versus Monica, Snoop Dogg versus DMX, Fabulous versus Jadakids,
Redman versus methad Man, and on and on and on

(01:25:38):
and on. Well, after a two year hiatus, Swiss Beats
and Timberlin are facing major backlash for their juneteenth announcement
on their new Verses deal with Elon musk So. The
announcement was posted on Instagram with a picture of Swiss beats,
Timberland and Elon Musk on a yacht, holding drinks, toasting
and posing for picks. It included the captions official Versus

(01:26:02):
is back and one hundred percent black owned again. We
will also be building new entertainment businesses on the X platform.

Speaker 2 (01:26:12):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:26:12):
Black Twitter was swift to join the group chat. One
person said, trying to force black people to back to
Twitter with music while you made the site of playground
for straight up white supremacists is an insult to our intelligence,
basically saying it doesn't matter how we treat them as
long as we give them a hot beat to dance to. No, so,

(01:26:36):
Swiss said, nobody said anything before. We've been on that
platform since Versus started. We must change that. We must
change what we don't like, not complain about it, and
they will understand. I'm sorry, we will change what we
don't like, not complain about it. People will soon see
the plan. I understand that people have questions and they

(01:26:58):
will also not a silly person, but you're on X.
But he's basically like, you're complaining about this and you're
on X anyway, but what are your what are your
thoughts about that? Because a lot of people were just
like so upset that he's starting this and he's connecting
with Elon Musk and you know all the discrimination and

(01:27:21):
things that Elon Musk has done, namely for junie teens.
You know, that's a federal holiday and a lot of
people are off that day. Elon Musk said that, you know,
those who work for X, you can be off that day,
but you have to use your time. They're not giving

(01:27:43):
you that time as a federal holiday. So I mean
that that just using that as an example. But what's
your thoughts on like, are we just you know, black
black Twitter we need to or do they have a point?

Speaker 1 (01:28:02):
So I can see I can see right, I can
see what people are upset about. That said, right, you
have to think of so if not, if not X,
where what other platform? Right? Don't we I'll say it

(01:28:23):
like this, what black platform do we own? And what
would they wanted? Where would they wanted? Who stepped out
and said I wanted on my platform? Who? So where
were they supposed to go?

Speaker 3 (01:28:39):
Hm?

Speaker 1 (01:28:40):
That's where I'm lost at. I don't I kind of
get the outrage, but it's like, come on, like they
they from my understanding, swis beats was like it's black owned.
We're not giving them shares the elon right, this is
our platform and we're keeping it.

Speaker 3 (01:29:00):
Mm hmmm.

Speaker 1 (01:29:01):
Last time I checked it was on YouTube? Right? Who
on YouTube? I wait?

Speaker 3 (01:29:11):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:29:13):
And so I'm I'm okay with it. And from my
understanding that it was they got a nice piece of
bread and they're keeping everything. Until I'm not mad at
I'll probably get some some some you know, try to
somebody probably smacked me on the back of the hand.
I get it, but I don't. I'm not mad at

(01:29:34):
it at all at all. I think that we need
to we need to start thinking a little different because
if we don't have a platform, whatever, we don't, well,
where where are we going to go? What did people expect?
Like I'm just curious, like where did they expect them

(01:29:54):
to go? Where did they expect them to go? And
so if that's not an answer, if nobody remember what
we're dealing, what kind of.

Speaker 3 (01:30:03):
Journalism solutions based?

Speaker 1 (01:30:07):
So what's the solution?

Speaker 3 (01:30:11):
Yeah? Yes, And I honestly, I think I really think
we should just hear him out because if he's saying that,
you know, he's putting it out there that new entertainment
businesses on the X platform. They're going to be building
that and some I'm sure in some way, shape or form,

(01:30:32):
that's going to benefit the black community, hopefully black artists,
you know, minority artists or you know, black and brown people.
Whatever I'm I'm open to. I'm down here. What he
what he has to say or what he wanted to.
You know, actions speak louder the words. That's right, that's right,

(01:30:52):
absolutely all right. So the Celebrity Sizzle Award of the
Day eighth goes to I'm just gonna say, Willie Mays
and San Francisco Giants. So a celebration of life was

(01:31:14):
held to honor San Francisco Giants legend and Baseball Hall
of Famer Willie Mays at Oracle Park on July eighth.
He received military honors for serving in the US Army
during the Korean War. At the two and a half
hour event, Willie May's godson, Barry Bonds, was in attendance,

(01:31:35):
along with other Hall of famers like Joe Torrey Tour,
Joe Tory, Reggie Jackson, Denny Akers, Eckersley, and Ricky Henderson.
And Commissioner Rob Manfred said there's never been a better
representative of baseball's magic than Willie Mays. He dominated the

(01:31:58):
game in every way. He didn't merely play, He captured imaginations.
He never allowed his meticulous preparation to prevent him from
showing the joy the game brought him, and he inspired
generations of players and fans. So unfortunately, May's died on
June eighteenth at the age of ninety three, but his

(01:32:20):
legacy will live on forever. So shout out to the
fan Cisco Giants, but honoring him and I'm the girl
Lawren Sizzle and that was the sizzle.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
And that was the cissl. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm your boy,
Charles Greg.

Speaker 3 (01:32:35):
With the beautiful Lauren Sizzle.

Speaker 1 (01:32:37):
And this is we taught weeklies after the talking to
epp LP Philadelphia one o six point five FM. We
talked weeklies after the talk and that was our show,
Ladies and Gentlemen. A good interview. I liked I liked her,
I liked Brandon. I have to listen to some of
her music. That was the first time that we I

(01:32:59):
think that was the first show ever that we had
someone play an instrument.

Speaker 3 (01:33:03):
Yeah, I think it was. Yeah, we've added in the studio,
but yeah, virtually no.

Speaker 1 (01:33:14):
Yeah, so I mean that was our show. Ladies and gentlemen,
make sure you tune in next week. Uh yeah, we're
here next week. Make sure you tune in next week,
and make sure you like subscribe. Make sure you if
you feel the need, to make sure you donate a
dollar time. We talk weekly, y'all, and I'll see you
next week. And we auta here y'all.

Speaker 3 (01:33:34):
Peace,