Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Beef Tariffs, Target Halloween Backlash, Hakeem Jeffries Meets With Jared Kushner, and an AI Conversation With King Willonius

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

We got BEEF! Today Van and Rachel talk about Trump’s beef with American cattle ranchers. Then they get into the latest developments in the Karmelo Anthony trial, and Target is under fire for a racist costume. Plus, right-winger Jake Lang becomes Spider-Man’s latest target, and Van and Rachel talk about the not-so-secret (anymore) meeting between potential House majority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner. Plus, AI royalty King Willonius joins us in studio to chat about AI and "BBL Drizzy."(00:00) Welcome to Higher Learning(01:05) Kanter kicked out(04:56) Where’s the beef?(20:39) The latest in the Karmelo Anthony case(45:26) Target in hot water … again(52:54) Spider-Man fights for the people(01:04:16) Hakeem Jeffries secretly meets with Jared Kushner(01:125:07) King Willonius in studio(02:07:35) Van is for law and orderHosts: Van Lathan and Rachel LindsayGuest: King WilloniusProducers: Marco Escalante and Jade WhaleySocial Producer: Bernard MooreVideo Supervision: Chris Thomas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. Highlanders'an is I. Van Lakey Jr. And it's me, Rachel Lennon. King Wallonius, the creator of BBL Drizio, on the show today. We had a conversation with him. And look, let me tell you something. A lot of things were brought up, a lot of things were talked about. But sometimes it's about the friends you make alone in the way.

That's your new saying. I actually got that from Tommy Alter. Well, he would know. He knows a lot of people. Yeah, I got that from Tommy Alter. Sometimes it's about the friends you met a long time. the way and sometimes you know the conversation goes in different ways and sometimes you don't even know what you're talking about but maybe you make a friend Rachel do

you do you care about the friends that you make along the way of course I'm a outgoing person I love to meet people I love to to connect with people now there's a story that just happened that's not in a rundown and it's canter at the game last night did you see it I saw I tell you what this is why I like There's no better way to show how much you protect and stick up for women than harassing them on their job. When I think of loving women and sticking up for them and making sure I advocate for them, I think about going to their job and harassing them. That's always been the best way.

Think about it, man. Y'all love black women. Y'all want to protect them. So next time you see a black woman working somewhere, go to her job and yell at her. and harass her. That's the way that you show how much that you want to protect women in women's sports. Nobody has been talking about this man for years. His career ended, what, four years ago? And I don't even think we were talking about it towards the end. So this is the most attention that he has gotten in years and probably the most attention he's going to get, if not ever.

And so he's riding the wave on the backs of women crazy enough. So I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I saw the story, but it's like I don't even want to give him any attention because that is what he is so desperately craving right now and trying to sacrifice and belittle and all the negative things towards women along the way while claiming that he is one as he is declaring himself for the draft. It's ridiculous. If there are top three losers right now, he is on the list. Who are the losers? Trump. Trump is the loser. So Trump, you say number one loser?

I don't know. Enis is up there. Trump is up there. You get the honors of the third. I thought you were about to say I'm the last loser. Oh my God, no, I was not going to do that. I don't know. I don't like you.

No, you are not on my list. But look, I'll say this, though. Like, I just want you guys to always pay attention with stuff like this. This is actually what he did last night. I know he thinks he's going crazy. But this is, I know he thinks everybody's talking about me is going up. This is actually the best thing that could have happened to this particular debate because you see the type of person that inserts themselves into something like this

and makes this their entire personality and the lengths that they're willing to go. The blatant disrespect that was showed for women, I'll now say seriously, by Ennis Cantor, is startling. So anybody that counts him as an ally, or somebody that's speaking out on behalf of women. I want you to think about that. Would in his canter for any reason whatsoever have interrupted an NBA game? Would he have gone to the NBA, a place where he played with guys,

shared the locker room with them, shared a culture with them, and went down there and done that to Spider-Mitchell? Would he have done that to Dame Lillard? Would he have done that at an NBA game? No, because he has a. different reverence and respect for the product in the NBA than he does for the women in the NBA. He doesn't respect

those women. He's not trying to protect those women. He's trying to use the back of a marginalized, persecuted group to increase his standing and stature. That's it. It's over. That's it. Okay. No more. You're right. No more in this canter. I'm just saying, look at some of these guys and the stuff

that they're doing. Because if you want to have a conversation about this and a conversation to be substantive about societal expectations or what is safe or But it's not safe. You would do that with safety, love, and respect for everybody else. But nobody's interested in that. We're past that point.

We're in a post-emathy world. We're in a post-emathy society. So, fuck it. Everybody go, get your shit off. God damn it. I'm very upset. This is, I guess it's something about this next topic. This next topic led to one of the funniest moments in the higher learning group chat ever.

The topics were laid out. And Rachel said, Let's talk about, Rachel said, let's talk about beef. Then Jade goes, what beef? What beef is there? Talk about it. Rachel goes, well, there's only one beef topic. Jade thought that Rachel was talking about the fact that two people had beef.

Did you? Rachel was talking about, that's exactly what happened. That's not what happened. I just didn't, I didn't see the article. When I was scrolling, I just didn't see it. So I was like, oh, like, in terms of like, what beef topic, not in terms of who's beefing. You thought

that, because you're thinking with your rapper brain, no, I promised you, I wasn't thinking. You thought that two people was at each other. Was there a new beef? What is there new? Is there a new? Who got beef? What a beef? I was like, and I said, I had to come. I said, Rachel was talking about

the beef farmers reacting to Trump saying that we should buy Argentine beef. And you were like, oh, okay, and then you moved on. Amicali. Yeah. But that was very funny. Bernard, did you see it? Because you're not a group chat.

You haven't made it to that point yet. Oh, Daddy, it's very special. Can we get into this? Can we, can we get into the, can we, can we get to the, can we get to the, can we get to the top of please? Yes. So, President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his administration has reached a deal to allow imports up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef for the next 90 days, easing tariffs and claiming that it's a part of an effort to lower the price of ground beef, stating that they are committed that this beef will be sold at 25% below current market price.

The move is getting significant pushback from cattle ranchers, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and Republicans in agricultural states who say cheaper foreign beef could hurt American producers, just as they're trying to rebuild their herds. Thoughts. You going to stop eating beef? Beef? I don't eat that much beef.

I don't either. I think sometimes if I go to all time, I'll have like the steak for one. But like all time. All time is the best restaurant in the city. One of. I like the court cafe as well. But like all time is one of the best restaurants in the city. But I don't eat that much beef.

I don't eat that much beef either. But I will tell you since this all came out, my algorithm, and I don't know if this has happened to you on Instagram, is doing this horse meat. versus beef meat and how because obviously there's the other story about the wild horses as well and about how to spot the difference. Are you getting that?

Oh, I don't know. I was like, I do not want this to continue in my algorithm. I already don't eat ground beef after reading the book Fast Food Nation so I don't eat burgers but I rarely eat red meat so it's nothing for me to stop eating steak. A stick

to the pork because I'm back on it. So what, so you, so how do you spot, they said you, how do you spot the difference? I don't, it's like color.

It's like, is it marbling or not? How lean is it? Those were some of the things. Right. So I can't, so I'm looking at Newsweek as Wild Horse's map shows

roundups across US as advocates warn of slaughter. Yo, I got to tell y'all, man. you Trump guys you guys have done a bang up job you guys

you Trump guys I even at this point it's not necessarily even about because it's not even about how can I put this it's not even about like a victory lap

you're eating horse meat allegedly whatever it seems as if you're eating horse meat You could be eating horse meat. And I bet you if you found out that it was horse meat, you'd love it. If the fucking MAGA people found out that Trump was rounding up horses, slaughtering them, and they were eating horses at McDonald's Burger King, horses, horse burrito and your Chipotle,

I bet they will find a way to love the horse meat. Oh, my God, a horse is leaner. It's actually better. It's like actually, the horse is great because you can have him as your companion. And then after, you could eat of his flesh and experience the emotional connection that you had towards the horse. That's like, like, we should eat our horses. We should have been eating them. Horses are big and blah, blah, blah.

Think about how much meat we've wasted with horses, horse eaters. Yeah, they will become the horse eaters Association of America if Trump won't at that. That's the point that we're at right now. You think so? Because the interesting thing about this whole beef, not necessarily the horses, but just what's happening with the beef and the tariffs and importing it. And we don't know exactly where it's coming from and who's doing it, which also plays into the laundry list of foods that are being recalled or there's certain issues with. Like, it's crazy. We're almost up to like 200 different things.

So this plays into all of that about the fear of and the lack of inspectors and all of that stuff. But the backlash has been bipartisan when it comes to the beef. To your point about the horse. I mean, you've got these associations. You've got Republican senators, Republican people in the House who are saying, well, this is hurting our constituents. They're actually advising Trump not to do this. Even some of his biggest supporters like Senator Cotton are saying, hey, this is problematic. You're interfering with the market, which is the hypocrisy of it all.

you're, this is not going to be a forever fix to helping the cattle crisis that's happening in this country. And obviously the timing of it we know. Well, first, they don't even know how much this is going to benefit the consumers as far as lowering the price. There hasn't been real information, hard evidence on that. But then the other part of it is he's obviously doing this as a midterm thing. But you're upsetting your base and doing this and they're actually being outspoken about it. So I think a couple of things. Number one, people should pay attention to a couple things about this.

Number one, that the government, any government, could take, if it wanted to, drastic movement to address rising prices. Who knows how effective this would be? Who knows how effective this would be? But any government could take drastic movements, drastic action to affect rising prices, right? So there's a way. at least a way that people think is hey beef is too expensive let's do something to lower beef

whatever whatever so there are things that people can do whether or not that would work or not number one that's to the side all of the stuff that you were just talking about yeah those are guys that see their pockets getting tighter number one

and their political power getting tighter so those people might not eat the horse because they can't eat the horse because they trade in beef, and then they are elected by the people who trade in beef. So that's money. The people will, if it comes down to the people's pockets

and the entire market of the situation, people are going to protect the money more than they're going to protect any one political person, the people that have a lot of money. The people that don't have a lot of money, all they have is belief. Well, the only thing left for them is religion. And that's the only thing that they've ever had, really,

if you're being real, is different forms of religion. Their religion of white supremacy, their actual religion, that sometimes undergirds their white supremacy, their political religion, all of these things that they believe in in a metaphysical way

that in no way show up in a material reality in their lives. Like the same people who gush over the opportunity to become a billionaire that have no fucking shot at it. They have no chance in hell of that ever happening for them. So those people, they will eat the horse.

But to your point, all the rest of these people, they can't really eat the horse because it makes them poorer. They become like some of the other people. And these senators, as Trump gets a little bit more politically vulnerable, we'll find all kinds of reasons to disagree with him because moving forward, they're going to have to be able to say,

I was the one sane person in the room while everybody else was going crazy. You're going to hear J.D. Vance pivot to that very, very soon. And about a year here, you're going to hear J.D. Vance is going to write a book, and the book is going to call One Escape the Cuckoo's Ness, how I got out of the Trump White House. Like, you're going to hear people start to say stuff like that. For sure. Because they always do that when they're trying to rehabilitate their images.

They did it after the first time. Exactly after shit like dish crashes and burns. The fact that Trump like turned his back on the cattle ranches and so, yeah, does that with everybody. No, yeah. It's not a Trump thing. It's just more about, I guess to me, talking about the backlash being bipartisan. Also, the hypocrisy of the government getting involved and basically setting market prices because they're saying, yes, they're waiving tariffs and that's not necessarily the part of it,

but it's the, well, it will be at 25%. So, like, you're setting the market there, which we know when a Democrat does that, it's you're a socialist, you're getting involved, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I get you're doing the same thing. And then the other part of it is that they're not going to talk about is this, this is also Trump admitting that the tariffs aren't working. The tariffs, you're rising the cost for your American citizens, and this is you trying to lower it down,

and so the tariffs were a problem. All that talk about how it's going to help consumers has not been realized. In fact, as we all knew, or not all of us, just the ones loud and protesting it, it was always going to hurt them at the end of the day. And to be honest, this 90-day fix is still going to do the same thing. It's a bigger issue than this.

This is a temporary fix to the problem that he started with the tariffs and already just the problem in general that cattle is just so low. Did you see what Walmart's doing? Walmart is lowering their prices because of the tariff cuts. Very savvy Walmart. Walmart said we rolling back on 11,000. The rollback's back. Remember the rollback?

Remember those commercials? Yeah. Hey, do you remember the Walmart greeter? You walk in and there'd be some kindly... Are they gone? Do they still have them? They still have them. They still have them?

Yeah. So I remember the Walmart greeting and Rustin got in some trouble. This was very funny. In Rustin? So when I was going to tech, the Walmart was basically the club. You'd see people, you're going to Walmart. That's in every small town. You say, hey, what's going on with you?

Man, what's you over here? You like, niggas you need a mini-friends? shit, if you need a mini, these ain't the right mini fridges. But like, something that happened to where the Walmart greeter there, at some point, a group of brothers were leaving, and he basically said, all right, you boys have a good time tonight. And he used boys as, hey, you rascals, I guess. That's what he was saying.

But they were like, we ain't no fucking boys. And then there was a mini thing. I don't think, it didn't get to the news or nothing like that. But, like, we were arriving as he was saying, ain't a fucking boy. Oh, you arrived on the scene. Oh, so I was sick. And Paulette and Justin and me got in the car and we went there to get some stuff from

me. Justin inadvertently stole a cowboy hat. He put the cowboy hat in his head and he was walking around at Walmart like being whatever. And then he walked out with the cowboy hat. And I was like, nigga, you stole the cowboy hat. You know what I mean? But when we were getting there, there were some brothers there that were telling the Walmart greeted.

They were like, we ain't no boys. We men. And Walmart greeted. is the only time I actually, I kind of felt sorry for him a little bit. I didn't mean it like that, fellas. I didn't, I halfway expecting him to be like, listen, I've grown up with niggers my whole life. Never had no problem with it. You would have stopped feeling sorry for him then.

No, you're so true about Walmart being the club. I never told you that that's some of the law I used to do. I used to represent Walmart. So I would see here all the stories. So what would happen in the Walmarts? So like I did a lot of primaries. misliability. So when, and so it's insurance defense.

So if somebody got hurt in a Walmart or there was some type of issue in Walmart period, or they were alleging they got hurt, Walmart would hire my firm to represent Walmart in that case. So we would see the crazy, like I would watch

all this video of people saying they had a slip and fall. You put the video in, put the CDN, you watch it, you see the guy go to the ice machine, look around. get the ice, look around, sprinkle the ice, look around, lay on the ground, and then start yelling for help. It was, like, crazy like that. One time, one time there was it, because a lot of times, and then you look at these people's backgrounds, and they had sued, like, seven other different stores.

Like, people make a career out of this, because a lot of times it's easier for them to just pay you, like $25,000, $30,000 just to go away because legal expenses are so much. But one time we had this case where, I don't know why. but employee goes or no a patron goes in uses the bathroom sat on the toilet got stuck

somebody had super glued the toilet seat and they sat down and they couldn't get up Walmart's not going to be guilty anything like that but because you could easily

because that's like a third party that's not foreseeable thing like super glued to shit and then come back and get stuck and then we can run off with that. the runoff on the... But like, it has to be a foreseeable thing. Like, you cannot foresee that somebody is going to super glue that.

So that, like, it becomes more of a criminal thing than it is similar. But, like, we would have crazy cases like that. Yeah. So that's how I know, like, it goes down at the Walmart. It goes down at Walmart. Sitting on a Walmart. Yeah. Walmart used to be a thing.

What? Sitting on a Walmart toilet is crazy about. You deserve it. That was about to say. Like, why would you sit on that? You don't squat? You deserve it. You deserve it.

You deserve it. It's tough. It's a tough situation, man. Walmart though. Rolling back their prices, we don't give a fuck. Walmart's treated people like shit for years. It's nothing they can do. All of these places are fucking same. It's like, whatever, man. Fuck them. I'm sorry. By the way, you guys, you know, you're not going to get another anti-campilous rant. People have been like, Van, what's going on with you? Like, people in my life have been reaching out. It was like, like, man, like, what's going on with you? Nigger hit me up. I'm not going to mention you.

nigga hit me up and was like, yo, so nigga, you don't like money no more? We can't get money? You're not listening. They listen to the same thing the guys from Earnier Leisure did. Oh, yeah. Because that's not what you said.

You're not listening. You're not listening to what I'm saying, but it is what it is. Okay. Trigger warning, the next topic has to do with Carmelo Anthony. I know this case has been tough on everyone and watching

what's happening down there in Texas, but there have been some updates that we have to talk about, Jake. A Texas judge has denied Klamela Anthony's request for a new trial, leaving his murder conviction in 35-year prison sentence in place. No, Anthony was convicted in June for fatally stabbing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Friscoe High School track meet in April 2025. Anthony has maintained that he acted in self-defense after an argument between the two teenagers turned physical, but a jury found him guilty of murder after roughly three hours of deliberation.

His new attorneys argued that an informal gentleman's agreement between prosecutors and his original defense team affected Anthony's decision not to testify. The agreement was intended to keep potentially damaging information about both teenagers out of the trial. Retired Kaufman County District Judge Michael Chitty denied Anthony's motion for a new trial stating upon reviewing the motion, the record, the evidence and argument, the briefs, and the relevant case law the court has determined the motion should be denied. Are you aware of the terms of this gentleman's agreement? Not until it became news. They kept it from all of us. I know, but I'm saying, but you obviously read that. What do you think about that?

I think it's bad. What's bad? I think the gentleman agreement was bad. I can understand the thought of, hey, I'm trying to protect my client of these alleged messages that talk about the very, thing that not apples to apples, but talk about stab. The messages from Carmelo Anthony to, well, I believe to be as an ex-girlfriend. An ex-girlfriend and he talked about, allegedly talked about stabbing or something violent or

whatever. Yeah. And they did not want to expose him to that. But as we talked about when we've, when we've learned about the verdict, him not testifying. No character witnesses. Nobody speaking to humanize him, I think was extremely detrimental. And so this gentleman's agreement that possibly prevented him and waived his right to be to testify because of this and the fact that we didn't get to hear Austin Metcalf. He was presented. They humanized him. Not all of him as we're learning about some of this stuff, but nothing about Carmelo. I think this was a totally bad thing to do, which is why it's one of their specific grounds to get a new trial, and rightfully so.

I just, I think we, the glaring thing to me is you did not know who Carmelo Anthony was. And they did, if they failed him and presenting a jury to him in that way. I believe they failed him in other ways, which were their specific grounds for the new trial, which was not having it public, which you don't have open court public in open trials.

However, you can't have an open courtroom. and this judge made decisions that could be deemed a violation of the Sixth Amendment by having these, not even having open hearings on this in court. It was all in chambers. There was a denial of certain relatives of Carmelo, Anthony, that couldn't be done. It was all done behind closed doors. So, like, that was one of the specific grounds that they put in this motion. And then the other one was the jury instruction. the he was they put in their self-defense but then they also put in the provocation instruction

and in closing arguments the prosecutors heavily relied on this whole that he provoked him there was a there was a provocation with it and if a jury believes an ounce that carmello in any way provoked it it totally takes away self-defense so there were just so many mistakes made in my opinion on the part of the defense, which I feel like we called out without even knowing the legality of it, just from what we were getting from the reporting, because it wasn't open, the reporting from this case. But the gentleman's agreement is crazy. I don't think it's, I think it's a broader issue about Austin Metcalf's past. I don't know how much that would have played into the actual case.

But the issue is the presentation of Carmelo versus the presentation of Austin. And we got two totally different people. Yo, just so we name it. A gentleman's going to be. The incidents from Austin Metcalf's past are him and his brother spray painting graffiti that says KKK kill all blacks. Heil Hitler, the dreaded inward, being sentenced to 12 months of juvenile probation. right? Like,

he had a history of fighting. Shoving a woman. Like, he has a violent history going all the way. It's like roughing up a female student, knocked her to the ground, punched her in the stomach, kicked out of a football game, texting somebody's late, I was about

to beat the shit out of those kids. At a previous track meet, a previous track meet when another student alerted Austin Metcalf that somebody that not in their team was behind our bitch talking while, Austin Metcalfe reportedly replied, kill that motherfucker.

I'm sorry. I don't have a legal brain, but fuck! How in God's green earth does that shit not make the trial? I almost didn't believe this when I saw this.

Granted, the stuff that you were talking about as it relates to Carmelo, Anthony, sure. Sure. Those are things that you're going to have to continue with. I understand it. I get it. But I want people to understand the difference in what we're talking about.

This with Austin Metcalf is a clear history of terroristic racist threats of like legitimately lobbying fear around and using fear as a weapon, like weaponizing fear. So if you are in the moment where someone is. an expert in using fear to create discord, maybe you're fucking scared. Maybe like maybe after years and years of years of tweaking the muscle and working out the muscle to instill racial and terroristic fear in people,

since he's been doing this for a long time, maybe he was really fucking good at it and maybe the kid was really fucking scared. I would think That would be the number one thing that you would want to include it in this. Forget about his character and whether or not he's a fucking racist, but the fact that he's been fucking terrorizing people for a long time, and he might be really, really, really good at it.

Yeah, the legal claim for what it seems for the grounds is whether or not Carmelo was coerced out of testifying because of this agreement, which hindered the whole defense, which is problematic. And so I want to be clear in saying that because I'm not saying everything you're saying is wrong when I talk about the Austin Metcalf of it. I'm saying that should have come in. That's not necessarily the illegal part as much as the legal part of it is, is that it hindered his case because it probably coerced him out of testifying. And I just cannot, for the life of me other than pure laziness,

and not wanting to have to defend what Carmelo's things did, which do not compare in any way, in my opinion, to what Austin Metcalf did. If this had been presented, I could see a jury, it being a hung jury. I could see a jury being conflicted of if this is this person's history and he is claiming he was in fear of his life.

Remember the question people kept saying? He walked into their tent and everybody that was testifying was like, Austin was being so nice. Austin was all these things. All these character witnesses were making Carmelo seemed to be a certain way as if he was the instigator. And Carmelo was saying he was fearful. Obviously the fear is well warranted you being the only person from that school under that tent, but even more so with a history of this. This speaks directly to the fear

that he was feeling by Austin Metcalf, a person who has a history of this and a clear disregard for black people, it seems. And so I just don't understand when you're weighing the options and you know the case that's in front of you. Then the question also comes up with, okay, we know this, but did the prosecution have even more stuff that we made, that's a federal claim, maybe stuff, a Brady claim that they didn't provide because of this gentleman's agreement, they might have just said, okay, we agree not to bring up Austin's pass and you're not going to agree to bring this thing up about Carmelo? What if there was more stuff to Austin Medcalf that we don't even know?

Because you already made this agreement that never was presented to a jury that never came up in trial. This is outrageous to me. And I know that they were denied the new trial, but they're obviously going to appeal it. And I hope on appeal that this appellate court can see how wrong this was and this goes back to a new trial. I mean, the judge has already been recused. So I just don't understand when you add up all these factors, plus the judge being recused, because it clearly seemed that he was impartial. Another judge found him that to be evident. I do not understand how he does not get a new trial.

I just don't. So in the Carmelo Anthony part of this, there is just so that we're transparent with our audience. There are text messages here. and these text messages from Carmelo from Carmelo Anthony right there are text messages that say that he sent

a message that day that said I'm low key on the verge and then emphasize that message a girlfriend says that Carmelo Anthony engaged in stalking behavior to include but not limited to driving by her home and refusing to allow her to end their relationship There are texts about fighting and threats.

There's a text message where he admits at least on two occasions to punching girls in the face. They found text messages from 2021 between Carmelo Anthony and another student about robbing somebody for $300. There's another text message where Carmelo Anthony talks about a fight and punching somebody so hard that he had to stop fighting. He said that he was talking to his friends. He was going to vandalize. somebody's house in Austin, Texas, saying, I just feel like it. I got a grudge. In Austin.

In Austin, Texas. Like, he was going to vandalize somebody's house in Austin, Texas. And this is the deal that I'm looking at. You guys, full disclosure. Obviously, for me, I'm going to put my bias out on the front of this. It is very difficult for me not to have bias in this situation. And you guys should know that when I'm talking. but I do feel like a lot of what is in this character dossier surrounding Carmelo Anthony

are things that he's threatening to do or things that he's put into communications with people about things that he may or may not have done. The Austin Metcalf stuff that we've seen is stuff that Austin Metcalfe has done and been reprimanded for. not threatening necessarily to write KKK and nigger and all of that stuff like that, actually going through it and doing it. Like, I have, look, I don't want to go too far because, like, threats and other things that have happened. And when you say something like that, just hope everybody understands, like, how people take that and what that does and, like, what you say and how you represent yourself and what that actually means. and what that actually means and threats are actually threats,

and I don't mean to minimize this. But a history of acting in a racially terroristic way, to me, holds a lot more weight than the bad ideas and thoughts of somebody that are expressed inside of a text message. And that's not for me to gloss over anything. I'm trying to be as even killed about this as I possibly can. The question to you that I asked, though, is knowing the preconceived notion that a jury comes into this with.

Do you think that a jury would have looked at it that way? Well, and here's what I'll say. He had, we know that his attorney was white. And we talked about that before about choosing the right representation. I think his white attorney looked at this stuff. And this is Colin County, majority white. This is north of Dallas. I think that this is where Kim Paxson's from.

I don't know if it's the same courthouse, but this is where Ken Paxon was from. We were talking about all that. I think that he thought they can't look past it and maybe that was his perspective as somebody who was white. But here's the thing. You have to ask yourself the question. Because remember, this is an agreement from both sides.

Why would the prosecution not want this to come out about Austin Metcalf? Because they know how bad it looks. More than they were willing to not use Carmelo Anthony's text messages. and because I believe they knew it looked worse with Austin Medcalf. Austin Metcalf cannot testify. So the goal is to present him as somebody who would never be a threat, never would be, he's a victim, he lost his life in this situation. You don't want anything negative to because, again, he can't speak on his behalf.

So they were willing to let this go because they knew how bad it looked. And I wish the defense attorney could have seen, well, there's got to be a reason that they're willing to not want to use these text messages. Carmela, one of them's the day of. I don't know when the other ones were dated. I'd be interested in to know that. Was it back when he didn't even live in Texas? I don't know. Some of the stuff is from his years in Louisiana.

Exactly. So farther, farther back. And so if I'm the attorney, I want to think of why are they so eager to make this agreement? because it looks it is it completely contradicts the way that they represented Austin Medcaf to be right as a protector

and what he really was what his history would suggest that he was a racist bully it wasn't that he was the defense the prosecution in this portrayed him as a protector who was defending the sanctity

of the teenage tent when really what he was on what it seems like is nigger get the fuck out of my space. Yeah. And when we would say that, when we would say that, we would get gaslit. We would, we would say you know, that it doesn't feel

like that feels like an overreaction. Like that feels like an overreaction in this entire situation. Like walking up to somebody and put it. That feels like an overreaction. Now there's reason to believe

that there's something in his mind that he's nurtured over a long time that made him feel like he had to go up there on some racist shit and get him the fuck out of that tent. And that Carmelo felt that, responded to that, and tragically reacted. So to me, like, I mean, the reaction was a tragedy. He didn't react tragically.

The reaction was a tragedy. It's a tragedy that some kid was killed, no doubt about it. But fuck, man. this situation is like when I read this I almost could not believe this we got to get a lawyer on here we got to get not a lawyer not I know one of the people on this

hold on I didn't mean that not a lawyer oh I didn't even take I didn't even take a fit to that I mean like a criminal I know one of the people on the team so hopefully obviously we can't do the get right now but when

hopefully we will eventually what about to Woldy or oh yeah we can get her back there Lee Merritt also shout out Hey, shout out to black lawyers, man. Shout out to all of the Esquires out there. Thank you.

Shout out to black lawyers. Shout out to lawyers, man. Shout out to people that know the law. You feel like you know the law? So if I got in trouble with the law... That's such a... You know, it's so funny because people don't do this with doctors, but I feel like they do this with lawyers.

What you mean? You totally understand that a doctor has a specialty in a certain field. Yeah. Right? Yeah, a certain area. And you get that. Like you wouldn't ask your eye doctor a question about your heart. That's different, though.

Different things. Or you wouldn't ask, okay, you wouldn't ask a heart doctor about your brain necessarily. You wouldn't ask your pediatrician about certain, like you understand that everybody has certain specialties. But when it comes to law, people think that just because you're a lawyer, you know every area of the law. And it's so not true. I understand what you're saying. So no, I could not answer. I do feel like, though, that there are doctors who are like,

they're doctors who are specialists, right? And you're not going to ask, like, a neurologist about something that's cardiovascular. They will refer you to a neurologist. But there are basic medical questions that you can ask those people that a lot of times those not, I doctor different. But there are basic medical questions a lot of times that you can ask those people. And they know the basic medical questions. You can ask a lawyer.

But, like, when people ask, like, most people want to come to you with, like, a family law question. And I'm like, that is a specialty. That and every state differs. Yeah. So that's the real thing is that like there's, it's almost like. That's a difference too. With human, yeah, with like with human beings, you know,

we got one set of lungs and shit like that. So you learn the lung rules. You learn the heart rules. And it's normally pretty good. But it's not like a different human that exists in Louisiana. Shit, it is. Kind of. In Louisiana.

We're some savages, boy. We're some beasts. Why did I describe us like that? That's not what I meant. We're some gentlemen. Second time you've done that today. It's very upsetting. But in that situation, people have different.

Law is different. Law is different. You've got state versus federal. You've got civil versus criminal. But everyone's like, you're a lawyer. Can I ask you a question? I'll be like, no. The question is something I make.

Don't. Do you like sovereign citizens? I love them. So you know my career started in municipal court. That's where you get the sovereign citizens. Do y'all know what a sovereign citizen is? You all know what a sovereign citizen is? Okay, so in municipal court, people, it is you breaking like traffic laws, maybe a simple assault, like somebody spit on you or something like that, ordinances, dog attacks, stuff like that.

So this is how I got my start. So you go to trial if somebody wants to contest a jury trial if they want to contest them running a red light, speeding. It's always the sovereign citizens. And they'll come up and they'll be like, these rules do not apply to me. I am a sovereign citizen. The laws don't fit me. I am. And it is the most complicated.

Are you a sovereign citizen? I love them. They're like, I watch sovereign citizens. Your rules mean nothing. Like, no. But to me, they always, I am so, like, when I watch them, they always have like, what seems to me a valid reason why they don't have to follow the law. They always have, they'll go back so far or into the bowels of not just the Constitution, but beyond the Constitution, beyond a set of fixed laws that should be able to govern man to the nation. to the nature of freedom of the individual,

the thing that breathes, like as connected to divinity. Sometimes I love, I like to watch. Police auditors, police auditors are so funny to me. You're pulled over by the police. Why are you stopping me? Huh? Why are you stopping me?

It's so frustrating. Why are stopping me? Nope, can't do that. Terry versus Ohio, you have to have reasonable, articulate suspicion of a crime to stop me. Can't just stop me. Can't just stop me.

But the sovereign citizens are, they're actually more funny. because their shit is almost always in court. When you get the sovereign citizen, they're not talking to police. They're almost always in court. Like you're a corporation, I'm a living, like stuff like that. Those get into like, I don't know, like international law,

married stuff. Like they'll just start spouting stuff off. And you just sit there and you're like, and the judge will be like, overruled, keep going. It just, it is wild. Look it up. You don't like people that fight against. But it has to be.

It has to be logical. It makes sense. I am sure it is quite entertaining if you don't have to be a part of it. But like you get there, you're ready to go. You pick and then you're like, oh my God, it's one of those. Slaver citizens, that's funny that you know about them. I do. Next time you get a ticket, you should just go for it.

Just go for it. Just go for it. Because all you're going to do is have to pay the ticket at the end of the day. You just go for it. U.S. Code 1983. Do you have the power of attorney over me? I am not a traveler, I'm a traveler, not a driver. Like, it's so funny.

Like, you look at the sovereign citizens, they're going crazy. I love them. I forgot about this. I forgot about this part of my life. Oh, there's a Reddit about sovereign citizens to complain about them. To complain is probably how to. These people are complaining about sovereign citizens. Can we please get.

No, no. Rachel, please? No. Okay. We can't get one on the show. Just go watch a video. The judges I'm so mad you know about this

I love watching the stuff It started off with me watching the auditors Sometimes the auditors The police auditors Put the police in a situation Like one guy was just like Standing by watching the police pull people over The police go

What are you doing here? And the guy goes Get the fuck out of my face And get out And he's like No, can you see some ID? He's like no you get nothing. By the way, you're speeding. Get back in your car and get the fuck out of my face.

And there's always like a disaffected middle-aged white male. Oh, yeah. No, they're always white. And there are always men. Yeah. I go, has a sovereign citizen ever won a case? It goes, no. No. But don't you like it? Don't you like people that just go, the system can't hold me. I'm a sovereign citizen. Anyway, whatever. All right.

on. No more. No more. Speaking of people, you want to do Target or Spider-Man? They're both quick. Let's do them. Target is back in the headlines again. For a nigger costume that they had in the store. I laughed at I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

For a nigger costume that they had in the store. They had a nigger costume at Target. Target. Not just the costume. You're talking the motions and everything. I don't understand. I don't know if I've ever seen one this bad. Go ahead. Y'all go ahead. Go ahead and talk about it, Jay. has pulled a children's Halloween costume from its website after it went viral and sparked

accusations that the design resembled racist black face and 19th century menstrual imagery. The $25 costume was sold as a glows under black light circus clown Halloween costume bodysuit from Target's Hyde and Eek boutique line. Images showed a child wearing the black and orange body suit with dark mesh covering the face and customers flooded the product page and social. media with criticism. Comparing it to the look of racist caricatures and questioning how

the costume made it through Target's approval process. Target has since removed the costume from its online store, but as of the latest reporting, the company had not publicly explained how the design was approved or issued at all. Target is playing

in our faces. Do you think so? Van? Van. First off, I don't even know if that person in the child in there is black. Two, it'd be one thing, and it'd still be bad, if this was the costume. Look at the gesture. Yeah. The gesture?

Man tan, New Malayan. You can literally go back and find that exact gesture. They are playing in our faces. Where's Jamal Bryant? Somebody get Jamal Bryant on the line. See? What? See what's happening?

What's happening? You are, you're using this. Last time I saw him, he was standing in front of a target sign. Telling us everything was good and it was all over. Bam. Look at this. Can we have a situation where we don't bring our personal hatred for people into the city? Hatred is strong.

Can you like it? Is this a screenshot or can you click on this? Because I want to know what the reviews say because that's two out of five stars. Is your disdain for Jamal Bryant? Does it have anything to do with like Jazele Bryant? You've asked me that already. No. No, no, no, no.

I actually don't think that that is anything. other than me doing a call back to something that we already talked about before. It's not a hatred, it's a callback. Now, last time we visited Jamal Bryant, it was in relation to Target and he was pro-target. So I think I am well within my right to say,

has Jamal Bryant come out and said anything? I mean, it's not that big of a deal, right? Oh. Well, they removed it. It's a big deal because it's Target, too. At this point, we got to start trying to do other shit to Target. They're playing and I face it. We got, like, yeah, we got to talk trying to, we got to think bigger when it comes to Target now because here's the deal.

Here's the deal with Target. So Target can't, Target's in a weird situation. Target can't really do what the community is asking Target to do because then they run a file of the Trump administration. They can't do, right? So they got to figure out what they can do. That's not on the list. That's not on the list. So basically us going, hey, get this little nigger out of here.

in this costume out of here, Target's going to go, hey, we heard the community, all your... So I will say this. We should just see what we can make Target do. I like... I don't think that they were stopping that. No, I know. What I'm saying is, no, I get that,

but I have my own things for Target. Like, I would like Target to see me and my family to the Bayou Classic. That's it? That's it. I mean, my needs are small. Right? I would like, no, you know what?

Let's think bigger. You're right. would like Target, I would like Target to donate $1 million to Gary Chambers. I think Gary Chambers will do good with the money. Let's just do stuff like that. Well, yeah, well, I mean, they are supposed to be doing $2 billion into the community. Well, who got it? Who got the $2 billion? That's part of the boycott. You know what we should do? We should have a reality show called Who Gets It? And the reality show should be the black community talking about, about who gets the $2 billion from Target.

That's too many voices. Well, no, I'm just saying like, but we get to watch the show. Okay, okay. Like, we do a reality show. Like, we get to watch the show. Kind of like what you did with Revolt with the farmers, right? The black farmers, but we get to watch the show.

And we could host the show, we could host it, and we could be like, because I say the two billion us, we're coming out there like that, because that's some real cool nigginess shit to host that show. I'm not a lie. But somebody's going to host that bitch. So we come out there, we host the show, and then we decide who gets to $2 billion, me and my anti-capitalist face.

I like it. I'm down for it. This is crazy, though. It is a big deal because it's Target. I'm sorry. It's a big deal because it's Target. And it's like, so y'all, y'all really aren't trying to even be better. What do you mean?

This was easy. This is something that could have easily slipped through the cracks, though. Genuinely, can you explain to me how? If you look at this, like, I would. would look at this and right away I see this and I go that's too much but if it's like right away I'm not even going to bullshit you I see that

but this is something that like when it happens you just address it and then you hope the company does it didn't address it they moved it went away they went away but like they took it down and like shout out to people who keep their foot on their necks and are like not letting the conversation just go away

no we're going to call you out for doing this I am sorry van in 2026 It's not like, if this was, okay, if this was, can I just say, if this was like, I believe in Amazon, you can just like have an Amazon, like upload stuff, right? Kind of like a Wikipedia page, people just are able to put their own thing without review. This has to go through channels to get to this spot. I just, to me, you've been desensitized. It's not that I've been desensitized.

I do feel like we are getting to a point, sometimes to where because it feels like everything is on purpose, we believe that everything is on purpose. It's very difficult for me to believe that Target as a corporation went, let's fuck with these niggas today.

I don't think the top of Target did, but I'm sorry. Okay, I'm with it. I get it. I understand it. You can't rule it out. But to me, I look at stuff like this, is there's probably a cultural glitch in whatever exists over there. What clown has ever looked like that? This nigga.

Exactly. He looked like that? What clown has ever looked like that? Pose like that, had a face like that. It's the mouth. Yeah, like, come on. Black all around, even the shading of the thing. Dressed up like Halloween, though.

Like, I get it. I'm not saying that it's not fucked up. Black, light, circus clown. But I'm just saying that for me, I just, I don't believe that it was a conspiracy to have this picture up here. I just think that it probably was something that was insensitive and then on the backside of it, once it's called out, you see how they deal with it.

I mean, you know, it is what it is, man. That bitch, that nigga gonna go crazy at Hobby Lobby, though. Hobby Lobby don't give a fuck. That same thing ain't going to be sold at Hobby Lobby. I'm looking at their boutique right now. They sell 800 things at Target. None of them look like that. Tough.

All right, let's talk about Spineering. man real quick. And then I got to talk about how I'm fighting crime after this. Jay I put a picture in the group text. Spider-Man brand new day is breaking all kinds of records at the box office, but Spider-Man himself is real, and I got proof. Play this

video right here of Spider-Man getting busy. Look at it. That's Jake Lane and a vile white supremacist, ball-right actors, that's Jake Lane and a vile white It's far-right activist, white nationals. And then Spider-Man about to get busy.

Jake Lane was trying to incite people. Look, Jake Lane, he loves, but he got the N-word on the sign. He's doing the whole thing. But look, look at Spidey. My Spidey Sense is teetling, and we don't like hoes is what the Spitey Sense is telling me. So he sees somebody, look, get him. You know what? A set of standing.

it. I have no problem with this. And once again, it's going down in Minneapolis again where they don't deal with the bullshit. Going crazy. Unrest, still there. Jake Lane is inciting these people. He was arrested. He was arrested. So we should say, so Spider-Man, his name, I'm not going to even say Spider-Man's name. I'm not even know Spider-Man once his name. He said he's been en masse, and you're not supposed to do that. Okay? So you're not supposed to do that, Spider-Man.

It's a fundamental part of who he is. But yeah, so Jake Lang is out here trying to cause a riot during a protest and getting their response from people. It was his thing. Yeah, it was his rally. Oh, Jake Lane's right. Yeah, like he, the way I've, correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, they came to protest his First Amendment rally. Jake Lang, you know, he's a January 6er, all of that, came on the truck.

I think there were like six of them with a sign that said, I love black snobacco. He says, I love blast not niggers is the name of the, and so Spider-Man jumped down there and got busy. Here's a deal. You can cut this off. So here's a deal. I like seeing Spider-Man in his element. The question is this.

Overall, do you believe in violent dissent? We've talked about before on this podcast of whether or not the use of the N-word incites violence. If it constitutes violence in and of itself. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which I believe it does. It's a violent word to me.

So if I see you going through the city on a megaphone with a sign that says, I love blacks, not niggers, it's whatever. It's whatever after that. For me. Right. I'm not mad about anything I just saw, except that Spider-Man got arrested. So I agree. Well, let me tell you like this.

If, in fact, people actually believe that, I think it's incumbent upon us to provide legal resources and other resources for people who smack the shit out of people, punch people, get in two situations with people after the N-word has been used. Because it's a very easy thing to say, hey, you say the N-word to someone that's violence and it will be responded with with violence.

It's easy to say that when it is not you that is going to go to jail, that now needs a lawyer, that now needs to be bailed out because the other side is trying to put you in traction with the legal system because, unfortunately, using the N-word is not illegal. So they're trying to put you in a situation where you get arrested, where you get taken away, or where they can put you in a stand-in-your-ground position where they can shoot the shit out of you by using a word that has been used to incite us for hundreds of years to further put us in situations where we give up our freedom and sometimes give up our life.

Sure. So I have no issue with people. I'm certainly not going to let anybody call media in-word without any repercussions. But I'm saying, once that happens, I can bail myself out of jail. Like, I can get myself out. We also should, like, move to provide resources for people

after they have said they've been a victim in this racism and responded violently to it. I agree. And it's interesting you ask me this question because when I saw it, I thought my initial thought was, man, what if Jake Lane was just riding around the city by himself and nobody gave him attention? It's just him and his,

loser followers, all six of them. It's an unequivocal win if that happens. And nobody did a thing, no attention. He just posted. And I thought, like, wouldn't that have been great to just see, like, because he wants attention, obviously. That was my first thought. Like, man, I wish we would almost just not even pay attention to him, especially somebody like him who's always going to do this.

But am I mad when I see that? No. Because you're riding around to get a reaction out of people. and to everything that you said is very true. And so, like, I can see people being upset at me saying, like, I'm not mad at that. But I do wish that was my first thought that, man, if nobody gave him any attention, that'd be the worst thing for him. You know what the real thing with me is when it comes to this? Is the men particularly and the women, who I've always looked up to, you can't do this to them.

like the men that I when I watch them in interviews and when I read about their lives and when I see them confronted with stuff like that there's this mastery that they exhibit over themselves that I have never had like you can easily animate me you can easily get me going like I had to delete Twitter because it was making me too reactive

like there were certain group chats that I was on that were putting me into my reactive mind and, you know, therapy was like, get away from those things, the people that, like, aren't arguing anything in good faith and just saying shit. So I've always wanted to be someone that was so in tune with myself and my community and everything else that your degradation didn't incite me,

didn't move me to get outside of my body. That sounds very much like, why let a word like that control you? why I be controlled by a word. I think that explanation is too quaint. Uh-huh. I think it divorces itself from a lot of historical reality. And not just that, but the fact that I know other people who feel like because they cannot

be lynched for standing up for themselves, for. like violently asserting that they are not niggers, that they have to do it, that it should be done, that there was groups and groups of people who had to endure this type of abuse. And because of that, we have,

it's an imperative on us to violently resist that type of disrespect. And I understand that too. But at some point in my life, you're just not going to be able to get a rise out of hand. It's not today and it's not tomorrow. But at some point in my life,

you're just going to not be able to move me off what I know is real and life affirming. And when I look at people, say whatever you want about Minister Farrakhan. Say whatever you want about him as far as what you think or what you don't. I'm just being for real. But when I watch him,

like when I will watch Malcolm, when I will watch, there's a grace in which they move and an almost certainty in which they move that is just devastatingly effective. Yeah, I mean, but you also think about it too the times with them. If they moved or reacted like we saw in this video,

people would have never heard all the greatness that they had to say. They would have been more focused on the action, the fighting, what fit their stereotype, more than they would have been able to, hear the words or they may not have survived it, would have been in jail. Like we wouldn't have seen some of the speeches, the writings, all of that kind of stuff, you know?

So yeah, I think some of it is a sign of the times. I think some of it to your point is we have more freedom, not saying we still deal with like police brutality and all of that. I'm just saying that we can move in certain ways that they necessarily couldn't, which I think that generationally why there is a strength and a. a quiet strength that maybe we don't as much. Well, I think I still see it in brothers all the time. And these are a lot of the brothers.

Sure. A lot of brothers I surround myself with. We're just hotheads. Like, I see it in brothers all the time. I never really had it. It was just always easy. Like, I was, what the fuck you're talking about? No, no, no, no.

I never had it. But who is that? Oh, that's Spider-Man? You don't know who that is? No, I can't see what it is. I didn't either. That's why I clicked it. What was that?

Oh, shit. That's the man right there. He got it. That's the man right there. That's the man. I didn't know he let his hair get that. I didn't either. I was just looking and I was like, who is that?

Zoom in. Zoom in. That's the man right there. That's the man. You know what I'm saying? That's the man. But yeah, so like that mastery of self is like legitimately people talk about

like they want to gain they want to like people ask me all the time it's like man you talk about you don't want to make a lot of money you know you don't need like a shit ton of money like you don't need all of this type of other stuff that you're that you say other people need like what do you need? I need that is the one

mastery of myself controlling myself my like even my urges my impulses that is the one thing that is meaningful to me and I would love to just have someone trying to incite me and just be like... I'll work on it. Yeah.

I would love to be able to... Because I just think that over time, that's more effective. It's more effective to deal with it that way. At this point, but it's not going to happen today and tomorrow. It won't hear you the same way. All right. Time to talk about the goddamn Democrats again. Go ahead.

Democrats. Yeah, so House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, privately met with Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law. and influential outside advisor in New York City in recent weeks. The two discussed potential areas where Democrats and the Trump administration could work together. That included on housing, immigration, and the high cost of living, with Kushner also suggesting that Jeffries meet with White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles. The timing is significant as the meeting comes less than three months before the midterms with Democrats hoping to take control of the House. If they do, Jeffries would be in position to become Speaker of the House.

house. Is you or not? It's really not. Oh. Oh, daddy. It can be. Okay. I just think that we don't know much.

We know. It's interesting with Jared. Jared always seems the one to go in, and I know that they've worked together before, but, and they have, like, a prior relationship and all of that. Who Kushner and Jeffries? Yeah.

Yeah. But, and Jared is not. on in the administration, even though he's highly involved, more so in foreign related things than domestic. But we don't know much. I'm curious as to who was the one to leak it, I would assume, from Jared's team. Yeah. But to me, at first I was like, oh, come on.

And then I'm like, you know what? It's just, it's not a lot yet. It's something to note. I can't get outraged over this. I think for Hakeem Jeffries, it is very telling. that people were because it really just keeps going to the narrative that people do not trust you. People do not trust you to have a conversation that pushes the movement forward that Democrats and progressives are trying to do.

We know that he's big on affordable housing and the high cost of living. And I believe Hakeem Jeffries, when that is something that's at the forefront of him. but there are so many other issues that are on the table as well. And people don't trust him in these situations. And I think that was the bigger story to me, not a revelation. But that's why I think it got so much attention because of who had the meeting and there is a lack of trust there. Yeah.

I mean, that is almost like the only take. The only take is there's been such an erosion in people's opinion of Hakeem Jeffries and that people cannot, believe he would have this meeting, a lot of people, cannot believe that he would have this meeting and in some way wouldn't be selling out to Kushner. Because you would think that somebody who is potentially going to be the speaker of the house, that's part of their job. Yeah. To talk with people that are in the Trump inner circle, yeah. And then to get people to come together on the other

sides. Be the middle person. This is what they do. But they don't like Hakeem Jeffries being the one to lead the charge. Yeah, I think people are just worried that Kushner will sweet talk Jeffries. I mean, there are areas of, set to say it, areas of deep agreement between the two men. Both of the two men are in agreement, an agreement over America's relationship with Israel.

And both of the two men are probably in agreement with the Middle Eastern policy as it relates to that, right? And a lot of people are wondering where Hakeem, Jeffries, beliefs come from. Now, look, I don't think on its face

that there's anything wrong with, and I'd be lying a political operative meeting with a political operative. Like, it has to happen. Like, on the same side, on other sides and stuff like that. I just think when you do stuff like this, you have to, in a

real way, even before the meeting happens, you have to articulate that it's happening and then tell people what the fuck it is that you guys are talking about and why this is going on. Because if not, at a time where people feel more attacked and without

agency than ever, they are going to believe that there is some kind of nefarious handshake deal that is being made here. People are on that back foot right now in their most reactive minds, and they do not trust their politicians in any way, shape, or form. It's not just

with Akeem Jeffries, right? Mondani did this. He went down and talked to Trump. A lot of people had questions about that, but there's a lot of equity that he has with the people that support him. And like a lot of people didn't have as much of an issue with it. So for me, this doesn't even look bad, but to your point, it's more of an indicator that faith in the center of the Democratic Party and with the leaders who are supposed to represent that is eroding. and the Democrats probably will take the House back in the midterms and they have to continue to do the job

of demonstrating to Americans or articulating to Americans what that means, what that means when they take the gavels back, what that means when they're able to kind of get, because they won't have real, real power, but they'll have power to kind of stem the tide against some of the Trump stuff that's happening, which things are super important, what America looks like right now

for another two years with the Democratic and control of at least that body and King Jeffries's speaker. I think if people could glom on to that and put faith into that, then maybe they would stop worried about who he's having meetings with. But the meeting being secret

looks bad. Or like, it's feeling secret, should I say. And that's why I'm like, I've obviously came from Kushner's side, but that's, I think your point is so well taken in the sense that had he come out before and just told people, maybe they would have felt different, maybe they wouldn't,

but at least it wouldn't have been a secret meeting. And the thing, too, with Hakeem Jeffries is we know, like I said, the affordability thing, but he's not really being as forthright about other things that he plans to do. Because one thing Trump keeps saying at rallies is, hey, guys, pretend I'm on the ballot, because if you don't and you don't vote for me and the Dems take over, they're going to impeach me because we know that they have oversight to invest. the Trump administration. That's a power within the House.

And so if the Democrats take over, there are obviously progressives. And other Democrats want that to be a part of the initiative with... Well, to impeach Trump? Well, to investigate the Trump administration. I don't know if they'll go as far as impeaching him again, but we know what's happened twice before. So it's like, are they going to do, are they going to use those powers that they have to go after the administration and some of the things that they've been?

been doing. That is something that is on the table as well. And Hakeem Jeffries hasn't said anything about that yet. So it's kind of like, what else? Is it just that one thing? Are you going to, same things we were asking Roe here. What are you, what are you going to push forward? Let me ask you a question. You're kind of being aloof about it. Let me ask you a question. To you, what's more important? Accountability or affordability. Well, right now, affordability. Okay. So like if, if Jeffries goes, and meets with Kushner and goes, you know what, we'll back off you guys. I wonder this for people.

If Jeffries goes to Kushner, I'm not saying that this happened. I'm just asking you guys to think about this. If Jeffries goes to Kushner and says, hey, we're going to back off you guys. We're not going to go with the impeachment push or the investigations or anything like that, at least right now Americans are suffering too much. But for not doing that, we are going to expect that the White House works with us on delivering whatever wins we can for the American people and getting them out of some of the situations that they're in.

Now, if you do that, and it works, then you could be delivering wins for the Trump administration too. There is a world where your continued emissoration is the political win for the Democrats that they actually need because they need an example of just how bad Maga-Trumpism has become and just how ungovernable Americans are under it. The question would be, you know,

recession thousands of thousands. People die, all of that stuff. Like, what do people actually want? Well, people are going to want affordability. Well, and I think that they might. But there are also people that want, and I can't blame these people. Yeah, yeah. There are people that want heads on pikes, and the reason why they want them

is the reason why you put a head on a pike. You put a head on a pipe to say look what happens when you come fucking around. Like when they kill William Wallace, I always remember this about Braveheart. You know, Mel Gamson, or whatever. I always remember this about Braveheart.

When they kill William Wallace, they took William Wallace's limbs and put them on different parts. Like, you fuck around like this, we'll put you. your head here, we'll put your torso here, will skin you alive, right? And there are some people that want heads on pikes from the MAGA movement so that America has an example of what

doesn't work here. Yeah. Because of the people that we have lost, the lives, the economics, everything, all of the carnage the people have gone through, they want a pint of blood. Yeah. And Roe kind of talked about it with, well, not kind of, he did. He said, why can't there be both? And I really think that if Hakeem Jeffries becomes the Speaker of the House, more than the balance of working on both sides, the balance is going to have to be fighting for affordability and these things that the American citizens need, while also the balance of holding the Trump administration accountable. I don't think personally he should go in there and be like, this is what we need and we're willing to back off you if you do this. I just don't think that that is a concession that should be made in light of where we are right now.

Some of this stuff is irreparable, it feels like. And it would take much longer to put heads on a stake than it will to try to fix some of the immediate needs of the people here. All right, we had a conversation about AI. It was surrounding Tiger. Yeah. Tiger put the AI album out.

Starface. Is it a name Starface? Put some respect on it. Is that his name now? That's his name now. Okay, so it was around Starface and the album that came out. We're asking ourselves a lot of questions about AI creators that we could not answer.

And I sent on that podcast that we should have King Wallonius on the podcast, the creator of BBL Drizzi, one of Time Magazine's, 100 most influential people in AI. A somewhat infamous designation. Do you feel that? Do I feel infamous? Yeah, do you feel like that's an infamous designation? I mean, it's an honor, you know what I'm saying? Like, time is dope. There's a lot of dope people in time.

Time magazine? Yeah. So let's talk about AI. Let's talk about AI creation. Right. You heard the conversation that Rachel and I had. Yep. Okay, what were your thoughts?

Okay, so I listened to Starface. Oh, good. I was going to ask you that. Yeah, I didn't listen to the whole thing. I listened to a majority of it. And then I read, actually, I read the lyrics first because I wanted to, like, just get some kind of context of like what he was talking about and man you know it's it's I think he put he

did a really good job of of making music you know what I'm saying and I think that that was maybe his intent so I don't I don't really know how to feel about it though because it's just it was a there was a video that came out about the whole Felix flexing thing and they were talking about like how they put the lyrics in so I don't know if he I don't know if he actually like prompted or like it was all you're trying to say I'm not following what you're trying to say okay so the lyrics that he put there was some of the line where it was just like um counting racks on the table or something like that and it seemed like it so you think he he had AI generate the actual lyrics I don't want to I it

it feels like that why because of like what the context of the video that the dude put where he was like, oh, I just prompted this and then all these things happen. But I think that, more than anything, I think that making AI music, right? And not even just AI, I mean, just AI in general. I think it can really empower artists. You know what I'm saying?

So. Okay, so let's do something real quick. Right. Let's talk about number one, how you make an AI song. What is the process for you to make an AI song? So I write all my songs, and then I'll, like, I'll hum the melodies

or I'll play some instruments and whatnot. I mean, I can maybe even show y'all that. Certainly. Y'all want to just see it? Yeah. Let's just make a song real quick. Are you about to make a song right now? Yeah.

He's about to make an AI song. Wait, when you said you use instruments, are you using actual instruments? Yeah. So the last two weeks, I've been working on my album, Unhinge, with Omas Keith. and you guys know Omas.

He's the Grammy-winning producer for Channel Orange and Blonde. So then we had my boy at Roan Hilton. He made Super Bass. So we were like making an album. We used AI to like iterate the process. So I would write the songs and then we would kind of come up with some ideas. We had a bunch of musicians in the studio at Amazon and they would just start playing instruments. And then we would kind of like filter it through AI and then it would come back with a certain thing.

And then we recut everything because we're submitting it to the Grammings for Best Comedy album. So let me ask you this. On the songs and the stuff that you made, what did the AI do that a human would have done? So it comes up, it'll sing the songs. It actually made the melodies and all that. But we, like, we'll prompt everything.

I'm sorry, we'll create everything and then we, like, prompt it. And we run it through that. It might be easy just to show y'all. Show me. Yeah, show me. Yeah, because I think where I get confused is if you're creating the whole thing, why use a prompt? That's where I would want to see it

because I get confused. I would say more so just for speed, you know what I'm saying? So to be able to kind of, like for instance, B.B.L. Drizzi, right? If I would have made B.V.L. Drizzi with the traditional means, I would have never been able to make that song.

You know what I'm saying? Why? Well, I would have had to find a 70 soul singer. I would have had to book studio time. I would have had to book a photo shoot to take the picture of the dude. It would just took, I would have totally missed that moment. The song would have came out today.

You know what I'm saying? But on the flip side of that, I think what people are talking about, and that's why we're having a conversation is, so that photographer didn't get that work. Right. Those session musicians didn't get that work. Right. That soul singer didn't get that work.

So for you, the creator and the person that, like, and that's kind of the tension that is, that wants to put it out, it definitely benefits you. Right. But the ecosystem. of music creation might feel a little cheated from that being able to be used in that way. Right, right. And I think that's the interesting part with AI because it's a, you know, the two-sided

coin or the yin to the yank, right? Like it allows creators, specifically, you know, black creators to be able to iterate fast. You know what I'm saying? Like we already don't get the resources or even just people believe in us to actually like do a project, you know what I'm saying? So like, if I would just, if I would just, you know, I mean, I was coming in as a comedian. I'm a stand-a-comedian, screenwriter.

So if I were like, hey, I want to make this song, I'm not getting the best singers in the world to come be on my project. They wouldn't even pick up the phone. And I mean, I experienced that. The reason I got into AI was because of the writer strike. Like, I just wanted to be a TV writer. And for years, I mean, I've been going viral since my early 20s.

But as far as, like, trying to break into the industry, bro, like, I can get managers or agents and nobody even, like, return emails from me. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I've been getting millions of views on YouTube and all these different things. So, like, now I don't, I don't say I don't need anybody, but, like, I can get my ideas out fast. So now people from the industry, they come to me because they've seen what I've done. You know what I'm saying?

So, and the way I, like, leverage technology. So, like, on the music side, I feel like AI is not really being embraced like that. But on the film side, there, you just saw, like, Ben Affleck. So this, you know, company that Netflix for hundreds of millions of dollars, you know what I'm saying? So, which I feel like, I feel like. You know, I have an organization called AI and Culture Man. We teach black people. We got to say PLC.

We have to teach PLC. Why you have to say PLC? Because you can't say black anymore. Why? Why? I say it, but I'm just saying like in just different spaces they don't want to. Hey, fuck them. I feel that.

Fuck that. You know what I still say black, but I'm just saying. But, you know, just to be whatever. I got you. You don't want to piss the white people off. Go ahead. Yeah. I mean, you know, but we teach our people AI tools.

how to vibe code, how to leverage AI for your businesses or whatnot, and all these different things, man. And I think, like, the disservice is, like, we are, like, very against AI. You know what I'm saying? We as in black people, you feel like. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And then, like, and then you got other people that are telling you, like, AI's badness and that.

And then you look at, like, man, Affleck, he was going on a podcast saying, like, AI ain't it. And then meanwhile, I was building this company, and then sold the Netflix. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like we have a really amazing opportunity right now outside of like the creative side but like learning vibe coding all these different tools man you can

you can run your business like a Fortune 500 business you know what I'm saying using these tools but anyway I know we're going to talk about music but I just I just I'm a I think that you know we have a moment right now where we can really like change our trajectory by like understanding these tools

you know what I'm saying? Going back to the conversation that we were having on here about because like we were I don't know if we were disagreeing but we were just like not on the same page with what Tiger's album or Starface's album did versus the type of artist you are. Do you see yourself in the same category as what Starface did? No. Or do you see yourself some different? Okay. What's the difference?

I think the music that I made, one is comedy. So I think that that kind of like lessons to blow. But it's like I just, I make real music. And in the sense of, not saying that music is real, But the stuff that I talk about, like, I just talk about real things. I made a song called Fupa, which is, you know, falling in love with a woman's Fupa or a big ariola music. And I feel like a lot of these rappers aren't really rapping about where they live. Like, when's the last time a rapper rapped about the vitamins he's taken? Right. So you're different in the sense of like the, like, lyrically or like the subject matter of the context.

But as far as do you see yourself different in the way you make music from the way that he makes Starface versus how you make, your music because, you know, you're working on a new album and everything. Yeah, so that's what I'm saying. I don't know his exact process. Like I said, when I was reading the lyrics, I was just like, I was a little just confused as far as like what he was saying.

There's like a lot of metaphors and whatnot, and I know he was trying to go for the 80s vibe. So I don't know a lot about Tiger, but from what I've known about him, I know Rack City and that... Taste. I don't even know taste. He had a song with Lil Wayne called like

the lime and the coconut. The lime and the coconut. That was a great. song you know what I'm saying so that that's the tiger I know so okay okay I do not so I know what I was tiger but so when I read the lyrics I was just like I didn't understand it you know I'm saying so but the process the actual process of making AI music that the way I do it like I write my songs and then I like I'll like hum melodies or you know like I'll beat some drums or whatever and then I like

take that and then we'll convert it to whatever sound it makes So, okay, let's kind of reset for a second because we're talking about a lot of different things at the same time. Okay. There is a belief societally in black communities, wherever, just overall, that AI is two things.

One, that the push to AI isn't like a real push. That the push is based in financial corporations trying to find a place to synthetic inflate the American economic climate, right? And that there are a bunch of companies at the top of this, Navidia, AMD, whomever they are, that are benefiting from this investment into AI that is not going to meaningfully change people's lives, right?

Because even if AI does what it's supposed to do, then it will end up in this fundamental reshaping of American society. Like who you are and what you are what you do and how you feed your family and all that stuff like that. If there's not some kind of UBI or something like that, AI is going to erase a lot of American jobs, right? And deep power people.

Okay. People believe that AI music is essentially a way of grooming people into that idea of digital slavery. Because what happens is like when a repressive regime from a country or something somewhere wants to make people okay with whatever they're doing, First thing they do is they buy a sports league. Saudi Arabia. They buy a soccer league. And it's, oh, how bad could we be? The Ronaldo's playing here.

Like, whatever. They sports wash things. Sports washing happens here in the United States. No need to go to another culture. Hey, come hang out with the president, and here's your jersey and all of that. Okay, when you leave everybody from your community, their rights are all gone. But look at you. The president's a cool guy.

He likes you, whatever. AI music seems like a way to do that same thing. get people okay with the idea of jobs being lost for whatever purpose of people's ability to create being lost for whatever purpose as long as you get a catchy song or something out of it. You say that that's not the thing. Why are those people wrong?

Well, I mean, I think it, at least as far as my process, you know, I'm not trying to, I'm an artist first, you know what I'm saying, and humans, so I'm not trying to eliminate us from the equation. You know what I'm saying? I think that there will be people that just try to prompt songs and just pressing buttons in. But like, you know, I spend a lot of time just like learning my craft. You know what I'm saying?

Like so I want to, like even this album, A Hinge, like we brought in artists. Like it was very important that we had, you know, artists. And the A lot. Artists to do what? To recreate the music. You know what I'm saying? So it just allowed us to like iterate fast

as far as like getting ideas out. Like I write songs, I write songs every day. You know what I'm saying? So like I said, I was going viral for, a very long time, but now because of these AI songs, I can go by pretty much like every other week. But it's just because I can go, I can move really fast.

And that's how I like to move. So I think that, I don't know if there's like a simple answer to that because there will be jobs that are lost, but I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities that are created as well. Opportunities created how and where? Because people are just, they're going to be able to like

dream bigger as far as like what they can actually execute on. So now, So, you know, if you can, like, I just use this project as an example. I was like, man, I want to make this comedy album, comedy musical album, you know what I'm saying? Like, Chabain, the musical was going viral. And I was like, we should make an album that has, like, a musical theme to it. And then let's bring in the artists that can actually do that. So bringing the singers, bring in the, you know, musicians that we can actually, like, recreate the sound.

But because of that, I can actually send it to folks and then be like, this is the sound that I'm actually going for. And they can hear it right away versus me just, you know, trying to. But for you, you're making it. a decision with all the agency that you have to bring in a singer to sound like something. Obviously, the AI is going to get to a point to where you don't need that singer. You can do whatever you want. Have somebody seeing something

exactly the way that you want. I remember back in the day, I mean, yeah. I'm listening, I remember back in the day listening to Gwen Stefani talk about being in the studio with Dr. Dre. And she was talking about the fact that she's in the studio with Dr. Dre. And Dr. Dre had a specific way

that he wanted stuff to go. And that sometimes that was frustrating. She was very excited to work with Dr. Dre, but sometimes it was frustrating, listen to him go, sing it like this, do it like this, do it like this, this is how it's supposed to sound. Right? Now you don't have to have that.

Now what you can do, if you are Dre or if you are Timberland, if you are somebody else, you can just create the singer to sing and sound exactly the way you want to. Right. But that singer is gone. It's a computer program. Right.

No, it's not gone. Well, I mean, I think, I mean, and not going to speak from my perspective, you know what I'm saying? Because I think that a lot of people might feel differently, but just the process that I go through. I think these tools are going to give us a lot of agency, you know what I'm saying, to be able to just imagine and do what. Because again, man, I was coming from being on the outside of industry for a long time. And I was like, I know I was talented and I know I could have a seat at the table,

but for whatever reason I just couldn't. So, and, you know, I, I, I, I just think that, you know, if people are trying to do the right thing, and I know people don't do the right thing, like they'll want to lean into this process and want to include artists because it just sounds different. Like, we just released the version of Chabain the musical with Stevie Mackey, and it sounds incredible.

Better, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So it sounds a lot better than it did with just having just AI vocals. Stevie Mackey. Steve Mac is amazing, you know what I'm saying? So, and he bodied it. So, you know, I think that there will be people that just want to cut corners, which is the way a lot of, some people live life,

but the ones that really are about the craft, they're going to do the right thing and just make sure the process is done right. So is there a version of AI use in music that you would say goes too far? Is there a line for you? Yeah. Man, you know, just, like, you know, when you have,

when you have, I guess, just people that are not of the culture, making music for the culture. And, yeah, I mean. What do you mean? Like, when you have white people are having AI sounding like black people? Yeah, or just like, just making like music that,

but I mean, we know the music industry, like they were creating songs that maybe don't benefit us, you know? It's all vibrations and whatnot. So like, sonically, songs about killing and murder and, you know, degrading women. But you can make songs like that now. So, like, if you wanted to just prompt a song,

and I'm like, I, like, somebody that's like MAGA's was like, I want to make a bunch of really demeaning songs to Black people, but create an AI black person that's making all these crazy, really outlandish crazy songs. You could do that now. So there's not a line as far as the tool, using the tools. You're talking about it's if they used it to be against a marginalized growth. Well, that, well, I mean, I would say that too,

but just, I mean, I don't want to steal nobody's voice, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't want to make a- Like if I went into Sona up and I was like, I'm going to write a country song and I want it to sound like Mickey Guyton, definitely not, Mickey Guyton. Yeah. And I say, and I want the song to be about how she grew up in Texas and breaking through in the country music, which is hard as a black artist.

Right. And it would lyrically write the song for me. And if I said I wanted it to sound like a throwback like 80s country, like Patsy Klein style. Yeah. And using Mickey's voice. Would you have a, and that song blows up. Would you have a problem with that? Is that a line for you?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Why? Because you're like, you're taking somebody else's voice. Because that's how easy it is to do it. Not that that song would blow up, but I'm just saying I could literally prompt it and type it in. So there is a line for you.

Yeah. That's what I'm trying to get to. Like, what is. too far for you with AI use when it comes to music. I think in the day it's just like if you're, and this is, I guess, I feel like you're stealing from artists, which kind of is, you know what I'm saying? But like if you're using somebody, Blayton using somebody's voice,

like the one app, I want to say the app's name because everybody will probably go on it, but like you can literally just type in somebody's voice. If you're like, I want to make this sound like Michael or Prince or whatever, and it'll just, it'll make that just like them. You know, I feel like, that's wrong. Like these, these voices, the app that I use,

and I have my own like proprietary, I have like an open source thing that I made as well, but I'm just more so prompting like the particular genre and style and whatnot and then it kind of does stuff. But even when it creates that, the voice that it comes up, if you do a 70

soul singer, we're going to hear people that we, it's not a direct one to one to Sam, Clarke, or Otis, rating or whatever, but it is, the computer is making us feel like those people. So we hear those people even though it's not their voice. So a lot of people would say that like that distinction is negligible. Well, that's all when I said that, I was like, man, you know, it's, it's, I don't know, I don't know how to feel about it, man.

You know what I'm saying? Like, any day, I really just want to just make people laugh, you know what I'm saying? And just feel good. And I feel like the songs that I've made. one day brought people together even during the BBL Drizzi or I thought it was hilarious Yeah or even like

You know the thing that's happening now man My songs is funny because they're comedic songs But they're actually like launching people's careers Which is you know like there's tons of people That have made parodies of my song Like the Shabain music that are now getting like Millions of Views and they're getting the following based off of like making so

I feel like I'm giving back You know what I'm saying But you know I can I can understand the point of view where it feels like taking away, you know what I'm saying? But that's not my intent at all. And I think part of it too just goes into like your intent. As an artist, as a human, like what are you actually trying to do?

And my intent is always just to make people laugh. You know what I'm saying? And if I felt like the stuff that I was making was like harming people or taking away, then I would just take it down, you know what I'm saying? Do you think that the music industry should have a labeling standard? Do you think it should say AI assistance? or AI generated when it comes out? Yeah, I think that'll be a cool thing.

I think that way people don't feel like misled, you know what I'm saying? I feel like, so it's like two sides, like when you introduce a song to somebody, if you say like this is an AI song, listen to this, then there's probably like a lot of pushback. But if they hear the song first, and then later you tell them like it was an AI song,

and a lot of times they end up like, because they'd already like it. You know what I'm saying? That's been my experience. Like people, they love my music, and then they find out it's AI and I'm like, oh, you know. Do you think AI is anti-humanist? Damn.

Because listen to me. Okay, let's come back to that question. Outside of entertainment, what shouldn't AI do? Because just AI is being proposed in almost every single aspect of our life. Palantir has the software called, I think it's called Kill Chain. and what it essentially does is it reorients the quickness, speed, and efficiency in which a decision to eliminate a target can be made. So let's say that, like, in the old days, we had a lead on somebody. And what I would have to do is I would have to call this general and call this person and call and get all of these different.

Right. Boom, to make sure this is the person, this is the thing, this is the deal. Well, what they have is a program that bypasses all of that. And then they make, it basically makes a decision to eliminate that target, right? And a lot of people would say that if we're making decisions about human lives, if we're making decisions about policing, if we're making decisions about resources, if we're making decisions about even facial recognition and stuff like that, then there should be people behind those decisions because even in the most cynical world,

a person has a different relationship to another person than a computer program does. So when we start asking questions about AI that are fundamental like that, we normally get back down to, okay, well, music, laughter, art. Those are things that are intrinsic to the human experience as well. And if we start seeing those things to AI, it's just a matter of time before the AI is orienting every single aspect of our lives. What do you think about that hyper-provose and grandiose? Damn. I just gave to you. I mean, you know, I think we've all watched The Terminator and The Matrix.

Shout out to Sophia Stewart. Man, it's tough, man, because, I mean, I think we've reached that point of, like, the point of no return as it... So it's just lay down and let it happen. I would never lay down. We should never lay down. But I don't really know the best way to answer that, man, to be honest, bro, because it's just like... the only thing I try to try to tell people because I you know I know we have a lot of conversations around the creative side of AI you know what I'm saying but it's

affecting like every industry education health care construction you know what saying so like I just try to at least I feel like it's my duty just to try to like educate our people you know what I'm saying because we're not building any of these platforms you know what I'm saying like we don't own a open AI and nothing like that so I was like I I just that mean to you when you say that? Because we're not building them. What does that mean?

I mean, you know, it's just like the decisions that are being made aren't from us. You know what I'm saying? Like it's governments, it's people that don't look like us that might not care about us that are like making these decisions. So I just try to try to educate people to try to learn as much as you can because like this stuff is happening. It feels like it's happening whether we like it or not. You know what I'm saying?

So, I mean, you look at like in the U.S. right now, it's a, it's a, race right now to build the best models and they're not slowing down like and they're not putting guard rails on anything either because it's like how can you because if you if you sold out in our tech then you look at what China's doing

and it's just like it's moving so fast that you're trying to compete and a lot of these companies they're just they're launching things they're doing things because you know they want to be first so so I don't know I don't know how to answer that man I is you know I was listening to you

you're talking about being a capitalist and you know at one point I was like yeah man just you know get your money up like that'll solve everything and then I don't know maybe it will I don't know but maybe it won't you know what I don't know I don't want to minimize myself I'm like man I'm just a comedian man I'm just trying to you know make people

laugh but you know I do think why did you want to come on I want to meet y'all I know I know that but what I'm saying is that like because because let me tell you what I feel right now. What I

feel is that when I hear your story, I hear you saying that AI liberated you in a way. Is that fair to say? Right. Okay. And I can understand that, right? Because there's very few things. I'm not going to say

nothing growing up and bad, but that are more soul crushing than going, yo man, I got this ridiculously awesome idea. And not only do I have an idea. You've seen me before where I've done stuff and it has been

fucking crazy. Right. And if I could just get this for this idea, man, we all been through that pitching, trying to make people see it, getting notes from people and all of that stuff. And then one day, boom, you don't have to do that anymore. And you see

that the talent that you always believed in for yourself is real. It's real. I make the song, people love the song. Boom, I don't need no help. and it feels personally liberating. I think for me, what I'm always trying to do is separate what works for me personally. That's even the capitalism situation.

Right, right, right. For what works for a society. Right. Because what you said earlier, let's go back to how AI is created and black artists are like inside of AI. Hip hop was essentially captured by people who weren't black.

Mm, fact. And then because those people had different appetites than what black audiences might have, you have to make art that cater to certain people. Right. Now, the only thing that would be better than having someone in a contract where they have to make the type of music

that you want them to make would be that person actually not being real. Because then you could make that music and make it sound like somebody, make it look like somebody, and just put it out there, it would be black inspired, but it wouldn't be black. And we're on that, yeah, we're going there. Yeah, it's a thing.

Yeah, it's happening now. Like it's already, we're already there, to be honest. I don't know if you finish your point. Well, my point is this. Don't you, obviously you feel like there's something wrong with that. Right. But short of not embracing the technology, what would be the control for that? Hmm.

Man, I'm not, I'm not in short, bro. I'm not. Because you're saying it's going to happen regardless. Yeah. So I feel like this is where. you, if I can, and tell me if I'm wrong, you feel conflicted is that this is where things are headed. Probably 10 years from now or less,

made with AI won't even be controversial. It'll just be the reality of the situation, whether it's whatever type of art is being put out there or another industry. So I feel like you're saying, Van talked about you being liberating, you've been able to change your entire trajectory of your career. Also at the same time,

you have a company where you're educating people of this is where things are heading. So I'm teaching you how to work in this system because these systems already exist. They'll use them to cancel us out regardless. Van just pointed out, they're going to use our voice likeness. They are using our voice.

These songs are already out there. We've seen it. So is the conflict for you, or maybe it's like it's hard to answer because you have good intention, you're trying to teach people to work within a system that is inevitably here. but at the same time

and I guess like create opportunities for black people rather than black people altogether being a race because they're being they're behind and they don't understand it is that kind of where you're? Yeah yeah you know man I was I was listening to this it was like Martin Luther King

where he was like what was a quote I'm going to misquote Martin King's invite but it was like I feel like I let my people into a burning house yeah integrated people into a burning man Yeah, so sometimes, I'm gonna be honest, I like I sometimes when I really started to think very deeply about where we're potentially going, like, I think about that.

You know what I'm saying? Because I've seen just doing like these events that we do and like these hackathons, like how much has benefited people. Not just from the creative side, but like the, you know, people start the businesses and like they're able to like optimize their businesses. And you know, you can do so much using, like, once you understand these tools and like, you know, building apps and all these different things.

And so I see firsthand, you know, mothers. You know, we're talking children, like what they can actually do and like how their minds, you can just see their minds, the gears like twisting. They're like, their imaginations are expanding because they're like, wow, I can, I don't have this governor over myself that is maybe just limited me in my way of thinking. But, you know, to your point, man,

it's just like where we're potentially headed is, It's scary. You know what I'm saying? Potentially. I don't know. I'm a glass half full type of niggins. So like, give me the glass half full perspective then. Yeah, I mean, I think from an artist standpoint, like, you can be fully empowered now.

You know what I'm saying? Like, and I don't know if anybody wants to watch a full AI generated movie, but like being able to actually like. We're going to find out? Yeah, very soon. It's getting there. You know what I'm saying? But being able to just like get your ideas out.

Like I said, like working on my album and working on like the day. different films I've done. I'm in, I'm creating B.B.O. Drizzi, the musical, which is a planetarium experience. I've never would have been able to do a planetarium dome experience without these AI tools, you know, because now I can like actually iterate.

I can, we pitch the sphere, we pitch Cosm. Like, that wouldn't have happened had we not have these tools and they can understand, I can speak their language now. I can, I can walk in the rooms where, you know, I don't understand something. I can have Claude or whatever, like, teach me. You know, so. So from that standpoint, I think it's very empowering for artists or just people in general.

And so that's why I tend to like look towards and then just like, okay, let's like focus on like the opportunity versus like what can be taken away from us. You know what I'm saying? You said that you were submitting, you're going to submit your your album that's coming up for a Grammy. How does that work? Like you can do that? Yeah, so best comedy album. With AI, is like there a limit? So it has to be real singers, real instruments and whatnot.

So that's what I was saying, like, the process was use this to kind of just iterate, test things out, you know what I'm saying, versus like spending, you know, a huge budget trying to make an album and, you know, we, you know, we did about 200-something songs, you know, over the span of a month. And versus, like, if we used the traditional means, we might have, you know, did 40 or something like that, you know what I'm saying? So now we got a larger selection to choose from. And then we brought in the singers, we brought in the musicians,

and then we spent the time just recutting all the songs. So it just allowed me to, like, you know, just iterate faster and, like, hopefully we get the gram. I think we have the, I mean, I think Dave Chappelle won the last couple years. And that's my, that's actually, actually today's my birthday. That's my birthday twin. Oh my God, happy birthday. Yeah, me.

Happy birthday, wow. Yeah. Last question for me, just really quickly. Tiger receives a lot of backlash. I think a lot of people don't, but Starface, a lot of people don't believe, even you kind of are questioning it, that what he's saying he did,

they think that he actually used more AI tools than he's claiming. Right, it wasn't just guitar, solos, and is it a synthesize? I think that's what you say, yeah. But they think that he used more than that. Doja Cat came out, and she called him a penis.

I saw that. I'm wondering, with the popularity that you've had and the attention, have you received backlash from musical artists? Have they said anything to you in regards to, like, what you do?

Yeah. Yeah, you know, I get... What did they say and who? Yeah, I get a little bit of backlash. I really don't pay attention to it, to be honest. I think... I don't know. I just...

Like, when I first started out, and I was like, I was specifically, making AI trailers for like my scripts. Like I was again, I was trying to break into, into Hollywood as a writer, you know what I'm saying? I just, BBL jersey popped off. But a lot of people, they were messing with like, man, you're not an artist and this and that.

I'm like, bro, you don't know how long I've been, I've been doing stuff for 20-something years, you know what I'm saying? So like, so when I see that, I'm just like, people really don't know all the work that goes in behind the scenes. They just think that you press a button and you prompting and all these things, but like I write all myself. I'm a writer first. Like I really just consider myself right and I really just enjoy the process of writing.

Like anybody knows me and knows how hard I work. But, you know, I think there's going to be, there's going to be that backlash. Anytime there's a new technology, you know, there was, you think about when, when movies started having, like, people talk, there was a bunch of silent actors that were just like, this is it, you know, I got to start talking in movies. You know what I'm saying? Like, this radio and now it killed the whole industry. you know what I'm saying and vice versa you know when Google jumped out there's probably

people purists that were just like I like going to the library I don't want to search Google you know what I'm saying so I think as new tech AI I know it's a little bit different but I think as new technology emerges like the people that embrace it you know they they have this window that they can just kind of do some amazing things but you know when I when I receive any backlash it doesn't it doesn't bother me because I know I know what I do you know And I know, like I said, I know my intentions behind what I'm doing. I don't know Tiger. I don't know anything about him.

I just know I heard Starface. I like the song, racks on the table. It's catchy. But the backlash, I don't think he should have got a zero out of zero. What would you have given him? At least a one or two. I mean, I'm just saying that's the, if you're looking at like, price is right. I would have, I would have gave him.

He deserved a number. Right. You know what I'm saying? But the zero out of zero, I was like, that's crazy. Because racks on the table is actually a catchy song. And again, the man gave us rack city and the lime and the coconut. It's like what he came from to this now is where people are being more. So I'll say two things.

One I'll say about the argument that you made about new technologies. That's very true. It's always been that way, right? Always been, you know, like whatever. We are, though, I think at a unique point in society where we can sort of litigate how technology changes us. Right. Right.

So being able to Google everything on the spot is awesome. Right. Right. But maybe we do need to spend a little bit more time in libraries, right? Right. Like being able to have a device on your hip that holds 30,000 phone numbers is good. But maybe it helps your brain chemistry to like memorize 15 or 20 phone numbers. Right.

You know what I mean? Right. Certain things about our experience as human beings that actually are the way. they should be. Maybe technology should be something that enhances human connection and experience rather than something that removes it and takes it away. And we're kind of asking questions about which technologies, like enhance our humanity and which technologies replace it.

I think that we're going to, to your point, though, I think there will be diminishing skills because of AI or just technology in general, right? Like how many people actually know how to hunt? or like use a map anymore, you know what I'm saying? So like that is, that's something like, you know, any faculty that you don't use, it kind of atrophies. So that's going to happen because, but in the same vein, like, you know, I think that, I think about like social media, right?

And you think about technology, like right now, a social media manager probably didn't exist, what, 20 years ago. Yeah. But now a social media manager makes six figures. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I think that we'll see. And now you have AI.

Right. Right. You know what I'm saying? Social media. So that guy's going to lose his job. So stop. Like, let me, so two more things. One, we could also have a whole conversation on data centers and all of that stuff and how and all the compute that's needed for this.

Right. And like that industry as well. But we'll bring Ed Zittron back on to have this, to have that conversation. I'm going to ask you one thing. He does not see the glass at full. Nah. It's the opposite. Like air going crazy.

Air going up too, by the way. It's going crazy. Let me ask you this. Artists that you have a relationship is cool. What's your relationship with Drake? I don't know, man. So, I mean, you know, Drake, they sample B.B.O. Jersey. It was the first AI sample song in music history, which is insane.

But I've never met him. I never interact with him. I don't know if he likes me or if he wants, you know, he wants to give me hands. I don't know. Chimane, the musical is going crazy right now. You know what I'm saying? So I think if Drake, I think he's a smart dude.

I think if he was smart, he would work with me because I'm just like, my whole, I'm just saying, like. Did you get paid for the sample? I made some, you know what I'm saying? I made it a little bit. So Metro Boomin paid you for the sample?

Well, we cut a deal with Drake and sexy red for the... You could have deal with Drake and sexy red. When they sampled the song. When he sampled, when Metro Boomer, you cut a deal with Drake and sexy red. because he put BBL Drizzi in You My Everything

Oh yeah, okay So Drake did that Yeah, yeah Drake Drake cut you in when he put BBL Drizzy In that song He cut you in

Well, it was really I mean it was produced by You know, take Eve You know what I'm saying Yeah, take care Recipe's food But so you got paid off that Did you get paid off

BBL Drizzy though? Did you get paid off Metro Boomer's BBL Driz? Yeah, I still get paid off BBL Drizzy Oh okay so you got So everybody did good business Yeah

So okay cool So then But you've never heard anything from like Drake or like you never got no aisles in your DMs Okay so I I'll be real

I'll be fully transparent because we you know I'm not going to lie to the people when when BVo Drizzi first dropped it was during Netflix as a joke two years ago

I was there I actually came out here for the festival and then my boy Tehran hit me up and he was like yo Drake hates you

and he's like they born And he was like the whole OVO team. I guess they were in L.A. at the time. And I was laughing about it. I was like, no, he doesn't. And he was like, bro, trust me. And then, and then, because he was like, they were calling him.

He was like, do you know this nigga Wallonia? Like, who is this dude? And then that kind of like subsided or whatever. But like, I've never actually like taught to Drake or whatever a DM to him or nothing like that. So you heard that they had, but nobody ever. Yeah, he never mentioned me in a song. He never, so I'm assuming we're assuming we cool. I feel like if I see Drake right now, like,

he'll dab me up and, you know, we'll laugh about... Chubs and Baca are going to be on your ass so fucking quick you're going to be upside down. Hey, but look, it's all gravy, though. It's like, who cares, bro? You know, right. You can't move around.

Like, you can't move around. I'm not, look, I... You can't move around. I haven't been to... Plus, you're in L.A. now. It's the other side over here. I do want to visit Toronto, though. So, like, like, which camera is my?

Drake? Look, man. I would... This is King Maloney's, B.B. Alderzy, right? You call yourself B.B. Adrizzie now. I would love to work with you. I would love to come to the Six and hang out with you and your woes. And let's make great music together.

You know what I'm saying? Chabain the musical is going crazy. We could do a whole Disney album. And it would be a great time. You know, I know you love comedy. I love comedy. Let's make it happen. You want to bury the hatchet.

Yeah, I don't know. See, I don't even, this is the thing about B.B.O. Drizzi, The B.B. Aldrizzi really isn't a diss to Drake. It's a celebration of the BBL. Sure. When you really listen, you're distilled. Sure. I'm thinking of the other lyrics.

I mean, we read the history. Yeah, we read the lyrics. It was a man being, being like, I love this BBL. But you know, can I tell you something? Do you know little things in that song that get me? The fact that the AI didn't say history. Yeah. The AI is singing like a black person from that.

the 60s and the AI said history. Right. Like my uncle, like Uncle Jit said history. Like, A.T. Yulele-May said history. That was very, right. Like, that is scary. It didn't say, I got the best BBL in history. It's like a nigga says it from 66.

I mean, you know, that was, and that was UDio. I made that with UDio and like, that model doesn't do that anymore. Like they've updated and like, so like that was like, I don't know if you can read capture that type of sound anymore or whatever. But you down to work with Drake? I love to work with Drake. You know what I'm saying?

Like I think that we could probably do some dope stuff and I think comedically we can make some funny comedic music. I think that people want that because I right now Drake the musicals trend in and yeah, Drake, you know how to get at me? Hit my line. You know, you're gonna, okay. All right, I mean, look, I'm just, look, I'm not saying for you to, I'm not saying you need to be scared of no, niggas,

because we don't do that, you know what I'm saying? Right, right. I'm from Florida. Yeah. Palm Beach County. You know, it's crazy. Why did you, why did you? Because.

What's with you, Doc? Like, why did you, why did you hesitate? Because it's Palm Beach. Because it's Palm Beach. You don't want to say that you from down there. You didn't want to say Palm Beach. You're with them? Like, I'm in real with you, bro.

Because, like, even the way you hesitated right there. Because I necessarily, you didn't want to say that, man. You're from Palm Beach County. At North Beach County. You didn't want to say you were from next to you. I'm from the trenches. in Palm Beach show. You're from the trenches in Palm Beach. You're pushing AI. Is this a sciop? No, it's not. It's not. You know, it's so crazy. Get Jared Kushner

on the phone. I don't know Jared Kushner. Okay, so I'm from, I'm from Palm Beach County. I'm from Delray Beach, which is a city. I know Delray Beach. Okay, so, but I, every time I say, like, nobody knew Palm Beach. I used to have to say I was from Miami, right? Because, like, nobody, but like, because of Trump and all, like, I got, and every time I say Palm Beach, now, they're like, oh, you, are you MAGA and this and this and this and that and I'm not. You know what I'm saying? I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I grew up near the beach. I'm a real nigga from the beach. Like, I'm a real nigga, man. Like, that's the thing. You know what I'm saying? And, yeah, I'm from Florida. And you know, it's messed up about Florida.

Like, we don't have like that type of reputation. You know, like, somebody, people would be like, man, I'm from Chicago. Like, don't, you know, if I'm from Florida, like, it's just, you just, you just from Florida. What you mean? It depends where you, which part. If you're from Jacksonville right now, I get the bulletproof vests out. Like, shout out to people in Jacksonville. Jacksonville. They're crazy.

Yeah. So, like, yeah, it's places in Florida. We got killers too in Palm Beach County. But when I say that, you didn't think that. Why are we even talking about with pride? And I'm not to say that. Look, I'm not on that. Why do we do this?

You're not on that. I'm, nigga, I'm from South Beth. You did it first. You'll die in 20 seconds. It's like the Ukraine front line. Right. Like, no, it's no. But we, you know, we go to church.

Yeah, we have, we have like, In the Rooge, we had the Allen Chapel, the AME Church, you know what I mean? We got Sacred Heart. We had May Night. We had things that are like life-affirming. Let's make being wholesome people cool again. No, we got a community. You know what I'm saying?

We got Dale Pitts Chicken Shack. We go there? All I'm saying is like when I said I was from Florida, it wasn't like, oh, man, you know what I'm saying? Because you said a whole state. There's really no such thing as a whole state that you can say. Right. niggas gonna be like, oh, are you from Arizona? Like, God damn, that's crazy.

You're from Illinois? No, it's Chicago, and then it's the south side of Chicago. You know what I'm saying? I feel like you're from Texas. I was about to say that. And you feel like you from Texas. Before I say I'm from Texas, before I say I'm from Dallas. But when you say like you from Texas, that's because y'all like got a whole thing.

It's a whole, yeah, it's a whole Texas pride. But it don't really mean that like you, Texas has like some kind of reputation with like, God damn that nigga from Texas. But I'll be, but nobody does that. I'll be honest with you though. When I say I'm from, unless people are from Texas, usually when I say I'm from Texas, it stops there. They'll be like, oh, you're from Texas?

Exactly. They don't like say Dallas, Houston. That's because you guys have a whole culture of separation and stuff. It's just, that's what's going to be. Because there's three states inside of Florida. There's the Caribbean, which is what Miami is, a whole complete different country.

Then you have the middle of Florida. Then you have the top of Florida where, you have the villages. You have Jacksonville, the villages, Miami. Florida's back. The further north you go in Florida, the more southern it gets. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a little back on. I don't know how we got here. But look, I don't know if we learned very much about, I think we learned a lot about you and how you look at things. I think, you know, anybody listening to this interview could trust you. I don't know if we got a sense of whether or not, like, I don't be honest with you. I'm not really fucking with AI.

I don't know. Your shit doesn't bother me. Yeah. And we know that because me and you have connected. But I'm not really fucking with AI and creation. I'm still not. I don't think it's a good thing. And I don't think.

And I don't try to push and say that people should. You know what I'm saying? I just say, like, I use it as a tool. But I don't, I don't try to say people like, you must use AI and you need to. Well, there ever be a time where you get the resources that you need, where you have access to them, where you won't use AI anymore. Like, you blow up. That's a good question.

You can do whatever you want. Because now you know how fast it can work. Like, now, like, you don't need to do it no more. You can hire the musicians. You can have people come out. You can do all of that stuff. You don't have to do it anymore. Is there a time where you wouldn't use it anymore?

Yeah, yeah, I would say so. But, man, I have so much fun doing the process, man. So, like, we recorded everything we did at Amazon the last two weeks. And I think when people see it, like, the process is actually really fun. You know what I'm saying? And, like, Amazon, Palm Beach. Yeah, okay, I see you, Doc. Well, Delray Beach.

Delray Beach, Palm Beach. I see you, bro. I see you. I see you. I mean, we are out here. You know what I'm saying? But again, you know, I'm a black man, a nigga with good intentions. And I love black people.

And I love black women. I need to say that a thousand times because I feel like there's a narrative that's going around that black women don't love black women. Don't get on here and start the gender wars. Don't get on here and start the gender wars. No, but I love that you love black women. I got to say it. You know what I'm saying? Because it's not enough of us like saying it.

You know what I'm saying? We love black women. And I think that. Make that song. Make that song. Like, make the, make the, yeah, make the,

Top-Five black women? Give me a top-five black woman, period. Oh, snap. You say you love him. Harriet Tubman. Okay, cool. Oh, my mama first. Nah, she's not,

she don't make the list. Okay, I mean, she can make your list. She's like, she's like, your mom, Harriet Tubman. Harry Tubman. I mean, Viola Davis. Okay. Hey, shout out to the homie Viola.

Yeah. Tell me, Viola Davis. Yeah, you got to put it up there. Okay. Who else? I will put Sojourner Truth. Okay. Another one, okay.

That's one of them ones. Yeah, you got to put her. And the fifth one, give us a wild card. Give us a wild card. Because, like, we could go, Myangelo. We could go. Sexy Red. Sexy Red is the fifth.

Okay. Why Sexy Red? I just love Sexy Red, man. You know what I'm saying? like I was, so I was rooting for sexy red for so long. Y'all did the same CIA class. Keep going. Sexy Red, I think.

And there's a, depending on how you feel about her. But I like her story that, I remember when she came out with her first song, that do-d-do-do-do-do or whatever. You know what I'm talking about? Is she pink? No, she had a song when she was like walking down the street. We didn't know till the other one. She went viral.

I have no problem with sexy red, by the way. I just like, she reminded me. some of my cousins and like. I think a lot, that's what a lot of people like about her. I just, you know girls like sexy red, you know what I'm saying? Like, and just her energy and like, I think the way she made it, you know what I'm saying? Because I remember she came out and she came out with a viral song and then I was like following her and she had like stuff on YouTube when I was like, man, I hope she makes it, you know what I'm saying?

I was like, you know, brown skin at the time, I felt like it was a lot of like light skin, hip-hop women that was coming out and I was like maybe she might not make it. but she came out with Poundown. I was like, and then she came out with looking for the holes and all that. And I was just like, I was, I was like proud. You know what I'm saying? I felt like one of my cousins made it.

Yeah. And I think a lot of the people that make a big deal hating on sexy red are into some respectability kind of bullshit and all that stuff like that. I mean, we got to clean up the message, you know what I'm saying, around just what we do, like spend that. Spend that is a great, like for anybody that grew up in South Florida, that is a quintessential, like, it takes you back to, like, the mega center,

CAFWAI, iguana, like, that type of energy. But, like, you know, with them scamming ass niggas at, it's just, that's, that's not the message we need for the youth. We'll end it right there. Like, we'll end it right there. Okay, I understand. We didn't, I'll tell you what, we didn't go on the journey that we wanted to go on, but it's more about the friends that we made along the way.

Right. King Alonius, you were one. of the friends that we made along the way. Tell people the thing that you want to promote right now. Yeah, Unhinge. The album is coming out this week. Check out Chabain the musical featuring Stevie

Mackey. It's on all DSP, Spotify, Apple Music. And then check out King Walonius. I got these prompt God hats. If you love God, check out that. And then we are here. Appreciate you coming by, brother. Thank you, man.

Right, before we get out of here, I want to, because I think a lot of times people look at me as like a bleeding heart lefty and they don't understand that I'm a law and order guy. Oh, like as in you watch the show? No, that I deeply believe in law and order. I deeply believe in order and law. And I don't get credit for that. You know, people hear me, they go, Van, are you a defund the police guy? I'm like, yeah. Abolace, get rid of it.

I don't know what I'm going to fuck about them. but at the same time I'm also for law and order that's why when I saw this at the Circle K on Highland and Melrose before I got here

I had to help law and order preside. Like you witnessed it? I saw this there. Jay put this picture up put it in a group chair now this is apparently a couple that is a banana thief couple. You took this picture. Yeah.

So these two allegedly have been going into the Circle K on the corner of Highland and Melrose and stealing the bananas. This picture is put up there on the side in front of the Hagen-Daz toward people

about the banana thief. Did they put Banana Thief couple up here? Yo, this is the funniest shit I ever saw. They put banana thief couple and they want you to know that these people

are stealing bananas. I would never in a million years have done this if these people didn't look the way they do. I'm going to be honest with you. But they do look a certain way.

So there they are. This is alleged all allegations. We don't know what's happening. Is that a banana being stuck in the pocket in that first picture? It looks like if you zoom in right there that this guy is taking a banana, red-handed and stealing it, white-handed it, so red, because they could change color. So, and stealing it and putting a banana in his back pocket as his girl runs interference.

They're not taking this shit at the Circle K on the cover of quarter of Melrose and Highland. They're not taking this, and they want everybody to know that it's not just a banana thief. I'm going to go look on the way home. That is the banana thief couple of L.A. that are stealing bananas. Did you talk to the cat? Because normally you would. This is some, this is you. I am shocked that you didn't talk to the cashier about this.

I guess this is my question. I didn't because I left because I needed some water I wanted to get here. I left. But do we have to blur their faces or what's the legal thing on this? This is public. This is out here. They posted this. They posted it on the side of the Hagenas, banana thief couple, and then they showed him stealing the banana.

And you're just trying to be a good citizen. This is in our area of where we podcast. Right. You've got two these thieves out here on the loose. and you're just trying to help. Now here's the thing, though. The situation. What if they were stealing because they're hungry?

This is a squatter thing for you. That's my only thing. In that world. I pledge. I doubt it. It don't look like it to me. It doesn't look like you. I'm going to be honest with you.

I don't have no love for the banana thief couple. If they look different, I would have different. Clearly, you're just out of them here on this podcast. That's funny. You can't tell me that's not funny. Y'all don't think that's, y'all not laughing. Y'all don't think, you don't give a fuck about trying to stop crime, and that's a big problem. That's a big problem.

Why don't you, why do you think that? I can just tell that as you're doing stuff over there, what you have is feral whites, running around Hollywood, stealing bananas out of stores. This is probably a ring of banana thieves. Can you put like the local police number, like not a 911? Is there like a crime stoppers thing? Let's put that down there. Brun, let's put that.

If y'all don't take fucking control of y'all communities, nobody fucking will. Here's your homework. Here's your homework. Because I really am shocked you didn't do this. You have to go in back here on the way home or before Thursday. And you got to inquire about this. Okay. Because this is what you do.

You got the number? We got the number. We got the number. Okay. We're taking it seriously. I'm just being for real, man. I'm just looking at this. Banana thief.

This lets me know the owner is pissed. You should be like, how many bananas have they taken? Because this is a reoccurring thing. He's pissed. This is like a label maker. He wrote out banana thief on a label maker and put it on there.

This is serious work. He's pissed. Let me tell you out something here. You know, I don't think, stealing food is one thing I don't know this couple but it feels like this is a kink of some sort No, just stop

I don't know what they're using a banana for Go and find out Go investigate That's funny to me Van Lathen on the case On the case Van Lathen I could be the new Pablo Oh yeah yeah

I could be the new Pablo I could be the new Pablo They stealing bananas And they give them to Quayleynette As they say on Law & Order Go go and inquire about the perp The perp The perp.

The perp. The perp. I love Law & Order. Purps. You got a couple perps. Banana bandits. The banana bandits. Nice.

See, Jets tapped in. The banana bandits. Look at these two people. Look at her. You should tell him that that's a lost opportunity to not have labeled it that way. She looking so innocent so that this guy who looks like he's in a rock band can steal the banana. The back pocket picture is hilarious. That's funny.

They stealing bananas, man. I didn't know Circle K sold bananas like that. They got, like, when you go into these little convenience stores, like 7-Eleven and shit like that, they got the worst fruit you can possibly expect. I never go inside those stores. You ever try one of apples from? I just do the gas. No.

I ate what apple from 7-Eleven one time. How long were you down? It was pretty bad. Yeah, stomachache immediately. I don't know what's going on with the apples there. Like, before we get out of here, do y'all ever eat? I know Bernard does. I know Bernard does.

I know Bernard. Back in the 80s and the 90s, you could go get a hot dog from 7-Eleven and it wasn't the thing. Yeah. But now they got... Now 7-Eleven got so much food that I know is bad. So they got wings in that bitch. What? Yeah.

They got slices of pizza. But the pizza looks fake. They got wings. And they got slices of pizza. And they got different variations of hot dogs. Like what? Like, multi... You don't really be inside these places.

The bread is rounded around the tequitos. I like those. That's the only thing. I only go to podcast. I don't eat it, but. Nigga, I knew it. You try to act like you didn't. What do you eat, Bernard?

You eat the tequitos out of 7-Eleven? If you hunt, yeah. That's why you weren't here last week. That's why you weren't here. That's why you're missing. You just told on yourself. But you eat the tequitos of 7-Eleven. I don't even get the BitGulp no more.

I used to love a big-goat. The Big Gulp, the icy. I used to love it. I did love an iceing. It was different than, no, man. Everything was different. I feel like in 95 the McDonald's was better. I probably was.

I feel like shit was different now. I wasn't alive, but I know that. Yeah, everything's changed. You know the only thing I ever used to get a 7-Eleven? Mrs. Baird's white-powdered donuts. Okay, I know what you're talking about? That's exactly. Like, on the way home from church.

I got the six-pack Mrs. Bairds. I'd kill for one of those right now. Man, that shit used to. I banana. I banana thief. I banana band. backlocking. She used to taste better.

I'm telling y'all, man, y'all talk about it now. Shit used to taste. It used to be better. It's over. I'm telling y'all. It used to be able to go. It was different. Like, it was different.

I'm jealous. The shit used to taste better. I'm jealous. They was making it with different shit, and it was different. It used to be better. Did they recall y'all food too? Because that's what everything is now.

No, Bernard. That's it, Bernard. We're out of here. Thank you to King Walonius. Thank you to Bernard. Takedo man. Thank you to Mark. I'm going to thank you to Jade.

We are out of here. We have an interview on Thursday? I don't think we do. Take it in caps off. Do not stop learning on Van Latham Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.