Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Birdman Versus Books, Van’s Summer Era, and the Electricity From Ken and Friends

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay react to Birdman’s visit to his hometown to speak to inmates at Orleans Parish Prison and his comments on the inmates’ need for books (33:07). They also talk about the interest (or lack thereof) toward Verzuz's distribution deal with X/Twitter (42:30). Then, they go over the surprising new election polling numbers (54:19) and reactions to our Bible talk from our last episode (1:08:24). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Our learning is on. It is I Van Latham Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Rachel. I'm on a high. I am on a high.

You want me to give you a moment while you finish brushing your beard out? Adjusting your hat, fixing your, get you ready, Van? You ready to go? The reality is sometimes you got pop out, show nits. You know what I mean? You did not pop out last night. you could have, but you didn't. Instead, I'd like to take this time to thank Van.

Because I'll be honest with you. Didn't think you were going to come through. I didn't think you were kind of come through. The moment I saw that Kendrick Lamar was going to be performing in L.A. at the forum on Juneteen, I immediately text Van with Kalika on the group text and said, we got to go. Man, you got to get us tickets. didn't really ask, just demanded.

And Vance response was, okay, I'll work on it. And he came through. He got us tickets. We had a great view. We had space. Couldn't have been better. Easy, a seamless process.

And we had the time of our lives. So I just want to take this time out to say thank you, Van, for providing us such a magnificent experience. Apologize. Thank you rating one. Another apology. Thank you rating one. Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why.

A thank you rating one. Because the first thing you said was I didn't think you were going to come through. No. You know what? I'm sick of it. I didn't think you were going to come through. I asked a couple of different people because I did not want to bother a friend of mine who I knew could get the tickets, right? Easy.

I want to shout out my man, Top. T.D.E. That's what you did. I didn't want to bother him. He's a busy man. I didn't want to bother him. He's a great guy. Always been a great guy. I always looked out and been there for me when I had to ask stuff, my career, great dude. I knew he would come through, but I just didn't want to bother him because I realized other people were hitting him up for tickets. I asked a couple other people like, yo, need to. I wasn't going to go. I'm not a concert guy. Don't matter the concert. I wasn't

going to go, but hit my man up, he automatically came through, literally the day before. So I was like, ah, there you go. You guys go. And you came in here and you said, I didn't think you were going to come through. It's rude, but it's okay. No. I'm glad that you guys. I'm glad to, no, no, no.

It's not because you can't do it. It's just that this was a really hard show. It sold out immediately. When they posted it, I knew everybody would be asking. It's L.A. So everybody's going to try to go. And so it's not that you couldn't deliver. It's just that I just knew it was going to be extra hard.

And I didn't know if they were going to be doing anybody any favors. But, you know, I didn't know that you knew the top guy. I didn't know you knew the person running TDE. Had you said that, I would have been like, oh, we're good. I've been around for a while. And that's the thing. But look, more importantly, how was the show? It was so good.

It's one of those things where I knew I was going to have a good time because this is the fifth or sixth Kendrick concert that I've been to. But I did not understand the gravity of the situation. It didn't really hit me until Kendrick popped on stage and that Teddy Pendergrass' latest, greatest inspiration, beat dropped. That I realized, oh, my gosh, what I'm witnessing is historic. The forum, L.A., the battle that had been ensuing or had, it was not anymore, between Drake and Kendrick, the fact that I think we can all agree, Kendrick won, the fact that he decided to kind of go on, like, put the knell in the coffin with the concert. All of L.A. uniting, I mean, that came towards the end, but just, it was an experience, which you don't always get at a concert.

and the moment the energy was electrifying. I mean, from, I missed DJ head. Sorry. Shout out my man, DJ head, man. Traffic was really bad. Traffic was really bad. We tried to get there. But we did make it for DJ Muster,

and he was continuously bringing on West Coast artists. When Tyler the creator came out, those were the second biggest cheers of the night. People lost their minds when the beat dropped. Pretty much for everybody. Then when Kendra came, rapping every word to a disc track about somebody else,

I mean, not like us playing six times. It played a lot. Played more than five. Everybody keeps saying five. If you were there, it played more than five. It was incredible. And then to see everybody, I mean, you know, where we were,

you could see A-listers enjoying the concerts. You know, like everybody was a fan. Everybody was there to support the moment. Everybody was a fan. You're a fan, you're a fan, you're a fan, you're a fan, you're a fan, you're a fan, you're a fan. I love, I have huge Southern pride, and I love the South. But man, I wanted to be from the West Coast last night.

You could tell me I kind of wasn't from the West Coast last night. It was, it was, it was great. Everybody came for a moment, and that's exactly what it was. It was a moment. Yeah, you know, I was watching here at the house. me and Bozeman, Bozeman was looking at me like, dad, why are you so excited?

Like, what's going on? It's just the TV. But, you know, it wasn't an important cultural moment. Sure, it was a victory lap to finish off the beat. But it also was a celebration of L.A.

hip-hop and L.A. culture that's very important. I'm going to be honest with you, man. Drake said something that he should have never seen. Yeah. He said, I'm bigger in your own city than you. And, you know, I've said this before on the podcast, and I really mean it, he might have felt that way.

No, he did feel like he might have felt. He might have felt that he might have felt that he's bigger in L.A. than Kendrick, but he's bigger in Hollywood. Hollywood, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, he's bigger in no spots. But that concert took place in Englewood. and at the end, it wasn't no Hollywood shit on that stage. That was not Hollywood. That was a cultural celebration of West Coast hip-hop dominance, legacy, and the future. You know, when he said, we've been fucked up since Nip died,

we've been fucked up since Kobe died. There's some other people in there that the L.A. hip-hop scene is Lars Draco, a couple of other people. It's been a situation to where, like, people have been wondering whether or not LA hip hop was in a good space. You know, whether or not there were new artists breaking,

whether or not the vibe was where it was. And it's so alive, it's alive and well. And the unity and the respect for each other is alive and well. That it just took, like I said, sometimes it just takes the right villain and Drake was the right villain,

Yeah, it's interesting you bring up that point because a lot of people say, well, Kendrick started it when he wrapped on the like that song. But I don't know if we would have had this if Drake hadn't said what he said about L.A. I think it sparked something in Kendrick. And we were spending the last podcast guessing who we thought Kendrick would bring. And I love on stage. And I love that. It was only West Coast. He didn't make it Hollywood.

He didn't do it for the fans or to attract the different audience. It was for L.A. And y'all can watch if y'all want to. Y'all can join along if you want to. But he wasn't trying to be anything else that he wasn't, which I also thought was really cool. I'm a big black hidden fan. So to see them.

And where we were standing, you could see the people coming up before they did. And I was like, grab a Khalik's arm. I was like, oh my God, that's absolute. Oh my God, that's J Rock. Oh my God, that's, like, at that point I knew schoolboy was going to come out, school, but it was, oh, it was so good. It's so good.

I'm going to be real. It's a, I got a shout out to my people in Toronto, man. Look. Your tweets were awful. We're so good. Y'all got to take these jokes, bro. Hold on.

Let me just be all the way real. Toronto, and I had a friend reach out. That's from Toronto. I wanted to bring him on the podcast. He said now. And he was saying, yo, he, he said yes,

but then I didn't reach back out. I don't know why. He was, I was poking fun in Toronto on Twitter. Right? And he reached out and he said to me, he said,

it's a good guy, great guy from, up north and the people up there are generally nice and extremely welcoming. Like nice and black. We're talking about black people. Yeah. He said, you're wrong for that post. Black Canadians matter too.

He said, low key, I always knew that the beef was never about Drake, but about how black Americans feel, black Americans feel about their claim to blackness versus other black experiences like the one up here. It's all love, but there's so many layers to this, bro. Can I be honest with you? Yes. I don't feel like he's wrong. I'm not, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be completely real.

I don't feel like he's wrong. First of all, there is no, we're all together, we're all black. But as a black American, it does sometimes feel like people from outside of America want to beat us at our own game. Like there was some specific glee. that was taken in the fact that Drake was the biggest hip hop artist and he wasn't a

black American, that he was coming from Toronto and I guess that was outside of it. Like, there sometimes seems to be like a it feels different. Maybe that's my xenophobia.

It feels different. I mean, yeah, look, I'm not immune to xenophobia. What did Drake have to do to become the biggest. What did he have to do? He had to get the Wayne Kosine. He had to pretend to be, no, he had the Wayne Kosy from the beginning. Drake would start off as the biggest.

We liked him. We were intrigued. I said this before. For Drake to be the biggest, he had to emulate black American culture. And that's the distinction that I feel like that, that's why I can't agree with your friend. To be the biggest, he had to pretend to be. be something that he is not. And part of that meant emulating a culture that you don't know. And that's a fair thing to say. How do you feel like he did that? It's not taking, it's not taking away

his blackness. Nobody say, I actually have an issue when people are like, you're not black enough. You know I feel about that kind of stuff. That's not it. Here comes the smirk. There comes to smile. We'll pause for it. It's not that Drake did not. The Drake that started. The Drake that started. it out is not the Drake that we have today. And to me, Drake has piggybacked and aligned himself with black American culture or black American artists. And I think that's why, you know, when people go back to Kendrick, and we talked about this, Kendrick opened up for Drake, ASAP opened up for Drake. Well, Drake, yes, part of that was Drake using him to big up what, what he was doing to piggyback on that. I think if Drake stood alone, rapping about, you know,

singing about girls and, you know, the loneliness and kind of the sadness and, you know, Canadian and being on DeGrasi and staying in that spot. I don't think Drake would be where he is now. He's now rapping with tear drops on his face, bulletproof vest, talking about shooting things up and hitters and all of that kind of stuff. That's not, that's not you. Okay. So I will always disagree. because to be the biggest, he had to be something that he is not.

I'm sorry. Or align himself with it. I'll point out a couple of things there that I don't necessarily disagreeing with you, but things that I think. So first of all, by the time, thank me later dropped, which is Drake's debut.

He wasn't the biggest, but it was one of the most highly anticipated major label debuts for a rapper ever. It was. Like best I ever had had already gone, I think, to number two. The mixtape before. The songs before really bled into that. Right.

But then not just that, but then his Young Money affiliation, where that crew was and everything. So he was on his way to being the biggest. The album was just ridiculously anticipated. That album comes and goes. It was a success, but I don't think it was. quite what people expected it to be. And I actually kind of set the template for a lot of Drake albums in the future

to where the anticipation for the album sort of is a little bit more potent than the albums themselves. Like he's not an album's artist to me. He's a songmaker, not necessarily an album maker, but he's made some fantastic music. And he's put some good albums out,

obviously. The next album, by the time the next album comes out, Take care. Drake is, if not, Drake's the biggest hip-hop star in the world. By time that album's run is over, Drake is probably the biggest hip-hop star in the world. And if he's not the biggest hip-hop star in the world,

he's speeding towards that. You couldn't think of somebody at that point that was a bigger fucking deal than Drake. And that's like, that's the second album. I think that album is actually pretty true to who, Drake is. Also, I'd say this, you know, black American culture being about being tough and about being like having teardrops in your eyes and all of that stuff. I mean, they, you know, they have that other places. They have, I guess, the criminality that's sometimes associated with hip hop in other

places. I think Drake did adopt certain flows. He got with certain artists. I think the, The Atlanta criticism that Kendrick uses is actually pretty apt. But it's not just Atlanta. It's London. It's other places. In order to maintain his run, it wasn't just black American culture. He reconnected to Toronto culture. When Drake first came out, he wasn't using the Toronto slang.

He wasn't embracing any of that. And once what he was doing before in that Young Money era and all of that stuff started to phase out a little bit, wore a little thing. He then re-adopted that. He then adopted Caribbean culture. He then adopted culture from England and grime and all of that stuff. His whole Drake's Top Boy era. There's a lot of different things that he'd adopted. The specific criticism about black American culture,

I think sometimes it resonates with us just because people sometimes with black Americans, other themselves, we've talked about this before at Nausea. on the podcast, other themselves when it's time to other themselves, and then join up when it's time to join up. They'll be dressing in a way that black Americans have popularized and then telling people why they're different and, quote, or quote, better than black Americans. I think all of that stuff has to do more with why people tired of Drake

than it does about anything. really specific in this beef. Excuse me. The gird is gertie. But then again, I don't know. Was this a beef where we were happy that a black American dominated somebody that's not from here?

Maybe it was. I think for some people it was. It wasn't for me. I didn't think of it that way. But I think people there are certain people who were, yeah, celebrating the downfall of Drake because I think people were, which I think just happens in society. I think the tide will turn again and Drake will be, Drake's going to be fine, right? He's going to be fine. He'll do a concert at the forum. People will be there. He'll sell it out. Whatever. People were tired of drinking. There just became a little bit of like,

I'm a little exhausted by Drake. And this is a little bit of. And this is a little bit of. somebody who went to his last concert. Yeah. I think it's just, yeah. Like, as of late, the last couple of albums, the behavior on social. I think we were just like, and then somebody said what people were thinking.

Yeah. And. Once again, once again, like in boxing, they talk about obviously matchmaking, right? It's like knowing your opponent. But in boxing, matchmaking is important, but also timing is important.

I give you an idea of this. Do you know who Canelo Alvarez is? I do. I'm proud to say it. Do you know who Ganadi Goluffgan is? You've lost me. Okay. So Ganadi Goluffgan, Triple G as he's known,

is a boxer who, in the mid to late 2000, 2015's, 2010, should I say, I know why I say, 2015 is the mid-2010s. So I was trying to say. Was on his ridiculously freakish knockout street. He was detonating everybody. Just like almost superhuman power at 160, right? He fought at Middle Way.

Didn't speak very good English, but was an HBO staple because he was brutalizing everyone. Around that same time, Canelo Alvarez, who we know as the best middleweight fighter of his generation, is making his ascension up from 154,

which is junior middleweight, where he fought Floyd Mayweather, to 160, and he's capturing belts. So what you have is a young fighter with all of these tools, right, getting his feet wet at the weight,

160, and an older fighter, a little bit older than Canelo, but coming into his own a little bit late, that's at his peak and at his best, his most ferocious. Everyone's like, this is the big fight. Gotta have the fight. It's the fight to make.

They will never say it. But Canelo Alvarez, who was being managed by Oscar de La Jolla at that time, been promoted by him over at Golden Boy promotions, they did something very smart. They waited. They knew that that was the fight to make. Everybody knew that that was the fight to make, but they waited. Triple G was older.

So every single year, every single month, every single day that you wait to make the fight, he's a little bit weaker. He's a little weaker. His power leaves a little bit. His gas tank flushes out a little bit. He's a little weaker. Now, by the time they fought, I felt like Triple II. She won the first fight, but he never hurt Canella. You know, maybe he wouldn't have hurt Canello in 2015, 2016, or whatever,

but he certainly didn't hurt him whenever the fight ended up happening. They waited him out just a little bit, waited for him to get just old enough to where he wasn't quite the fighter that he was before, but he had the same name. I personally think that Kendrick did that to Drake. this could have got popped off in 18 this could have got popped off in 19 the fact that people were already tired of Drake the fact that this is after Drake and the Meg

the Stallion situation the fact that this is after Drake kind of making the in-sale album this is after Drake with the barrettes in his hair this is after Drake this is when people were a little down on him he said okay this is where I pick my battle with him. He's a little vulnerable. They asked me to be on first person shooter.

I don't want to be on first person shooter, right? But asking me to be on the record says something. So let me tell you I don't want to be on the record. And let me tell you in front of everyone. Everyone. This is not to say that this battle would have gone any different in 18 or 19 or whatever. This is not to say that it would have gone any. different or in 17.

These guys have not liked each other for a long time. This is not to say that. But it is to say that this was the big one in hip hop and the timing of it was as important as anything else. Because to your point, he got out of Drake

that a lot of people were already getting over. Yeah. You know? And when I say a lot of people are already getting over, everybody's going to be like Drake still moves crazy he does and he will and he will. and he definitely will, but you know it's different.

It's not the same. It's not the same. So can I ask you a question? Because it makes me think about this. You're right. It's not the same. And the way people are posting on social media, there are still people in the comments

who are diehard Drake fans who are, and I'm not expecting everybody to turn on Drake, but Drake posted a picture after the concert, a selfie, of course, and it just says Summer League. So, of course, people are speculating what does that mean? And it made me think, what can Drake do?

I've mentioned earlier about turning the tide. What could Drake do? Because I thought, I only see him now in Kendrick's lyrics. I'm not, and again, this is somebody who went to the concert. I like Take Hair as probably my favorite Drake album. I still think it lends itself to the old Drake, but I think that's part of the reason why. But I thought, I don't know if there's anything he can do that can make me see him in any other way.

Do you think, that's my question to you, what could Drake do? Where does he go from here? Start another war? Somebody else. Somebody else. With somebody else. Come on. Start another war with somebody else. Start another movement. Do whatever. Get back to doing what Drake does. Like, we've been here before.

I like this. You don't think so? this feels different. Or maybe I'm just like more. You don't feel like it felt different for me if this felt the same as it was for meek after back to back. Meek is not Kendrick. And I'm not and I'm not discrediting me.

I'm not, but I'm just talking about in terms of what I mean, I'm not talking about meek as Kendrick. What I mean is like, man, meek was getting destroyed after back to back. Meek was getting flame, Waterberger, dismeat. Now, something had to happen, I think, in that beat, that will never happen in this one,

was when Meek and Drake did not piecing it up. I don't think we're going to see Drake and Kendrick on the same stage. I don't think that's going to happen. This is a, I mean, it's not going to be a street thing, but you have a whole city of people singing pedophile lyrics about me. I don't see how we can get past that. Drake's got to start a different situation. he's got to either wait and come back,

get at Kendrick in a different way, if it's going to be Kendrick or forge something new. But like dwelling on this is not going to be the thing because this has been pretty surgical. I mean, essentially, L.A., that was a public funeral. Like L.A., like the hall of L.A.,

hip-hop culture, whatever you want to say it, they got together and gleefully, gleefully revelfully reveled. in the abusing of the most popular rapper of his generation. I've never seen anything quite like it. Exactly. Like, we've seen people be put on the summer jam screen. We've seen guys, but I've never seen anything quite like that.

Not only that, but at the end, and this is another thing, at the end, that turned it positive. It wasn't just about being against somebody else. Like a lot of those guys came on the stage together and it it made you feel good. It made you feel warm. It made you feel good that all of this happened.

Like if Drake had to get diss and have a bad summer to have that moment on the stage, you feel like it was worth it. You feel like it was worth his embarrassment. It was worth his names being called and it felt like

you feel like all of that was worth it. If Kendrick is up there talking about how sad everybody's been since Nip and Kobe's been going, all the little petty beefs that have been around here in L.A. If it took this type of moment and this type of back and forth

to get everybody on the same stage, you feel like it was worth it, man. Yeah, it did feel like it was worth it. It did. I Where do we go here? Can I just say

When you posted the picture You tweeted the picture of Will Smith in that empty household That last scene from Fresh Prince of Bel Air And you put Toronto CA I thought the CA was California And I thought you were making a joke

No I know it's Canada But I thought Oh he's like Saying this is how I feel to be from Toronto in California. I think I'm not alone. At that point,

I actually feel I actually felt sad for my Toronto brethren, man. I feel sad for him because you know, there's a lot of Toronto people out here that was with Dot now. All of a sudden, everybody's talking about they mad at Drake.

But I, I felt sad for my Toronto brethren because I couldn't imagine if hip hop threw a less fuck over Baton Rouge part. Yeah. Well, and to see all your favorites there singing in unison,

like your favorites were out there celebrating at your funeral. Nobody missed you. Nobody missed you. That's tough. That's tough. But I'll be real with you, man. I just got to keep it all the way, gang. So you got to keep it all the way real.

Got to felt fun. It's a blast. Felt fun. So I said, what do we do now? I'm not looking forward to Summer League. Top that. You got to top that. Whoa.

You got to top that. Toronto should do their own show. They should do, Toronto should do a pop-out show. They should do their own show. Don't, you can't emulate it. You have to do something new and different. Don't do, it's been done. That's what made it so great.

It was historic. You can't do that. Who's he uniting? Who's the uniting? I don't know the sections. I just wonder what happens now to some of these relationships. Like, LeBron was at the concert because I think- Having a good old time.

He was having a good old time, but I'll be honest with you. I think LeBron was at the concert because Savannah wanted to go. Savannah doesn't seem to be the biggest Drake fan. You know, I saw YG up there. Drake actually name-check YG in one of those records. You know what I saw like, Must, you've seen a lot of guys up there that have worked with Drake or been around Drake in the past and just wonder what it is.

Now I wonder if it's all gravy or if it's not or what's going to happen. The weekend was there. He was in the crowd. What's the weekend there? The weekend was there last night. Rick Ross was there last night. I told you Rosa Leia was there.

I was like, look at Rosalia. You don't know who Rosalia is? She's a huge artist. She's a Spanish artist. Spanish? I don't know what to categorize her music as, but she's, huge. I'm not fucking

with Rosalia. Let me see what she does. Rosalia. Ashley, Ashley, you know who Rosalia is, right? Absolutely. She's crazy. Oh, I heard of her. Wait a minute. She's one of the biggest stars. Worldwide. But you know why I heard about her? Because she got, she actually got caught up in some controversy because they say that she is, she's Spanish.

but she's doing like reggae tone music. They were like, it was some controversy about her being, um, being basically quat and,

and then doing some kind of reggae. It was like, I don't know. Yeah, she raps, she raps. She was in the Wap video. I feel like that's tough.

She's in the Wap video, whopping it up? I don't think she was dancing. She's in the Wap video. Like, she's a moment. Like, like Normani does. She's a moment. What's her rap?

record. What do you mean her record? What record does she do? What's the really famous song? I keep thinking of her with Bad Bunny because they have music together. But, oh my gosh, there's a really popular song. I don't know. I can't think of it. I haven't listened to Rosalia in a long time. Anyways, now you know, she was there. Huge. It says, I see an article that it was a couple of years ago, like, we need to talk about Rosalia. Like, I remember that, but I never listened to her music, you know. like she's, she's controversial.

She's been out since 2019. Man, man, she's out for them. All right. Rosalia! My nigga! Say the N-word.

Rosalia, say to N-word. All right. Say the N-word. Everything will be okay. Just go out. Rosalia should have been out there last night.

Like, sometimes you got to pop out and show nits. That's what Rosalia should say. You know, that Rosalia, nigger. Rolla-n-Nigger.

What that Rosalia, nigger. All right, like, subscribe, and share. Speaking of Drake, we're going to talk

about Bertman on the other side. this break. Louisiana is showing out, baby. What a fantastic situation. Bird, man, we fucking with you, bro. We love that. All right? On this side of this break, Rachel, take it away. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimphaya, guselcomab taken by injection is a prescription medicine. for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis,

who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections in tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away.

Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about trim fire. This ad to learn more about Tramfaya, including important safety information. The playoffs are here, and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Predict the spread, total points, and even the game winner. Sign up and get a $25 bonus. Offered by Fandul prediction markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant,

18 plus. Bonus is non-withdrawable and expires seven days after receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at fanduil.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Birdman. It's like we haven't heard about Birdman in a while. The only time we really hear about Birdman is when we're talking about Tony Braxton.

I feel like, are they still together? Do we know that? The only time we hear about Birdman is when we're talking about Tony Braxton? What world do you live in? I feel like I heard. What's the last thing you heard about Birdman? What's the last thing you heard? I ain't about them all the time. Maybe that's because you're connected to Louisiana.

I don't. I just hear about I hear about Birdman all the time. Okay, cool. Ashley, Ashley, what's the last thing you heard about Birdman? I'm sorry, I feel like every time I see him, it's related to some with Tony Braxton as of late. Ashley?

The last time I heard about Birdman was, I watched a video about Little Wayne and they kissed on the mouth. Okay, it was old. Exactly. It was old. Okay, well, Birdman's back in the news. Apparently, he's been in the news, according to Van.

This time because he was speaking to some New Orleans inmates. And he applies that, implies that books won't help them. Louisiana's finest right there. Ashley, play the audio, please. We have no access to. I have no access to me. I have enough power to make that happen. Okay, we need, we need inside help for his leadership.

For these guys having books to read upon the criminal. But we have you that read books from all. I know there's a great. So the audio's a little, but he says, you think Birdman says you think books are going to help y'all. Van, go ahead. Try to defend that. Why would I try to defend that? Because I'm just Louisiana.

Go ahead. Represent. Look, this is my thing. We've been talking about this. You don't know what you don't know. Like, you don't. You don't. You don't know what you don't know.

I'm not defending Birdman when I'm saying. here is that I personally think that moments like this are an opportunity to discuss things, right? Of course, those brothers need books. They definitely need books. Number one, they need books to be able to do something constructive while they're inside, right? And also, because they have a lot of time on their hands, also, they're going to need books in order to be able to understand and contextualize the world that they came from and the world that they're in and the world that they're coming back out to. Literacy

and incarceration have a clear link. Some studies estimate that over 70% of the individuals that are incarcerated in America right now do not read at a fourth grade level. He was talking to a

group of black men right there. We, as in me and other people, are working diligently and desperately to address literacy issues in young black boys, adolescent boys, and leading up to adulthood. This comes back to what people in the positions like Birdman think that they need to do in order to affect change in the lives of people.

And if you think that making them smarter or making them more literate can't help them, then there's a fundamental misunderstanding. from you about what gentlemen like that need. I just don't understand, well said by the way, I just don't understand how you can ask someone. You're there because you're trying to connect, provide some sort of positivity, words of encouragement, and you literally pose the question,

how can I help you? And they tell you. But because, and then you selfishly input your, not I don't want to say needs, but your opinion in there because you don't think it's necessary. They're telling you what they need. And you're saying,

nah, you don't need that. How else can I help you? I would have actually loved to have heard the rest of this. We get this small clip. Did he, what, if they are telling you what they want, you're saying no,

then what are you giving them? You can't give them their freedom. They're asking you to read, possibly to learn, yes, to have more constructive to utilize their time in a more constructive way, possibly to build critical thinking skills. You hear the stories before about people who learn certain things,

learn how to defend themselves, learn certain rights that might have been violated, that they didn't understand prior to getting into other. There's so many things that reading can do. It can generate creativity. Like, it can help you, if you're saying the statistic about being on a fourth grade level, it can enhance your comprehension,

your vocabulary, your understanding. There's so many positive things. That's why I guess I made a face when you said, you don't know what you don't know, because to me this is so basic. I feel like I don't know this because I've utilized reading in this way. I just feel like it's common sense. But more than that, it's the audacity to pose a question to someone

and then tell them, nah, that ain't what you want. That's what I can't get over. But okay, Birdman, is you stupid or is you dumb? Maybe we should have started there. So the reason why I look at it, I'm a little, I'm a little softer with the criticism is number one. I care about black men. You don't.

No, it's not. Well, they'll take that and run with it. I can't wait to get a black man in my life. Yeah, but we can't wait even. But number two is like, when I say you don't know what you don't know is a lot of times we look at brothers like Birdman as if they're uneducated. And we have to move that a little bit, right?

He is educated. Of course he's educated. But he's educated in the things that he thinks matter as you insert them into the world that he came from.

Right? It's like guys that dropped out of high school or middle school or whatever guys and women and men. They got an education from somewhere. They got an education that helped them stay alive. They got an education on how to beat the police. They got an education on how to talk to the police.

They got an education on how to keep the count. Birdman has been a drug dealer for the majority of his life before cash money. They got an education on something, right? The question is which education system they think matters. If you ask Birdman, okay, books. He's going to say, I don't need no books. Like, I can tell you how you go get a million dollars. Like, I can educate you how you go do that. I can educate you how you're going to the

world and you dominate business or you start something from nothing or you do whatever. The problem is the education that he is seeking to give someone is narrow. And the education that comes with being a voracious reader or having more books to read is limitless. all the information for any set of circumstances at your fingertips. And not only that, to somebody just called me. And it was a member of Drake's crew.

It's a member of the crew. It's a member of Drake's group. Text and see if they want to come on. I'll have to talk to them. I'll have to talk to them later. They mad at you. No, no, no, no. No, no.

No, no, no, a lot of my Toronto people are pissed. A lot of my Toronto people are pissed. Because of your tweets last night. Because it's just too much jokes. Your tweets were. It's too many jokes. It's too many jokes. It's too many jokes. A lot of my Toronto people are pissed. But no. And in this case, Rachel, your point is the only point that matters. Fuck all everything else that we're talking about. You ask the guy what he needed. And he was like books. And he was like, what, what do you're going to do with some books?

Nigger, we're going to read them. We're going to read books about all kinds of things. We're going to read books about black leaders. We're going to read books about how to beat the feds. We're going to read books about the law. We're going to read books for our betterment. We're going to read books.

Exactly. How about you do the form of escapism, okay? To let their imagination run wild. They don't have many options, okay? Well, the question is, The question is when we talk about betterment and empowering people, the question comes back to, why doesn't Birdman think that reading

is a part of betterment or empowerment? That's the thing. When I say you don't know what you don't know, that's what I'm talking about. We've had Kanye West talking about the fact that I don't read. And saying it like it's something to be proud of, it's a badge of honor. I don't read.

Right. is being well-ran is having knowledge that you can pool from a bunch of different places is that a part of what we think is better men or not? That's the thing.

Because bird man sound like a goddamn dumbest. Swiss Bees in Timberland. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming.

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Services not available in all areas. Big news is a distribution deal with Elon Musk's X. They're going to be in the Versa series back with a new major platform for viewers to watch musicians face off in a song-again-song battle. We all know Versus a big deal.

came about during the pandemic, some of the most legendary moments of the pandemic. We saw them on versus, GZ versus, God damn. GZ versus Gucci on versus. Teddy Riley versus, yeah, they called again. Teddy Riley versus a baby face on versus. Jill Scott and Erica Badoo on. Versus fantastic.

The question is, number one, is versus still a culturally viable thing to where we care about it? No, there's another question. Because this versus deal, which is on X, was celebrated with a picture featuring Timberland and Elon Musk, and a lot of people were pissed off. So talk about it the way you want to. Is number one, Rachel, are you still interested in versus?

Number two, do you have a problem with the picture? No. the thing. We talked about it a lot on this podcast, maybe not particularly with Swiss and Cimberlin, but we constantly see, I speak to black people who choose align themselves with problematic people or maybe an organization in the name of capitalism. This is about money at the end of the day. So I'm not shocked at all this Swiss and Cimberlund. I'm in a picture where Elon Musk smiling and hugged up with him in the middle. That I saw it and I kept it moving. That is the least surprising thing for me.

I don't expect that. I don't expect them to turn that down. The money was right for them, and they're willing to ignore everything else in the name of that. Also, I just feel like there's a lot of not reading the room here. Versus was popular because it was in the pandemic. I'm not saying it wasn't great. I'm not saying I wasn't on the phone with my groups of friends.

We were all streaming it at the same time. time. It was a moment. It was a moment. He weren't. Not a movement. I have no desire to watch it anymore. Who's left? So here's the thing. I guess that's my thing. And of course, there's other people you can put up against each other. I saw great versus battles. It was amazing. I just don't know who I would be interested in seeing at this point. where I'm going to take time and sit in front of X and watch the battle. I'm just... Yeah, I mean, so here's the thing.

To me, Versus has another life, but it would have to be Versus Plus, meaning only the top people, right? By the time we got to the end of Versus, there's no disrespect to all of these guys, but, you know, we had Bobby Valentino and Ray J and all of those guys up on the stage and stuff. And, you know, I fuck with Ray J, J, big Ray J proponent. Pleasure P. Pleasure peeing now.

You know, that whole versus was a fucking disaster. It's just a fucking fact. It was a fucking disaster. It was funny, though. It was very funny. Now, if they give you versus battles that's like Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige,

if they give you versus battles, that's, you know, Chris Brown and Usher or Usher and Mary Jay Blige, or if they give you the top of the top, if they give you Jay Z. Nause versus, if they give you Beyonce Rihanna versus people will fuck with verses I mean a lot of those people

There are shows Yeah they would they are they're all shows now But they didn't start off that way Remember at the beginning that's not what it was Because the pandemic but I'm saying they'd have to be concerts too They have to keep that going for it to me Yeah but I mean most for the most part That's what verses became after a lot

If they were able to give you those I think verses would work just fine Anything less than that I don't think people would be as interesting but I don't know. The picture itself is interesting. Now I'll tell you why. There's a conundrum here

that exists with like black creators and people who work in the arts and other things where you need capital. Right? So I'm on X. Like I tweet on X all the time. Like I'm on X. You do.

So there are a lot of people who are ex-users who are critical of Swiss and Tim for doing a deal with X to put verses out. Right? I think there's an interesting part to that criticism about people being hypocrites in that way, if you think they're being hypocritical. And then there's a reality about why that picture still is inappropriate.

So I'll take the criticism about the hypocrisy first. Number one, X is a perfect example of what's wrong with America. And what I mean by that is not the platform itself, but the way and the reason why Elon Musk bought it. Elon Musk is a billionaire, a mega billionaire. At one point, it was the richest man in the world. And the conversation on X wasn't going the way he thought that it should go. So he just bought the conversation.

that's increasingly becoming a problem in America. Yeah, it is. Or someone that has that much money says, hey, I don't like the way legitimate conversation or legitimate parisocial relationships or interaction or happening in one. So I'll just use corporate strength to just overwhelm it. And that comes in the fact of,

that comes through the form of either leaning on people and making them fire people or doing whatever or just acquire. it the way that he did. He acquired X and then he made it into a hellscape. It changed it completely. Now, a purest belief of that is that the people that were on there and literally made livings on there. When I said made livings on there, I mean, they're getting their art out on there. They're breaking news on there. They're having, they're starting movements on there that those people were just supposed to leave. Right? If they were being pure and they didn't

to work with or for or on a platform that was owned by Elon Musk. That's just not how America is. When you bank, you bank with white supremacy. When you go to the grocery store, you shop with white supremacy. It's too ingrained in everything, right? And a lot of people are going to say that that's like, uh-uh, um, that's an overstate. But it's really not. I encourage people to read

From Here To Equality by Sandy Darity And they're going to talk about just how important White supremacy, slavery, the legacy of slavery was to buoying the American economy and making all these industries possible. The exploitation of working people is a part of the reality of most of the things that we buy, sell, and endeavor into.

And a lot of the places you work are led by those people that have those same beliefs. So it's unfair to criticize somebody for being on X by saying the guy that runs X is an asshole. At any given point the guy that runs America

is an asshole, right? We are criticizing America while still being in America. You can criticize X and Elon Musk while still being inside him. Having said that the picture is still stupid and it's still the wrong thing to do because the picture

is not celebrating the deal with X. That picture to me is a cultural celebration of Elon Musk. It's two people that we've put a lot into Swiss and Tim being on a boat and drinking and pouring it up with Elon Musk. I'm convinced of something.

Swiss and Tim can't know what people think about Elon Musk. I know this is the second time I've done this on the podcast. Why did you say that? They can't know. I don't believe that they know what the narrative Oh, so you think they would be different? You think they would put it all to the side? I would hope that they would.

Now, I'm not shooting, I'm not shooting Bell. But what I'm saying is our OGs and hip-hop, we need them to be a little bit more connected to what the narratives and the talking points are. If you go and you read the comments, once again, comment autopsy, all the blue checks. Oh, man, y'all trailblazing, can't wait until it comes back. all of the other people that don't have them.

Yo, what the fuck is this? Guys, the legacy of apartheid, the racist tweets that this guy's light, the anti-D-E-I crusade that he's been on, just in every way Elon Musk, like, being around people from the far right or aligning himself

with the far right, why y'all pouring up with him? Get the deal, do the deal, do to get the money, put the shit on the platform. An asshole owns a platform. water is wet. Do that thing. But to be on the boat, laughing and smiling,

that's a choice that you made. And that is something that to me inculcates it encokates something into the conversation. It makes it so that we're saying, okay, Elon Musk is a guy

that is cool to be partying with and he's not. He's an asshole. He's a fucking asshole. He's a fucking asshole. He is an elitist, gangster capitalist, racist, racist,

asshole. And I don't know why Swiss and 10 would want to be in the picture with them hanging out and she's like that. I do not know. Money over everything. But one thing is, I mean, you say that, but the reason why I say they couldn't have known or I don't believe that they knew is because is Elon Musk

going to say, unless you take this picture, I'm not going to give you this deal to bring versus the X? Was the picture necessary? Did they have to do that? I don't think that they care. I just don't. I find it hard to believe, not only is Elon Musk all the things you just named, he's literally in current litigation with people suing him over discrimination. I can't imagine that you entered a deal and your people

did not tell you this. Like, I would like to imagine that, you know, when you say you hope that they didn't know, I would hope that they would be well versed in who they're getting into business with before they sign such a big deal. I don't think the papers are put in front of them like, hey, Lamas wants to buy versus. And they were like, oh, okay, that's great. That money matches what we want. I would think that they were advised on what it would look like. And still we're like, no, but we're, I bet they were probably like,

we're doing this for the culture. We're using him to put for cultural relevance as far as the balance, not them personally. I could see them flipping it in that way. No, no, no. He's paying us to use his platform to showcase black excellence. That's probably what they told himself. I mean, that might be what they told themselves, and that might be true. But once again, it's not necessarily the using the platform.

It's the celebration of Elon Musk. I agree with you. Right. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimphaya.

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Biden is up. He's up according to a new Fox News poll, five-way race. Biden is up. It's like he owes a razor-thin margin. It's a new poll dropped. It's released Wednesday. 50 to 48. Head-to-head rematch in 2020.

election. It's a Fox News poll, so you would expect that this poll would be skewed to Donald Trump in some sort of way, but it is not. It shows Biden with the lead, Rachel, what do you think? I mean, Biden's numbers are consistently going up. I was looking at a different poll. No, this is the Fox News poll. Sorry. I mean, in March, he was down 5%. And why are you laughing? Nothing. Go ahead. In March, he was down five. Nothing.

In March, he was down five percent. In May, he was down 1%, and now he's up 2%. So his numbers seem to be trending upward. You could say it's because of the convictions out of New York against Trump. But I read an article that today, from the New York Times, that shows that although this coming from Fox News seems promising, because like you said, we would think that they would do. things that are in favor of Trump. I read an article today from the New York Times that said that Biden's numbers are dropping when it comes to women, specifically black and Hispanic women.

Black women? That's what it said. Wowsily, wosily, wosily, wowsily, wowsily. That would be a fucking disaster for it. It said his numbers are up in states that have abortion on the ballot. it. But when it comes to women, they're seeing his numbers continually decreased because a lot of women are worried about inflation, particularly black and Hispanic women. And so that's a big issue for them. And so it's just interesting that, you know, yes, this poll is coming out, but we know

that Biden needs women and black people to come out in droves in order for him to be Trump. So the fact that his numbers are decreasing is alarming. I hope that they're paying attention to that, but that's just really my thoughts. I mean, I'm not surprised that his numbers are going up based on the conviction and all the, and I think that they'll continue to grow up, go up, especially after this debate at the end of the month. But just FYI, his numbers are decreasing and with audiences that he's been able to win over very easily in the past. Yeah, if he sees any significant erosion of support amongst black women, the election is over. Now, I don't know how statistical that erosion would have to be,

but if what we're being told about black men and these numbers that they're putting out, if these numbers are in fact true, then losing any support amongst black women seems like it would be apocalyptic. Now, I'm looking at the 538 poll right now, and things seem to be tightening. the latest UGov poll out has Biden and Trump

in a dead heat deadlocked at 42% Kennedy at 4, West at 1, Stein at 1. Do you want to have Dr. West on the show? What are not? Yeah. Have them on the show.

Kennedy's at 4%. The debates are coming up. The debates are coming up. I wanted to do a higher learning debate watch party. We can do that? Oh, I'll be in New York. but like maybe we could do it online or something

or maybe I'll just do it on IG in a name of hire a lady without you do it I mean I've been New York celebrating my little sister's birthday

the same day as the debate oh for real which I'm going to do we'll probably go to dinner that night but my mom was to go to the View Friday so that Friday after the debate

So that'll be a good show. So we're going to go to the View, lunch, go to a comedy show. We love to go to comedy shows. We'll go see The Wiz while we're there as well. How many times has your mom seen The View? My mom's never been in person, but she watches it every day.

So it's really nice when I can do something special like this. She wants to go. So you've been on the View as a host and Pretty Hair hasn't made the trip. There was always a shoot the last time she was going to come, actually. But yeah, I don't know what happened. Pretty hair.

If you can hear me right now, I got to tell you something right now. I want to see you made the trip to support Rachel when she's on the view. Yes. Okay. You love the view. And I want to see, I want to see you make the trip to support Rachel when she's on the view. Pretty hair, lovely, lovely woman. I want to, you know what I want to do real quick?

I want to shout out my mom. I want to say something real fast. I said it on a different podcast and I'll say it on this podcast right now. So I'm in the era right now. This is maybe why the Gerd is coming back. These two months are called the era. Every year, I go through the era. It starts with Father's Day in June.

And then there's the double whammy of July 4th with, you know, the anniversary of Dad's death. You know, you guys didn't see me posting any pictures, any sad-ass Father's Day shit. because I wanted you guys and all the people that love me out there to enjoy their days with their fathers without having to see happy Heavenly Father's Day. It's like it makes people feel guilty and stuff like that. It's, you know, whatever they want to do that. A lot of people reached out and talked to me, Avan, on Father's Day.

I hope you know that you did, whatever, Rachel wasn't one of them, but a lot of people didn't reach out. I don't do that. I know. I think it's a I thought about it but I just yeah I figure you don't want to

you're already going through it I don't that's just me that's my take on I get it and you're not you're not wrong but you still appreciate it but I'm I'm Pokemon but I'll say something I got to say some of my mother real quick because I think that

in when we talked about you know valuing men over women remember we discussed that in the whole wake of the ditty video, me getting thrown into it completely unfairly fucked up. I think the first person that I learned

to value and to put on a pedestal and to worship and to chase for approval behind was my dad. Right? The toughest thing, I've said this before, I want to, you know, the toughest thing about the entire thing was losing him or him passing away is that I don't get a chance to prove myself to him.

Like whatever he thought about me and of me is locked in eternity. And it's just like he never gets to see me be a father or be a big huge deal or I never get to, you know, I helped out. I never get to like fully take care of him. I never get that situation to where he looks at me. and breathes deeply in and goes, you're all right, boy. You never get that.

It's just, it's gone. And whatever secrets and whatever animus, you take it to Jesus. So I've been doing that, chasing his love for my entire life. And that entire time, somebody was, I'm not saying my dad,

did love me, but I was chasing his approval. And that entire time, somebody was pouring their love and approval into me. There was somebody that, like, doted on my every emotion that was there to literally curate my life in a way to make me something other than somebody

who was trying to dominate people or make people afraid of me or whatever. I remember when I was, I got into the GIFT program. And I bet Mom's Nighter remember this. I got into the GIFT program or we're out of California, whatever. I was going to a new class with new kids

and, you know, you ask Dad, like, what do you do? And dad was like, well, you know, make sure they know you ain't no punk. It's the first thing that he thinks. You know, make sure you know you ain't no punk. You're going to a new class. All right, cool. You made the kid scared of you. You big, whatever.

Make the kid scared of you. My mom goes, okay, you can make the kid scared of you if you want. Or you can make them want to see you coming. It's different. You know, when my dad were walking to a room, everybody would become rigid until he set the tone. It was like he would set the tone. Okay. So if he's cool, then we're cool.

But if he's in a bad mood, everybody got to be in a bad mood. So when you saw him coming, you couldn't relax. There was something that was taken out of it. My mother was like, that's not really who you want to be, and that's not who you are. You're somebody that when you walk through the door, nobody's going to fuck with you, but they're so happy to see Vang. They're so happy to see you come in and sit down and you made people laugh and you make people feel comfortable and you poke fun at people, which makes them comfortable.

Like you adopt people emotionally, and that's the guy that you want to be. And she made it okay for me to be that. And I've valued in my life chasing my father's approval more than appreciating my mother's love. And as much as I talk about him and as much as I revere him and as much as I want to be, have that same thing that he had. that same, I don't know, air of invincibility and whatever, I already am her. Like, I already am her. Like, she succeeded. Like, our bond and everything that we have together is so close that sometimes it's,

it makes me, it brings out a vulnerability that's uncomfortable. So, you know, after Father's Day, I just wanted to, if my mom can hear me right now, I just wanted to tell her on a random day that I appreciate love and value her as much as I appreciate and love and value my father. And it oftentimes doesn't seem like that, but I do. And I love her very much.

And I love Momo very much. And Ebony is okay as well. And for Ebony. Yeah. Ebony gets it. Oh, it was Ebony's birthday not too long ago. My sister, Ebony had a birthday June 8th. And you didn't even shout her out.

Boy, you'd be doing Ebony wrong. A crazy Gemini. A crazy Gemini. We got to meet Evanie. But that's really sweet what you said about Miss Crystal. Hi, Miss Crystal. Yeah, I got Ebony something and I got a still give her to her. I got her, uh, um, what?

What? What, Ebony? Well, I got her a membership to Girls Play, which is a, it's, it's a, it's a girls, it's a girls, watch Girls play is some of the finest in Sepitic, loving that you can get on the internet. You know what I mean? Like for, watch Girls play. It's like, it's, well, some of the finest in lesbian porn that you can get. Because my son. sister is a demon when it comes to that point. I mean, she'd be on that shit. You know what I'm saying? Let's keep this country. Let's say you had, just real quick, before we go,

let's say you had, you know what, like a red bean, like a red bean, right? Let's say you had one and it was sitting on your finger right here and you did like that. What would that be? What would you be doing? Like, what is this? What is that? What is that? When you do this, what's that called?

What are you doing? Flicking. Okay. And if you had a, like a red bean and it was right here, what would you be doing? Flicking it off. But you would be flicking or what? The bean. Right.

So you would be what? What is why are you making me say this? Why are you making me do this? Why are you to do this? Let's continue. You are such a child. Cut all that out. all these beautiful words you said about Ms. Crystal,

and then we get some flicking the bing. Okay. You know, some of these stories are bummers. Rachel, what do you want to do next? Like, what do you see here? You got a couple of different things. What do you want to talk about? I want to talk about Baton Rouge.

Is that something you're into? I mean, I think we have to talk about the Ten Commandments. Oh, shit. Go for it. You can take it away since they mad at us. The Christians are mad at us anyway. Like, all the Christians are pissed at us. pissed off at us.

Why are the Christians mad? The Christians should be celebrating this. No, but they're mad at us because we said that Jonah. Oh, they're mad at us on the bar. Wait, are they really? Oh, man, the, the comments was like, y'all, you need to pray extra hard tonight. Guys, guys, first off, you literally said, I love God and I love Jesus. It was funny.

It was funny. And you're lying if you haven't thought about it. the one person who's respect that I want more than any person in my life right now, which is Jason Wilson for the cave of a dullum, it's kind of like a dad figure to me, kind of like a mentor.

He kind of dressed me down a little bit. He didn't get mad. He doesn't get mad. He was like, Mr. Wilson said, nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jonah had a table and a couch. We were,

but all respect. to Mr. Wilson. We literally said, remember the animated things they used to do that showed. We never said it was in the Bible. We said like that's how as kids, when you had the little picture book, those are the kinds of things you would see. And we're laughing about that. Never said that that was written in the Bible. That's true. Like guys, we were laughing. It's joking. And I'm so, like, somebody who grew up in the church, I told my parents this. And I had them laughing about Because it's funny. I'm saying.

Man is showing the picture now. You guys got to watch on YouTube, like and subscribe. You got to watch you on YouTube. That's the picture of Jonah. That's Jonah right there. Inside of the well. Christians can be mad at us for that,

even though it was a joke. Whatever, guys. Got to laugh during these times. But you shouldn't be mad at the state of Louisiana. Because the state of Louisiana said, We don't care about the First Amendment. We don't care about the Establishment Clause. We're going to do what we want to do.

And they are requiring, not suggesting, not, not, not give you an option. They are flat out telling you that you have to put the Ten Commandments up in public classrooms. All of them. All of them has to be displayed. Now, they're not going to use public funds to do this. which I figure that that's their way of trying to circumvent the law, at least trying to. It has to be donated or it has to be raised, I believe,

the money, the funds to place these posters up. But it's a requirement that they all have to be up by January 1st. The governor, your governor, Van, Republican governor, Jeff Landry. He said that he mandates that a poster size display of the Tim Commandments in quote, large, easily readable font be required in all public classrooms from kindergarten to state, I didn't even know this part,

state-funded universities. That means LSU classrooms will have the 10 commandments up. Now, of course, that immediately ignites the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and also the American Civil, Liberties Union of Louisiana and the Freedom from Religion Foundation's Foundation are all planning to sue this new law where the governor said literally I don't

care. He gave a statement in Tennessee. He was at a fundraiser in Nashville where he literally said, I cannot wait to be sued. Van, your thoughts when you saw this. Louisiana said, we don't care what the Constitution says, we're going to do what we want to do. Which seems to be a trend. I should also note that other states have tried to do this. They proposed it. They even tried to water down how they were going to do it.

But all of it failed in other states. But in Louisiana, it has succeeded. So this has to do with who Jeff Landry is and who he's positioned himself to be. He is one of the Republicans on the right. the figures on the right, shall say, that is positioned himself as the heir apparent to Donald Trump. If and when Donald Trump's hold over the Republican Party comes to an end, I think Jeff Landry sees a unique opportunity to fill the shoes of President Trump at some point because of the political weakness of people like Nikki Haley and to a, I guess, a lesser degree of political degree of political. weakness of Ron DeSantis and guys like that.

He is essentially using Louisiana as an opportunity to bolster his standing in the National Party by really, really pushing for some pretty draconian right-wing measures throughout the state. I could have a deeper conversation about Jeff Landry and what he wants to do, but it's clear that he is a new Greg Abbott type. a new Ron DeSantis type. And it's right there in Louisiana. And we had the opportunity down there to not have to deal with Jeff Landry,

but we did not turn out. And that did not happen. I am partly to blame for that. I wasn't as involved in the gubernatorial race as I should have been. And that's not to say that I could have changed anything, but everybody that cares needs to care. And I wasn't as up on the politics back on homeless. I should have been.

I mean, obviously this is going to get challenged by a lot of for people. The ACLU has already promised to challenge it. I can't see it making it through appeals without making it through the court system without someone striking this down. I can't see that. Maybe we could have Dr. Corbyn on to talk about if they're striking it down. I mean, I would imagine that a U.S. appeals court wouldn't. This is going to the Supreme. They're going to, unless the Supreme Court, turns and sounds is going to go to the Supreme Court, which is why I feel like... It will definitely will go to the Supreme Court.

But what I'm saying is, I mean, it has to make us way through the federal courts as before it gets there, right? So I'd imagine it will go to a Supreme Court. There'll probably be some losses before they get to the Supreme Court. So, like, what I would say, I mean, I can't see a U.S. Court of Appeals really, unless I'm completely uneducated on how the establishment clause works and how this is supposed to go. If it's state mandated in state institutions,

it's the state pushing religion on people. It's a religious text. It seems pretty cut and drop. It absolutely. I mean, there's precedent from it. A previous court, 1980s, struck down a Kentucky law that tried to do this exact same thing

because they said that there's no plausible secular purpose. And so it violated the First Amendment. That's what they have to show is that they have to convince the court that there's a secular purpose for putting the Ten Commandments in there. And that means that its primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion,

which it obviously advances religion by having the Ten Commandments up, forcing it in public universities and classrooms, primary and secondary classrooms as well. But this court is so unpredictable that you don't know. We didn't talk last week about the stock bombs. Is that what they're called?

I'm so going to say that. Bump stocks. Bump stocks. We didn't talk last week about the bump stocks. But the way that they went through hoops to become these technical engineers to focus on the word function when it's clear as day, we had audio that we didn't play of what a machine gun sounds like versus what a gun sounds like when it has a bump stock. Bump stock. Bump stock on it. They sound literally the same.

So they're literally trying to jump through hoops to push their narrative. This conservative Supreme Court that we have would like for this to be the law of the land. I mean, this is what they would want. So who knows what type of interpretation they may say. That's why I say it's interesting that although this law is passing, they're saying, well, they're not using state funds to do it. I don't know if that helps them or not. But it's interesting that they're not using state money and they're having it donated.

I feel like they're going to try to somehow use that to their advantage, those that are proponents of this new law that's passed in Louisiana. But this court is so unpredictable. Yeah, maybe a district court will shut it down. Maybe the Fifth Circuit will shut it down. But the Supreme Court, who knows how they'll interpret this? We've already seen what happened with the coach, but that was more of the free exercise clause than it was, the establishment.

class. I guess, you know, the questions are if it's a mandate, if you have to have it up, state funds or otherwise, what happens if you don't? Is there some sort of disciplinary action that happens if you don't do it? It's a mandate, like, you know, what's the recourse if you decide, hey, I don't want to put the Ten Commandments up in my school. Certainly, if this was a different religious text, a Muslim religious text, or Jewish religious texts, a Hindu religious text,

and someone was telling you'd have to do it, the whole goddamn state would raise holy hell about it, holier than the Ten Commandments hell about it. And it would be like a gigantic issue about what they were trying to push on kids and on regular Louisianaans and all of that type of shit. I can't imagine that it would hold up

once it was litigated, but like you said, you never know what the court's going to do. I guess, you know, once again, stunts like this and situations like this, from these various political figures who are trying to convince people how American they are and how Christian they are are always

they're always laughable to me but then they're all actually always something that we should they're both laughable and something that we should take seriously because it shows the limit to which people will go to further their own political career and you guys

it's just the beginning of what Jeff Landry's going to do You're going to see stunts to draw attention to himself for the entire time that he sits in the governor's mansion in Batonage. You're going to see that. You're going to see him. You're going to see some migrant deportations. You're going to see some stuff like this. You're going to see some crazy laws. You'll see other stuff that he's already been doing.

What we'll do for the next podcast, I think, is I'll run down the five or ten biggest things that Jeff Landry has already done to take Louisiana backwards. I feel like y'all have been flying under the radar a little bit more than the Texas is and the Florida. It seems like they've hit a wall. Not really. There's still fucking things up. But what Louisiana has been doing down there has been, yeah, I would love to do this on the podcast where we're going through that. Maybe I'll do Texas. Let's compare notes.

Yeah. I bet you would. Like, that's what we'll do. We'll have a higher learning versus on Monday. which state is shittier. Let's do it. Louisiana or Texas. I bet I can find.

Oh, y'all want the chain commandments? Oh, well, we got that. We could top that. Yeah, we make people work for 18 hours in the Texas heat with no water break. That's right. You know what I mean? Which state is shittier?

I'm going to win. That's a segment on Monday. I'm going to win. Louisiana versus Texas. I got more shit. Rep your state. Here we go. That's Monday.

Monday. That's Monday. All right. Before we get out of here, this is a throw-at racial topic that I saw on Twitter. Love's limits. What kind of love does Rachel believe me?

That's such a broad question. Okay. I'm going to give you the goddamn guidelines. I thought you were not in. Okay. Go ahead. Do you believe love is conditional or unconditional?

It's absolutely conditional. Okay. What's that? And I would like to quote my therapist on this. Love is not unconditional between two adults unless it is a parent-child or with a dog. So you believe in, so what are the conditions of love? Well, it's just a pen to. I'm in this, it's a situation with, right?

Like, if you hit me, that is a condition, right? Like I'm and I and like you're saying love in a sense I might still like love you but I have to leave you because you're abusing me. Right. So it's. I almost said cheating but it would depend. Like who knows? Like this is really hard to say. I think abuse in any sense of the word, emotionally physical, mentally, mentally, that's a condition for me.

Like you're deteriorate anything that deteriorates me as a. person or brings me down is a condition and vice versa. Of course it's conditional. It's such a stupid conversation. Right. Of course, number one. This is on Twitter. Yeah, Twitter.

Number one, you have to work to maintain the love that you have between someone. Love is something that you feel. But it's just like anything else. You have to work to maintain it. Of course, it's conditional. them. Like, I could be with you. If you get on that Trump shit, I'm going to fall out of love with you. Condition. You know what I'm saying? I know that's not the same with you. But if, if you, if, if, Brian is not a Trump was not a Trumper. It's not what I heard, man.

Okay. You could look at the January 6th video. I saw some abs listening in that bitch. Don't put that out there. That would be so crazy. Let me ask you a question. what would you have done if you have found out that your significant other forget about anyone person specifically yeah

what would you do if you found out that your significant other was at January 6 like you see them right you're like oh shit that's what the fuck and then you asked them

and they go yeah it was a it was a I just went with a friend I'm not sure about the votes and whatever I just wanted to listen to what they had to say

And there would be nothing to say to that person. Let's say you're in love. You're in love, love, love. There would be nothing to say about that person. You're breaking up with him. I wouldn't say anything else. I would be that meme of that black guy with the glasses and that striped shirt. I would literally be like, let me tell you who was there January 6th.

I would be calling. I'll be notifying the FBI. You snitch? Snitch. Call me snitchell. I would be notifying their job. I would be putting it on social. Oh, no.

So you are in love. You're a head over heels with somebody. Not after January 6th. It's going well. You guys or whatever, they pop up at January 6th. Like you're not only is it over, but you turning them in. As in as many ways as I possibly can. And then I would.

And then I would be on doing the media circuit. my boyfriend, my fiancé, my husband was there January 6th. Oh, that'd be a cold. That'd be a cold meeting. I'd be wearing a T-shirt with the picture of him there. Oh, my God. Caitlin Collins tonight. Next, a heroine story of someone who didn't know the person in their bed.

Rachel Lindsay from the Bachelorette. You might know her as the first black bachelorette. Very famously rode a horse down Rodeo Drive for one of the Most delightful stunts that the show ever had. I know I loved it. She's going to join us next to talk about just how shocked and appalled she was to realize that her fiance was at January 6th in the Capitol. That's next on the other side of the spring.

And that's you. That's what they cut to me. They cut to me to give me a little 10 second. I look in very somber. You know how they're doing it. You know. Uh-huh. That's you right there. And you come back, I didn't know. I didn't know. Like, you know, the whole thing. Who would you want to break that with? Anderson Cooper, Caitlin Collins, Abby Phillips. Who are you going to choose?

I think I'd have to go with the white man. That's what you said at the end of The Bachelor, right? I want to go home. Let's go. Take you think, kept up. But do not stop learning. I am Van Lathen, Jr. I am Rachel Lynn Lindley. Bye, guys.