Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - DJ Akademiks on Megan Thee Stallion's Rap Skills, Drake's Upcoming Album, and Tekashi69

Episode Date: March 2, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss the Rachel’s decision to deactivate her Instagram and Emmanuel Acho hosting "After the Final Rose" (0:00). Then they’re joined by hip-hop media personality DJ Akademiks to discuss his perception on the internet, Megan Thee Stallion’s career, Tekashi 69, Meek Mill, Drake’s album, and more (15:00). Then Van and Rachel discuss the new 'Superman' reboot (1:03:00), the controversy surrounding Taylor Nolan (1:12:00), and introduce a new segment, “Van’s Very Important Questions” (1:28:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher Learning is on. It is I, Van Lathan. And it's me, Rachel Lindsay. Maybe I don't want to do it to hold my mic in my hand like this. I feel like that means this getting serious. No.

No, Jackson, you say, no, why? Why doesn't that work? When you hold your microphone, most times it's going to create a lot of static and it's going to sound a lot worse. Oh, I don't know. Jackson. Okay. So I'm trying to be a rebel, a renegade. I can't even do it.

You've got to be very strict about holding it without moving your hand. Jackson, can we? introduce the podcast without you getting involved? Can we talk? Jackson's starting to fill himself a bit. People are starting to recognize who Jackson is. Want to know what he looks like. Call him out.

Yeah, he wants people. He makes an appearance every podcast now. Jackson is like, I'm cutting all this out. Gail me. Rachel, how are you? Dan, thank you so much for asking.

First of all, I got, you know, everybody at this point pretty much knows. And if you don't know, I disabled my Instagram on Friday. Didn't make an announcement about it. I woke up. I said, taken Friday off of work for a personal day. I woke up. I looked at my phone, one of the first things. I saw something negative and I said, you know what? Not today. Not even this weekend. And currently still not now because I'm still disabled. It was the best decision that I could do for myself to detach from that negativity. I needed that. so much better. I'm not 100%, but I feel lighter. But I missed a lot. And I'm,

and I hear that there was a lot of support and particularly, particularly, I can't speak, particularly for my co-host, Van Lathen. So many people were like, what happened? I saw texting me. I saw Vans post. I said, my co-host has my back. I just appreciate you. Thank you. I know you didn't do that for anything other than you were just supporting me. and uplifting me because so many people weren't. And that meant a lot to me. So thank you. You're welcome.

You're very welcome. And by the way, it was kind of, because people started hitting me up and they're like, why Rachel do her Instagram. And so I have a rule of threes as it relates to Bachelor Nation. Oh, Bachelor Nation. Oh, you were about saying you have a rule of three. I'm like all about threes.

Yes. Right. So about the third time. about the third time someone says, Van, you need to look at this. That's when I look at it. Hey, Van, have you seen that?

Nah, I'm cool. Hey, Van, have you seen this? And there was a lot of thought worries out there. It was like, Rachel, so then I went to your Instagram, and it was gone. Then I hit you, and you didn't hit me back for, like, hours. And I was like, yo, man, is Rachel okay? And then a couple other people hit me up while I was asking who's okay.

And so then when I finally got in touch with you, I was like, look, this sucks. Like, well, no, what am I? support you and decide to make the video and all of that stuff like that, which did, did the video just make things worse? No, not for me. I think it just brought up, you can, as you said, you can say things in a way that us who are attached to Bachelor can't necessarily say them. And I think for you, you just broke it down in a way where it was like, this is ridiculous,

you guys. And I think people needed to hear it from your perspective. You have become Bachelor franchise adjacent, whether you like it or not. You'll respect your voice. Your cousin, yes. They respect your voice. They want to hear what you have to say. And it was very much.

So my sister sent me the video. She screen recorded it. And it was like, it's a TV show, you guys. This is ridiculous. Like, I'm a human being. This is a TV show. It's just becoming, it's just out of control. It's just out of control.

So, first of all, I'm glad you had a good weekend. I'm glad you were able to get away from it. Those trolls have since moved to my Instagram, but I like, No. Oh, I like it. I like it. People hit me up, like, stop cursing. And I'm like, you think I should stop fucking cursing?

That's weird. But I guess the question now is, what has to happen? Because the television show obviously crosses over into real life. There are real life issues that come up on the show, the societal issues that come up on the show, because there's a realm of reality that it exists in. But now it seems like no one is having any fun. Right.

Nobody's having any fun. Just the whole glob jewel of it, it seems very toxic. So what has to happen, in your opinion, for this to kind of move itself forward? That's a great question. I don't know. It's almost, it's not even just no one's having fun. it's just what's the purpose behind it all? What are you trying to accomplish in the things that you're doing?

You're doing the things that you think I'm doing, right? Like people are attacking me because they think that I'm trying to cancel someone. So they're on a mission to cancel me. I'm getting threatened. People are threatening like, oh, I have this on you. I have this. I'm just waiting so you get back on social to unleash this kind of stuff. I mean, it's, you know, you're affecting people's well-being.

where does it in? Where does it stop? Like until you take everybody down, that can't be it. You really need to... No one's listening anymore to what people are saying. They're just so quick to jump on things

and to tear people down. And for what? What do you do? Do you just cancel everything and start over? I don't know. I don't know. They've got Emmanuel Acho

that he's going to come in and Emmanuel Acho swole as hell. We've talked about him before. We've talked about him. Speak for yourself. You're not. of Texas and uncomfortable conversations with a black man with the white background.

He's going to be hosting After the Rose, which is a fantastic choice. He's a dynamite television personality, so congratulations to him. But I do wonder now. Sincerely, I wonder how do people just get to enjoy their bachelor again? Because here's the thing. I think there's a misconception that there's any part of this that people are reveling in.

Nobody would want to have this outcome. No. Right. I think people want sincerity and they want to feel safe and, you know, protected. And they want to feel not even protected, but seen. So I don't know what would have to happen.

I'm serious when I said that I feel like Chris Harrison should come on a podcast. And even if he doesn't have come on this podcast, at this point ABC, Chris, you, everyone who is not going to be able to run from the fact that they're involved in this, at some point people are going to have to come together and figure out how to move forward and get back to just watching random people fuck each other on a television show. I think that's next week. I think that you just hit the nail on the head because we've heard from Chris Harrison at this point with an apology. You've heard from Rachel Kirkconnell with an apology.

You've heard from whoever else needs to apology. Everyone who's been at issue has issued an apology except for the franchise, except for the network, except for the production company. You need to hear something from them. It's almost like, how do you say you have a racist problem or racist issue without saying you have a racist issue? Easily. You bring in Emmanuel Ocho to host the finale.

You bring in the man who has these uncomfortable conversations. You're not saying it. if you're bringing somebody in who has built an entire brand to rectify or attempt to or explain the issue. Right. When it involves racism. They need to come out and say something. They need to grab a hold of this and control the situation. Because right now, you're letting your fans speak for you.

This is an audience that you have curated for 15 years until you had the first lead of color, me. You have built this. You have these people feel that they had their world. now people of color are trying to mess it up. You did this. So you need to speak out and you need to say something. You need to undo it. And at the moment,

they're silent. Here's the deal. I'm not so sure that it can be undone. But what I, what can be done is a look towards the next step or the future of this, right? It's very difficult to undo anything. It's just the way life works.

You know, time moves forward. But I think, to be honest with you, I'm not going to draw devil horns on Chris Harrison's head whenever I see him on TV. It's not that serious. But just acknowledge the moment that you're in, acknowledge everything that's happening, and say, yo, this is what we're coming to, moving forward, boom.

Everybody get back to watching what it is that they're watching. Nobody's going to expect it to be Bachelor, Wakanda, like next season. No. Like, nobody's going to expect that. It's just, but just the fact that it's being fumbled to this degree. And now on all sides of it, you have real people who are having their lives impacted by this. It's like, you know, it's becoming one of those things. So you got to figure out how to get the train back on the track right now.

Because I'm going to be honest with you. At this point right now, like, I don't want to watch the show tonight. I think a lot of people feel that way. Yeah. I was having fun watching. watching it, but it seems like kind of a little bit, maybe, 10% fine. But it's 20%, but now it seems like it's too much bullshit. And you know what else?

They're about to go into production for The Bachelorette. See, I think that they should just stop until like to use what you said, until they get to train back on the tracks. You're going to go into another season, but you still have all these issues. How have you fixed them coming into a new season? You really haven't. So I think that they needed to just take a beat, figure things out, regroup and then bring the product back to us to a way that we can all enjoy it the way that we used to.

You know what they should do the next Bachelorette or the next like remote learning bachelor that they do? Because they can't do it. Blackberry Farm. You know what that is? Where's Blackberry Farm? You never heard of that? You're not up on that Blackberry Farm?

Mm-mm. What is it? You don't use. the Blackberry Farm, the jellies and the jams and the biscuit mix and all of that stuff like that. I don't like jelly, but I know with that. I know the brand.

Smoking Mountains. Blackberry Farm, Blackberry Farm, I am obsessed with. I'm looking at it right now. How much is the night at Blackberry Farm? Not that expensive. The rates begin at 745 bucks to stay at the Blackberry Farm.

It's not that bad. I mean, look. Okay, and why should they have it here? Because the Blackberry Farm is simply one of the greatest places. Look, this is the place. This is beautiful. It looks gorgeous right there in the Smoky Mountains, right? I want to go there.

I want to go to the Blackberry farms right there in the Smoky Mountains. It's there in Walland, Tennessee. And it looks just amazing. I want to stay there. I want to stay there because my ancestors just couldn't. You know, I go to the Blackberry Farm. chill out. I go in them. I'm like, yo, yo, what time is breakfast my niggas?

And because I paid. They got... I can't. I like the blackberry. I got all the biscuit mix and all of that shit like that. I'm familiar with the jelly and the jam. And I got the cookie mix in the Blackberry farms. All of that shit, I got it over. I want to go there.

I want to go there. So random. Sometimes I don't know. I'm like, oh man, maybe I should really know about the Blackberry. You have a very good way of making me feel like something's important that may not be important. Make me feel like I'm missing out on something that's not quite the case. Do you ever do you feel like sometimes that the ancestors want us to be assholes? I've actually never had that thought, man.

You never have? Because a lot of times I'm in situations and I feel my ancestors. You just want to be an asshole. Don't blame it on our ancestors. Don't do that. Look, I feel like seriously because like, you know, the ancestors be honest with you, they weren't welcome

at the Blackberry farm. They were not. Like 150, 200 years ago. So I wonder sometimes if my ancestors are up there like when I'm at the Blackberry farm and I'm eating and somebody comes along like a white waiter or something like that.

I wonder if my ancestors are thinking, yo, just knock this fucking tray over. Just one time for me. They're not. You don't think they are? They're not. Seriously. knock is like I go to places like that I wonder if my answers want me to call him

just knock it's played over see if he pick it up because we couldn't do that why don't you do it why don't you just do it and they'd be like my ancestors told me to do that that's from my ancestors no because I don't know because I don't believe in that especially when people are being nice and you're to disservice people and all of that I believe in being as kind as you can but I wonder because I got to have I got to have I got to have some petty ancestors some of them got to be petty some of them got to be petty. Of course.

Of course. These thoughts, they pop up in your head. I think about this. This is the shit that I think about. Like, because you are, how can you listen to the right ancestor all the time? There's got to be a petty ancestor. It's like, hey, hey, go over there right now and tell them to bring you your fucking car. Because that's what I couldn't do.

All right. Hip hop, man. We got one of the biggest hip hop. media personalities. On the internet, we're about to talk to him right now. He is a controversial figure, but I tell you one thing, this young brother, known for a while. He has made an entire online presence, an entire brand from nothing, built it from scratch, covered some of the biggest rap stars.

He's too close to some people might say to some of the wrong rap stars. We're about to talk to him right now. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with.

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Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trimfireradio.com. Yo! Man, this next guess is a very important guy in the culture. You know, he's polarizing, but he is incredibly successful. And really, an example of somebody who made it happen in this game, this media game from the ground up.

y'all hire learning audience give it up for DJ academics I always tell people to give it up when we don't have an audience and nothing like that oh man yeah hey listen you just almost gave me a sway type intro I got I got a uh I was sitting back like wait like you brother what's good with you man like tell me I'm meeting you as well

yes the first time it's nice to meet you nice to meet you as well yeah so look we've known each other for a little while now was it six years, six seven years or something like that? It's been a while, man. It's been a while. It's been a while. And so I know you.

Yeah. I know you as at DJ academics from your platform. And I also know you as just, you know, at the homie. What do you think is the biggest misconception about you? Biggests. I lean into a lot of the, you know, whether if it's real or fake about, me. So let me see a misconception that I would probably say

it's mostly just the meme stuff. Like, you know, like honestly, like, I remember before, there was a moment of like crossoverness for me, right? And it was right before I got on everyday struggle. And for me, I remember looking at that and I was like, things are starting to change. And ironically, the first time

someone said they recognize me in public, they were like, yo, you're the meme. That's that that's only you're the meme. So like honestly memes and like just things said on Twitter that trend, whether they're you know positive or negative, that's happened to carry, you know,

if you even want to call it some notoriety. So you know what I mean? I don't even there's nothing that's a misconception. It's all true. Let's go. Okay. I'm so glad you said that. No, no, let's pick up off that. Because like Van said y'all go way back and he knows you.

So he knows you in a different way. I don't. So I know you from headlines or memes or things that are said on Twitter. So my first question, when I see everything surrounding you, I'm like, do you really believe the stuff that you say? Or do you just say it for attention? Oh, no, 100% believe it. Like, you need examples. Because I'm only to be able to.

Okay. So let me give you a quick. Like, like, I really came up studying radio. And I study shock jocks. And if you know historically what shock jocks are, people who say stuff to shock an audience, maybe they don't feel that way, but they say it to pretty much,

it's pretty much clickbait before the internet. You get me? Sure. Everything I say, I 100% believe. Now, I might have a- So it's not shock value, because that's my question, and you're just saying it for the attention.

Of course, I double down on everything I really feel, but there's no opinion I really have that I've really disseminated and even try to defend that I actually don't believe. That's why I'm really excited to hear if you do have anything that you'd be like, you don't really think this, do you? All right. Meg the Stallion.

Yeah. You basically, wait, where's the quote? I love quotes. I love to get it right. You said she was a one-flow lazy bars. That's what you said about Megastalian. 100%. You believe that.

You believe that she has 100. hundredth percent, I guess you said, of the talent that Nikki Minaj has. You basically made it seem like the only reason we're boosting Megan are giving her attention is because of her appearance and all the other things that surround her. That's how you really feel as if she doesn't really have talent, as if we're over exaggerating her talent. I mean, we're in this day and a's where we're trying to uplift black women right now. And you're just trying to put two black women who are on, you like how I came in straight in. Not just right, just comes.

Like, piv-u-ib-boo. You ask me. You don't know what you asked me. You're asking the question. I remember all the quotes now. No, no, that sounds good. But no, 100% I stand by. Why?

I think Magnostalian is really overrated as actually an artist. I've always thought that. And I do think the level that she is discussed on when we're comparing and talking about only rap is a byproduct of a lot of industry ties. that she has that has kind of lifted her up to be a super celebrity, which is cool in that realm. But when we just talk about music, it's not there. Like, again, I'm not saying things without merit. We can't really talk about no Megastallian project that could come close to Pink Friday.

We can't even talk about any top Megastallion verses that would come close to the top 10, Niki verses. So, again, when I see how in the last year she is elevated and, Keep in mind, in 2019, or actually maybe the early 2020, I could be wrong on both days. Don't kill me. She sold like 27,000. This was one of the times when they were saying like, listen, it was a, it was, she was the, it was the hot girls versus city girls.

They were saying like she's such a huge star and huge whatever. It might seem like, hey, because I get it. We're in the era of weird. We need to uplift and protect our black women. But when are we going to actually talk about some facts? But you put them against each other. I think that's what it is. It'd be one thing if you were like,

you know what, Pink Friday is this, nothing, it's the best, she's the best, nothing compares to it. But then to put them against each other is the problem and then to go on

and talk about men need a Joanna man, you know, like their appearance to be able to, something like that you said about. Hold on, I clarify,

I clarify, I say, I said in terms of Joanna because I think the way you just said it might make it seem weird. I said, listen, the top women

the new women of rap, they wouldn't really compete or qualify to be in the top hundredth of men today. Nikki was a unicorn. And the reason why I compared it with Nikki, because Nikki had none of the passes that Meg is having,

she had none of the passes that even Cardi had. Let's be very clear. Nikki had to really come in here and really had to at least prove herself musically. And of course, yes, she did, you know, this is not for the bar.

So yes, She did follow a blueprint set by, by Lil'Kim. But when it came to music, she had to go toe to toe to with... She was hard. She was with Drake and Wayne. She was hard. Yeah, no doubt about it. No one could take anything away from Nikki Minaj.

I guess the question would be, why does Megan have to be compared to Nikki Minaj? Why can't Meg just be Meg? Why can't Cardi just be Cardi? Like, why are we comparing them to who I think is probably the greatest, most accomplished female MC of all time? Because as we all know, listen, women coming up in rap is super hard. It is. And I think we're looking at how Nikki came up and we're looking at these other artists who were coming up that seemed to be getting passes that she never got.

You think if Nikki, if it was known universally that Nikki's biggest song was written by somebody else, we'd be like, ah, it's cool, let's go. If Monsterverse was written by somebody else, it would be like, oh, no, she can still, no, eliminate it. And maybe it's a change another guard and change. of the time. Well, it has changed a lot, though. And the one reason why it's changed is because I think there are fewer rap purists than there used to be. So in the time that Nikki was coming up, Nikki was coming up and she was, if we look at who was right next to her, it was Wayne and Drake,

the titans of that. Well, Drake was still on the come up, but Wayne certainly was like, Young Money was the hottest crew. And then she was messing around with Kanye West and all of those guys like that. Well, now, everything is a little bit different, right? Even with Drake, there's been some talk. Everybody knows to talk about Drake and reference tracks and all of that stuff like that. So it's all a little bit different. So I don't think the standard is quite the same. That might be another reason why maybe you don't compare them.

Okay. You are right somewhat with that. But going back to even Meg, I guess my objection with her rise to where she's at is that she's been carried, listen, I'm in the media. I know when the

media has selected a darling, whether male or female and said he won that person to win. And I know also when the PR team is behind it and they're crafting it, like you got to want this girl to win. And I also know when the label is saying, hey, that's going to be the primary angle rather than the music. Not saying her music is bad. I've never ever said her music is bad.

I do actually think she could rap. But she can wrap her ass off. That's a lot of rapping. Yeah. In the first span of a year and a half, we've seen a rise to a level that I'm looking at, I'm looking at everybody to say, is everyone, are we going to all act like this is all music or we're going to just be honest? But, but I think, man, this is honesty, the honesty is that the narrative has the whole package.

I know, but I think that that's like, if we talk about it, that's not a package. But wait a second, if we talk about like she, everybody, a lot of people, though, part of everything, even Cardi, part of her superstardom, she got bangers, don't get me wrong. Part of her superstardom. Now, a lot of guys, part of the superstar now is the fact that she was able to brand herself, the whole drive, the boat thing, all of my hitties, the performances, all of that. It's all

in the same thing. You don't think that that was organic? I feel like Meg came up and it was very organic. First time I saw her was in a freestyle, maybe like three years ago, and for a while she was just kind of there and then she's just kind of built up. Okay. And I'll I'm going to give you that somewhat,

but then I'm going to stop at 2020. You're going to stop at 2020. 2020 was when the Tory Lane's thing happened and the narrative changed. We need to protect her. And protecting her also meant promoter. And also promoter means we now need to look at her in a different realm because she's a victim.

Again, I have all sympathy for her in that situation. I don't know exactly what happened. But what I do know when I'm speaking objectively about rap, that doesn't matter. Huh. You agree with that? No. So wait, when she gets awards

and gets nominated for awards that little baby shunned from Roddy Riches shunned from keep in mind these are the artists who sold the most they dropped projects that outdid hers there's nothing to you can't tell me that she rats better than them you can't tell me

she outperformed them there's nothing you could say except maybe probably throw up the Beyonce assisted you know remakes of Savage and WOP that went number one and Wop And why it's a big record.

Aren't you talking about how popular music? I mean, come on. Wait a minute. That's a big record. Explain your reaction. Explain this reaction. That's a big record. That's your argument.

You were the one talking about records sold. And he goes out what. Hold on. You're right. No, no, I am. I am. And I'm talking about everything in totality. You're right.

Little baby never had a number one record. Right? She was featured a number one record. And also she had a remix with Beyonce. that way number one. Right. Great. But when we think about music, her albums wasn't critically acclaimed. Her albums didn't sell as well as Little Baby. She didn't have a run like little baby. It felt like a robbery. And honestly, that's not, that's not something where I'm like on, on, like, I'm just on the fringe of society. No, no, no, a lot of people felt that way.

A lot of people felt that way. A lot, I mean, look, I mean, look, I think what I think is, you know, Meg, well, first of all, before I even get into what I think, am, are you saying that you think that Meg or Meg's team or anybody else is using what happened between her and Torrey Lane's to push her career? It's exactly what he said. Of course. But I don't know how you could say that because, yes, Meg got a lot of people sympathized with what happened to her, but she also got ripped as well.

A lot of people didn't look at her as a victim. So to say that all the attention surrounding that was positive, if people dogged Meg for that talking on that situation. So I don't know why you would say that she's using what happened to her to boost her popularity. I don't think that's fair. I think there was a lot of attention surrounding it. It was a big story.

But to say that she was using that situation, which we saw her get emotional about, she was shot in both feet. I don't understand how you can say that she did that, almost as if she did it purposely to promote her career. No, I don't think that situation. Again, I don't know what happened at that situation. in the situation, but I think that her and her team definitely look towards that situation to,

I want to say rebrand, but definitely promote her career. You don't know what happened, but you know that her team was doing that. No, of course. By the way, I know what both teams was doing because, you know, I'm in the media. I see how they send things out. I see how they're both. Listen, the media's look on things. You could tell how people are trying to spin things.

The media is a spin site. hey, if I did something wrong but I want to be looked as a victim, I'm going to throw out a story that probably is going to be preemptive to the story you're seeing. Now you could be like, oh, but wait, we got to look at that.

I know how that works. I'm not saying that she just, like, created this thing to, you know, be sympathetic. But once it happened, I know her team started to look like, what is the way that we could capitalize off it? Now, is that wrong if she did? Right? I believe she did. Is that wrong what she did? Not necessarily. But it is on the people who are knowledgeable and who are going to be honest with the people in the audience like myself that's kind of behind the veil and also in that media realm to call it. Just like when Tori is trying to be a little bit deceptive or trying to like, you know, act like whatever. You're supposed to, we're supposed to call that too. We're not supposed to play favorites. It doesn't matter male or female. We got to call it like it is. That's where I do.

All right, speaking of that, do you feel like hip hop media is honest about the artist anymore? Do you feel, who are the guys or the women or the people in the hip hop media that you still feel like give honest, who would be willing to say their opinion if it was what you just said? Have we gone to a point to where everybody's too buddy buddy and everybody has relationships? Or are there still people out there that keep it all the way 100? There's nobody out there that keeps it 100 about everything. There's some people that keep it 100 about people they don't really know. You know what I mean?

Hey, I don't really know what I do like that. So let me call like it is. But if you know him, it's a little bit different. I think hip-hop media these days and really just a lot of the industry like, hey, listen, we're going to rock with whoever we're cool with. You know, like we're seeing agendas being so ever-present in just how things are put across and spun, right? Like, again, we could

co-sign or ignore, right? Because sometimes you're not cosign, you're just ignoring. Tori Lanes, in his situation with Meg, DSPs have chosen to not include him in any editorial playlist. He's deemed as someone who, because, again, culturally, which I agree with, if you are an abuser to women, we shouldn't be trying to give you passes.

Like, don't ever think I'm saying otherwise, right? However, it's not uniform. It's mad other people. Roddy Rich, call the case. We love Roddy Rich. But you know what? They buried that. That's what the media does.

That's what a good PR team does. He called a case, man, you know, you work to T.M. Don't look at me like that. You know what? I mean, yeah. I'm not familiar with this. See? Oh, we not.

Well, what do? I'm also not a big Roddy Rich fan. It's fabulous. Yo, we all love Fab. FABO. Listen, man, he pushed out his pro. this girl's teeth. That was none of my business.

I haven't forgotten that. If y'all hear so into you, the revix come on, y'all won't bump it. And the keyboard real, like, come on that. Really? You're not going to bump that? No, I'm not.

Really? It's not on my playlist anymore. Because of that situation. Yes. Okay. All right. Well, that's what I will never forget that. Seeing that, yes.

But I'm not everybody. That's just me. You're right. As a whole, most people are still going to listen to them. Okay. So then let me throw it in the other way around. If it's a story where there has been a artist that happens to be a female that's been abusive to a male,

are you going to take the same stance? Like, I can't listen to her. Yeah. You're saying I'm just favoring women because it's women? No, it's a victim. I think societal codes and definitely industry code, we usually penalize. The dude, we kill.

The female, like, well, there's a power, like, look, this is like a college argument, right? These are like, there's a high school. This is like, there's a power matrix there, right? So personally for me, and this might not make sense to a lot of people that are listening to this, but girl gets mad, slaps her guy.

I mean, look, she shouldn't do it. Guy gets mad, slaps his woman, that nigga a lowdown. Like, it's not the same. There's a physical strength different. There's a power different. There's a societal power matrix difference. There's all kinds of differences right there.

And I don't think those two things are as, are correlating as much as people say they do sometimes when they want to be in these Twitter arguments. Okay, but, but I, let's just ask, this is, again, a question of fairness, right? Right. Okay. Rachel, would you listen to Slans?

Yeah. Salonzo was caught on Oh yeah she sure did Didn't she like a rabid beast Not that that's funny I'm just talking Forgot about that situation Wait it's not

But look But you know what But you know what I'll be honest with you When that whole situation happened And because that was at TMD And everybody was watching it And they were like

Yo yo yo everybody's making jokes I was like What's so funny It's a family in crisis And she feels like She putting them hands on Jay Z. I'm not saying that we didn't make fun of

everybody looked at it and laughed, but it didn't seem like in that situation, at that Jay was in danger. No, it seemed like she was... It didn't seem like Jay was in danger. You think that Jay seemed like was in danger, folks? Come on.

Not necessarily in danger. I think he exhibited great restraint. Of course. I don't think most of the times, even if it's a retaliatory action, dudes feel like some some dudes are just quick like they're hot like they're quick tempered you know what I mean so like hey some shit like that they might just overreact but that overreaction you're gonna be the person to be blamed whether you did it first or you initiated the contact person that's what I'm like but we also I just feel like we got to we have to be a little bit fair because van you're admitting that hey listen it wasn't cool but we're all laughing but there's zero penalty there's zero what I'm Hold on. What's the penalty for Tori?

We've never seen a video. We've heard opposite statements. Tori said, I didn't do this. Meg said you did this. Okay. People are disagreeing. But here's the thing, though. First of all, two people are disagreeing.

There is one truth, and hopefully we'll get to that one truth, right? I think comparing the Tory Meg's situation to the J situation is a total false equivalency just because of the fact that a gun is involved. So, yeah, she got shot. Right. So if a gun is involved, then it's only luck that somebody's not dead. And if you put a woman, if you put anybody, but especially a black woman in a position where her life is in danger, then you're not going to have much oxygen out of here. And you fucking shouldn't. Now, the reality is that Tori says he didn't do it. There's not just a lie in these stories somewhere. There's a fucking gigantic lie. Somebody is lying huge. But the reality is that for me right now, it's hard for me not to believe. It's hard for me to believe she would make that up. It's just very difficult for me to believe that she would make that up. How should get shot?

Again, there was three other people there at the scene. The one was driving the car. Again, she might have done it. I'm just saying, I'm going to wait. Like, in social media these days, just saying that, yo, I'm going to wait. Give me five minutes to rush to judgment. You're entitled to that? But also, five minutes is up.

At this point, this, this rapper definitely obviously is the biggest Tory, but, you know, me, I'm one of those, you know, little scavengers. I'm going to scour, you know, the shade room comments and the Hollywood unlocked and the ball alerts. I want to, I want to gain, you know, consensus opinion, right? There was an artist, and I'll get her, if I'll get her name, if you guys don't know, there's an artist from Chicago who shot her boyfriend. I know who she, I know who you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Universally, when that was posted, you know, if you said. The reaction.

What did he do? Right. What did he do? Oh, he was cheating. That's what it was? Look at Rachel. Look at Rachel. No, I don't know.

I've never even heard the story. No, it was. I'm genuinely asking. I'm like, oh, is that what the reason was? No, I'm asking. I have no idea. I've never heard of Twitter. Allegedly she thought he was like cheating or something like that.

That's never okay. Never okay. The reaction on Twitter, I'll say this. I would never agree with that. The reaction on Twitter was a lot different than it was from the Tory Meg's situation. Also, there's a difference in celebrity there. There's other things that are going on.

I want to actually move off that real quick and I ask you about yourself. One of the most entertaining things that you do and it is entertaining. What? What? No, no. What is like when you go on these rants,

you always, quote, unquote, violating people. You got a lot of beefs, bro. Like, you got a lot of, come on, Act. You got a lot of beefs. You always have a lot of beefs. Right, you got a lot of beefs. It's all I saw when I did a deep job. You got beefs with podcasters.

You got beats with rappers. You got beefs with hosts. You got beefs. Do you think right now that, first of all, a lot of people think that you have these beefs and you're doing all of this stuff because a friend of yours, Takashi 6-9 was very, very successful doing it. A lot of people think that he's influenced you to kind of violate people and bark on people and troll people.

And that's why you're doing this now. Are you going to stop beefing? And what do you say to people who think you're just trying to be like six, nine? This sounds absolutely laughable, but no, and it's not necessarily beefing. Right. You know, I've found myself and I've started to turn myself as the defender of media. I feel media has been too pussy. I'm sorry.

I just feel like media allow artists to step over them, PR people to step over them, people with any type of advertisement power to completely just do whatever they want with them. And when it comes to hip-hop media, like historically, artists have just been able to dictate and tell a hip-hop publication how to move and operate when it comes to them. Hey, post me like this, do that, do this, do that. Hey, I don't like this. I'm not going to give you an interview. So, hey, you're going to have to retract it for me to come in. I think that we're just in a different age.

we're like outlets like this, outlets like the many other podcasts and just like, you know, people being able to just turn on a camera, turn on a microphone and be able to express her own opinion that you don't have to be working for double Excel to source or hot new hip hop or whoever else

that's these conglomerates that do rely on these relationships and you can just be yourself and be honest. Right? So of course, now when the power gets shifted from those entities, artists feel vulnerable. And this is where I'm coming where you call it beef. because all of these things I'm responding to, an artist saying something about my platform, I have to respond to it.

I'm a businessman, right? An artist saying something about how I do media, if I feel I'm being fair, I have to respond to it. Now, I will be honest, and I've always said this, my tone. Yeah, you know when you're going in on people.

You go in and you started saying the gulliest, Grimy as shit. I've studied all the radio legends. Like who, who have you studied that that makes you go like that? Like who are the guys that you study and look up to? Star, Charlemagne, Wendy. Like, that's a little trio right there.

You know how they get down. Right. Sway. I mean, I've been such a fan of just media personalities and I've always been in the belief that media outlasts every artist. So I've never been the person to just, hey, submit or just be like, hey, I'm just going to do whatever to be in your favor. I'm like, hey, listen, I've worked pretty hard independently to get my platform up to where I'm at. I'm not trying to, you know, be going back and forth with you.

But if we are at a disagreement, you're not going to get me the coward to you because you're an artist. Your shelf life is like three, four years. Like, I'm trying to do something that's 20 to 50 years. You think I'm going to be over here, like, just cowering down to some guy who, like, you might be done it. Like, these artists are in and out. So, again, I'm defending my brain. And also I've also said to people, here's the thing. In media, I ain't never seen Harvey Levin got to, like, defend TMC.

But again, he's white. You get me? He's white. He don't got to defend that big conglomerate. He also doesn't have to worry about his safety. He goes wherever he wants to go, says wherever he wants to. to say nobody presses him. He runs any story.

He'll put a picture of the moment you died on the website. People will be mad. They don't even be mad at him. Yo, act, why you post that picture that Harvey got from the nigger who was supposed to be giving him like mouth to mouth? Why did you post it? And I'm like, what the, wait, you didn't see. Okay, I get it.

But you think that you're, but you were, people would look at that. And, you know, I worked there. People would look at that. They judge you differently because they look at you as being from the same culture, right? So because you're from the same culture, and a lot of people will talk about that with your platform

because you're, I mean, they just say it, you know, whether or not it's fair or not, but because you're from the same culture, they expect more from you. And I think we go through that a lot, you know, on every level. Like, you guys are, you know, black media members and obviously you operate in a realm where there's expectations from your culture,

but then you feel a due diligence to pretty much, just doing your job. And honestly, there are times that I make, there's discretionary calls, absolutely. Right. But you have to also do your job.

You have to. And I find myself most of the times, like, you know, for example, I give you quick, real quick, six nine medicine, Kingwound recently. I said that on clubhouse.

Disgusting. I've made it clear. I am not a fan of that. And also because of the proximity in which people relate me and him, and because I had a good relationship with not only Von Von's management, and actually his family, I've sent many well wishes to, that's not something that would be reposted or regurgitated on my platform. I make a stand. So there are discretionary things. The thing with black media, and that's what we get a lot with artists,

people will go on e-mews and spill the tea. They'll sell everything. It's a tell-all book when they get on 60 minutes. When they're on their own platforms or platforms that support them to get to that point. If you post anything that they don't like, fuck that platform, they, like, they get real person

because they, in, I like to call it, the celebs who will be on some niggish shit. They like to treat black media as their publicists, not actually as business. And that's very important.

They expect you to filter out, oh, this doesn't make them look good. I'm not putting it up. And honestly, if you're really going to be media, you can't really always be, you know, picking and choosing like that. Only last question I would ask you is

a lot of people, this kind of piggybacks off what Van was saying, a lot of people feel like with what you do and the way you present yourself, and I know you kind of had this beef, speaking of another beef, with me, that you don't do anything that positively contributes to the culture. Why would you say that that's not true? So that is a fair point to bring up.

But then I also then look at it to say, who's the people saying that? And what would they consider as, you know, positive contributions, right? You know, like me and meek, we had that conversation. And he was like, yo, you don't really contribute anything to the culture. Without being big-headed and arrogant, which I don't want to be.

And I could sit here in name probably, 10 to 20 artists who I've, my platform have supported them as they've came up that has helped them turn into stars or giving them a career that they've fed their own families and not being able to do more. But also, you know, like we've definitely tried to, especially in the position, like it took a while

for me to get to this place. Like four years ago, I'm still scrapping, right? Now I'm very comfortable. And, you know, I've, you know, I spoke with, I spoke with Taylor Bennett, which is Chancellor Rappers' brother, for initiatives that we could, you know, contribute back to Chicago. Chicago is a place that, you know, my platform has definitely been interested in and we've covered in a lot of ways that, you know, there's, you know.

Caught some of the heat for, yeah, some of the way you covered in Chicago before. Of course, you know, again, I'm in the, if you look at the media members these days or media owners, like, I'm still pretty young. So I'm like, hey, I'm trying to learn. and in that, I'm trying to, like, give back. Like, for example, we talk to him about initiatives where we could, you know, focus and get back on, give back to Chicago.

You know, I'm at Will Barby, one of the people who, you know, I met off ironically Clubhouse or I got suggested to Clubhouse, you know, I donate for their Christmas fund. There's a bunch of stuff otherwise coming up. I got an announcement about, you know, a foundation that's coming, that's from us. And it's like, you know, these things are coming, but like, I feel like the people who say,

that without even, they won't even listen to what I just said. And what I'm trying to do and about to do, they don't want to give you no credit anyways. You know what I mean? So really, I'm trying to do it for honestly just, you know, the places and the people who have really inspired and helped our platform even get to the point that we're at. So I got to, Rachel's got to go. I got a couple more questions for you. Go ahead.

Yeah, listen. Yo, come in hot. I'm with it. I have to go. I'm sorry. It is so great to talk to you, though. I'm not a bunch, Rachel. Like, listen, hey, listen, I seen it with some noise about you.

I don't know who is. You want to talk about it? I don't know what you're talking about it, but I'm rocking with you. Whatever it is. I'm rocking with you. Thank you. I appreciate it. So a lot of, so you, your platform has been going on.

When did you start? You started like 2012, 2011, 2011 on the internet. But a lot of people came to know you even more because you had, probably the biggest hip-hop show on at that time at least kind of visually, you know what I mean? Obviously, the Breakfast Club is a radio show and they were, they're still, they're huge and they remain fucking ginormous. But as far as hip-hop-

Javias, we love Strzalamine. Shut up, nigger. Shut up, nigga. But you guys had everyday struggle. It was a phenomenon, right? Yeah. You're no longer with Complex where that show was. Joe is doing his thing independently now.

Do you ever, is there any chance that we'll see you and Joe do some iteration of everyday struggle again? We got to do something. And I think, you know, what everyday struggle was was a conversation between generations because, you know, there used to be a thought within the culture that, yo, once niggas hit like about like 35, we don't, they don't even exist. And I think that was pooling falls by not only podcasts popping up, but just by like entertainers having a longer show. shelf lives, shelf lives, like, just in this culture. It's like, yeah, people who are older who grew up on hip hop, they still will care about hip hop. So, you know, at first we saw it manifest with them

with people just kind of saying, hey, listen, yo, who are these like motherfucking, like little blonde here, you know, colored here motherfuckers who are coming into the culture? And why isn't the history being respected? History of hip hop is really important. The respect of it and how. you know, the elders see the younger folks and the younger folks even see the elders.

That's been an ongoing conversation. That's why everyday struggle was really great. It's still going to be great because that conversation still needs to happen. And as we keep going on, like as long as rappers keep saying people are getting old, conversation has to happen between generations. Because if you don't have conversation,

you're going to repeat the same mistakes that the last generation did. And you think that you and him will come back and do another show like that at some point? I don't know what the format of it will be, but we'll do something. Right. I'm 100% I'm positive of that. I feel like that's something that's another,

this breath of fresh air and just like, it's going to shake shit up again, but for the better I think. Right. So we briefly talked about 6-9, and you've been very closely linked to him. Be real. The fucking 6-9 thing has gone too far now.

Hasn't it? Like, at the point, so it's, at this point, it's not funny anymore. I remember when the kid was running around and he was doing this thing, we covered him a lot at TMZ. Now, you know, it's a bunch of motherfuckers in jail. You know, he's all live, telling people their homeboys, their brothers, whatever, suck my dick, rest in piss. It's not, at this point, and he's, even all of the stuff that he's kicking up with these other

guys putting them in the cross here is almost like he trying to make them do something. You don't think that this is gone too far now that like this, it's not funny, it's not funny anymore. It's like serious now, right? So, now, I agree. I agree. So I agree in part. So like, I do think it's, and I've told him this.

I'm like, it doesn't seem as funny as it did before. It just seems, even coming from him, it seems like, angrieness. and bitterness. And I do think people want to see like, like what do you want to believe or not, man? The majority of hip-hop are kids not from that environment.

Of course. So they love the trolling. They love all of that stuff. They like it because they like it because it makes them feel emboldened because they see him. For a lot of people in America, 6-9 is their avatar.

Because really, for lack of a better word, he sees these guys and be like, oh, man, these niggas not so, tough, look how he's talking to him. And if you, from the middle America somewhere, that puts a battery in your back. Like, you got a mascot. Yeah, but here's the thing.

It's better if it's funny. Because at least when it's funny, like, it's a bunch of skits. You know, it's a bunch of, like, you laughable moments where most of these kids won't ever do that. But they feel they're, they're, like, that's a representative and whatever. I do think right now, you know,

he has to either make it lighthearted or if it keeps being like that, it's potentially going to lead to another downfall. You know, because again, truth be told, like, for example, the meat mill situation, I thought Meek did the right thing, but I think he did the wrong thing before.

The wrong thing he did before was don't go on social media and say when you see him, you're going to do something. Because truth be told, he's going to be able to a bunch of cops, a bunch of security. and if you're a rapper of any type of worth, you should be too. You're not going to shoot him.

You're not going to fight him. Nothing's going to happen. And you know what's going to happen when nothing happens? And he's like a comedian. He knows how to work an audience. Everybody's going to look at it and say, yo, meek, Mel ain't the guy we thought he was. If meek had just said from the get-go,

I want no parts with this guy. But here's the thing, you know, the whole Meek thing is super complicated. because I do think Meek has some things with himself that allow him to feed into that. Look at Dirk. Dirk doesn't. Dirk doesn't do it.

There's other rappers who are prospering who don't do it. Why does Neek Mill, the person who's on the front line for prisoner informs who just got out of jail after he was incarcerated for popping a wheelie, why is he entertaining the guy who literally everyone's calling the police? Why would he do it? I just don't. I personally think he's dumbest rapper

in hip-hop. I ain't a lot of it. Man, shut up, bro. You ain't about it. Man, shut the fuck. I'm straight. Man, you can't rationalize that with me. It wasn't the best move, but you can't say this man is the dumbest rapper in hip-hop act.

See, that's the type of shit right there. See, that's the type of shit. That's the type of shit right there. Anyway, off that. Go ahead. All right. So literally two more questions. One,

if six nine continues like this the way he's going right now, do you think he sees 30 years old? I want to say yes. But I think every day, and the reason, let me explain why I'm saying, I would say yes, right?

Because truth be told, as much as the internet scenes, let me say this. And I know this, for example, I know this form of, and I don't know if you know it's some experience. Most of these rappers rapping about murder, murder, kill, kill. They have their agent, the publicist,

hired security, and police with them. They're not doing that. Okay, so if you run into a rapper, other than some entourage, they're not doing that, right? He's not out everywhere where he's accessible. Okay, he's probably looking for moments. So he's going to bump into other rappers. I don't see a, like, a rapper of any type of no...

variety shooting him or doing anything to him. He's not going to be out there that niggies are going to do a drive by him. You get me? Here's the thing. There's somebody who's thirsty to be around Meekville that knows hey, Meek is getting embarrassed by this kid.

I'm going to do some dumb shit. And that's where the problem lies. You know? And that's something you can never predict. That's something that even if you have security 23 hours a day, that one hour you're like, hey, I'm just going to do whatever.

You never know. We saw what happened to X. Even though X was not nearly as toxic. So I can't answer that, but if I only have to judge off his actions, I would say this is not someone who's planning to live a long life. Because I wouldn't do that. And I've cautioned him on that.

And shoot me toe. And this part needs to be also highlighted. Because you know what happens? And something happened to him, they're going to be like, yo, act, why you ain't stop him? Tell him a thing every day. Truthfully, he's addicted to the shit that he's doing now. I've told him, yo, he has every car known the man, every different color. He has so much.

He came home to $20 million. I told him, go chill out. Right. He's someone who is obsessed with being the number one topic of conversation, which I believe is very dangerous. Dangerous. So, all right. Drake drops later on this summer. This is the last question.

We'll let you go. We appreciate you being here. Drake drops later on this summer or maybe the spring, depending on who you believe. Charlemagne thinks, he said this on the Breakfast Club, that Drake is up against it right now.

He seems to think that little baby is the hottest right now and that Drake needs a smash hit, ridiculous, crazy album, ridiculous crazy songs to reestablish himself as the hottest rapper in the game. As far as I know, I saw Drake drop a couple of times last year, and both singles went to number one. So if he cold, he is the hottest cold that has ever existed in life, right? Do you think that, but, you know, Shaw's not the only one that say this.

Do you think that that's, do you think something similar? Do you think that Drake's reputation as the number of, one rapper in the gang. Phonomenon that he's been is on the line with certified Loverboard. I love Shalman. Shisholman is my guy. Someone who's definitely served as a mentor for me. But Shillman, I think he's missing

the fact that Drake has been, and by the way, Drake has graduated with Masters. Actually, he graduated with a doctorate from the school of JZ and being able to live through turmoil. And when I mean, turmoil, it could be people challenging the crown, people coming at him, all of

that. You know, I think he learned that from Jay, right? We saw there was multiple times that he had to do this before. Maybe not before with a little baby, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be fine. He did this before with Future. You know what he did? He put his hand around Future. The future. What's up?

Let's do it tape together. You know what? Your wave is going to be like future in 2015. It's not future in 2020. Drake in 2014 is Drake in 2020. Remember that. He outlasted that way. Now Little Baby is upon us, right?

I think he's equipped with, I don't think he's necessarily, oh, a great album or not. I think it's how he plays Little Baby's way. Drake at this point just has that big homie status where, like, yo, he needs to, you know, I said Meek should do this, but Drake might do this. Just do a tape with Baby or something like that. again, to last 10 years is amazing.

But if I'm Drake, all I got to do is babies wave will last three years or two years. Actually, I'm going to say two more because he's already into one. All you got to do, put your hand around him. That's what you got to do. I think Drake rocks him asleep. Outlast the shit. And he'll drop an album.

You might not call it the best he's ever dropped, but you'll call it serviceable enough. and they'll have that one joint on it that says, what the fuck was I thinking? Word. So you pod, know what? Podcast coming? Would plug something before you go.

Tell everybody where they can find you and get, because it's a lot of people, we got a crossover type audience here. There's a lot of people. This is the first time they're going to hear you and they're going to be pissed off. A lot of people are going to be pissed off. But some people might want to know

where they can find more. Like, tell us what you got coming up. I mean, the streets. Not, blah, yeah. That's the one place you don't be, nigga. That's the one point. That's what place you don't be. Man, stop me.

You got to see these false narratives. Listen, hey, you can find me on my own my native platforms, whether it's my YouTube, my Instagram, my Twitch. There's a podcast coming soon. Word out. I hope that Van will be returning in the favor. Of course. And pop upon, you know, my podcast.

But, you know, Van, just overall, I just want to say, yo, yeah, thank you for always, you know, you show me love in person. And also, you know, when we have a, been in person just like you'll call me about everything. When I went to L.A., you definitely showed me love. So I really appreciate you. And that's why, you know, I don't even, you know, I don't do.

The last podcast that is before this was brilliant idiots two years ago. Damn. So you don't like to, you like to ask these questions, but you don't like to fucking answer them, do you? No, no. I don't mind answering them. It's just that like I've turned into the person who says, listen, I talk all that shit, but if you want to catch it, come to me. Word up.

I feel you. I feel you. I love him ahead I'm not the homie DJ academics When the podcast You know where the podcast is coming You got any date

You got any platform Or you still what we're like I wish I could make an announcement right now But nah Listen it's on the way It's on the way I feel like You know the rappers who want to drop some shit

But they didn't really about to drop some shit Like they literally They want to create the first song tomorrow But they be like it's on the way But yeah no no seriously It's on the way I've been waiting And by the way

I love to see what you did With your platform and like your podcast I'm like your damn van is killing it in the podcast space You know I never used to believe in podcasts in first Right Like I used to be the guy who says yo At least from me I have a very young audience And I'm like yo

Their attention span They don't want to hear no goddamn hour of nothing But truth be told as audio and just content Has developed over the years They want longer form content As long as it's talking about shit they want They care about yeah Yeah.

So again, it's coming soon. Van going to be one of my first 10 guests. I'm into it. He was going to say first guest, but then he remembered he probably got to have Uzi or one of these other little motherfuckers with some shit growing out of the head on the goddamn motherfucking podcast.

All right. At, appreciate you, bro. Keep doing your thing. Thank you for joining us today on higher learning, man. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need weather tech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping.

then you'd want a cargo liner. Or road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. This episode is brought to you by Sweetgreen. The day doesn't ask for permission.

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I'll be honest Obviously his name is something that I'm familiar with But I'm not familiar with every single thing he's attached to So as I was doing a deep dive I was like wow Yeah I mean He's got his opinions

He's got his opinions He stands on his shit I give him that Stands on this shit Shout attack Now I don't know if you saw this Warner Brothers Is rebooting Superman

With Tana Haysee Coats What are you Go ahead No, go ahead. What's wrong? What's the matter? You don't know the story. Tana Hesse Coats.

Come on. Tana Hisey Coats. Tana Hisi. Tana Hisi. Tana Hisi. Tana Hisi Coats is writing it. J.J. Abrams is producing. Now, here's the thing about J.J. Abrams. One day I hope to work with J.J. Abrams, right?

I definitely do. The reality is that I have to alert people with something. J.J. Abrams wrote one of the worst Superman scripts ever. Ever, never got produced, ever, horrible. Like, it's legendary without the nerds. J.J. Abrams is a genius, but in nerd lore, the J.J. Abrams Superman script from back in the day was horrible. Okay, people hated it.

Now, they're rebooting this, and there's some talk that Michael B. Jordan. Mm-hmm. Could be replacing Henry Cavill as Super Bowl. Now, would this be just for this film or would he continue, you know, like, would he, Henry's done? And it's all Michael. Because that's what I would want to see, right? I don't want him to just be in it because somebody black is behind it. If you're going to give him the role, let's let him continue.

Well, yeah. I mean, they were talking to Michael B. Jordan, I think, a year, year ago, year two ago. I saw that. He had, like, pitched this before. Yeah, yeah, to be the black, the black Superman or. Superman. He's just going to be Superman. He's not going to be the black Superman. You said it. You said it.

Kelle from Kellelel from the planet Krypton. Yeah, but I think it would be... Who from the planet Krypton? Kelle. Is that Superman's real name? Yo, man, you got to be

fucking kidding me. No, I'm not kidding you. You got to be kidding me. Just everybody... Trudy, do you know, did you know Superman's real name? Yes, I used to watch Smallville. Yeah, of course. You got to be joking with me.

If I've never read a comic book, if I've never seen a Superman movie, if I've never watched Smallville, then how can you tell me that I'm supposed to know something? Rachel, what's Batman's real name? I've watched all the Dark Night series. What's his real name? Bruce Wayne. Okay, cool. Thank you.

Because I've watched it. There is no, thank you. Well, I'm telling you. Because it's common knowledge. I'm telling you that Superman is a part of Americana. I guess I've just never thought of Superman's real name. He was just, it was Clark Kent. You ever see Iron Man?

Isn't he Clark Kent? You ever see Iron Man? Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me I'm wrong. You ever see Iron Man? I was focused on Iron Man. You ever see Iron Man? Yes, Superman's not in it.

Of course he's not. It's a different universe. What's Iron Man's real name? Tony Stark. Okay, you know. Because I've seen it. it. But isn't it Clark Kent?

No, it's not Clark King. Well, then who is that? Okay. All right, hold on for a second. I don't care that you're getting upset. I don't care. Let me compose myself before I do this. Because this is the type of shit that I'm talking about.

And you know what's going to happen? You know what's going to happen? When they make this movie, when they made this movie, you know who's going to get the interview with Michael B. Jordan and fucking J.J. Abrams and Tone of Y.C. coats. It's going to be you. And I'm going to be sitting over here. Hey, guys, I watched my first Superman movie, and I didn't know that he could fly.

But so. Never forget Bill and Ted. Never forget Bill and Ted. So here's the thing. Superman. His actual name. So he has two real names. Wow.

His actual name is Cal L. that is his given birth name. Spel. Spell it. K-A-L-L-E-L. Cal is his first name. Oh, I feel like I've seen that before. Al is his second name.

He is the son of Jorrell. Okay. So Superman is from a planet called Krypton. I knew that because of kryptonite. Crypton. There you go. That's what, okay. I knew.

I know kryptonite. Okay. Crypton blew up. You knew that, right? Yeah. Yeah. They sent Superman to Earth. Okay.

Superman is strong because our sun is yellow. And his cells drink in the radiation. from a yellow sun and it makes him a superpower being. So at nighttime, does he lose his powers when there's no sun? No, because he's been out all day long. His cells have the radiation inside of them. Okay. Okay.

And also. That was a very logical question. Also, you got to relax because the sun is still, you know, just relax. There's still solar radiation coming in. Superman can drink it up. By the way, there have been comic series where they've, like Lex Luthor has made a red sun. he's put a filter over the sun and Superman has been depowered. Or Krypton Superman just a normal guy.

Anyway, so he gets there. The Kent family adopts him. They make his earth name Clark Kent. Okay. Well, that's his common name. That's his government name. And that's what I'm going by. His government, his government is Clark Kent.

And I was not wrong in that. All right. All right. I'm triggered, but I'm going to move on. It's okay. You know, I didn't come at you. We didn't know Polly. This is the shit.

A lot of people wrote me and said, don't let Van take your card away. because of Polly. My G. My G. There's no realm of reality where that Polly character is close

to the pop culture presence. My point is that you don't... Superman. I don't knock you when you don't know something. Superbad been around 1938. You know what, Polly? To be honest, there's probably a lot of people out there don't know Superman's real name.

Thank you. It's probably a lot. Thank you. Cal L from the Planet Krypton. Been around TV and all kinds and stuff like. Kellel is his name. Didn't he come as a baby? Yes.

So how did he know what his name was? What do you mean? How did he know what his name was? Like wasn't he like a baby? Yeah. So I'll tell you how he knew. So when he came in the ship, all right, in the ship that he came in,

there were also crystals that Joril put in with that, right? And the crystals had all of the history of Krypton in them. Got you. So when Superman got to be, you know, old enough, It's a place up north called the fortress of solitude. Take a crystal. You go up there. It made a big fortress of solitude.

And that's what Superman goes. And he learned about everything that happened in Krypton. And there's a bunch of different iterations. So he learned his name later. I like when you tell me the story better than actually having to like read up on it or watch it. All right. Rachel, what the hell do you think about a black Superman? Because I'm over it.

I think it's great. There's never been one. If it's going to be anyone, I think it should be. Michael B. Jordan, like I said, I don't want it to be a one and done thing. I want to see him continue as Superman. I think it's great. I hope the character works as a black guy. I hope it works.

Because to me, a lot of Superman's motivations come from this inherent belief. And like Superman's motto is truth, justice, and the American way. To me personally, it seems. And, you know, he's Smallville, Kansas. And all these are tweaks and you can change them. But it seems that that credo, that sort of like mantra, Mm-hmm. It's a little harder sometimes if you're, if you're right to,

not that you don't have the ideals, but to believe in it to the point to where you put all of that on you. It's just, it's an interesting tweak. Like because in many ways Superman is the whitest of all superheroes. Absolutely. That I know. Yeah, he's the whitest guy. He's, oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, I'm strong. Is that how he flies around?

By the way, Superman has two weaknesses. Cryptonite. Yep. And Lois Lane. Lois Lane. Come on now. I'm out here winning the Superman quiz now. Lawyer, you're doing good.

I'm not going to lie. You started off. fucking terrible. And as you just admitted, most people don't know his real name. But now, but now, Lois Lane,

if you want to get to him, get to her. Yeah, so look, we touched on it. I do want to bring up one more thing from Batch World,

though. What's the girl's name, Taylor? Taylor Nolan. Taylor Nolan. So I've been getting a lot of DMs from people

who want us to address past tweets that were made by Taylor Nolan. Now tell me who Taylor Nolan is. So Taylor was on the season of The Bachelor with me. This was in 2016, aired in 2017. She's black and white. She was on the season.

She was on the infamous two on one. I don't know if you've seen that or whatever, but she got into it with another girl. She eventually gets sent home. I wasn't close with her on the season. Like she kind of was to herself. I have since become cool with her, I would say, in the last year. Right.

Okay, so some old tweets of Taylor Nolan, is Nolan, right? Yeah. If Taylor Nolan came up, and the tweets are pretty bad. They're bad. They're really bad. The tweets are disgusting.

She addressed the tweets because she's been pretty hard on Chris Harrison, if I'm to remember. On everybody. So she's been one of the, other than me, I would say she's been, if not more, very outspoken about, all the inequalities and injustices within the franchise. She has been a leading voice for anti-racism. So they were sending the tweets around.

I got sent them to me by a bunch of different people. And it's obvious that people are, they're looking to send these tweets around in order to have a moment where it's exposed that she's some sort of racist or they are sticking it to her, putting it in her face. That, of course, doesn't excuse anything

that she said, but that's clearly the motive here. So she addressed it and basically what she said, because I watched the video, did you watch it? I didn't watch I can't, I can't see it. Right. Basically what she said was that she had said all of those things and she knows that she's wrong

and it didn't take her stepping in it for her to realize that all of those things that she had said in the past and those ways that she had said in the past, the ways that she had felt in the past were wrong. She has grown over time.

And her and who she is now isn't a reflection or reaction to getting called out by something. And she's not apologizing to the people that are weaponizing her past statements against her in order to provide cover for Chris Harrison. She is actually apologizing to the people that believe in her now

that might feel a certain way about that. That's a pair, that's me paraphrasing basically what it is, she says, as I understand it. What do you think about that? Well, I think people are very upset and shocked and disappointed. I mean, I'll throw myself in there because, you know, I, you see Taylor one way. You've seen her, you know, stand on this platform. She's been very vocal.

She's been very definitive in what she believes. And, and so to see something that's so opposite of that, it's shocking. Like, at first I was like, is this real? Because I'm not on social. So I'm getting it in piecemeal. And I'm like, is this real? And then to come to find out it's real, it's like, whoa. And so I have the same energy with Taylor that I do with anybody who does something that's wrong. I said the same thing with Chris Harrison, even though that message seems to be getting lost. I said the same thing with Rachel. You're never going to hear me say cancel this person. This person is done.

They should be like I'm done with them. What you'll hear me say is you've got to hold that person accountable. And so I have that same thing with Taylor. What she did was wrong. It was terrible. It was shocking. It was disgusting. And she should be.

held accountable for that. But what I think the problem is that people and the people who went digging for that were out to crucify her and it doesn't take away or excuse anything that she's done. The people are so angry. They don't want to hear what she's done since those tweets. And I think that you can look at both of those. You can be appalled at what she did and hold her accountable for that. But you can also recognize that she's not the same person that she was before. And I think what she was saying is that she didn't wait for somebody to call her out before she started doing the work. She recognized it was wrong. That's part of the reason that she's in the profession of therapy and recognized that, quote, she had internalized racism issues with several people was projecting certain things because she herself had issues from within.

And not saying that that was right. She's just saying that's what she was doing. And it was wrong. And I hope, I hope Taylor will come out and explain, because Taylor's in a different position that we're not in. She used to be one way, and now she's something different. So when we're calling on people to not just listen and learn, but do the work, Taylor is somebody who's saying she's done the work. And we've seen it. You know, she's been very vocal against racism.

So I would love for Taylor to come out and say how she got to the place that she is today. go from the mistakes that she made, what she did recognize it, don't make any excuses for what you did. It was wrong, but then tell us how you got to the place you did today because that could reach a lot of people. Definitely, definitely.

And maybe provide a blueprint for some other people. There you go. Yeah, you know, definitely could be. Definitely, definitely could be. Nobody wants to hear her right now. And I get it. It's, it is, wow. Let's take a break real quick.

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He didn't name me. He didn't name you. He didn't name you. But I'm not going to talk about that portion. But I did think that Bill Maher's interview with Megyn Kelly on real time this past week was interesting. Did you see it? I read about it. Right.

So basically it's Bill Maher and Meg and Kelly and they're talking about and, you know, Bill has Megan on there. Bill's been doing this for the last couple of weeks or the last couple of years, really, where he's having people on there that seem more, I wouldn't say necessarily their center right. I'd say people who are looking to call out what he feels like is the angry left or the cancel culture obsessed left. So Bill and Megan Kelly have a conversation that's essentially about what whiny babies social justice warriors are.

you know, people that want social justice and people that want to change their world, that he feels like everybody has their pitchforks out. This is what he's been talking about. And that people are going too far with all of this stuff.

That we're taking it too far. He even said, you know, I've been for civil rights my entire time. The entire time I've been out here, I've been watching Bill Maher for going on 20 years, longer than 20 years. and so, you know, I've seen him kind of be down at times. But now he feels like, I guess, his ilk straight white males are under attack.

Do you see that? Do I see that they're under, do I see that they're under attack? Do you think that, do you buy into the whole deal that there is a leftist cancel culture that is working, not of, working out, not out of... It's going both ways. It goes both ways. It is out of control on both ends. I think that there are people

who are so quick to cancel over one mistake that they don't give, they don't give people any time to change, and they want to cancel before anything else. But I think on the other end, there are people who have weaponized the word cancel. And instead of, they don't want you can't even hold somebody accountable and that's the issue on the other side the moment

you want to hold somebody accountable that's canceling them it's almost as if cancel culture has been such has created something on the right where you can't hold anybody accountable and nobody can be punished for the things that they do wrong because that's cancel culture and you can't do that so it's on one side there's an extreme and on the other side there's an extreme and because nobody not nobody because those extremes don't want to come to the middle it's like We can't even just say you were wrong for what you did. They're repercussions of for that. And let's move on with it.

Instead, it's deemed as cancel culture. And that's not always the case. It's very true. So here's my thing that I feel like guys like Bill Maher, like, have to realize. And I like Bill Maher, for the most part. Yeah, you've been watching him for 20 plus years. Right. I think he's turned into,

whiny little brat of recent. I definitely do. I think he's a whining little brat. But I know this is hard for Bill Maher and the Bill Maers of the world to understand. I know it's hard for everyone to understand. But it's over. Like, it's over.

The mad men era, the hey, my secretary has a nice, fat ass. And there's a black guy that's going to take me from the, uh, the ground floor up to the penthouse. When I get up there, there's going to be a bunch of people there that are going to hand me my brandy,

sit down and worship me as the master of the universe. It's done. If you comment on your secretary's ass now, she going to light your motherfucking ass up. Rivefully so. If you get in the elevator with a black guy and you look like he should be pressing the buttons for you to get to where you're going,

if you treat him like a servant, you're going to light your ass up. And the reality is, no one isn't asking for anything they haven't been doing for years. You talk about no margin of error, talking about not having grace or compassion for people. What group of people, besides black people and women,

black women, gay Americans, trans Americans, what people have been treated with less compassion and grace than these groups? So the reality is when the tide is shifting, when things are actually getting sort of put on front street, I expect Bill Maher and a lot of guys like him to be asking the way, acting the way that they are, right? We've had it to hide on the hog for a long, long time.

You know, he said that, and Megan Kelly said this, she said that during the interview, she said, you know, she's been obviously the victim of harassment, sexual harassment at Fox. She was a victim of it. She said she chose not to be, she actually said it happened to her,

but she chose not to be a victim. She used a very specific word in terms of, it's not to use a very specific word. She was very killed for not to call herself a victim. So let me call her a victim. It's something that happened to her, but it's not who she is.

Okay. I respect that. The reality is, the reality is this. Somebody's not acting like a victim if they're kicking you and you're nuts. So like a victim is somebody who goes, oh, woe was me, runs to the corner and lets you do whatever it is that you're doing and revels in their victimhood.

That's precisely what's not happening now. See, that's what used to happen because we didn't have any way that not to be the norm. But now people can hold hands from across the world and say, this happened to you, this happened to me. The women, there's two ways to deal with something when it happens to you. One is to say, hey, that happened to me, it won't define me. And that's cool. Another way is to say, hey, that happens to me, it won't define me.

And I'm going to make sure it never happens to anybody else. That's not a victim. That's a hero. So any woman that's made it her goal to make sure to stamp out sexual harassment, any black person that's made it their goal to stamp out, racism. They're not victims. They're heroes. And we just have more of them now. Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes we get it wrong. Yeah. Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes they go too far. A woman tweeted something where she said, hey, I'll put it up on my Instagram. A woman said,

don't refer to your colleagues, your female colleagues as smart, brilliant, or intelligent. Because you wouldn't say that about a male colleague. I'm like, come on, man. Like, hey, it's me. I'm just describing the state of your brain. And I say that my male colleagues are brilliant all the time. Mm-hmm. And so we talked about that last week. So I think, guys, I think the real thing for guys like Mar is this, like, just deal with it. It's over.

Like, you had a good run. Great. Yeah. A fucking mad. It's never been the way it is now. So, yeah, it's all they've ever known. It was a fantastic run. Mm-hmm.

A fantastic run of being completely unaccountable. of being all-powerful, of being really like little many gods running around America, having everything, acting like you created everything, acting like everybody worships you, acting like all of that stuff. It's over. Yeah, so who's the one who's really whining? He whines, he talks about being a victim. That's what I'm saying.

He's on the show every week whining about how he's the victim of people's ideology. I know. I know. I like to go to a good comedy show and hear a fucked up, jokes. I do. I don't have a problem with it. I like to go to different places and get gully. I like to listen

to the most ratchet rap music. Not politically correct. I am far from a perfect person. You can't have grown up in the gin and juice era and not have some toxicity about you. But the reality is this. This changes for the better.

This changes for the better as long as we embrace it and ask questions about it. But if you try to weaponize yourself against it, you're going to look like a fucking idiot. Yeah, you got to get on board. It's happening. It's happening, Bill. Bill, stop. Bill. Stop fighting. Stop fighting.

Stop fighting. We go, we're going, we're going to talk about what kind of society we want and then we're going to worry about whether or not people are being too sensitive. Because, by honest with you, they probably are getting too sensitive. But the reality is they have to feel protected before and empowered,

before they can feel comfortable enough not to be hypersensitive. And we haven't done a good job of that. We're going to start. Okay. So here it is. New segment. We're going for it right now. Vann's very important question of the week.

We're doing this every single Monday. All right. This is my very important question of the week for you, Rachel Lindsay. If aliens came to Earth right now, they say they're going to destroy the planet. So they're evil aliens. Okay. Maybe not evil.

No, they're going to destroy the planet. These are evil. That doesn't necessarily. necessarily make them evil. Okay. So they're helping us by... I'm not saying that they're helping. Let me ask you a question. Are men evil when they plow down the forest to build a subdivision? They killed a whole bunch of the habitat.

I think people would say that they were evil. There's some people who would say that. They're not evil because you're living... Okay, well, they're not... Whatever. Okay, I think whatever. Fine. The aliens... The aliens want to... Like, Hitchhackers god to the galaxy. Maybe they want to build an interstellar highway, whatever. But they say they're going to destroy the world. Unless... you can play them one song that will restore their faith in humanity.

Okay, see, this is why evil is the first thing that comes to my mind when you talk about aliens because what I'm doing is trying to play a song for them that's going to restore their faith in humanity, give them hope, make them feel good. But just make them think that it's not worth destroying us.

Right. What song would you play to save the world? Quite naturally, it would be we are the world. Horrible. We died. We did. This is up to the aliens to decide. Horrible. Horrible. We are the world. We are the children. Horrible.

We are the ones who make... I've asked this question so many times. You know, it's maybe the worst answer I've ever heard. What was your song? What was yours? I believe by Stevie Wonder. It's just a beautiful song. It's about... And mine wasn't?

No, no, we all the world is, we all the world is a song. And it raised money. It raised the song, the song raised money to make the world better. Come on now. It's too on the nose. You're not going to do this to me. Cheesy. I don't care.

You asked. The aliens don't know what cheesy is. It's like the worst. They do know. No. Well, here's the thing. How can we assume that there's anything we know that they don't? They came here for of a billion light years away.

Let me tell you something. You're the one asking the questions, okay? And I'm simply answering it. They're not going for that. This isn't a Tensel Town tear. We're not taking this back and adding a whole story with it. I'm telling you, that's a horrible, that's a bad answer. I'm telling you that's a bad answer.

Somebody right now heard me say that and started singing. Somebody right now felt a tingling in their body. They started waving their hand in the air. They probably did, but you know. And wasn't Stevie a part of this song? Yeah, but that all matter, but he's marginalized. We're on the same page. What I'm saying is that that's like really,

I've asked this question before, I was really one of the worst things I've ever had. So I'm unique. I'm unique. See, I'm the only one we said it. We are the world. We are the children. No.

Go ahead. It's not going to work. We are the ones that make a better. No. Come on. Hate it. So let's start giving. No.

You know you're singing. He's bobbing his head, y'all. He's coming in. He's coming in. He's loving it. Rachel. that's bad. I stand by it. I said what I said.

You don't want to try another song? No. Oh, wow. Wow. Well, I just saved your life. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. The aliens are cranking up the damn ray gun right now. They're aiming at the world.

How else they're going to destroy the world? They've got to have a big-ass ray gun. All right, whatever. Hey, look, Bachelor fans, relax. I'm saying you guys, take a breath. man. It's just a TV show. It's just a show. I guess I will watch tonight. Tonight is Fantasy Suites? The reunion.

Women tell all. No, next week. Women tell all. It's the reunion. They come back. All right. We're done. We're done, Rachel. You got anything else? No. Nope. Nope. Take your thinking caps off. But do not stop learning. We are going to see you guys later on this week.

Winnie Rose on Thursday. Actually Friday. Peace. Thank you.