Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Jay Pharoah on Celebrity Impressions, Comedy in 2020, and His Experience With Racial Profiling

Episode Date: December 22, 2020

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss Van’s insensitive joke about Colombians from the last podcast (5:00), then Jay Pharoah joins the show to talk about his career with impressions, whether or not white comedians should do Black impressions, racial profiling in 2020, and who Jay’s favorite impressionists are (23:00). After that, Van and Rachel discuss the Verzuz battle between Too Short and E-40 (1:08:00) and the COVID-19 relief package (1:18:00). 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 Lathen. It's me, Rachel, Endie. Rachel, how was your weekend? You sound. Are you okay?

I'm good. Okay, it was just a big sigh. Let me ask you how your weekend was first. You good? You're okay? I was good. I was good. I'm good.

You know, just managing everything, you know, the PVCs. They come and go. So, you know, you never know. But, like, but no, overall, I'm not. I'm good. I'm hopeful and I'm good. How are you? I am great. I'm in Texas. You're in Texas? Okay. How was the trip down? Very easy. Airport wasn't crowded. Everything was simple in and out. Didn't have any any problems. But, you know, it feels good to be like, I feel it. The moment I landed in Texas, I just feel at home. And, you know, I forgot. I mean, I haven't really been around people. I just been in my sister's neighborhood. I was walking around my dog today.

Everybody's so friendly. I forgot coming from Miami, coming from L.A., everybody, I'm across the street. Hey, how are you doing? You good? Happy holidays. Just, I mean, at least 10, 12 people talk to me. It's a beautiful thing. I don't know.

I'm not going to let you do L.A. like that. We speak to each other here. Maybe they do in your neighborhood. Not in my neighborhood. People walk across the street. I live. And it's COVID. I understand.

I understand that. But they don't say hello. We say hello here. The Pico. Lossi in a good area. You know, we say hello. You run a lot. You're not far for me.

Come over to run over to the Westwood neighborhood and see if people say hello. Maybe I don't know what to say about Westwood. To me, I've always... You're down the street. Don't, don't know. I've always looked at Westwood. You live in Beverly Hills. I've always looked at Westwood as a great community.

I don't know what you're trying to imply about Westwood. No, it's... I love where I live, but people aren't friendly. And I noticed it, especially isn't it coming from Miami? They're definitely not friendly there. Well, I'm going to tell you, people ain't friendly nowhere like they in the South. Like, you'll be walking, like, yeah, you know, I'm messing with you. You walk down the street in the south.

You can be just walking down. Hey, baby, you need something to eat and you look hungry. I'm like, no, I'm not coming in your crib. You sure? We got some pound cake. Oh, shit. Okay, well, let me go in here and get molested. You said, you said the key word.

Let me, yeah, okay, yeah, okay, cool. Like, I won't tell my mom if you don't. Sure, give you a gumbo, whatever you want. Now I'm in here. a witch, Hansel and Gretel situation, whatever. I miss it. Oh, it feels so good to be home. That's how it is.

It's weird to be in a place where people won't eat, like down in the South. That's how people won't eat if they ain't got enough to give you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll say that. That's true. That's true. My mom stopped by last night and brought over food.

Because I'm saying to my sister, she brought some fried pork chops, cabbage. Fried pork chops? Oh, you're back in the South. Fried pork chops. Torchops, cabbage, cornbread, sweet potatoes. What else did she bring? Maybe that was it.

My favorite child cookies of these lemon cookies, she brought them over for me. Some like onion, rosemary, crusted chicken, baked chicken that she made. Yeah, just came over. There's no doubt about the fact that black people have been fried pork chops. You think so? Had to be. And I haven't had fried pork chops. in years.

Because think about that. Like, people are sitting around like, listen, this pork chop is good, but we got to make it worse for you. How can we, because it's, because it's, because it's, because it's one thing to fry a piece of chicken, you know, to fry pork chop,

because really you can get a good sear on a pork chop and it almost tastes like it's fried, right? You grin it down real good. But to actual put a crust on that, that had to be. Like, somebody named Jerome came up with that. I'm sorry. Well, thank you, Jerome.

Because it was good. I'm glad. I'm glad that you're, that the trip went well. I'm glad I made the decision. Yes. You know, I wrestled with it for a second. Some people, some people tried to make me feel a certain way. At the end of the day, I'm glad that I'm here.

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Restrictions apply. See terms at Fandul.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Brian comes tomorrow. Okay, good, good, good, good. Brian. Uh-oh. What should all say that? Speaking of Brian.

Some of the thought warriors got, some of the thought warriors got at me these last couple of days. A little bit. What did I say to you when you said what you said? You said that it was stereotypical. If you guys missed it on the last podcast, I was joking around.

And I asked Rachel, Rachel, whose husband Brian is Columbia. If she ever checks the Christmas presents when they come from Columbia family, for whether or not they have a little cocaine in. And the reason why I said that cocaine meaning cocaine, because, you know, I watch narcos and I watch blow

and there is a stereotype. You know, Columbia is famous for the drug trade. Pablo Escobar. The Medellian drug cartel, the El Cholas, and all of those people like that, right? And so when I think Colombian, I think three things. I think beautiful women, which is a thing.

Coffee and cocaine. I'm not saying in that order, but that's what you think. So I made this joke, and I thought that it would be another, hey, there's wacky van. Van with the wackiness, okay? Like making fun,

you know, needle in racial husband. But no, there were a lot of people who said, it's disgusting. And you're sick, Van. And you're propagating violence against Latin X people. And yeah, I got hit with the propagating violence card against Latin X people. My Latin ex brothers and sisters, my Latin ex-sisters and brothers,

who I would never in a million years want to have violence propagated against them. I will read one message right now out loud because it was good. And sometimes Van Who just wants everybody to like him Sometimes Van gets a little defensive Am I going to be able to find the message now Let me see

I also got another message The message said Van I have an important question for you Who is Jackson Like is he on social media His IG anything I've been searching a web for an hour And can I find a thing His voice is perfect

and I have to know what he looks like. Oh. Yeah, so I sent her Jackson's information. I already did. I already did. That's a good, good looking out. That's a, you never know. It's a good friend.

Jackson, Jackson might want an ace in the hole. You're like, you never know. I think Jackson is spoken for, but who knows? All right. So this one, I'm not going to say the name. But this one, I know you were just trying to make a joke, but it didn't sound very funny. It sounded racist.

and I'll agree awful things. Oh, no, no, shoot. This is the first message because I replied. It says, I get that joking with each other, joking with each other on the podcast as part of why fans like myself listen, but for Van, I don't know if she knew she was directing this towards me.

To perpetuate a stereotype against a minority is awful. This is the definition of a microaggression that Latin X people deal with all the time. Additionally, just to laugh at it, away as a point without calling this out is unacceptable and not okay. I said I'm addressing it tomorrow, but it's weird and awful is a very strong word when it was an obvious joke. I reply. You got defensive.

Always. At least you admit it, man. Always. Always. Always. Because we can come out here and be like, like, like, fan, you need to go out with like, like, you need to walk boats. You haven't been, like, you're in your head too much. You haven't walked Bowles, spend some time with Bozeman, interact with the dog and stuff like that.

Me and Bowes just play. And then when it comes down to do some of the other stuff, we guys are doing. And I say something like, God damn, it did not buy Bozeman? And then I think, damn, that's not, you don't say that. That's not how you say. You never say that. And then that comment becomes, oh, okay, nigger. Well, it could be you or Boseman here by yourself.

But then it always comes back with me coming back going, hey, okay. I'm wrong. the worst. So I came back and she came back and she said, I know you're trying to make a joke, but it didn't sound funny. It's very funny. It sounded racist. And I'll agree awful might have been overkill, but joke or not, it still offends people. Here's two things that the thought warrior community can hopefully agree about. Responding to a racist, microaggressive comment is never easy, but it's the right thing to do. Facts. She is right about this. We are all human to make humans and make mistakes.

The shame isn't being or doing wrong. It's refusing to learn from them. Facts. She's right about that. I put in a third one. Listen to our community. Our community is off the show. We've got smart folks that listen to us.

I put in a third one. I added a three to them. I said, three, I said, sometimes we just have to let our guard down and laugh a little bit. But I said, I'll talk about it tomorrow.

Thanks for listening. All right. So I'm not going to straddle both sides of defense here on this, but I am going to say this. So, I'll tell you guys and right or wrong how I look at the community of listeners that we've cultivated here on higher learning. You guys see the way I mess with Rachel, see guys the way I poke fun of people, Jackson and stuff like that. If you're not of, if I don't have a certain affinity for you, I would never do that.

But never in a million years. You only get the dangerous, slightly offensive, annoying van. if I feel connected to you. And as much as it sounds stupid, I feel connected to each and every one of the people who listen to this podcast. Like getting to know people that have listened to this podcast

that interact with this podcast has been a unique pleasure during this time. I'm sure you feel the same way, Rachel. Yeah, no, I do. I mean, I don't give my number out like you do to folks, but it's really been great that we started this so early and we really are building

a certain community and really having a voice, you know what I mean, within this community. Right. So, and you're absolutely right. So because of that, you're not going to always get Vand standing up straight. You're going to get an imperfect sort of, I don't know, almost mischievous version of me

that I say for people who I, I'm okay with letting them see me. Even on past podcasts that I've had, I had a podcast called The Red Pill that was pretty successful. It was an interview show. So a lot of the show was about the guests, and it wasn't as much about me because you're interviewing people every time

and you've got to kind of dig into who they are. Here, there are things that I've shared and things that we've talked about on this podcast that I've done only to maintain my sanity and to make sure that I have a clear connection with the audience. So because of that, sometimes you're going to hit some shit for me that you might not like. I'm going to do two things. Number one, I'm not going to run from the fact that it's offensive to people.

And if I said something, not if I said something, I said something that was offensive to people. So I'm sorry. But when I say I'm sorry, I mean, I'm not sorry because it was offensive. I because they felt offended. I understand why that would be offensive to people. And I understand if I was from Columbia where I wouldn't want people assuming that I deal coke. I get that. I understand that.

But I'm also going to do something that I do only to with people in my family. I'm going to ask for you guys to trust me that I would never, ever, ever, ever say anything that I thought will put you in harm's way. Never. I don't want more than anything in my life than for everyone to experience. It's the freedom, justice, and equality that I feel like is your human right when air first comes out of your lungs. I want that more than for anyone, equally on the same level. I want people to live unencumbered, expressive, every free lives. It's part of who I am.

But I will say this, sometimes the differences and the little idiosyncrasies that we have and the cultural idiosyncrasies that we have are funny to me. Like I live here in Pico and Las E india. And I see a lot of Orthodox Jewish people walking around my neighborhood. I love them. I don't know if that's wrong. Sometimes I just stop and tell these guys, yo, fam, you look good tonight. That hat and jacket. Like, fam, you are killing it.

And then I want to have a two-hour conversation about why you're walking around in that in the middle of summer, like, what's the difference? I'm not, like, I'm wearing Nike shorts. You got a full suit on. You know? I saw a girl that was, she was dribbling the basketball, right? She had mad crazy handles, but she was wearing the full Jewish lady head thing and the whole knot.

It was, that's, that's both inspiring, funny, like, intriguing. I'm, I step in, I look, I look. I like these little differences and sometimes they're funny. Now, obviously, those two things aren't negative dealing Coke is depending on who you are. So I get it. So the actual quest for me

is to learn more about Colombians so that I'll have different things to joke on them about. Because that was kind of the only thing. That's what you concluded. You can come to the Ava Solo household. But go ahead. No, I'm saying.

If it's the food or something like that, more stuff. Because the cocaine thing is a negative thing. So I just need to learn more that I can needlebrien about. And I do know that, you know, because I've married into a Colombian family, I know that there is a lot of sensitivity around the stereotype of cocaine, which is why when you said it. And, like, for me, it's like, we say things that make light of it. Because someone did write me and they were like saying,

oh, you just laughed it off. And I'm like, no, no, I called it out as a stereotype. But I also don't want to bring so much attention to it because it wasn't, you weren't being serious. So it's like, why do I need to stand on a soapbox and really just reprimand you for what you were doing? You weren't being serious. But I totally understand why people are offended.

I totally get that it's a stereotype. And I am sensitive to it because my mother-in-law has talked about it. And, I mean, we were even thinking about getting married in Columbia. And I had, there were people, I had family members who had certain stereotypes. So I was like, you guys got to chill out. Like you need to relax. That's just a stereotype. And you would be offended if somebody was doing it to you

based off something they associate with your culture. They may not be the case. Yeah, true. I have a friend, I told you about my friend Vic, right? My fan Vic, who's the party. I told you about my friend Vic. Oh, yeah. So Vic is Mexican.

Vic and his little brother, E, are Mexican. One time, because, you know, we playing basketball. And when we play in basketball, we warmed up, it was like, it's future. It was that Marsh Madness. There was that. We're going to turn it up. We get warmed up.

We're about to smash these dudes. Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then we got into Vic and Vic's car, right? And he was in the front seat. And Vic turned on his CD player. And a gentleman named Vincente Fernandez started playing. And it was like, Ruliffe'sida.

Skor meda diita. Zida, He's like, nobody. And it was like super. And it started to like, and I was like, yo, what the fuck is this? And he was like, yo, he's like all. He's like, for real, this guy right here. Like, this guy is like the JZ of Mexico.

That was rap that you just did? It wasn't right. He was singing. Okay. And he was singing. And some of his songs are very, very emotional. But he apparently, they would play me, Vicente Fernandez. and they played me Pedro Infante.

These two guys that they play, apparently Pedro and Fonte, if they're Sinté Fernandez is the JZ of Mexico, then Pedro and Fonte is kind of like the Nause. Like he's... And they got beef? They don't have beef,

but like they're younger, up-and-coming guys. If you told me that was like an ether version, no, it's not. But here's the thing. I was delighted at that to the point to whenever I would see E, and whatever I would see E, Vick's little brother,

I'd be like, yo man, I need that new hot VF that Vicente Fernandez. And he was telling me all about the Mexican cowboy culture and all about that stuff like that. They showed me pictures of when that. So I joke about it, but it's not something negative to joke about. And that's because there was something else to be understood. Now let's say the only thing I knew or I wasn't as immersed

and like it was then cocaine or something like that. It's negative. It's negative. So you don't want to joke. There's a difference. So I'm saying is the true ignorance is the fact that I don't know as much about Colombians that I can juggle on. But I'm going to find something funny.

I'm not going to stop joking on Colombians. I'm just going to find something else. Something positive. Something that's not. A positive stereotype to joke about? Something that's not debilitating to their culture or identity. Right. Because they don't want.

people coming down there thinking of Bogota and Medellin and fucking Boston George and all of that shit like that. That's not what they want. And I get it. I understand. So it is, I'm sorry for leaning into the worst aspects of anybody's culture identity. Although I will say this.

Escobar was rich as hell. The question I always asked my homies. Like one time I was like, look, Escobar, they got Eskabar out of there, like, maybe like early 40s or something like that. But if you could have like 15 billion and live like that for a while,

would you do it? Knowing that you were going to go out in your 40s? Yeah. No. No. Neither mean, wow. Stupid. It's dumb. There's a lot of niggas that say, yeah, though. Yeah, but think about the stress his life was.

It's not like he was chilling on a beach for all that time. He was looking over his shoulder. They were having a run from place to If his family was in danger, cars, I mean, come on, you don't want that lifestyle. Hey, but that's not what you're talking about. That's not what we're talking about. Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

That's not what we're talking about. Nope, nope, nope, that's not what we're talking about because that's not what we're not talking about. We're not talking about Colombia. We're talking about Pablo Escobar. No, I know, but no, but we're not even going to, mention that. Look, like, hold on for a second.

See, and this is another thing. I also blame, I'm going to be honest with you. I blame Google. Because I just Google Columbia, and you know what popped up? What? Columbia Sportswear. That's not what people want to know about. How'd you spell it?

Did you spell it right? Is it wrong? Oh, shit, I've misspelled it. Okay. Not like Columbia, South Carolina. How is it spelled? C-O-L-O. C-O-L-O.

Oh, okay, Columbia. Oh, yeah, please keep all this in here. All of it's there. That's another. Okay. They get upset. Okay, so many Americans spell Colombia as Colombia. Keep it.

Wrong. Keep it real. Keep it real. Keep it real. So I'm going to read Columbia. This is what it says. All right. Y'all, I can.

Wait, wait, wait. Okay. With over 50 million inhabitants, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, which I did not know, okay, with its rich cultural heritage, reflecting influences

by various Amerindians, civilizations, European settlement, forced African labor, and immigration from Europe and the greater Middle East. Urban centers are concentrated in the Andean highlands and on the Caribbean coast. Not a mother freaking thing about no...

As a matter of fact, I'm looking down here, the whole first of... They don't talk about nothing about... I don't see nothing about it. I don't see nothing about it. So you know what? I'm going to look through here. I'm going to look through here. Okay. I'm going to find out something that's funny to me. I'm going to come back.

Okay? But for now, I got the point, guys. I appreciate you. Shout out to our thought lawyers that hold us accountable on things we say. Okay. I like it.

I appreciate you holding us accountable. Find something to do now. But. I appreciate you holding us accountable. This wasn't a bad one. This wasn't a bad one. Okay. But go ahead and find something to do.

All right, because we're just trying to live out here. We're doing our best. I love y'all. We are doing our best. Go ahead and go play now. Go ahead now. It's a lot of stuff. Go find a Zoom.

Okay? God damn. All right. No, seriously, I got a little bit better. Before we move on, let's take a little break. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window?

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Then you'd want a cargo liner or road truck. 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. Yeah, I'm not going to lie, this is a real big deal. Like everybody else, I feel like I was the guy who put everybody else on this guy.

because those videos when they first started going around back in the day I had never seen nothing like it and to watch everything that he's been able to accomplish, man, it's been amazing. Thought words, give it up for Jay Farrow's on this show today, man.

What's up, brother? How are you holding up? Wait, Van, did you just take credit for his career? Nope, that's not what I'm saying. Exactly what I just, Jay? That's not what I'm saying. Is that what you heard? Listen, listen. Listen, coming from the man who put Kanye West in his place, I don't care.

No, no, but it's serious to talk about because, Jay, you were on YouTube and you were doing impressions on YouTube. And some kind of way, one of these impressions, like, I don't know if my YouTube was taking a break from suggesting torque videos to me or whatever it was. some kind of way, I came upon it, and I remember sending it, dropping it to group chat going, yo, I've never seen anything like this. I can't remember the year, but I do remember after you sort of went viral

in the early days ago and viral, like it was very, very soon after that, it seemed that you ended up on SNL. Yeah, so walk us through how that happened. Well, you know, it was the, it was the Will Smith v. Denzel trailer. What wasn't a trend? It was the Will Smith versus

First of all, there's a video up on my YouTube. It's me, Denzel versus Will Smith, but it's like why they never made a movie together. And, you know, a couple of times before that, I had a couple more Will Denzel videos, but they didn't hit like that. But I, you know, I was coming back from New York

in January 2010, and I was talking to my sister. And I said, she's my manager as well. And I said, why haven't Denzel and Will never made a movie together? She was like, I don't know. And I was like, let's do a skit about it. And I just, I shot it. I put it up.

And literally the next day, I got the notification that my channel was going to be, they were going to put ads on my channel. I was like, what? You're going to put ads on my channel? It was like, yeah, because it was doing well. And who was entertainment picked up the video. and they played it. And then BET saw it. And they signed me to do like this, the package, the BET short for the BET Awards. And then, you know, I was still out there on the road. And SNL was already, SNL was already in the, you know, it was already in the talks. But NBC saw that video. They saw, matter of fact, forget that video. They saw an audition I did for Pink House. This, piloted and never got picked up. And they gave me a holding deal. So I had a holding deal.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So I had a holding deal in January, February, 2010 before anything else. And then Fox came and they were trying to get me and A Fiona to do a show together. And then ultimately, I said, I said it would be more advantageous for me to go on a show that's established, get a fan base, and then possibly have my own show. NBC, but Scott Stuber, they wanted to do a show about me going to private school. And, you know, I went to private Christian school for a year. And it was like, everybody was like mad, weird, like the, like the gym teacher. He was like boxing us. And then the, you know, the principal.

I went to the school too. You went to the school too? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Mr. White then, you know what I mean? Right.

So the principal thought that me and my homeboys, because we were flicking the light. on and off. And my boy, Andrew, he was like jumping and attacking people. And we were flicking the lights on. So he thought that we were homeless. He thought we were gay. That's what he was saying. He was like, are you guys? We're like, no, we're just flicking the lights on and all. What are you talking about? Right. So they were going to do a whole pilot about my experience there. But like I said, I said it would be smarter for me to just go ahead and be on an established platform, try to build my own, build my fan base and then get off and then do a show. show by myself. You know what I mean? And then that's kind of what happened with why you're famous. So yeah. So there you go. There you go. Wow. Yeah, that's incredible. Right?

Yeah. Listen. Jay, you're known for so many things. But one of the things, one of the things is the impressions that you do, which I heard you say you can do over 200, which is wild to me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Who's your favorite impression to do? Honestly.

A person to it, favorite impersonate. Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah. I totally got what you were saying. I just, I don't have, I really don't have one that I'll be like, oh, that's my favorite one to do, man. I just, I just do them, you know what I mean? So I would say the one that gets requested the most will probably be between Jay-Z, Eddie Murphy, Barack Obama, and Kevin Hart. Between those four, like, people ask me to do those all the time. I mean, of course, you have people who ask me to do Stephen A. Smith and Will Smith and Denzell.

Washington, but I think those four people ask for those all the time. And it's the easiest one I slip into, I would probably say is Eddie Murphy. I slip into that very easily. So, you know, because if you didn't know this, bro, I don't know if you knew this van. I don't know, but I was actually on the road with Charlie Murphy for three years when I was 19 before I got S&L. Word. I did not know that.

I didn't know that either. Yeah. Yeah. So Charlie always used to, Charlie always just say, yo man, say you something. saying, yo man, you got to, yo, my brother, man, you and my brother, man, I'm telling you, man, you got the same chops, man. I know this dude, man.

I've been around them, man. Am I'm saying? You got that, Jay. Let me ask you something. It's such a specific talent. How do you realize that you can do this? Like, everybody in elementary school, we know who the kids is going to win the highs

and trophy are. fast or whatever like that. You know, we know the other talents that present themselves. How do you know that you can do what it is that you do? Listen, I had no friends growing up. So it was either make up people and talk to myself as other folks or it was just fall into depression. I fell into it a little bit, but I got out, you know what I mean?

I literally was told by my girlfriend when I was six years old that I was good at impressions. And then I continue, I just continued building my repertoire after that, man. And I think it was Iago off of Aladdin was my first impression. Because it's Disney, you know, it's Aladdin. So that's what I was watching as a kid. Then it was Ed, Ed, and Eddie. It was Forrest Gump and his mom. And then the list just kept getting, just kept getting longer, man.

So it's just a, first of all, you, for me, I was in theater as well. you know what I mean. I was, you know, I was a theater kid. So performing was so natural and performing was where I found myself the most. So at an early age, I knew that I wanted to perform. I didn't know in what medium I wanted to do it in, but I knew that the stage had my name written all over it, man. And I just, like I said, I've continued to do that in different medium. So it's all good, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking about the stage, I mean, you just, just finished filming a movie. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

So, me, Christina Millian, also Cinquah Walls. Oh, wow, a home. American Soul.

He's in a movie as well. And along with a lot of new actors that you probably haven't seen yet. Or Alex Hodge, he's from, from Issa Ray's show. What is that show? Insecure.

Yes. Oh, they're going to get on your ass. they're going to get on your ass. No, no, no, no, look, look, look. They're going to get, they're about to get on your ass. And you had given him a couple of more seconds, he would have got it. I know he would have got it.

It was right there. But the day that I'm talking about, it don't matter. They waiting for any moment. You know what I mean? Somebody right now, lighting sage in their room going, oh, you remember the name of SNL, but you didn't remember. I'm just joking. I'm fucking with that.

Listen. I congratulated Issa Ray. I congratulated Issa Ray for Hots and SNL, unlike a lot of people who didn't do it. I don't even want anybody. I sent her a message. I said, congratulations. I hope you do, you know, I know you're going to do a fantastic job. I love Easton, you know what I'm a very secure person.

So I forget the term. I forget what that means. I feel you, bro. That's a good save. Exactly. So in this movie, I'm actually, well, me and Christina Millian, We had a pass. You know, she's a singer.

And she's a singer who's supposed to get this big record deal. It ends up, it ends up not happening. And she ends up being a wedding singer, right? At this resort in Mauritius. And because her best friend was orchestrating everything, I was getting the same ads. So it gave me the idea to have my wedding there. So we meet up at this, we meet up on this. island and we haven't resolved our, we didn't even have a, there was no exit, you know what I mean?

There was no closure. Right. So I've got to deal with her being there, being supposed to sing in my wedding and trying to keep all of that away from my now fiance. And I've proposed to, I went to Charleston and proposed to her within a year. And it took me four years to propose to Christina's character. Right. Yeah.

And so, and then my brother, my brother, Sinkwa, he's like the love interest now for her. And she's, and she's still having feelings for me. I'm having her. And it's a, it's a triangle going on. So it's really, it really gave me a chance to play a different character. I've never been married in real life and on screen. I've never had that. And in all my life, the movie that I did with Harry Schum Jr., Jessica Roth, that's out right now.

when it comes out of VOD December the 23rd, I'm a best man in that movie. So that was last year. You're moving up. You're moving up. You're moving up. In the words of my Michael Jackson impression, because he's never said this,

there's levels, there's levels to this. It's so many levels. It's all about levels, man. It's about levels, man. You have to have levels. So I guess, I guess if this year I'm saying, I got married. in the movie, very beautiful, beautiful.

I can't wait for everybody. See Netflix film. It's coming out. It's going to be dropped in 192 countries. Hopefully that would be out during the summer wedding season. But it got like this, this freaking level. So the next movie, I guess I'm going to have kids. I don't know.

Kids? Yep. Either that or somebody going to be pregnant. I'll tell you that right now. Well, I see you on the grandposts and thirst traps while you were on the island. And you know what I'm talking about. Don't do that. Those are on a thirst trap. Those are motivational traps.

For who? For who? For people who have sat back during COVID and have found themselves overweight and it's like, I'm not going to get this weight off. I'm like, son, I gained 25 plus pounds. And I turned my garage into a gym. And I ran six miles a day, six times a week. And I got that off.

So you can do it too. I'm not just putting up pictures. of my abs to turn on coogas that are probably going to send DMs regardless anyway. I'm not doing that. You know what you sound like right now, Jay? What's up? You sound like that girl that posts her big old fat booty. And then underneath that is an inspirational quote that says back in the eighth grade,

I was really self-conscious about my body. But now that I'm just got that dang dang. It's like, and you really want to go into there and comment, Hey, girl, just post your ass and leave. It's great, but we understand. Listen, I definitely relate to those feelings that she has because when I was a fool, I was a fat kid. So, hey, look, if you see some abs and you see some nice chest and some arms,

when you deal with it. Listen, it was a nice picture. I'm with it. Let me ask you something, bro. So over the last couple of years, there's been a lot of smoke. that's happened in both the present and it going back in the past about different performers,

white performers, taking on the personas of black people. A lot of times it has to do specifically with whether or not they're dark and their skin and things like that. Have we passed the point where it's now going to be okay for, or have we passed a point, shall I say, where it's okay for

white comedians to do impressions of black people, period. Is it too hot now? Should white comedians stop in any way? Because if you do it and they feel like you're talking black, you're acting black, or anything like that, should white comedians stop doing impressions of black people? I mean, listen, when you live in a society

like America where everybody is culturally sensitive, I think you just have to pick where you do it at. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, okay, you saw Jimmy Fallon how he did Chris Rock. However, he apologized for it because he said that's not right. Just like the actor that played Cleveland stepped down and let a black guy do it. Right.

You know, it's when it's, I think if it's in a comedy club, or you just, or you doing a special or something, I don't think anything is wrong with it because it's you and the crowd and whoever else is going to watch it. You know what I mean? It's you in the crowd, whoever else is going to watch it.

When you are on a program, I don't know if it, I don't know if it's advantageous to do so just because everybody is so sensitive. Personally, I do impressions of white people. Right. Yeah.

But don't you think there's a difference when it's there's one thing to do an impression. It's another thing to do Blackface. And is that where the line is drawn? There you go. Okay. You're not fully dressing up like this character, right?

If you, if Blackface is offensive, of course, it's been, I mean, you remember the movie Banboozled? It's been, of course. Yeah. Of course. Even past slavery. Like, they, like, really? Like, people did that, but but like you're saying, it's offensive because it's meant, it's meant,

it's meant to do harm. You know what I mean? And a lot of people who step into those shoes don't know the past history of a lot of that. You know? And it's important to educate yourself on the diversity that the issue has caused. You know what I mean?

Just so you know what you're getting yourself into. And if you make a decision past that to do it, well, that's on you. You know what I mean? But I feel like like you're saying, if you're not doing, you're not putting all this stuff on your face and everything. I don't know if it's that,

I don't know how offensive it is because if somebody is good at doing a voice, that's just what they are. You know what I mean? We didn't think, everybody thought that, we thought Eminem was black

until we saw his face. Yeah. What I'm saying? Like, it's just, we thought Justin Timberlake was it, I thought Robin Thick. Ah, that's the one. I did.

That's one. That's one. You know what I'm saying? That's one. But when you see him, he's just him. That's just him doing him. As long as you're not trying to put extra on and you're just doing that and that's just what you're, I don't know how much it offends me personally.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Facts. I don't know. That's a good question, sir. That's a good question. Oh, no, no.

But the reason why I ask is, look, is because you watch SNL, right? And I watch SNL now. And I think the number of black cast members on SNL should be going up. And I'll tell you why. Because there's never been a time when there were this many black people of note to talk about in all different spheres of everything. You know what I mean? So I start to wonder, do they have enough niggas to play these characters? Like, you know what I mean?

And to be honest with you, when you left the show, I was like, oh, shit. Let me say this. They had enough when I was on. I would just because I would play all of them. That's all I'm saying. That's real talk. But back to what you were saying. You were saying, when I left the show, you were like, oh, snap.

I was like, yo, who does this now? You know what I mean? Especially as things move on. And, you know, look, I tend to agree with you on it. I think there are some flashpoint things that you don't. do. But as far as if somebody does a great L.L. or

great whomever or a great Jesse Jackson, if it's funny, it's funny. But the Cleveland situation specifically is what you were talking about because that was one where I was kind of I didn't know what to make of it. I didn't really know how I actually felt about that situation.

Now it's going to lead me into something else because you know, we know. that racism is real. Discrimination is real. We know that unfortunately, brother, you got to see up close what it looks like to be profiled,

what it looks like to have your identity be mistaken or not even mistaken, to have your blackness weaponized against you. There was an incident earlier where, I guess the cops hemmed you up, and you can describe to the people what happened to yourself. I remember we covered it here, but you can describe it.

out to people would happen for yourself. Well, okay, so during the pandemic to try to, you know, me, like I said, I'm a gym head. I like standing shape. You know, I was coming from being an overweight kid and being talked about by everybody. And, you know, Joe, you know, I took pride and to be able to being able to drop so much weight. So I noticed myself getting a little hefty during the quarantine period. So I said, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to run. That's going to be my exercise.

You know, I'm going to download this app and I'm just going to do it. I'm going to consistently do it no matter what. And that's just going to be what it is. So I downloaded this thing called the Run Tracker app. And it tells you when to slow down, it tells you when to run. You get like two minutes, two minutes to chill and then it's like run for 20 or something like that, right? So I was using this app up until April 26 of this year. And I was on the intersection of Ventura and Corbyn.

And I was on arrest. It told me to walk. The app was like, walk. I said, okay. So I'm walking through this area. And like I see this helicopter, helicopter flew over me, whatever. I see this police officer to the left of me. I wasn't thinking anything of it because, you know, I didn't do anything.

This is my neighborhood. You know what I mean? This is where I feel comfortable at. I'm just, this is where I'm at. So I look to the left of me and the officer, he's got his gun up and he's like, get on the ground. I look, I'm, I look a little, I look a little to the right like, oh, they're about to get somebody because this is, this is bad.

I don't know who did some, but they messed up. Got an officer coming out of him with a gun. You get on the ground. Me? Jay Farrow? Law abiding citizen? Don't break a law. Hey, Farrow, I'm going to be on the ground.

Get on the ground. Spread your arms out. Okay. Spread your arms out like an airplane. Okay. I get on the ground. I spread my arms out like an airplane. Three more officers come up.

They got guns out. They got their guns out. All on me. Officer comes, puts his knee on me, puts my hands, starts putting my hands in cuffs. I was like, are you putting me in cuffs right now? He's like, yep, you're being apprehended. I kid you not.

when all of this is happening, my app said, run. I said, bitch, I can't. I was like, I can't. What do you want me to do? There's one officer. Four officers around me with guns. One officer gets on time. puts the handcuffs on me.

And then they say stand up. I said, how? You got to understand. saying something. I've never had cuffs on me ever. Not even in the bedroom, son. So for this to happen, for this to be breaking my, for this to be prom night for me with handcuffs, I didn't really like it. You know what I like it? You know, everybody's driving past. They're looking at me. They're saying, get up. I said, I can't. Can you help me? So they pulled me up. And then the officer says, one officer said, do you want to sit in the shade? I'm like, no, I don't want to sit in the shade. I want to stand up right here because first of all, you all don't even have gloves on. You don't have masks on. This is the height of corona.

And not only that, I'm sweating. I'm sweaty. I sweat a lot. I'm a slippery Negro. I sweat. You know what I'm saying? Well, now I'm on the ground and all of this, all this dirt and stuff is on my chest. It's on my clothes.

I feel filthy. I feel dirty mentally. I feel embarrassed. I don't know. What can I do? No, I want to say it. Oh, I'm just trying to help you out, you know, because, you know, you're in the heat right now. Oh, really?

You can help me out by taking these damn handcuffs on me because I didn't do anything. I'm innocent. Oh, well, well, you know, you fit the description of blackmail with a gray sweat pants and a gray shirt on it. Okay. So what you're telling me is I fit the description of any black man walking. That's what you said. Right. Yeah, yeah, right.

That's the black man started kit. Are you freaking kidding me? Right, of course. Are you kidding me right now? And they say, okay, I say, look, let me take this. I said, I didn't do anything. But if you look up Jay Farrell, you will see that you were making a serious mistake. If you Google Jayfell right now, you will see that you're making a serious mistake.

But where's your ID at? Why would I have? Why do I, this is my neighborhood. Right. I'm running. I don't have ID on me because I literally went around the corner from my house. Right. Where do you live?

I'm not telling you where I live. Right. Because I don't want you coming to my crib and harassing me like you harassing me right now. Right. Oh, okay, okay. Well, we're going to check. Literally, bro. A few minutes later, cop comes back.

Oh, we got. the wrong person. We can let you go now. I say, yo, get these effing cuffs off me, man. Right. And you know what? You know what's crazy? This just happened. I posted it on my... Yeah. In Virginia Beach.

I'm proud. That's my area. In front of his children, Jay. In front of his children. He was eating dinner. He was eating lunch in the mall with his family. They marched him out in cuffs. They cuffed him, marched him out. When they get him out there, they tell him, We got the wrong guy. It's, yo, it's, the thing is this, at the end of the day, why as black people do we have to feel like we're guilty until proven innocent where other people get the benefit of the doubt?

I've seen so many crazy videos during the pandemic. I saw one gentleman, I'll say gentleman. You know what I mean? Yeah. I saw one gentleman who the cop, the cop had the taser out. and he's running towards him. Yeah. And then he's, the cops like, he shoots him.

The guy's like, oh, throws the tasers damn, attached the officer. The officer just goes like this. He gets in the car and drives away. Yeah. Meanwhile, you got the brother that was drunk, that probably an officer approached him and shot him in the back.

Yeah. Yeah. Down in Atlanta. Yeah. It's like in 2020, as black people, we should not be fighting for human rights. If I just want to walk down the street, I shouldn't have to feel like my life could be in danger by walking down the street. If I want to go to the gas station, whatever I want to do, gas station, whatever I'm trying to do, as a black

person, we should not have to feel endangered by doing normal risks that everybody else is allowed to do and they don't have to feel that pressure. I was just going to say, when you got on social and you shared what happened to you and you put up the footage. We talked a little bit about this in a different way. Maybe it was when we were talking about this incident. It was so powerful just because we're seeing what we just saw happen with George Floyd

happened to you who is known. And I think what gets frustrating sometimes is black people is that when it comes to explaining this to white people, it has to be in the most simple terms because they just don't. get it or they don't want to get it. And with you being a known person and sharing what happened to you, because I have had white people say to me, oh, Rachel, that wouldn't happen to you. Oh, if you had a son, that wouldn't happen as if we're different. If we're different. Yeah, like your

resume is on your forehead. People know who you are. No, when you get pulled over, you're just black. When you get stopped, you're just black. And so I thought when you shared what happened to you, it's like, it happens to all of us. It doesn't matter who you are. And I know that when you were talking about this. You said part of the reason for you sharing it is that you want to empower us. You want to let people know this happens to us and also how to educate people. So I just want to ask you, what is it that you wanted people to get from that? Because I believe you were saying that you wanted us to know our rights. You wanted us to know how, if this happens to you, this is what you should do. Right. I want you to just to know the laws, just to know what people

are allowed, what police officers are allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do. And etiquette that you should follow when you are being approached by police officers, you know? I mean, a lot of times I do see, and rightfully so, you have the right to be mad. You have the right to be infuriated. But, you know, you dealing with somebody that got a gun on him and literally, they're quick to do this to us. They're quick to do this to us. The other side, they're not quick to do that.

So it's like, okay, how can I put myself in a safe? how can I make this environment safe? It's already dangerous. It's already a precarious situation. What can I do to make this, to smooth this out? Well, first, you got to be knowledgeable of what's going on, knowledgeable of what they can, what they can't do. Second, you have to know, you got to know and understand what you can and what you can't say in a situation to make it safer for you. There have been so many times, and like I said, I've never, I ain't, I never had a ticket or anything like that. I've been pulled over. No, I've definitely been pulled over.

And when I do get pulled to the side, immediately, I'm like, yes, sir, no sir. Yes, ma'am, no ma'am. And the police officers normally, they're like, okay, cool, we'll give you a warning and whatever. By the grace of God, it's not like that for everybody. But, you know, that's just a little bit, it can go a long way if you're not disrespectful

to them, you know? And- Can you ask you something? Isn't it their job to make sure the situation is safe? No, no, no, it is. And like I'm saying,

it is. It is. And that's why I said, as black folks, when we are approached like that, we have the right to be mad. We have the right to be mad. But when you have folks out here

like George Floyd, you got folks out here like Amad Aubrey who are getting, who are getting killed. You got, you got folks like Breonna Taylor. You know,

now we just, not only, not only do you have to be knowledgeable, you have to, you have to put yourself in the situation and try to say, okay, I'm trying to keep this. I'm trying to keep the pressure as low as I can keep it. You're trying to survive. You're trying to survive.

That's, yeah. The sad thing is it should not be like that. Like you're saying, Vaughn, it shouldn't be like that. Right, yeah. It should never be like that. We should, we should be able to, we should be able to carry on just like everybody else because as far as, as far as police officers going, a lot of, a lot of, white folks.

When it comes to this, they're scared. Yeah. People are always in fear of what they don't understand. You know, it goes, it goes all the way back. It goes all way back to the slavery days. When we were freed, oh, man, well, they're going to try something now. We didn't freed them. Oh, man.

So let's do slave catches and let's lock them up. You know what I mean? What started the whole prison, what started the whole prison system anyway? our police, the police departments as well. It's, it literally, it literally jumped from, from slavery, keeping us in cages, from our masterwise to being kept in cages by the government. You know, like, it's, it is so, it's so nuanced to, it's so nuanced to, it's so nuanced to keep us down, however, from the time, we just want to, we just want to be like everybody

else. We just want to live. Right. That's all we want to. to do carry on and live like everybody else because when it comes down to it's nobody's from here except the Native Americans

right everybody else we're immigrants either forced here or invaded and and pillaging and pillaging the villages and then taking and taking forcing a religion on cultures that's all it is right by the way

one of the so it's the fear of this what's going to happen Nah, man, if you sit there, if you talk to us, ain't no, of course there's people who have rage. There's people who are mad. That's because this has been going on for so long, and there hasn't been a change yet. You know what's happening right now?

You're giving me wild Denzel vibes right now. Really? Denzel is coming off. Bro, as you go and you get more passionate, I'm just like, I'm watching Malcolm X. I'm watching it. I'm watching like you, like, bro, like, bro, I hear it, bro. It's happening right now.

I'm like, yo, it's like, because you got so into that. I was like, yo, man, this remind me of Malcolm X, 93, Joe, bro, I got to be honest with you,

man, look, everything that you're saying, obviously you went through it. The, the passion is right there. But we got to, everybody's going to have to pull up there,

put on their, their hard hats, you know, and really get in the mud to kind of get, to kind of get these situations rectified. You have a book coming out. No. No, I don't.

You do not have a book coming in. Listen, there's somebody who's super disrespectful IMDB or Wikipedia or whatever it is. They put stuff they don't put all my work up there. They try to shit. My bad. I thought you. I was doing my research.

I'm trying to call myself trying to do my research. Put it out there. It's coming. It books coming. It is. No book. I'm going to write. I'm going to write a book. I am. I definitely am. But there is not a book for Jay Farrell currently. What you see probably is something called Can I Be Me? And that was not, that's not a book. That was a special. I recorded in 2014 and that came out 2015. So there's no, there's no book.

Now, I'm going to be dropping a couple of specials when we can, when the world open back up. I'm going to do that. But as far as books, man, I'm working on that. I don't have one coming out yet. And I would like to say this to the person on the internet that keeps spreading these lives. as my auntie was saying lies I am six foot two. I'm not six foot one. You better live my okay.

And take that raggedy picture off there with people like that. That's an ugly picture. I don't like that picture. Take that picture down, man. I got cute dishes than that. I'm a bad. I'm a bad bitch, okay? I'm a bad, man. Hey, man. We men. Every inch matter

It matters to us too. Every inch matters. Look, pause, but no pause. That's real tall. Every inch matters. Every inch matters, man. Amen. I guess the last thing I asked you

was a little messy. Can I get a little messy with Jay Farrell? I don't care. It's fine, man. A little messy. Is there anybody in the world who does impressions better than you. Is there somebody that you look at and you go

damn, they nailed that? I can't do that. They just better than what I am. Because there's a lot of guys out there. You know, you got your Aries Spearses. Of course, you got S&L alum, Daryl Hammond. You got Frank Calliando. You got a lot of guys out there

that do them. Are you the best? Before I say this, let me let me say this. As far as impressions go, and I don't know, I don't know who started this fake rumor that a lot of us are in competition when it comes to impressions and things like me aphion crockett aphion crockett my man those are my dudes you know what i mean aries aries is dope uh uh reggie reggie regis reg is phenomenal dean edwards is amazing um frank

calyendo is amazing rossmer squin he's amazing um um melissa melissa villis villisneur she's amazing um Darrell Hammond is amazing. Um, uh, older guy. Um, uh, goddamn Rich Little. Rich Little.

Rich Little. Rich Little. Yeah. Murphy is phenomenal. Right. And Kerry's phenomenal. Robin Williams, rest in peace, is,

was phenomenal. Mm-hmm. The one person, I would say that if, if, when it comes to impressions, I would be like, oh, man. Who, give me a little bit of anxiety.

Will be my, my three-year-old nephew. What? Yep. This little kid is three years old, about to be four. He already sings. He already does impersonations. He does accents.

He's literally, and I started at six, so I know when he steps into the light, I'm managing him. I'm managing him. And to, and to, you know, to get more clarification to your question, I think the person that I would, I would be like, man, they're good is George Kirby, but he's not alive anymore.

Right. George Kirby was, he was an amazing impressionist, but he's just not, he's not around no more, man. He would be so spot on. Billy Crystal, too. Billy Crystal's amazing. Billy Crystal's amazing. Kevin Pollock, I'm giving shoutouts to everybody.

But see, you know, do you know why I'm doing this? Because I have an idea. Okay. I have an idea for a versus-style tournament. I like this. I'm serious. I like it. This is something that y'all don't have to be in the room for.

This is something. Now, no shout out to Atheon and Spice. They do after versus every single version where they come out and do these people. But I have an idea for a versus-style tournament, right? to where what we do is we take you, Aries, you, Calendo, you, and whomever, whomever, right? And we throw a bunch of names in a hat.

And we give everyone two weeks to work on the impression. That's a long time. Well, I mean, some of these guys, he might not have a John Madden. So some of these guys got to work out new impressions. You know what I mean? You give everybody two weeks to work on,

to work on the impression. Then after this, it's fair game. And through the course of a week, weekend. We throw names and then we just have y'all go head to head until we crown the best impressions person walking. We can do it all on IG. My money is on you. Did they have a show about the comedians that did this? Like there was like a bracket, kind of like a March Madness. I think Dana Carvey, that's another one. Dana Carvey, I think he, I think he like hosted a show that was called Impressions back in the day.

And it was like a big competition thing. But, dude, listen, I don't have no problem with it. If you ask all of those people that you name, if you ask them, who's the, who is the LeBron of this? They'll probably say J. Farrell. I'm not, I'm not too to my own horn, but I'm just honest with you. I'm not being furious when I say this. Right.

Like, A. Fion has, that's my, and that's my homeboy. say, yo, if anybody asked me, like, Jay Farrow was like A-Feyon 2.0, bro, like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm and I'm like, you know, dude, big bro. You're my big bro. You do so many and you do so many well, but

the people are ridiculous and talented. Dancing, all of that stuff. Right, so talented. But it's like this, when it comes to this craft, Eddie Murphy, I talked to Eddie Murphy and he said there was people that I did. He didn't even know could be impersonated.

It was so funny. At the SNL 40 of 2015, he was just like, man, you know, you do a lot of, you do a lot of impressions that, you know, I didn't even know it could be impersonating it. Like, you know, you do Denzel and you do Will Smith. And I was like, wow, how do you even get a Denzel or Will Smith impression? Like, what's the process? Like, he was really the fact that, and I'm freaking out. I'm like, yo, like, this man knows my stuff, but it's, but it's like, pay. attention to the game. Grades pay attention to greatness. And that's real talk. If you do

something that's amazing, just like when Jay-Z called up Wayne and he was like, yeah, yo, I see you little nigger. I love it. Wayne was like, yeah, we's that, baby, yeah, uh-huh. But it's real. Like when you're good at something, if you follow it, man, and somebody's great, you just give it up to them. Yeah, you give it up. And it's, it's no hate. There's no hate. That's one thing that I don't have.

And a few other people I would say don't have, we don't have that hate. I don't, I don't give a damn if you do a freaking Kevin Hart impression. Mm-hmm. How is that going to, how is that diminishing my, how was that diminishing my, how was that diminishing diminishing my brand. How is that happening? Nothing is happening. It's not going to take anything away from me. So why not give a shout out to somebody that's dope?

Jamie Fox, he's amazing at impressions. He's amazing at singing impressions. He can do acting. He can do it all. He can transform into the character. That's somebody who I would say, Eddie Murphy the most, but Jamie Fox was definitely somebody I looked up to

when I was growing up. Eddie Murphy, you all know that. That's just, you all have to say that. But the fact that he can embody a character so much that he loses, that you don't see Jamie anymore. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And taking that playbook from Ray and the blueprint and saying that that can be done with anybody that you really focus on and put your mind into. anybody you do that too. That's greatness right there, man. And that's why he's one of the goats. You know?

You know who else is one of the goats? Jay Farrow is one of the goats. We appreciate you, brother. We appreciate everything that you've done, everything that you've been through. This brother is still young. It's 120 million more to make. So my man,

appreciate you. Before you get out of here, throw one plug. Tell people is the one. plug, what you want people to look at the Jay Farrell's doing right now? Hey, check this out, man. I got a movie all my life, man, that's coming out. It's already in theaters

if you're daring enough to go to theaters, but it's out on video and on demand on the 23rd. And it's a beautiful movie, man, about a real life story of two people who fell in love with each other. And

the the man found out, well, Saul, he found out that he had cancer and he had to go through chemotherapy and everything. So they were postponing the wedding. Then they didn't have the money. So the community came together and put on this big wedding for them. And it's really a beautiful story. It's touching. It's about family and it's about appreciating life and actually knowing that life isn't given to us. It's a privilege. It's not something that we're guaranteed.

And especially what's going on with this world right now, man, and everybody passing away and everybody we all losing, it's just important right now to celebrate life. And every moment that you have, which is the theme of the movie, every moment that you have, make it the biggest moment because you don't know. The next moment could be your last. All right, my brother.

We appreciate you. ending us on that goddamn depressing note. I'm going to go ahead and pray. No, I'm just joking with you. I said it wasn't depressing. No, it wasn't depressing. It made me want to go out there right now and run, but I'm afraid to.

Because who knows how that's going to work out. Don't be, man. Don't be, Van. Van, Van, the uproar is ubiquitous now, bro. It's not just in America. Everybody sees it. The pandemic allowed us all to sit back and digest what's happening in the world, and we are all in the uproar.

It's unity. and everybody's sick of it, bro. So you run down the street. You run down the street, but naked in the right state. Make sure you ain't breaking the law. All right. My problem.

All right, my man. Thank you, Jay. Thank you. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable Internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast,

that's why I trust Spectrum Business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support, millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. 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,

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Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfair Radio.com. All right. There was a versus battle this past weekend. Did you watch it? I think I am like most people who did not realize a versus battle was going on. Did you?

I did no. I didn't. I honestly swear to God, I thought after Ashanti and Keisha Cole postponed theirs and they were moving it to January, I just thought, oh, okay, this isn't going to start again until January. And I signed off. I didn't even realize it. A bunch of my friends missed this one. I'm also on Twitter a lot more than you, which is kind of where those things happen. So, now, I get it.

It was between. I'm mad I missed it. Yeah, it was between E40 and two short. Mm-hmm. E-40. Too short, two Bay Area legends. If you guys don't realize the significance of that, I feel sorry for you. The Bay Area is one of the, it is.

The Bay Area is one of the most fantastic places in the entire world. And also, not for nothing, one of the most influential pockets in terms of hip-hop culture ever, period. Point blank is undeniable that the Bay has influenced the dress. the slang, the music of hip hop as much as any other place. Probably, obviously not as much as New York. But if you were going to ask me for the three most influential places in hip hop, what would you say? Atlanta, New York, and the Bay.

Hmm. Be for real. I don't doubt it. I just came on late to the scene to the Bay. Right. So that's what I would say. So, yeah, it was E-40 and too short. Now, too short, they both rep the Bay.

They both talked a lot. Two- Short. played all the hits went through all of his catalog of worse Can I ask you this real quick? Coming in, who did you have? I had short. Really?

I would say he 40, but go ahead. I had short. I mean, if it was just about solo work, it was going to be short. But if 40 could play every song he ever featured on, it's not, I mean, he would win. Because 40 is featured on so many things, all that no limit stuff,

all of those guys like, you know, but you know just if 40 records kind of so the way they do a versus they're not going to play too many features and I'm not this is not to say that that 40 don't have his own bangers but I just think too short got like I think five or six platinum albums so it's just more records but but this is probably the most even verses ever you could take either guy both of these guys on the exact same level same DNA godliness but there was a conversation that came up um I saw it going around on Twitter about the word bitch

because that is two shorts favorite word what's my favorite word bitch what you got said like sure so he talked about that sort of during the verses and also

said the word a lot and while he was talking or just the lyrics the song different times if the word comes up If two shoulders around the word, bitch is going to come up. Okay. So question. And when we say bitch, we're talking about bitch as referring to ladies.

Mm-hmm. Is it time to have a larger conversation? Not that these conversations haven't been heard. I'm going to ask you Rachel. You love the hip-hop music. Does it offend you to hear women referred to as bitches in hip-hop music? I feel like this is a conversation that we've been having. Does the word offend me?

No. It doesn't. But I know I hate your reaction. It doesn't offend me. And I guess because my thing is, if I don't like the way that you're using it, then I'm just not going to listen to what it is that you have to say.

But I feel like the word has evolved over time, right? This isn't the first time we've had this conversation. When you had like maybe back in the 80s, early 90s, what the word was used, it was derogatory. It was disrespectful. They were talking. about you like you were a dog, like you were less than a human, which is why Queen Latifah had the song, who you call in a bitch? You know what I mean? Like you listen to the first things that she says,

like she says, you're trying to make a sister feel low when you use that word. That's, that's the wrong way. But then you have this progression of the word where it's like females started to take power back over the word and would refer to themselves as bitches. I'm a bad bitch. And it became a source of empowerment. So to me, like when I hear females say it, I feel like it's powerful. You can almost use it the same way when people talk about using the N-word

and they say, and they say, I took power back over that word. That's why we use it. That's the same thing when females say about the word, bitch. We're taking ownership over that word so you can't use it as a weapon and as a tool to degrade us. So to me, I don't feel a certain way about it.

Hmm. No, Queen E40 brought up Queen Latifah on the thing. He said, I'll never call Queen Latifah a bitch. Well, don't call any of us that. He said there's people I'd never call a bitch like Queen Latifah. I never call her a bitch, bitch. But some plunk ass, I called him a bitch so fast.

So he said he never called Queen Latifah a bitch. I guess he's trying to show that the bitch doesn't necessarily mean woman. It comes with a certain designation. and whatever. So I listen, I've got me else with you. I cannot really opine on this that much. There's not really that much that I could say. What I can tell you is that there is a sort of,

there is a way of speaking and a way of acting and a way of being that I've led, that's led to some of the actions that have been taken against women, particularly black women. So, but I don't know how to legislate that with a black woman that's saying she doesn't feel that same way. You know what I mean? So I don't know how to navigate that right there. So what I'm saying is that, sure, the language is a guy

get cleaned up. But the question is because if you're talking about the way females use it, then what you're basically saying is you don't mind when the city girls call themselves bad bitches. But then the question is, how do you feel about when a little baby says bad bitch? Is that that problem is that problematic? Okay. So here's an example.

You'll love this. Webby has a song called Bad Bitch. The whole song, the whole song is talking about women in a positive way. And he's like, now that's a bad bitch. So with the way he describes in the word bad bitch or it's the adjective he's using in front of bitch, it's a very positive

thing. It's, you want to be one when you hear how he's saying it. So to me, that's not a negative in a negative way. I do not want to hear men use it in a negative way. I guess don't degrade me. Don't disrespect me. I don't want to hear the word used in that

way. But I think there is a way to use it to where it's more positive. And in that song, bad bitch, he does. Right. Is there a way

to use hoe that's more positive? I don't think so. What does it stop? I don't think so. But see, I don't know how I would feel in conversation.

It's like, like E40 said, I'm never going to call Queen Latifah a bitch. But why are you going to call any of us a bitch? Do you know what I mean? Because you just said it was cool.

No, I did not say it was cool. Like, in that song, okay, here's the thing. So let me be clear because I feel like this is going to really, this is going to really start something. If you walked up to me, it depends how you use the word. Okay?

So in the song, Bad Bitch, there's a whole chorus, lyrics that define what that is and it's in a different way. We're talking about it in music. I don't want you to walk up to me and call me a bitch because in a song, there's a whole definition behind it and I'm understanding the context. Don't walk up to me and be like, hey, bitch, what's up?

Okay, let me ask you this then. Let me give you a situation. Like, you're trying to get a clerkship or judge or not a clerkship. You're trying to go work at a law firm, right? Mm-hmm. And there's a partner sitting across the desk. He looks at you. He's like, oh, University of Texas.

Oh, Delta. Vice President of the African American Students Alliance. Oh, what law school again? Marquette? Mm-hmm. Marquette law school and in extensive sports reporting. Oh, okay, you was a bad bitch. What does he look like?

It doesn't matter. I just kidding. It doesn't matter. Honestly, man, if somebody said that to me in an interview, I would laugh. I would probably start that. I'd be like, oh, you got jokes. Oh, you know funny today. Right.

I mean, again, it's all about the context that you use the word in. Fair enough. That's the best way I can describe it. Because when Too Short says, what's my favorite word? I'm yelling out the word. You know what I mean? In the song. Everybody's yelling out the word.

It's because I'm saying it. Do you know what I mean? I know that some people may say you're not being right. You've got to pick one way or the other. But I do think that there's a difference because when you hear certain songs and you hear the word use and it's degrading you. That's totally different from, you know, the bad bitch song. There's a difference. And you can say that with any word.

It's very true. Okay. Congress has reached a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. $600 stimulus checks. They were able to get this done. It was very cinematic. They made it seem like they stayed up to the 11th hour, burning them in the night oil, getting this done.

So there should at least be some relief for Americans who have not seen any relief from the federal government. In a long while. Since July. Since July. in terms of any type of COVID stimulus. Now, all of this, while the numbers are going crazy everywhere and while Americans are towed with frequent, with more frequent sort of intensity, if you will,

to stay at home. So $600, stay at home. Rachel, you heard this, you read this, your thoughts. Here's my, I have a question. Before there was like a, you got your stimulus check, but then you could also qualify for $600. a week. And that ended in July. Is this a one-time payment? Is this the stimulus check?

$600? And you don't get anything else? So it's $600, direct payments to Americans, and $300 in enhanced unemployment for the next 10 weeks. Okay. So it is a one-time payment of $600. That's the new stimulus. $600. $600. We'll go out to individuals who made less than $75,000 a year. Gotcha. Or couples who make less than $150,000. here. Depended children, 600, this time rather than 500. So 600 to you. So if you got a couple of kids, you might be able to get more money. So does that I feel about it. I do not understand why the

aid that has to come from our country is a one-time package. Rather than it being some type of automatic benefit that continues as long as we are in this situation economically, I do not understand why it just doesn't keep going. Why are we getting this, which they haven't given us, or this ended in July. This is less than what they gave us before. And this is going to end in January, is my understanding? 10 weeks from that. Okay.

Okay, my math's a little off. In a couple of months. In a couple of months, this ends. I don't understand. And then it takes this long to get another package. And we don't even know what that's going to look like because we'll have a new president. We don't know what kind of pushback we're going to get from Congress. We don't know what's going to happen in Georgia in January.

We just don't know. So I just to get frustrated that it took this long as if they did something novel when I'm seeing other European countries who seem to be getting it done, who have this continuous help that they're providing their citizens when we can't get it together. And now we're cutting the money that we're giving back, only that we know that it's going to end it another two weeks. What hope do Americans have for some sort of relief when there doesn't seem to be an end in sight or that this situation is going to be changing? It is frustrating. not giving Congress a hand clap. I am happy that people are going to get some relief that desperately need it. I am happy that they're extending loans. I am happy that they're not allowing people to get evicted because that was about to end. I'm happy that there's small businesses and minority

businesses are getting money. I'm happy to see some of these things move forward. But I'm frustrated that it takes this long and we got to sit and debate and fight over helping the people who make up this country. What is wrong with us? And we're watching everybody else get it done. Everybody's getting it done. We suck. It's, it's, ooh. I hate it.

When you say we suck, who are you talking about? Our government, the people who are supposed to be leading this country, who are making decisions on behalf of us. It ain't us because we don't have the power to do it. We suck. Like, what is wrong with us and why can't we get it done? We talk about America. We wave the flag.

We talk about how we're all for the people, but then we don't help the people who make up this country. Come on, y'all. It's tough. Look, nothing to add. You said at all. I get mad. No, no.

I mean, nothing to add. You said at all. The reality is this. People throw around phrases like America first. It's just very easy to prove. It's very easy to prove. America is not made up of corporations. America is made up of Americans.

the basis of America is Americans, people who wake up every morning in this country who look out there and try to provide their families with the best shot to be successful. Those people are hurting. They're hurting through no fault of their own. They're hurting because of something that's unforeseen. But what is not unforeseen,

what's not mystifying, is the relief that they could be getting. That's very real. See, the coronavirus. a virus is uncontrollable. You can't control that. What you could control is how you keep this country's morale high, how you keep this economy going, and how you keep people inspired during that time.

All of those things are controllable. We failed those things. We felt people. We felt them in big ways. We felt them in small ways. The only reason why America has not been torn to absolute shreds is because of the unbelievable. an almost unfathomable sacrifice of the average ordinary everyday American.

It's been remarkable for the most part to see how people have changed up, adapted, and done new things. And what do they get for all of that painstaking hard work, all of the billable hours of therapy, all of the absolute horror and terror that they've endured to stay together, to stay stuck, to each other to keep the society going, it's $600. It's disgusting. I don't know, guys. Feels like y'all could do better. That's all I'm saying.

I'll be real. Feels like y'all could do better. All right. On the vaccine news, I read this, I thought this was pretty interesting. Let's got to get this in. The family of one of the Tuskegee Cyphilist study participants

says that they will take the vaccine. Freddie Lee Tyson is a guy who was one of the 623 black men. If you guys don't know the story, you should look it up. This is a very important part of American history. He was one of the 623 black men recruited for a U.S. public health study at the Tuskegee Institute. The study, reading this, but I just want you guys to understand this. I want you to understand the grossness of what I'm about to say.

Disgustingness of what I'm about to say. The study was meant to record the national progression of syphilis. infection in black men, but the researchers didn't tell that to the guys who signed on to. They told them that they would be getting free health care. Okay. So when you hear the, when you hear the fact that the Tuskegee experiment injected black man with syphilis, that's not true. They didn't inject it with syphilis.

Anyway, they told them they were treating the bad blood, whatever. They weren't. They were lying to the people. They were deceiving them. And because of this, some of the guys got very sick. the experiment lasted 40 years. Okay. 40 years.

And they held it from them. So one of the relatives of somebody who was in that, Carmen Thorne, her father was in the Tuskees Ceremony. She says that she is skeptical about the COVID-19 vaccine. The reason why I'm saying this is because there are a lot of black people out there that point to issues like the Tuskegee experiment, right, issues, history like the Tuskegee experiment, go, why will we trust the government or trust Big Farm or trust anyone? And they have a reason to be skeptical. She says that they, even though she understands

the skepticism, she still is willing to take the vaccine. I thought that this was a remarkable story. Not remarkable because I'm not scared of the vaccine. I am. We've discussed this. We both talked about it. I'm going to take it, but I'm fairly scared of what could happen, you know. But also just because, you know, people are using the Tuskegee experiment, and I'm not saying that they're wrong for this, as a reason why they won't take it. But somebody who was directly affected by it is choosing to believe the science and choosing to trust not so much the American government, but a lot of health care professionals who are out there saying that this is safe and this can help us in. the pandemic. What are your thoughts? Well, it's also not that she's just choosing to trust it.

She's coming forward and sharing her story. Which is what is the whole point of this, was why it's so important because she's doing it because people who look like her are being disproportionately affected by this virus. And yet those are the ones that are scared to take it because of what history has shown us when it comes to experiments with black people, like what happened at the Tuskegee Institute. And she's like, for us, I need to show an example for them.

I need to let them know that we're affected by this. We need to take this vaccine so we can prevent ourselves from being affected by this virus. So I just think that it's beautiful in the sense that she came forward to be an example to say, hey, I understand how you may feel, but we need to take this virus because it is attacking us more than it is attacking. Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Vaccine. Because, sorry, sorry, vaccines, no, it's the virus that we've been living with these muscles.

It's on my mind. Right. But yeah, no, I just think it's beautiful that she's using her platform and her voice to speak out on it. Yeah, yeah, I will say so as well. Look, it's, I get it, it's scary. Everything's scary. Walking up, waking up is scary. Walking around the corner is scary.

We have to decide sort of who or what we trust and what's going to get us out of this. Real quick, guys. There will not be a podcast on Thursday. It is Xmas Day. So because of it being Christmas Day, there's not going to be a podcast. But Christmas Day. You say X-Mess? I say Christmas. It's Christmas, but sometimes I put the X-Mex.

My mom hates X-Mexam because it's removing the Christ. She says, do not say X-Mis. That's what people said. This is what I used to get told as a child. Don't say X-Mis because you're removing the Christ from. Okay. So can I tell you, I have bad news for your mom. Can I, can I drop some, Can I drop some knowledge on your mom? Talk directly to her. She'll be listening.

Jesus wasn't born anywhere close to this day. She knows that. And the number two. It's the meaning of it, I believe is what she's referring to. Number two, not only was Jesus not born on this date or anywhere near this day. Most likely, the celebration of Christmas come, from actually the celebration of the winter solstice, which is actually this same week, which actually is today,

which probably more aligns itself to pagan pagan holidays. It's the meaning of it. It probably more aligns itself to actually pagan holidays and pagan holidays and pagan worship and it does with anything Christian. It's the meaning surrounding Christmas

that she's referring to. Christmas is most likely in the spring sometime. You and your Xmas can take that somewhere else. No ex-mas. No ex-as. Hey, Jesus, I'm good. I'm good.

I'm good. I'm praying to you every time. You know what I mean? I'm loving. I'm just saying if we're being into the real. I didn't know if you were told that too. That's just what we, that's what I just say. I just said X-Mus because.

But no. No. All right. So we will see you guys again then next week. Please enjoy this time with your families. Please be safe. Rach. When are you coming back to L.A.?

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. So next time. I'll be doing the podcast from LA. All right, Rachel.

All right. Bye-bye. We are out of here. Take your thing caps off. Do not stop learning. I am Van Leighton. I am Rachel Lindsay. Happy holidays, y'all.

Happy holidays. Be safe.