Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Joe Biden Pardons, Kendrick Drops, and Drake Takes Legal Action

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay are back to talk about Van’s new hair (12:11) before reacting to Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter (16:35) and Pete Hegseth’s mom saying he has abused women (38:18). Then a review of Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, 'GNX' (41:27), and a breakdown of Drake’s legal filings (55:42). Plus, rapper Dave Blunts sparks a conversation on body positivity and weight loss (1:17:24). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? High Learning is on. Looking a little different because we're in a new studio, Rachel, like they remodeled the studios here at Spotify. And so our other studio could put done, gone, donezo, over. Oh, is it gone? Donnie?

It's also remodeled. It's still there. It just looks different. I like this. I think we look good. I think we look great. So here's the thing. Are we, so are we not going to be in the other student?

This is our new, this is our new home. This is our new space, yes, yes. Okay, so this is what we're going to do. Has taken our other spot. So this is what we're going to do. Who took the other spot? Big pick. Oh, shout out to Sean and Amanda Bowman.

So you'll be over there. I'll go over there. It. Slight saltiness from Rachel. So what we're going to do is we're going to do some Duda right thing, we're going to have, I'm going to get some posters, and we're going to put some framed pictures on the wall of movies and stuff that we like. Do you realize? Okay, first off, this isn't big picture. Second, there's no space for it. That's not true. You literally,

if you're watching, you got to see. What should we put on the wall? Three panels, but the brown is so pretty with the gray. Like, I, no. You don't want no pieces on the wall. I don't. Okay, we have no pictures on the wall. I don't. How was your Thanksgiving holiday? I had such a great Thanksgiving. Look at a down. I went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving. What was the slide I looked for? Was you with some nigger?

No. My uncle lives in Tulsa. Oh, we talked about this. My uncle lives in Tulsa. I haven't been to Tulsa in almost 20 years. And I went back. They built a new house. He and his wife.

My aunt Connie, shout out to them. And so we went back for the first time. The uncle that was on the show. Oh, yeah. Yeah, on the show. Yeah, I'm Uncle Jeff. And it was great. It was small, one of the smallest ones we've had.

But my family came up, my sister's family, and one of my aunts. And we had a really good time in Tulsa. I went to Greenwood. Oh, you went and saw it. You feel the poor of the ancestors? Well, it's just, I feel torn because of what has happened there. And I just went the block. And I went to like a coffee shop.

The white people was right? Well, it's just, it's hard for me to. want to buy, there's like a gift shops, buy a T-shirt that says like Greenwood, Black Wall Street with everything that's happened. But I did go a couple of bookstores, coffee shops, I didn't have time for the museum, walked around,

saw some of the murals, you know, just like tried to feel the energy there. I encourage people to dig into the history of Greenwood, not just because of what happened in terms of the massacre, but in terms of, we've talked about this before, how they really destroyed Greenwood.

Yeah. We've said this before, very briefly, Cliff Nose version. Greenwood was destroyed by racist white terrorists. We all know that. Greenwood rebuilt resilience from the people there. What really ended the community, as we know it, is urban renewal, which is something that was used to destroy a lot of black communities from sea to shining sea.

See, they've tried several different ways to get us out of the places that we are. They've tried firebombing us and terrorism. Then they've tried economic terrorism. The economic terrorism is normally a much more effective means to uproot someone from where they live. That is the thing that last generation after generation after generation, economic terrorism being things like redlining as well, not allowing you to buy homes. you can't buy a home, you can't establish generational wealth, or it's harder to. When they displace you, really nowhere for you to go, shuffles you into places where you're easily controlled, and the government can put that thumb on the scale a little bit.

So it's a very interesting situation in terms of Greenwood, not just the violence that the people encountered, but the decade-by-decade dedication to eliminating Greenwood. would is an interesting case study for people to understand just what black people have been up against since we've been in. Yeah. Well, yeah, I checked that out and, you know, went out to a sports bar, watched Texas game. Yeah, they're doing well. Yeah, I tried to, you know, really experience Tulsa. There was a lot that I didn't get to, but, you know, I had a good time.

What food is Tulsa known for, some kind of barbecue? I didn't quite get to. that. But I was, it's Thanksgiving. So, you know, have a Thanksgiving meal. Then I went to a friend's family's house and had a fish fry. Yeah, it was great. And those was from Tulsa? What? Jay Ellis. Is he? Yep. Yeah, that makes sense. They had this book in this bookstore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I ever tell you my Jay Ellis protest story? You mean protest? So me, Jay Ellis, and Tommy Alter went protesting. Okay, during Black Lives Matter. During Black Lives Matter. Jay Ellis became like Martin Luther King Jr.

Out at the protest. Good for him. So we were out. We all went out protesting. And the dude from Pots of America was with us. Okay. I can't remember which one it was. Tommy,

because if you go protesting with Tommy, it's not going to be like regular. No, I know. You're going to go with... Nothing is regular. Do you go to a dinner? You go to a game. Jay got there and he was like,

we were, he was, he became a leader. I mean, we're, we're there, right? And there's people, different people trying to talk and we're getting down, we're standing up, we're doing all different types of stuff. And Jay was like, like engaged. What do you mean? Like, did he get on, was there a platform? He got on stage.

But I just noticed that, because I'm looking around, right? Because first of all, it's COVID times. And I'm scared. Sure. I still don't want to get sick. Sure. I got the mask on, but I'm like, Like, we're outside, whatever, I don't know.

But Jay really was, he was, he was telling people. He was like, yeah, blah, boom, he was, I'm like, Jay, Jay, Jay, do your thing, man. I love that guy. No, he's a really great guy. He's a good guy. He's from Tulsa. I know other niggas from Tulsa, too, I feel like. Yeah, I don't know too many, but I went to church as well on Sunday. Okay, you went to church.

I went to Transformation Church. Ooh, Tori. Who? Oh, wait, no. Transformation. That's in Dallas. No, that's in Tulsa. Oh, that's the dude, the video game guy. Michael Todd.

Who told him to play video games, yeah. Carl Litz. Was he there? I did not see him. He might have been. I didn't see him. Shout out, Pastor Carl, man. But I thought about you because he was there, and because we've talked about him,

I enjoyed myself. Was the video game guy there? Michael Thompson? Michael Todd. Michael Todd. Michael Todd. Yes, he was there. Okay.

It was a good sermon about kindness. Yeah. And I got to tell you, I walked away and I said, it was between the difference between being nice and kind. Oh, wow. I'm not kind. Fuck no. I just, what?

What? What do me? Oh, my God. Are you kind? I am ridiculously kind. Okay. Hold on. I wish I, I'm going to send you this, Donnie.

because I'm going to show you the breakdown of kind. But we have to do this now because this is ridiculous. I'm absurdly kind. No, no, no, no. Like, like, Donnie, I'm sending you this. Crazy kind. This breakdown of nice versus kind. And the fact that you don't think I'm kind is wild.

But Rachel, can I tell you something now? What? This is not a dis. Okay. Let me tell you why this is not a dis. This sounds like a dis. Let me tell you why this is not a dis. What I've learned about,

rage is rage fucking means business. Like, rage means business. You know who you could have been? You don't want to be hurt. You could have been super agent lady, executive, uh,

like a studio head black lady. It could have been you on a picture of Forbes like this, Rachel Lindsay is changing Sony. Like, you know what I mean? Because like, with me, if you bring me your movie,

if you bring me your movie and the movie is not good, I'm gonna be like, man, we'll put it out. Y'all tried, man. I just, I, I am, like, I am such a bleeding heart. Like, I walk down the street. I don't know, Rach. I'm such a bleeding heart. Like, I walk down the street and I see somebody that's in trouble.

And, like, for the next 15 minutes, I'll be depressed. Like, why did that have to happen to that person? That's not kind. but because of that I don't want me to be the reason that anybody has a bad day. I don't want to be the reason. I feel that. Okay.

Sometimes it feels like you're like I got to get to where I'm going. Fuck it. I'm really not trying to dish you. No, no, no. It depends. It depends what the situation is. But what he did was he put up this chart and is nice versus kind. And under the nice, it was polite versus the kind

being a heart posture. Okay. Nice as surface, kindest sacrifice. Okay. Nice is acknowledgement. Kind is active. Okay. Do you have it?

You have it? I'm looking it up. I'm looking it up right now. Nice is considerate, kindest compassionate. See, like, I feel like I fall in the middle of some of this. Right? Like, for like acknowledgement versus active. I don't just acknowledge if somebody did something great.

I am a person who's like, how can I, who can I, connect you with or how can I help you be better? That's a version of active. So I fall somewhere in between. Nice is selective, kind of selfless. So some of this is church bullshit, but it is, I give you an example. I went to the frolic room with Kyle this past weekend. The what?

The frolic room. It's a bar in Hollywood. Okay. And I bought hot wings for the whole bar. But like why? What you mean? Why? You know what kind would have been?

Let me tell you why. Kind would have been to buy them, not for the people who are already there and can afford their wings. Kind would have been for you to take those wings and pass them on. And Hollywood, too, where there's a lot of homeless, to take those wings and pass them out to the people. See how I think versus you? So let me tell you why.

Kind. This is why. This is why. And this is the real thing. They don't have food there. So I was going to order some wings for myself. but I can't eat in front of people without them having something to eat. Oh, I definitely don't feel that.

We got to move on. I definitely don't feel that. My Thanksgiving was great. I was, we... Yeah, you stayed here? Yeah, we stayed here. Two great families we visited with. Who?

I don't want to tell. I don't want to tell. So we're both going to be... We're both going to be quiet about our Thanksgiving. Yeah, I don't want to tell where I was for Thanksgiving. So after that, had fun. But, you know, Monday was a big day for me last Monday. Let's get into it.

Because you've been all over social media. People have been begging me to reign you in. But go for it. Okay. I want everybody to know this is my first time seeing this as well in person. Okay, so I got to say something about it. Okay. This is not the final.

look. No disclaimer. It's not the final look because these hairs are going to fall out. What? They implant the hairs and then the hair follicles is what's inside my head. Okay. And then they fall out and then new hair replaces them. So it's not like they just replace your hair, then that's the hair. Okay. They put in hair follicles and then after the hair follicles are in their... over the next couple of two months because I had the shots in my head as well that help it grow faster. So over the next two or three months,

it'll feel back in. But here we go. Give us some music, Donnie. Oh, Daddy. Oh, wow. It doesn't even look. It looks like it could be the final result. Yeah, no, it does.

Because it's sexy. Yes, I'm sexy. You want to touch me? Oh. Sexy. See my hair, baby. Okay, this is the first and last time you're going to do this voice with this. Let me tell you out. Get it out of your system now.

Let me tell you out something. The hair transplant has made me rethink everything. I'm peeling off this last 30 pounds. I'm getting everything changed the moment. Donnie, give me the single again. Come back to everything. Oh, look look at my corners, man. Look at my quarters.

They did a really good job. Zering Medical. A really, really good job. Zerring Medical in Beverly Hills. Been talking about it for a while. They took the little shit from the back of my head. So what's it look like back there? Can't even tell.

No, you can't tell at all. Can't even tell. See, but like as a woman, it would be totally different. No, it wouldn't. They asked for you. They told you to come in. Did they? Yep.

I told them, I was like, because niggas know you. Nick, are you famous? No. Nigga, you famous. you're famous from that bachelor shit. Well, yeah, Bachelor Nation's big. Yeah, people, and they was like, and so I mentioned it to,

because a lot of people I've been reaching out, I've been giving a lot of referrals. And there's a lady there that, right, they should have given you a discount. A lady there that really is, like, awesome. She walks you through the whole thing, because I kept putting it off. And she was staying on top of me,

staying on top of me figuratively. And she was, and she was saying, you know, this is the time we have it coming up. You want to get it done. Hey, man, you want to get done from the house? Because if I didn't get it done this past Monday, I was going to have to wait until February. Oh, wow. No, no, no, no.

And you want to get it done. So you can have the downtown through the holidays and stuff like that. And I told her, I was like, you know, Rachel even inquired about maybe. It would be like a reduction. Like a reduction. Yeah. Or something like that. And she was like, I know Rachel.

She was like, that forehead would be like mama and Elisa. That's what she said. She did not say that. did. She's black? Yeah. Oh, she's not boring. She's like, that forehead is a canvas.

But Mona Lisa's only pretty from a distance. That's not true. Yeah, like. I think Mona Lisa looked good. We got to get into the podcast. It looks, honestly, man, it looks fantastic. Thank you. It really does.

I'd be feeling myself, too. I really would. Because here's the thing, though. I'm handsome. All, let's move on. You guys, that was a, so that was like a prolonged. Pleasantries.

Sorry. We're going to start cutting Pleasantries down to like five minutes. We also took a week off. But we've been gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've been gone.

We got a lot of stuff to get into. At the top of the show, wow. Wow. President Biden has issued a pardon to his son Hunter Biden. Let's take a break. Higher Learning,

news studio, you better be watching, Spotify video. And on the other side of this, we'll talk about Hunter Biden and his brand new. new lease on life. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling?

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Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimphia, including important safety information. The playoffs are here. And you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Predict the spread, total points, and even the game winner. Sign up and get a $25 bonus.

Offered by Fandual Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant, 18 plus. Bonus is non-withdrawable and expires seven days after receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at fandul.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Okay, President Joe Biden Issue a pardon for his son Hunter Biden

It's according to a statement for the White House This is a reversal for Biden Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm He had said he wouldn't do it. Donnie, do we have audio of him saying that or no or whatever? Sure do, yep, give it up. The answer is yes. I'm extremely proud of my son Hunter.

He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know. and I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him. Obviously, there's a changing course there. This is the statement from Joe Biden. I'm not going to read the whole thing.

It's pretty long, but I'm going to give you the gist of it. Today I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted. without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought in to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.

Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It's clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in this case, in his case, should I say, came about only after, several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and impose my election. Then a carefully negotiated plea deal agreed to by the Department of Justice unraveling in the courtroom, Jesus, with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution

of Hunter's cases. I'll go down to the bottom. him here. I believe in the justice system. But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice. And once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. Are you shocked? Am I shocked? Yeah. Are you surprised that he's pardoning Hunter? Um, I don't think I'm shocked. I think I was, it was like, oh. I think he was, I think he was was always going to do it.

Whether he got into office. Big fat liar, what you call it? Sure. Okay. But I think he was always going to do it. I think he felt like he needed to say that for purposes of campaigning in this election, which he didn't have to.

That wouldn't have mattered. He could have just ignored it and not addressed it, but he went out and made a full statement. And so, you know, I'll get to that in a second. I think that's going to be the most annoying thing about all of this. But I think he was always going to, I can't imagine that, as he said, as a president and a father, that he would have allowed his son to be sentenced this month. We know what, that he was already sentenced on, not sentenced, sorry, we know that he pled guilty for the tax evasion charges and for the illegal gun charges.

So he essentially, when you buy a gun, you fill out a form and the form asks you if you're using any type of drugs. I just bought a number gun, you fill it out. if you are on drugs and you say you're not on that form, it is a felon. Right. And then he pled guilty to nine federal tax charges because he said he just didn't want to take his family through the whole process again like he did with the gun charge. So I just can't imagine Biden as the president sitting there. His son gets sentenced. We don't know what he would have received.

I think it would have been less than a year. That's what a lot of legal experts say, at least for the gun charge. I don't know what tax evasion would that would have been because there nine charges on that. But I'm not shocked he did this. It's just annoying. You know, other presidents have done this. Clinton did his half-brother, I believe. We know that Trump did his son-in-law's father, who now has a position in the administration.

So we knew we've seen this done before. I think, I guess I just don't understand how people didn't think that this would happen. What's going to be annoying, this is what I was alluding to before, and Trump's already on a rampage doing it, and so are other Republicans, is that now they're going to throw this, it's going to taint even more so the legacy of Joe Biden, the fact that he's doing this days before he's leaving office. This is something that they're always going to talk about, something that he did, they're going to call him a liar, they're going to say that he always knew Hunter was guilty of these things or he was involved, all the things that they accused him of before. It comes into play,

not saying it's true, but because he did lie and, you know, put time and time again, It's not like he was asked one time. He continued to say he wouldn't interfere. I wouldn't say that this is an interference, but I would definitely say he's doing what he said he wouldn't do. The one thing I will disagree with in his statement, though, is that he says that Hunter was unfairly prosecuted. And I don't think that that's true. I think that, yes, maybe they went after him in a way that a normal citizen they wouldn't have necessarily gone after. But he is guilty of these things. So, It's not an unfair prosecution. Maybe you didn't like the way that it was, you know, played into politics, but I wouldn't say it's unfair. That's the father coming out. Okay.

So let me ask you this. When you say unfair prosecution, and you are the legal eagle. Shout out to Hootnanny. He was joining us right now. I forgot to. He made it through. He did.

You will be here with us. Unfairly convicted would mean. that he was unfairly convicted of something that he didn't do. Unfairly prosecuted seems to indicate that the prosecution itself is unfair.

Is there a such thing as an unfair prosecution insofar as you're being prosecuted for something that people normally don't get prosecuted? Well, he says selectively and unfairly. So your point, selectively makes sense. The unfair, it's like, well,

He did do these things. You might not like how it all played out, and I will agree with you, yeah, that's where the selective part comes into play. But to say he was unfairly prosecuted, I can't really get down with that. And that's where the father is stepping in, which he was always going to pardon him. And I'm not saying he was wrong for even doing it. He has the power to do it. Why would he not do it?

You know, other people, other presidents have done it before as well. You know, if that was the president, and you did something, I would 100% pardon you. It depends on what you did. But I would... Sure. Yeah. But I also guess

I wouldn't think you would do the worst things. Right, right, right. Yes, I would pardon you, but I also wouldn't tell everybody time and time again. I wouldn't do that. I would just avoid the question. So, I have thoughts. A couple of thoughts.

First, on the particulars of the Joe Biden pardon. I don't know that I care. I mean, you know, I don't care. I don't care. I do think something, though. I think that Biden, I think even the meeting with Trump at the White House where he played nice

was an attempt to size Trump up to see just how vindictive Trump would be when he takes office. It's an attempt to make nice for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons being that with the new Justice Department coming in, that essentially your son, who has had legal problems for a long time, and who the conspiracies on the right are actually much larger than the things he was convicted for, the Berezma stuff and all that type of stuff. I think you're sitting down and you're going, hey, you're seating, you're playing nice, peaceful transfer of power, all of that stuff.

all of that stuff, but you're also trying to see, well, is this guy going to be as good as his word in terms of how aggressive he's going to be at getting the retribution that he feels like he deserves to all of his political enemies? And if you're paying attention over the last couple of weeks, it seems that Donald Trump is going to be that vindictive. It seems like he's putting people in specific places that are going to do, to the nth degree, every single bit of bloodletting that he's promised. He's putting puppets in the Justice Department. He's putting puppets in cabinet. He's putting puppets everywhere.

People that are not going to say, hey, Mr. Trump, we probably shouldn't do this. Loyalists who are going to be there to do his bidding. And if that is the case and if you're Joe Biden and you're leaving, you might feel like you don't want to subject your son

to whatever that's going to be. You're not just going to lose your presidency, but you're also going to leave your son hanging there as a very appealing pelt for a hyper-litigious bloodthirsty

regime that is going to want to serve political red meat to their base. And you might just go, maybe I wouldn't have pardoned him if we'd want. Maybe I wouldn't have pardoned him if I'd have got a different sense of what was going to happen. But in this case, knowing what the next year, two year, three years are going to be like, I can't leave him hanging out there, them to continuously prosecute him on different things. dig up. I wouldn't be surprised if Biden pardoned himself

and Kamala Harris. Like he, like, like different things. It seems like he's protecting his son from them. Yes, because Trump was on a path of vengeance. Right. And so in that situation, I look at it like,

you know, he certainly lied. First of all, I don't give a fuck, right? Like he, like, he, like, he certainly lied. He certainly either lied or went back on what he said. I find this annoying. He didn't have to lie. He really didn't.

But there's something else about this. And, you know, we talk a lot about being Democrats or Republicans or stuff like that. I've seen the Democrats have their, you know, their self-flogging, which they like to do because of this. And I saw Nate Silver say that any Democrat that doesn't come out and, uh, and like condemn this you shouldn't vote for in 2028. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You said I voted for Harris,

but any Democrat doesn't come out and talk against this. You shouldn't vote in 28. This is why I'm fed up. Yeah. I'm fed up with two things. Number one, anybody who believes that there is a wing of American politics that represents the best of us and this pure sense of morality. Yeah.

crazy. Everybody's taking money from Raytheon. Everybody's taking money from Boeing and from the defense lobby and from APEC. You're as good as your policy will allow you to be, right? And if your policy means that children are getting incinerated in Gaza, getting bombs dropped on their head, then that's the limit of your goodness. You're as good as your policy allows. You're as your policy allows you to be. About who you are personally and whether or not you're a moral, upright person,

the Republicans played that game for years and years and years till they had one too many cheating scandals. They were aged one too many unjust wars. And they had one too many people go to jail for financial crimes.

And then America looked at them and was like, we don't believe you. We don't believe you because we know what you are. Forget about that. Forget about who's moral and not moral. Forget about flogging Joe Biden or any other Democrat because they're not moral enough for you. They're immoral.

Politics is a game that stains the person's soul. The question is, what do you get out of it? The same way, all of you guys, go to a steak restaurant and you eat a steak, and you do not think about the cattle prod that went inside of the brain of the cow, the beautiful cow that was bred to die so that you could have a Wagyu steak. You don't think about that.

You think about the meal. Sure. You don't think about whether or not the chef cares about the cow. What you think about is that you got what you ordered. That is the way you should look at these politicians. did you get what you ordered from them? Yeah. That's it.

Everybody talking about what this means, shouldn't we be better than them? Shouldn't we be this? Shouldn't we be that? What you should be is delivering to the people who rely on you for policy. Anything else is pie in the sky, kumbaya, almost cultist bullshit.

I don't believe that anyone has to be this. Bill Clinton certainly wasn't at. Sure. Like Barack Obama, we loved Barack Obama, droned people like there was no tomorrow. And those are real life living, breathing human beings. Deported a ton of people. You're as good as your policy will allow you to be.

Stop making demands of politicians that put them in positions where you're judging them based on anything other than what they do for you. Last thing I'll say, Kirby Narrant. You know what the worst type of relationship to be in is? A relationship where one person gets to make a moral judgment and the other person gets to do whatever they want.

Yes. Like if you're in a relationship, any type of relationship, a friendship, a romantic relationship, any type of relationship, where someone looks at you and goes, I thought you were a better person than that. Yet every time you say that to them, they go, well, shit, you know I ain't shit.

Yeah. That's the worst type, and that's a relationship that it feels like liberals want to have with the right. They want to have the relationship where the right goes, shit, but you know I ain't shit, I'll do whatever. I'll do whatever. You know I ain't shit. But then the right gets to look at them and go,

I thought you were better than that. That's not going to work. Right, right. I agree with what you're saying, but I'm thinking of when you talk about, like we shouldn't be looking at the person, we should be looking at policy. Do we, are we not doing that, though?

And I'm not saying that we agree with their policy, but are we not doing that with some of these Republicans? Are we not? I'll use Gates for an example. Also, Gates was not qualified, in my opinion, to be the attorney general professionally. But what we were talking about was personally the things that he was doing.

We're talking about, not when we're talking about his policies, we were talking about things that he has been accused of, things that have been alleged, reports that have been out there as to why this person should not be the attorney general. Is that not a personal thing? That's the pushback I'm giving you.

And I accept it. I'm talking about things in terms, I'm not talking about like having sex with children. That's probably disqualified. Allegedly. Allegedly. The beating of women. That's probably disqualifying.

What I'm talking about is... He told a lie. You lie. I'm talking about you go back on something. I'm talking about a moral standard of purity that has continuously gotten harder for anyone, even well-intentioned people to navigate. I'm talking about a standard that is increasingly, like, unrealistic.

I agree with you. I'm not even looking at this particular situation. And if you are guilty of sexual assault, if you are guilty of these types of things, now remember now, I can make some arguments about Bill Clinton here and some other people that would even transcend this. I'm not saying that we overlook moral failings that are so determinative that they are the entire,

they could be used as the entire basis of someone's character, right? But the flogging that I see some people on the left doing and we have to be this and we, y'all not tired of that? Y'all not tired of like, of making every single thing. Well, I agree with you.

Because it's like, where also is that getting us. We're putting ourselves on this pedestal and we're putting ourselves on a higher moral ground. We're better than they are. But where is that getting us at the end of the day? And I'm not excusing somebody lying or going back on their word. But at the end of the day, where does that get us? Okay. Like, that's why I guess, you know, I paused when I was like, why are we shocked? He would have pardoned him regardless. I'm telling you if he was the president. He still would have pardoned him. There's no way he would have let him sit in jail when he had the power. He wasn't running again. it wasn't going to hurt anything with him.

He would have been elected to be the next president. He would have pardoned him. But I agree with you, it's not, it's more annoying to me because what Nate Silver, you know, calling for people to say, if you're not running, if you're not calling Biden now, don't vote for this person. Where does that get us at the end of the day when you have the Republican Party doing something? Just anything goes. Anything goes.

My deal is, so once again, your morality. should be demonstrated in your policy. Trump won. And the same week that he won, we've talked about this before, there was an executive order in which Joe Biden set up a task force to make sure that

black and brown kids, black and brown people had specific environmental protections in areas that are underserved. an environmental task force set up to make sure that situations like Flint, situations like boil advisories in Mississippi

and places like that, don't disproportionately affect black and brown people. That's morality to me. The morality that I want to see from a politician is in policy. It's immoral to let black children drink poisoned water. That's immoral.

When you know that it affects them disproportionately, it's immoral to make a woman carry her rapist baby to term. Sure. That's immoral. It's immoral to make an 11-year-old girl that is the victim of sexual assault carry the baby. That's immoral. Splitting up families. Immoral.

These things, the morality of a group of people is, or a political base is in their policy. The moment Trump won, they said that's done. That policy of clean air and water, black kids, making sure that they have it, is too woke. It's a moral to me. So Joe Biden, part in the son, couldn't give a fuck less.

And I get it. Everybody wants to, we want to be better than them. We want to be better than that. Be better in policy. Be better in policy is all I'm saying. Be better in looking out and deliver for people. That's the thing. That was big news, though.

Everybody was talking about it. Yes, because of how many times he denied that he was going to do it. And apparently it came out. He announced it allegedly over Thanksgiving dinner. Trump pardoned. Steve Bannon, Elliot Brody, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Mendeford, Kwameeco Patrick, Louis, Lou Wayne, Kodak Black.

All those people got pardoned. Morality. Pete Hexeth, the Secretary of Defense, his mom says he's an abuser. His mother sent him an email saying you are an abuser of women. Six years ago. And in a sense,

I'm just giving the facts. She sent it six years ago and has since said, oh, of course, that, you know, this was her. She was upset because she was listening to his ex-wife. She was disappointed. in the behaviors that led to the breakdown of their marriage on his part. I'm paraphrasing here.

And so she doesn't believe the things that she wrote in that email. My mom, my mom ain't never told me shit that ain't true. Of course, of course, of course it's true. All this stuff is coming out about Hex-F right now. The New Yorker has a whole thing about not just of how he was in this situation that we know about the alleged assault that he's settled. We know that there has been other number of women who have reported him having inappropriate and creepy and uncomfortable behavior. We know that he has mismanaged money for organizations that he has overseen to the point where they kicked him out of doing this, which comes into play because in this position he will have to oversee employees and budgets and all of that.

So yes, of course, we said this from the moment that he was a nominee. This man hates women. Like, there's just no other way. At least I said that. There's just no other way to see it. From the policies that he has, to the beliefs that he has about women being able to serve, to the way the stories that have come out

and the allegations of the way he has treated women in his personal life, women that have worked for him, worked with him. This man, the way he's treated his wives, this man is a hater of women. He does not like them. He does not respect them. They are not on his level.

And he will continue if he is confirmed to be on a rampage, of doing things that are harmful to women. Probably get confirmed. He will probably get confirmed. He will probably get confirmed. Nothing that is coming out. These are the people that you guys want to have a moral wrestling.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Just read the article. I just want to say read the article in the New Yorker. This man is a terror. Hey. I mean, when we had Paul on the show, he told us about all of this.

And it came to, pass. But once again, so many of these things and so many of these nominees, um, prospective appointments demonstrate what Donald Trump is looking to do in the next four years. I'm so sick of talking about goddamn Donald Trump. I know. You think we should give politics a break on the podcast? Well, I, we probably will over the holidays, which will be nice. We need a pallet cleanser for sure. Yeah. But we have to talk about what's happening. We need a, we need a Cleanser before he is for the inauguration. Yeah.

You want to go to the inauguration? You want to? We should go there and just be on the ground there. I think we'd end up fighting. You think somebody, I thought you were kind. See? You want to fight people? I said I realized I'm not.

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today. GNX, Kendrick Lamar's brand new album, debuts number one on the billboard 200. The fifth chart topper all earned consecutively 319 equivalent album units earned Not like us went to number one Like that went to number one Yeah So he's got two songs that went to number one

And An album I think that maybe there might be a song From GNX that goes to number one 363 million streams During its opening week The biggest rap streaming week of 2024 and the seventh biggest

streaming week of all time. Crazy. These are the biggest streaming weeks ever. Drake, Drake, Travis Scott, Drake, Drake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar.

So, you know, we said we want about Drake, but there's some clear domination. The numbers don't lie. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Did you like GNX?

Your thoughts on Kendra Mar? What's like, what's your deal? You're anti-Drake right now, aren't you? Okay. I'm not anti-Drake right now. I like Drake's music. I always have. I've been to Drake's concerts.

I've always talked about personally, I don't necessarily get into the hype. You know, like when girls would go crazy over Drake. I'm like, ah, it's not really for me. I've always thought Drake was a little bit corny. I think the behavior that he has exhibited in 2024 has only solidified that or certified that for me. But I don't just, I'm not going to say I don't listen to Drake's music because I totally do.

But yeah, but I'm a bigger Kendrick Lamar fan. I've been to way more shows. I've been a fan longer than I have. Maybe not longer. I've listened to Drake longer. But I definitely a huge fan of Kendrick. I love what he's doing. I love the music that he's putting out.

So yeah, I mean, if you're at it. asking me to choose. I'm not one of those people who's like, though, they're both putting out great music. I'm always going to choose Kendricko for Drake. But I'm not a Drake hater now. Have you listened to GNX? Yeah, I haven't listened to the whole thing yet. I haven't had a chance in the whole thing. I know. I know. What have you listened? What's your favorite

of? TV off. Oh, yeah, that's the joint, right? Musta. Let me tell you something about GNX to me. It caught me by surprise. It caught me by surprise. Not the release. I kind of knew a little bit before that it was coming out.

But people who were on the album also hinted that he had new music coming out. Yeah. But the sonic direction of it surprised me. Okay. What did you think it was going to sound like? So after Mr. Moral, what you saw from Kendrick Lamar were, what you had seen from him, the last couple of albums were deep, conceptual. almost

creatively biblical albums. Meaning the Bible rolls out in a way to where every single perspective and every single thing that's in it relates back to the larger theme of like salvation and whatever.

Right? There are all these lessons that are woven in, but they're told in different ways. and Kendrick had done that with, you know, a lot of his projects, right? He had, he would go deep into theme. He would go deep into reflection. And he would use several different storytelling devices, musical stylings, to do that. This one, it just felt like Kendrick Lamar just talking to his shit.

which all rappers do, but I hadn't heard him talk his shit this directly in a long time. So I agree with you, looking at the progression of the albums that he's had. You know, this one isn't like the last couple, but the music that he's been putting out is a reflection of what the album is.

The way he's been talking, he's been very direct, very matter of fact, very strategic, Everything, it's still everything ties in together. There's a lot of symbolism. It's where he is right now. So looking at like that, looking at euphoria, looking at not like us, I'm sure I'm missing one. What was the family?

What was the other one that he did? That really doesn't. No, not the Heart Part 6. That's on this album. There was another, there was in the back and forth of him and Drake, there was one more that I'm forgetting. Where he's talking about, where he talks to the kid, where he talks to that. Your father's a name, and he should die. Okay.

He's been very direct. So to me, the album, Family Matters, thank you. To me, this is a reflection of what he's been putting out. So I wasn't shocked by the direction of this. Even giving us the little bit of squabble up when he did the Not Like Us video. Yeah, I felt like this album was more of a coronation for him. This was more of a, I'm going to make y'all dance a little bit. I'm going to get y'all into the,

groove into the mindset that I'm in right now. Yeah. Whereas... Which he always does, though. Well, kind of. In past albums, it seems like Kendrick is... Let me restate what I just said. In past albums, it seems like Kendrick wants you to see and feel something the way he sees and feels it.

Mm-hmm. Like, I listen to Mr. Morale a lot because... of the song on there about his father. And the record was, it was so personal to me that I'm like, he really wants me to understand this. This one was different. You don't think the feeling was there.

No, no, no, no, not that the feeling wasn't there. this album felt like a bow down. And every rapper has an album like that. Every rapper has an album where they go, it's not necessarily their deepest album. I love G&X. Love it. It's not necessarily their deepest album.

It's not necessarily their most ambitious album. But it's the album where they let you know that they set the rules. Mm-hmm. is the album that where they say, hey, the way things go and rap is based off the way I see him. Like, Dodger Blue is my favorite song

on the album, right? On Dodger Blue, he is telling people how to talk about LA. Like, he's telling them, he's like, look, I'm in a position. Don't, I'm tired of hearing y'all complain about LA. Think about how many times on the album

he just sets a rule. Like, no white comedian can talk about black women that's law. Like, don't talk about L.A. if you don't travel south of the 10. Don't, like, he's in a position now where he's like, hip hop is mine and it's unquestionably mine.

For the first time in a long time, hip hop has one sole ruler, and it's Kendrick Lamar, and on this album, it seems like he's setting the rules and the structures of how he feels. feels like rap should be. Well, you just answered my question because I was going to say, do you feel like he's that way because of what has happened in first half of 2024? But you just kind of answered that question. It's interesting. I thought that we, and I guess this kind of leads

into the next topic of conversation, but I thought, I was, I mean, I knew around October we were going to get an album from Kendrick. I didn't know if I thought it was going to drop when it did. But I really thought we weren't going to get one prior to that. And I thought that it was just just going to be him setting his place in the rap game and putting Drake in his. And I kind of thought that that's where it would be. Not saying we were never going to get an album from him again, but I kind of thought we were done for 2024. And I love that he put out this album.

I love that I was wrong, let me say, and that he put out this album. And as you, to your point, showed where he is in the game, building off of what happened at the beginning of 2024 and doing it without. really addressing the beef. I mean, it's in there. It's in there. It's not, it's not.

There's going to be some sneak. Yes, but it's not the album. This is not an album that's dissing Drake, which I love why he didn't put, not like us, euphoria, none of those, family matters, none of those are on this. It's about him and his presence.

And like you said, letting us, taking us into his mindset where he is, what he's feeling, and it's not about Drake. It's not a disc out, disc. It's not a dis album, which is what I appreciate about it. Yeah, it's just,

it's like when I, when it start off, like the feeling of it, it's very West Coast. It's got Jack Antonoff on a lot of, you know, it's interesting, but is, why? Why? Why? Because it Taylor? It's interesting because there is

a sonic authenticity that a lot of my West Coast homies, and when I'm talking about this, I'm talking about the glasses Malones, the DJ heads, the people whose opinion on West Coast music really matters to me. Nobody's opinion on West Coast music matters to me more than DJ heads. Okay. No one. No one.

I mean, if I was talking to Dre or Snoop or somebody like that, but nobody's opinion matters more than head. And when you listen to like those guys talk about how sonically authentic, the album is to the West Coast, even though it has still the eclectic sensibility that Kendrick has been known for, it's meaningful. It's meaningful.

And like a song like Wacked Out Murals where he's legitimately talking about everyone who kind of came at the throne a little bit, everyone who ran a file of Kendrick as the hip-hop deity slash monarch that he is. He's just talking about people. He's like, I noticed it. Like, that song is not a full-on disc song. It's like, Snoop, I noticed it. Like, to Schultz, I noticed it. To Wayne, I noticed it. Like, I noticed it. Not full-on disses to anybody. But it's like, you did that.

Don't think I didn't notice it. That is coming from, a position of power. And most albums that he's put out in the past to me have come from a sense of artistic vulnerability and the willingness to talk about some things that other rappers wouldn't talk about. Sure, absolutely, especially this last one. And this one comes from a sense of power,

which is why Drake suing at this particular time was the worst fucking response to GNX and to this whole thing that could have possibly happened. Before we get into that,

did brilliant idiots or flagrant respond to what Kendrick noticed? Did they? It might be on vacation. I'm sure at some point, Andrew will go around to it, but they might be on vacation.

Okay. Well, I think that he spoke with academics about it. Okay. But I'm sure at some point there'll either be something in a stand-up or on the podcast that he'll go deeper into it. I mean, in a way, it kind of, it bics them up a little bit. And just in a society that we live in now, if somebody mentions you, if you get, if you get dissed, then. So is that a no publicity, wait, what's the saying?

there's no such thing as bad publicity because I would not want to be called out for that. I wouldn't want to be noticed for something like that. I wouldn't, I wouldn't either. But maybe he would. But I'm not saying that he necessarily does. I'm just saying that like a lot of people are going to be like,

oh my God, like that is the kind of thing that lets you know like what a big deal you are or whatever. But you know what I did see though? After that happened? Man, I saw a lot of black comedians that are very well respected a lot of very well-respected black comedians jump on that.

A lot of people and like put that out there to where it seems as if they didn't appreciate it either. I saw a lot of... They didn't appreciate what Andrews said? Yeah. Like I saw... Where were y'all when it was said?

Maybe they said something. Maybe it didn't. But like I saw a lot of black comedians like kind of talk about it and discuss it. But I mean, he's not going to make a difference. No, it's not going to make a difference. Yeah. Like, he's not like that in any way.

It's just, like, more stuff for him to kind of talk about. Drake has sued, okay? He has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group over allegations that the company conspired using Spotify to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Kumar's not like us. That's what this is about. UMG distributes both artists.

recordings. The petition claims that UMG engaged in conduct designed to artificially inflate the popular area if not like us, including by licensing the song at drastically reduced rates to Spotify and using bots to generate the false impression

that the song was more popular than it was in reality. Drake's attorneys claim that UMG violated the racketeering influence and corrupt organizations act as a RICO. They also allege deceptive business practices and false advertising under the New York state law.

UMG responded. Suggesting that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotion promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived or absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear. Drake's suit again. filed a second action in Texas claiming that UMG was aware that the source. song, not like us, falsely accuse him of pedophilia, but chose to distribute it anyway. It also claimed that UMG funneled payments to IHeart, the country's largest radio station,

as part of a pay-to-play scheme to promote the song on radio. With regard to the defamation allegations, the petition says the company could have refused to release or distribute the song required the offending material to be edited and or removed. but UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed finance and then executed a plan to turn not like us into a viral mega hit with the intent, very important guys, to harm Drake and its businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. I have to say this.

These petitions are not lawsuits, so correct me in real time. Their pre-action filings intended to take depositions from key figures at U.S. UMG and IHeart in order to obtain more information for potential future lawsuit. Now, I actually don't know what that means. What's the difference between the petition and a lot? Because I thought you're doing. Pre-action filing, I know a lot of the stuff that I did too, just reading the headlines. And then it was like, okay, he filed pre-action.

It's like a cost-effective way to hopefully negotiate with the other side, maybe put some pressure on them, and hopefully that they negotiate in good faith before you actually file a lawsuit. but it also can be a strategy to maybe get some, you don't have to do discovery, but like maybe depose or maybe have some conversation. They do, but that doesn't mean that they have to give it, right? It's pre-action. It's not a lawsuit. So it's a hope that maybe you'll put the pressure on them.

They don't want to incur the legal fees. They don't want the attention so they can settle before even doing a lawsuit. But it doesn't sound like UMG is going to negotiate. I'm not going to say it's not in good faith. they just don't sound like that they're going to be negotiating by any means. So this will probably move forward to a lawsuit. Is like, does Drake want to go through that?

Does UMG want to go through that? We'll see. But it's what some people do before filing an actual lawsuit. Okay. Oh. Two ways to look at this. Mm-hmm. Let's say I had some conversations with people who might know a little bit of this.

Oh, okay. What would be gleaned from those conversations is that there are things that, there are things that were done here that were done specifically to undermine Drake because Drake is in a contract negotiation with UMG. Is Drake alleging that or that's what, because I've seen that as well?

Let's put our tinfoil hats on. Okay, yes, because I'm seeing this out there too. So if we're putting our tinfoil hats on, you have an artist that's worth four, five, I think it was 400 the last time, 600. $6 million. Much money they want. You don't want to pay the $600 million.

Now the question would be, why don't you want to pay the $600 million if the artist has really worked at? But the answer would be we want to pay the least amount of money to secure the services of the artists that we can. So, if there is another artist, there's a Titan,

mega-titan, and you can prop that artist up using nefarious or unfair means and bring the other guy down a little bit. You have them both. Right? You have them both. Interscope on one side,

Republic on the other side, whatever's going on. Like, you have them both. And so you do that in order to get a better price on the one guy. And not just that,

but you do other things. For example, you remember when we were talking about the fact that all of the creators were able to use not like us in their videos in order to make their content

and everybody was like, oh my God, that's such an awesome thing for Kendrick to do. Yeah, what did Kendrick do again to be able to do that? Well,

perhaps it wasn't Kendrick that was doing that, is the allegation. Perhaps that actually was UMG. Perhaps it was UMG. that was allowing all of these people to use the song without having to pay for the song

because they wanted the song to go viral. Maybe in a normal situation, if you're trying to use somebody's song to break it down or decode it or make a TikTok video out of it, the label hits you and says that you can't do that, right? But in this situation, the label is not saying that you can't do that.

And people are thinking, this is because Kendrick Lamar is being gracious to all of the content creators out there. Well, one side is saying that's not because they're being gracious to the content creators. It's because they are actually having a vested interest. They actually have a vested interest in this song being as viral as possible because it makes Drake look back. Okay, our tinfoil hat still on? Tenfold house is still on.

So you have UMG letting the creators use that. Yes. You have UMG using people here. Spotify was brought into it. You have UMG putting their thumb on the scale all to a bot, spread, and slander Drake. So what that also means is, if we keep our hats on, that Kendrick was a pawn or allowed himself to be used in a way. Was Kendrick in on it? was he not?

And then they were basically saying that he was used in all of this. Now I'm taking the hat off. That's a lot. I'm not saying a powerful company like UMG couldn't orchestrate this, but that's a lot. And I could kind of go that way

if Drake wasn't as involved in it as he was. In terms of what you mean? The Beast. It's not like Kendrick did like that and then put out all these things. And it was like Drake was also going back and forth. It just wasn't as good. The songs weren't as great. I'm not saying that they were terrible. It just wasn't as impactful. It's hard for me to believe that maybe there's some truth in all of this, but it's hard for me to believe that this was all some calculated thing. They knew that

Kendrick would put out these songs. Put the hat back on. This means Kendrick had to have been working with him. If this is true, then he had to have. to have been working with him. Because they couldn't anticipate that Kendrick would have continued to put out this music or was working on this or would respond

to Drake's disc tracks in the way that he did. That means he would have had to been in on it. You ever been in an argument, but you ever been in a spot where two people got into an argument before, two people get into an argument?

Yes. Oh, by the way, I want to apologize for me stumbling over my words a little bit today. You know, the hair transplant situation sometimes. you got a little in you. So if you're there when the argument starts, then you know. If you're not there,

then you listen to the best, most compelling story. Right? Two people going at it, two weeks after the argument, and they say, hey, you call my mama a hoe. And then you were there and you go, oh, she didn't really say that.

she said you keep calling her a hoe, right? But how would you feel if someone were to say something about that, something like that about somebody you care about? She didn't call your mama a hoe. She said, you should care enough about her not to call her a hoe. I'm thinking about a direct situation. And calling her a hoe should be like somebody calling your mom a hoe. That's what she said.

And you took it as her calling your mom a hoe. I start calling your mom a hoe. Nobody thinks your mom is a hoe. So you're there. You were there. You know. If not, and you just get that secondhand, you're going to be like,

God damn, calling somebody a mama a hole in an argument is too far to go. This is the problem with these things. The problem is that we were there. We're not getting it secondhand. We were there. Right. The minute not like us dropped, fuck all of the computer.

programs, because I don't know nothing about that. The minute not like us dropped, one of the biggest Canadian advocates ever, we've had them on the show before, Extra Gravy Podcasts, Marlon, he listened to the record

and he was like, it's a bop. That's the problem with this record. Yeah. He is a gigantic Drake fan. He listened to it and he was like, the problem with this record is a bot. They were two-stepping and quit walking back Slot, Moon, Walk, L.A., below the 10 dancing to the record within 35 minutes.

It was obvious what the record was when it came out. This part of it, we were there. We were there. We saw it. Not like us was the type of record that wins you a diss battle. Now, we'll say this. Being called a pedophile in a diss record when you're, there's no, evidence that you are one would be very difficult for most.

That's the kind of shit that happens in rap battles. Yeah. But like, that'll be the type of thing that would make you go, okay, I got to, I got to, I got to go tell the principal. This is what I'll say. This is such a cultural miscalculation for Drake and his team the week after G&X was coming out. Do you think he, I don't think, I think. Oh, no, I know that they don't care.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. He can't care. Oh, I know that they don't care. Yeah. At this point, the cultural miscalculation, it's moot because he doesn't care. You would not have filed not one but two lawsuits and a defamation claim, which we've talked about defamation before on this podcast, is very hard to prove because it's not just that the statement was made, is that you knew for a fact that that statement was not true when you made

the statement. There might not be evidence or there might be. We just don't know that. I don't know. We don't know. But the thing is, is you have to. that what you said was so, that that person knew that it was a lie when they said it. But if there is speculation, if there is something out there, you know, like, he'd have to prove

that he knew that that wasn't true. Well, he's claiming that UMG knows it's not true. Yes, right now Kendrick is not named in. It doesn't mean that he could mean. It's a pre-action filing. In the lawsuit, he could throw Kendrick in there and the record label and, and whoever else. But yes, he's claiming that they know that he's not. And there are a lot of people out there.

Again, it's still very hard to prove. A lot of people out there are talking about this is Drake fighting the music industry and fighting for the little guys in the music industry. Those are Drake fans. But this is my thing, though. Even the, I only ever learned who Lucian Grange was because Drake mentioned him in a record. Tell Lucian I said, fucking, I'm tearing holes in the budget.

Like, I never knew who Lucian Grange. Who is Lucian? The father-in-law to Sophia Ritchie. Oh, is that true? But so Lucian Grange is a guy who runs the entire music industry. Then I saw him again, in Claire, it's Avon. He's a big, dude, Drake has been a cash cow for the music industry.

We just talked about the streaming numbers. Absolutely. Drake has been a cash cow for the music industry for 10, 15 years. So if fighting the system was so important to him, it seems as if he would have picked before now to fight it. Now there are things, to be honest, that he hasn't gone along with, he doesn't care about the Grammys, he doesn't bundle things, he doesn't do any stuff like that.

But at the same time, the darling of the music industry, is very difficult to believe that they are now fighting against the music. industry and against the way things work in the music industry right on the heels of taking an L in the most public rap battle since J&I. Prior to this lawsuit, there was no question about the success of the Not Like Us record. It was electrifying, it moved you, it made people feel a certain

way to the point where when this lawsuit was fired, I went back to the beginning and listened to everything like it was yesterday when I had moved on. And I think a lot of people had moved on. We talked about the, I think you even said to Super Bowl, you were kind of over the song. I think we had moved on. I don't know if I was over it, but I had moved on from what it had brought us from when it originally dropped. And after the pop out and all of all of that, now it's estimated that a 440% increase in U.S. sales and a 20% increase in U.S. streams, 490.

like us, that is what is projected since the lawsuit. Yeah. It's just, it, it, it, it, and that is because of this, what the song is and what it represents to, to various people in various ways, not because of bots. That is people. That is people who are into the song. There's, there is no question how great the song is, the timing of it, and the impact of it.

There's just not. We move off this, but I want to say one thing about the lawsuit and about the not like us. Think about the LeBron of it. Okay. I remember one time when LeBron was on stage, Drake concert, he had a sweatshirt

tied around his waist. It was clear LeBron didn't know what to do on rap stage. He was jumping up and down and pointing at Drake. It's very funny. It's very funny. I love when these videos come back out. It's very funny. Like LeBron, Drake, call LeBron out there.

It's cool to see. It's always cool where rappers and ballplayers get together. I don't know why. Because they say rappers want to be ballplayers and ball players want to be rappers. People used to get mad when Little Baby and James Harding would have outings out in France. And maybe I even dis, but I thought it was cool.

It's like they dressed them out. They were more of like the bag of the purse of money and like that kind of stuff. That's what people were talking about. But it's like, you know, but LeBron is jumping. He's pointing at Drake. They're very happy.

There was that one interview on the shop where once again, LeBron acted like Drake's dad. and he was telling me he was proud of him and the whole thing. Not like Us comes out, and LeBron is singing it. He likes it. He likes the record. Dancing, grooving to it. Steph Curry, who is one of Drake's friends, is saying, I'm sick of the record. I don't like it.

LeBron is like, I like it. The people in this whole thing are essentially LeBron, jumping up and down, pointing at Drake on stage. and then something happens, and they're just infected with the record or they're infected with whatever's going on in terms of their perception of Drake. I do think there's something else behind

the LeBron Drake thing. I never want to blame women. But for some reason, I don't think LeBron's wife likes Drake very much. You're basing that off of what? For some reason... Because I could say that about... I thought Aisha...

For some reason... Like that with Drake. She likes Drake very much. I don't think. So you think that influence has, I mean, did she just start? I don't know. I think that there's something that happened or something that went on or something that, because LeBron is going to keep his family, despite whatever.

Why can't LeBron just like the song? He does like the song, but the 180 change that happened from him being Drake's, like, number one guy, they're all in the crew. I'm proud of you. I told you not to dis push a tea. I'm pointing at you on the stage. I'm jumping around. It's me and you together.

We drink and wine to sing it along and publicly telling everyone that he likes the most vicious disc record that has ever, ever, ever happened around Drake, around a rapper. One of the most vicious disc records ever. Not the most vicious.

I would say, because they're ones that are way more vicious. Just the whole rollout. The most vicious one against Drake ever. Even not the most vicious one against Drake ever because push the team with fucking just. So I got it on. But the most popular vicious one, I'd say. And then knowing that if you look at her body language, I don't think she fucks with Drake.

I think is Drake the guy that brings the hose over? Is Drake the... You are blaming this on a woman. I'm not blaming it on the woman. I really don't mean to come off like that. Why can't he just... have a change of heart. Kendrick has made songs with Dre. Kendrick has gone on tour, opened up for Drake.

That's years ago, though. Okay, but it's, I don't know when's the last time. That's years ago. Okay, but I'm just saying. Kendrick diss Drake, uh, this Drake way before this. Yes, he did. A rapper name controlled. Yes, he did.

But I'm just saying people have a change of heart and we don't know what it can be. You want to blame it on the woman. That's fine, Van. That's fine. I'm saying. We aren't surprised. So what I'm saying, so what I'm saying, saying it's this, yeah, you know, a little toxic.

What I'm saying is this, though, I'm saying that like, there is nothing that would make me fuck with you like this. And then, even after you blame me for TMZ coming to your house, there's nothing that would make me fuck with you like this and then just turn around and there's somebody dissing this shit out of Rachel

crazy on some crazy shit and then me think that that was dope. Like, something happened. Well, I just also think that it was always a superficial relationship. They weren't. It was for show. It wasn't rooted in anything. Like, you wouldn't do that to me because as, I don't know if you said to the top of the podcast or we were talking off Mike, we're family. Family, yeah. They were not family. That was for show. That was Hollywood. That was for show. That was for show. That was to align yourself with someone who's powerful in an industry that you aren't in that maybe you want to be a part in vice versa. Like, you're the greatest in this. You're at the top of your game and this. You're at the top of your game and this. That just, that shows right there how superficial that was. That's what that is. I'm saying in that situation,

not because of Savannah. You saw the song everywhere. I know how far this is going to go. But as much as I've learned or tried to learn about the reasons why these two petitions happened, it sound like some cry baby shit. And that's the thing you can't cry. But he doesn't care. And it also sounds like he doesn't want this song at the Super Bowl.

Well, I don't think he'll be called a pedophile at the Super Bowl anyway. Even if they do not like us, I don't think this pedophile part will be done. He might not, but I don't think he wants a song at all. Oh, it's getting played. And I think that part of this, too, is to shut this song down, period. And if he is successful and not getting it at the Super Bowl, for Drake, that's a win. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling?

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New sweet green wraps hit different. Order now at order. dot sweetgreen.com. All right, I got to talk about something real quick. I just don't let people know something in case they don't know. I'm fat. Okay? And that's okay.

I gain way. I'm covering my tities up. I gain weight during the pandemic. Now, I've lost a lot of weight. You have. Okay? I'm losing more. I'm going to get back, you know, whatever.

So I'm fat. So I'm never in any way going to speak out against the people. Although I will say this. OZMPIC is making, I want to say this gently. OZMPIC is telling the truth about a lot of people. What do you mean? There were a lot of people. who for years preach body positivity.

I am great the way I am. I am beautiful the way I am. Yes, you are. I am healthy the way I am, which you are. Does it do damage to the body positivity movement when those people pop up and they've lost 50 pounds? Oh, yes. Because, and I'm not saying that losing weight is a bad thing,

I would never say that, right? But what I'm saying is there are some people who have been on that, and you're seeing them now after a couple of months, and there's nothing wrong with being on Olympic. There's nothing wrong with being on any of that stuff. But it seems like... Yes, it has.

And I know for a fact in the industry it has, because of something someone was told, I'll say that in a second. Just to be clear, it's Ozypic, it's Wigovie, it's Minjaro. I don't want to just specify, I just, I don't want to make it one thing. And I also don't want to take away from the fact that some people who might have been preaching and are still preaching body positivity might be taking one of these things for health reasons. Certainly. Their health might be affected by whatever weight that they had on them.

So I don't want to take away from that. But what you are seeing is it go to a level of like, where people are losing so much weight, it looks unhealthy. You know, I've seen that. And I know for a fact that it is impacting body positivity because I know a friend who was trying to pitch something about, like a concept about body positivity or, you know, not celebrating, but just acknowledging that you can look a certain way

and this can, and, you know, this can happen for you. And somebody in the industry was like, oh, we're past that now. actually said we are past that. We have Ozimic, Manjaro, we govi, we have these things where that's not really a thing anymore. We've moved past that. Kind of the way they move past

Black Lives Matter and content that was focused on black and brown people. It was, we've moved past that now. We've moved past body positivity. We're back to this. It's a fact, like that's a fact. Somebody said that in the industry. So it is, it is impacting people.

So I'm saying this because it was a rapper named Dave Bluntz. who performed with an oxygen tank at Juice World Day in 2024. Dave Blunts is, how do I say it in a compassionate way? What? He's overweight. He's not overweight. That's like...

Oh, that's too soft? I'm overweight. Like, he's... Obese. Like, but like he... Morbidly obese. Right. And so he's being paraded around, in my opinion,

as a sideshow spectacle. Amazing. As he wraps, he's up there with an oxygen tank, he's wrapping on a couch, he can't move, and it's saddening. It's like, I don't know what the,

I don't know if it's... Is it saddening? Yeah, yeah, it's saddening. It's, it's saddening. The only reason I say that is because it'd be different to me if he seemed like he was a person who really wants to change his lifestyle and is really struggling with the fact that he is overweight

and doesn't know how to get in a place where, you know, he can be healthy and feel better with themselves, whether it's mentally, whether it's physically, whatever it may be, I think I would feel more sad. But to me, Dave Blunt seems to be, this seems to be almost his shtick. I perform with an oxygen tank. I can barely move. I can't get, like I, so it's almost like he's embracing.

the lifestyle and has accepted it. So that's why it's a little hard for me to have some empathy. And I could be wrong. He could just be doing this as a defense mechanism. But he has a debilitating. A hundred percent. But he seems to be like, this is it. This is, this is, this is, I'm not going to change.

I'm cool with the way that I am. And if this leads to the worst case situation, that's how he seems to present to me. I don't mean to not have a, I guess this goes back to kind and nice. I don't mean to not have empathy for him, but how can you have that when it seems like this is somebody who wants to be this way? That's what it's giving. So, you know, I used to be a lot bigger than what I was. Imagine me now, Captain Thickham's, with even 100 more pounds on me. Imagine me nearly, I'm 269 right now.

Imagine me at nearly 400 pounds. We're talking like 3-8, 375. And there's like a moment where, for a lot of people, that, you know, lose weight and I've been a lot more in shape than I even am right now to where you make a decision about, like, you literally go how far as it's going to go. Like, you legitimately go, like, what am I going to do? Because there's a version of the game where I'm Dave once.

Right? It was like, it's like, fuck. I've been an athlete my whole life. I love to be active. Like I'm up to right now. We recorded this. How many steps would you say I have right now? 3,000.

I have 8,500 steps. What have you been doing today? Daddy. Okay. So, get up, go for walks. I like to be active, the whole night. But I look at this guy and the people around him that aren't. And maybe they are.

everyone in the comments, everyone, everyone, everywhere should be encouraging Dave Blunts to lose some weight and to get agency over his life if this brother wants to be around. If he wants to,

if he wants better for himself. So if somebody, if you met somebody and they were drinking Crown Royal all day long and they were just consistently drunk all the time. I would try to help them,

but you also can't help somebody who doesn't want to be helped. That's what he's giving to me. He seems to be embracing it. It's added to his popularity. Think about it. That's what was going viral. The way he was looking

and he was rapping with an oxygen tank. I mean, in addition to, yes, what he said to say about Snoop, but it's like his shtick almost. I'm not agreeing with it. It's just like he seems like a person who doesn't want to be helped, more so speaking to the lack of empathy,

I guess, that I have for it, because it seems like this is what he wants for himself. I want to talk today. I want you to. I don't want him to be this way. It just seems like this is what he... And that is sad. Maybe he's given up.

That's sad. All right, we got to get out of here. Look, I'll tell you guys something. I want everybody to understand something here. I'm going to let you guys see it one more time. And by the way, for all the people... Why do you keep out on then? You like it that much?

You think you look that good? There's the shit thinning in the middle. What do you want to do with it? Now that you know you can grow it out, do you want to, like, grow it long? You're not going to keep this same hairstyle. Like, you've got to do something with it. Maybe a high top.

It's not thinning in the middle. It's just like they cut my hair all the way down to do it. A high top. Maybe you get the actual tiger with, like, you know, you'll have a little Travis Scott moment. I feel like, don't let it go to waste. do something with it. Guys, put a Reddit post,

leave Van comments. Tell him what you think he should do. Now that he's got this new look, fresh new look, I think you should have a fresh new hairstyle to go with it. So you think I should bring the braids back? I had him for a long time. Come on.

I bring the braids back. It's, it's, the possibilities are limitless. Exactly. But I have to wear the hat. So let's have fun with it. I have to wear the hat, though, because I can't expose my head to someone.

For everybody who thought I was wearing a hat this whole time because I'd already had it, it's not true. A lot of people didn't think you were serious. About getting a... Yeah, they didn't believe you. They numbed my head up, just in case you guys are wondering. So it's painful. Nope.

The most painful part by far was getting the numbing. I mean, I get Botox, so. Because they numb your head in the back, right? Because they take the little, I had what's called F-U-E hair transplant where they take individual follicles from all different parts of your head. So they didn't do the strip thing for me. That's why you don't have that. Okay, I like this.

So they took individual follicles, boom, boom. But they do this thing, you're sitting down there, and you're like in a room, and they take such great care of you. They bring this, you got snacks, Netflix, because you're in there, because I was there like 10 hours. Were you really? I didn't get that. I was there from 7 a.m. I got there at 7 a.m. 6.45.

Mm-hmm. And I left probably at 4.30. Okay. So they numbed the area, the back of your head. And at first they stick in that little needle in there, and that doesn't feel great. It's like, and you're like holding your breath. And they're like, breathe. your toes, breathe with your toes, the whole thing.

And then they do another round of numbing. This time you feel it less. And then the third time they do it, they ask you if you can feel them numbing your head. And you're like, no. Right. And then as soon as your head is numb, they let the light of cane like wash down. They put me on my back. I was watching LSU football videos.

Oh. They put me on my stomach and all you hear is, are you here? So you didn't go under? Nope. Okay. You said it originally. you thought you were going under. I thought.

I thought I was going under. Okay. You don't go under. How long is the actual process? It's hard to say. And the only reason I ask, obviously, I'm a little curious. The biggest hesitation for me, because I've been looking at the forehead reduction surgeries, when they come back, I really have. I was like, let me just look into this.

Let me just see what this looks like. When I see it, because that's different from what you got. They bring it down about three centimeters. That's significant. That's a lot. That's significant, guys. But the line, the hairline looks too thick for me. You ever seen the ones that come back and it's just too thick?

And it's like, that's unnatural. I wanted to fade a little bit. I want it to be thinner than the rest of my hair. I don't want a thick hairline. Remember the Black Power Ranger? Yes. Remember that hairline? That's what I fear happening to me.

Right. Yeah, it was true. Yeah. So there's three steps. They take out the little, I had 1,100 graphs. Wow. It's not a lot. What?

Like some people have 5,000, 6,000. So you didn't need as much work as you thought? No, no, no, no. The guy said, remember when the guy that sold me on this, he said, here, here, and there. He said, you'll be straight. Was he the doctor? No, he wasn't. Wow, they got to give this guy, they can give this man a raise.

Yeah, well, it's his shit. But, but, and so it had 1,100 graphs. And so, like, they do that, right? And then, you know, they take that out. You have a little lunch. Bring me a little lunch. You get to go from the menu before this. Zering medical.

Go from the menu. You take whatever you had. And before, I was going to try to be healthy with the lunch. But then after that, I was like, fuck it, bring me the burger and fries. So I had the burger and fries, right? I had it. And after I had the burger and fries, they come back in and the doctor comes back in. Shout out to the doctor.

And now it's time to numb your head and put holes in your head where they're going to put their hair follicles. So they had to stick me again with the numbing agent. And that hurt. That part hurts. You never had Botox, though. So, I mean, it's a needle through the head. That part hurts. And then after a while, and then after that, it was just a weird feeling of, it's not a weird feeling.

You don't feel anything, but you know that somebody is just spending like an hour, hour and a half, two hours just putting holes in your head. Like putting holes in your head. Putting holes in your head. That's crazy. Putting holes in your head. He's putting holes in your head. He's putting holes in your head. Then after that, puts a holes in your head.

again, and then the ladies come in and they put the hair follicles in. Oh. They put the hair follicles in, and they're putting the hair follicles in. And there was... With your holes in your head? And so there's one part where they were putting the hair follicles in where the lytocaine started to wear off. And I was trying to grin, like, get through it because I didn't know how much it was supposed

and I was like, hey, just let you guys know, like, I'm feeling it a little bit. And they were like, why didn't you tell us? you're not supposed to feel anything. They were being very nice about it. When they came back in, they put the lyridicane in, boom. And you were back. Well, thank goodness. Which doctor's you?

Wait, let me see. Show me. Go up. Go up? This is it. Him. James, him. That's the guy.

Okay. James Calder. I'm sure you've inspired a lot of people. You said you've been getting a lot of requests. You've been referring a lot of people. I've already put a couple of people in contact with, Isabella Vu. Is that my girl?

Who's your girl? You said there was some woman who? Oh, Isabella, yeah. Isabella Voo who like walks you through, they help you out. There's somebody that helps you out and gets you out and gets you ready and tells you everything

that you have to go through. I'm telling you, man. See, but the thing is, I can't have the downtime that you have. Why? I just, maybe it's different with the FUE. But when I see it,

when I've seen women, they get to strip. And so, like, they can't show that head. Like, they have bandages. They can't show that head for a while. I mean, you do different things. You come in here, you go. Because you have to shave.

See, but not a forehead reduction. You bring it down. But you have to shave the front of your hairline. They shaved everything. Yeah. What am I going to do? Imagine if they do that. I come in with the shaved.

You go over the wig. I'm going to look like, um. You go for the wig. What's that thing? With the robot, with the hair, the thing. What's the about? Um, oh my gosh. What's the movie?

What's the movie? movie with the spikes and the guy's head starts, like, the thing starts here. Hellraiser? Hellraiser. Hellraiser. We got to go. We got to go. Hey, man, if you do something and you feel like you want to look better,

then go out there and do it, man. I won't have anything done to my body, though. I was thinking about it. Titty reduction. Okay, no. That's enough. Titty reduction. I like my tities.

You look, don't. See, that's what problem. People get addicted. People get addicted. It happens all the time. Your hair line looks great. We're happy that it was a safe surgery for you. He came back in one piece.

Take us out. Do you think gaps off, but do not stop learning. Tell us what you think about the new studio. I'm loving it. I like you, too. My name is Van Lathen Jr. I'm Rachel Lynn Lindsay. Bye, guys.