Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Taylor Swift: Greatest Maker of Albums Ever, Plus Keith Lee’s Blessings

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay react to an eventful Grammy Awards ceremony (15:15) before discussing Killer Mike’s arrest and recent vague comments about the 2024 presidential election (35:43). Plus, a Dallas food truck turns a blessing from food vlogger Keith Lee into a curse (59:40), annnd Tyrese wishes he was Latino (1:17:51). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith 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, Jr. And it's me, Rachel Lynn, Lindsay. Rachel, what's up? Oh, wow, news alert. King Charles has been diagnosed with cancer.

Oh, that sucks. Just popped up on my phone. What is up? Well, I haven't had heat in my house since Friday. It's cold in L.A. It's rainy in L.A. And I've been super emo all weekend. Because it rain?

Like, I don't know. I am one of those people who's bothered by the weather. I don't know. This weekend has just been like super. I took this workout class. It's called burn. And it's like red light therapy, but it's like a hot box too

where, you know, it's hot and you're doing cardio. you're doing hit training, ISO work, and I'm sweating like crazy. And I don't know if the sweat, sweating, it just like was releasing so much for me. The entire ride home, I was in tears. And you know how like once you start that, I mean, obviously it's just, man, divorce is tough. I just, it's tough. You're going through it. I'm going through it.

And sometimes I don't think that I'm honest with myself about my feelings. And so, you know, it just comes out in different ways. But it was one of those weekends where I was like, I think to, sorry to start to, I'm in an emo mood. So sorry to start the podcast email. But, you know, I just think to people, and I know it's encouraging when people are like, oh, you're so strong. You're one of the strongest people that I know. But I'm also, you know, when you're going through a divorce. you go through so many emotions, like all of them, every single emotion, it's a range of it.

And you're just trying your best to keep your head afloat and not fully drown in those emotions. But this weekend, I was like, you know what, I'm just going to succumb to these emotions. I can't be strong all the time. I'm just going to sit in bed, watch TV, and do nothing. I force myself to get up and go to dinner. So. And then the paparazzi were there. And they were like, single life looks good on you, Rachel.

That's funny. Yeah. I so wasn't, wait, I'm so wasn't ready for it. It was raining when we came out of the restaurant. Shout out to Alvin. I was with, who listens to the podcast. I was with my friend Alvin. You've met him.

Chicken niggers? Wait, what was that one? Oh, no, that's Justin. Oh, no, that's Justin. Yeah. That's Justin. Alvin is from Port Arthur though Oh yeah I know I know Alvin's great

Yeah yeah yeah so Alvin and I come out It's raining and I'm like oh gosh it's raining I didn't know it's supposed to rain tonight And then all of a sudden I see this flash of light and I thought lightning had hit the tent And then I go oh shit And they were like it's all single like taking pictures of Alvin and I'm like oh god I think Alvin is my man So you know what you have to do What I have to do give me the tips

So are these flash photographers mostly or are these interviews? It wasn't video. It wasn't video. Okay. Well, with flash photographers, the only thing you can actually do is look your best. Just your pictures are going to sell. There's a story behind you. So when you come out, just look good.

Because what you want is you want to control the narrative. So you want the narrative to be Rachel Lindsay, post breakup hotness through the roof. Rachel Lindsay looks amazing. I'm not ready for that yet. Because I'm telling you right now, the moment they catch you at like Walmart or Target looking disheveled and stuff,

the story is then going to be, I've seen these pictures come in. The story is then going to be Rachel Lindsay, destroyed by grief. And she goes to, you know what I mean? So the best thing that you can do, if it's flash, if it's flash,

the best thing that you can do is just look your best. I didn't. I looked cute. I was casual. You know, I was just coming at the restaurant, but I wasn't ready.

So I know there was a look of shock on my face. And then Alvin, the Port Arthur came out in him and he just isn't used to that. So he was like getting like real protective and I was like, Alvin, just let him take pictures.

Just smile, put your head down, keep it moving. He was like, no, I'm about to fight. And I was like, Alvin, Alvin, please don't. I mean, look, he can do whatever he wants. What you have to do is just, boom, that's the thing. Now, if you decide, if someone puts a camera in your face and they want like an interview,

then, well, I mean, it wasn't that. But if that happens, like if a TMZ camera gets you or somebody else, hey, Rachel, how have things going? It's just the magnanimous playoff. Hey, how are you guys doing? It's so good to see you guys. Are you guys, you guys have a nice night. No, we're not talking about any of that right now.

But I'm feeling good. I'm doing good. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you so much. Then you go into the magnanimous playoff. Because anything other than that leaves room for them to interpret what your feelings are. So even if you say silent, Rachel Lindsay, silently crushed by depression and

wake of breakup. All right. And then if you, if you're mad, Rachel Lindsay pushed to the brink of anger by very public breakup. So these are the things you do. You're so good at your job. So you guys, no, no, like, hey, it's good to see you. Watch out. Oh, watch out. Always, when you want to do something, always tell a camera guy, watch out, don't fall. When he's backfilling and he's a good tip. When he's backpiling and he's shooting you. Oh, watch out. Watch out now. don't fall. Okay, thank you. No, thank you guys very much. Thank you. Well, it's all going to, things are fine. Thank you. Going, bow, you're giving them nothing. You're giving them nothing is what you're doing. I will tell you. The TMZ isn't usually good to me.

When I run into a TMZ camera, they always say, tell Van I said hi. Every time without fail. Okay. Every single time. Like, tell them I said, I'm going to say, and I say, I will. I will. All right. want somebody to get fired because I'm sure that that's not making anything. They do. So shout out to them. I saw one of my old TMZ co-workers and said a back and forth with Kanye not too long ago.

I'm like, Jesus Christ. You see Kanye like just fucking go ballistic on Melanie? Oh, I like her. She's so nice. She's so nice. She's so nice. She's so nice. To watch him go bullet.

Now she did ask like a crazy. question that I'm sure the office gave her. But it's just funny to see it happen to somebody who was like legitimately like one of the nicest people that that that's out there on the street. That's a blonde, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was a crazy question. But she's like super duper nice, like a super nice person. But yeah. So, you know, that's the thing. Go out there, boom. And at a certain point, Rach, I'm going to let you know when it's time. At a certain point, we're going to like use them. I'm not ready for this.

Oh, no, we got to. At a certain point, I got a whole playbook already drawn up. You notice, remember I called? I told you, I got a whole playbook already done it. We could be running the playbook right now, but you're taking eye on. Yeah, I'm not ready. But, well, I got a whole playbook drawing up. I'm telling you right now, at a certain point, we're going to use them.

We're going to get action shots. Rachel Lindsay playing basketball. Rachel on the beach. Rachel, when it's time to, when we're through the, when we're through the storm, when we're through the storm, I got, I went, I went into, I fell back into it. We just did rounders on the rewatchables live. We did two shows, Philly and New York, Bill, Sean, Chris, Elizabeth, everybody out there. Thank you for making the show happen.

Well, Mallory, I'm talking about the people that was with me and made, but Mallory was on there. But, you know, the people that made the show happen, I always want to say what's up to Elizabeth because Elizabeth is like running live events at Spotify. She does such a good job. She did our live event. We've done a bunch of live events with her. She's amazing. Craig, everybody out there that helped make the show. It's fantastic. The whole social team, that's great. And in Rounders, Worm says, or Mike says that me and Worm fall back into our own routine. Like I think he says Bernard King and Earl Monroe or his notes, it's Clyde Frazier and Earl Monroe. It's from Rounders. And that's how I fell back into the whole bullshit game when all of this started happening with you.

I just started to see the way it's supposed to go. I know how it's supposed to go. I know. By the end of it, I can have you, by the end of this year, if you would have to use the Van Lathen plane, by the end of this year, by the end of this year, I can have you at 2 million Instagram followers. I can have you all over the, all over, I'm serious. I can have you all over this shit. The whole shit put you with the, the, the, you with the, the,

right gentlemen in the right places, the whole nine. If we wanted to be some Hollywood motherfuckers, we could do it. That's what I'm saying. And I believe you. And maybe when I'm ready, I will be your project and I will sign up for the playbook. But you know right now, I'm just in my feelings. Nah, I get it. We are having, though, but through my feelings and my emotions, I was able to send out

the group text for the higher learning and midnight. Boys Super Bowl watch party. Yeah, we're having it. It's going down. We're doing it. We're doing the Super Bowl watch party. I am bringing the championship belt. You know I got a belt. You know I have a belt as well. You're so fake.

You're so fake. Yeah, go get your belt. Go get your belt. See, while she's going, I'm about to talk all kinds of shit about her. Think about what happened. think about what happened. I got a belt. Ashley's got a belt.

We bond over the belts. Rather than Rachel get her belt and bond with us over the belts, she came down on me for the belt. Why does stuff like this happen? Maybe she's gotten the belt since this whole thing. Maybe she got the belt after? Yeah. Maybe she had a change of heart since.

That would make me feel good. What the hell is this? Oh. Oh, you know. I actually have two. So I guess my question is, if why not bond with us over the belts in the first place, Rach, Donnie Popple.

Didn't she miss an opportunity to be a part of what we're doing here? Why would you do that? That would have been a great breakout if I'm being honest. You kind of... Or I saved it for later. I actually have two belts. Mine is not a wrestling belt, though.

Oh, okay. Ashley's disappointed. Ashley's just disappointed. I'm telling you, let me get out of here. Yeah, Donnie's the one that ain't got no belt. But when you brought the belt out, I wasn't at home.

Oh, yeah, that's right. You were out of town. So this is a belt that I got for doing a podcast called The Burn Factory. It was a really great podcast. And then I have another one from Wiling Out because I won. Now, see, here's the thing.

Okay. here we go. This is what I'm saying. What? The belt could be a part of what we were talking about earlier. Because think about how you will fuck with their heads if you showed up at catch with that belt on. What would I look like showing up with this belt? But this is the type of, this is the opportunity.

And how do you know I was at catch? Wherever you were. You only go to like three places. I was at catch. I'm right. So wherever you were. But let's say you made a championship belt. and the belt said divorce champion or something like that.

You show up with that belt. See, this is the type of games. That is not going to get me. That's not going to get me a two-mill. I'm telling you. Take that out the playbook. Actually, we could start a whole belt line, like for women to use at their divorce parties and men to use their divorce parties.

Are divorce parties a thing? Yeah, you haven't seen those people who get divorced and then they have a party. I'm expecting one from you. Oh my gosh. I can't even wrap my head around that right now. No. Okay.

We'll see. All right. Well, you guys got a little brief look behind the curtain. We're not going to talk too much about it. So fuck yourselves if you're trying to. That shows you how much I'm in my feelings. It's all encompassing.

Oh, oh. I have to ask. So in real time, the premiere of once again for the very first time is next week. in LA? At the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles, the premiere of our movie. I didn't know that was in L.A.

That festival was in L.A. Just not hearing about this. It's disappointing. Yeah. Everybody's going to be there. What day? It's Tuesday. Tuesday premieres.

So look, everybody, there's going to be information on Instagram. If you want to come out and watch the movie with everyone and be at the premiere of the movie. the screening. It's open to everybody. You guys can come out there and watch the film. Also, Boas Jaquine, the director of this movie, I'm hoping to have him on Higher Learning Thursday.

So if that's cool with Rage and the whole team, we'll have them on High Learning. I've seen it. It's great. I've seen the movie. Yeah, so we'll talk to him about it. But it's a big week for us. We're coming up. It's premier week for us. So congratulations. That's exciting. It is exciting. Thank you to everybody at Path

at the Pan African Film Festival. Can't wait on next week. All right, let's get into the big deal of today, which is the Grammys, the Grammys. Is that the big deal? I guess. I guess. I think so. That's the big something.

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All right, Grammys. Did you watch them? No. Didn't see him. But I'm aware of what happened before everybody jumps on me. I am fully aware of what went down at the Grammys. So here's the deal.

There can be no criticism for not watching an entire award show. Thank you. You know, there can be no criticism of that, like a whole award show, that's like too much to watch. Like with the Grammys, you watch a little bit of it,

and then you come back and you get the important moments. What do you think was the most important moment last night at the Grammys from everything that you've seen? I mean, obviously, there were two moments that stand out, and that's because there was a little bit of controversy with them,

and that is Jay-Z's acceptance speech for the Global Impact Award. And then also for Taylor Swift, set breaking a record, and that record was clouded, like that headline by the fact that Jay-Z speech pretty much shited on the Recording Academy, and the fact that Taylor set a record tonight saying it should have been his wife, or she was nominated for this year, but that it should have been his wife in the past multiple times. She should have won for that. So I think those were the two biggest moments for me. And if I was going to say performances,

it's obviously Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell, two icons performing, taking the stage. One, we have seen in years take the stage. So those are the moments that stood out to me. Those are definitely the three moments. The fast car performance is one of the most touching and being true.

Enchanting. Live performances of my life. It's so weird. A couple of days before that, before this, I was watching her perform fast car. It was going around Twitter at, I think it was like a big concert for Nelson Mandela that was at Wembley Stadium. And her story behind the concert was that Stevie Wonder was supposed to be on

where Tracy Chapman was performing, but something was messed up with Stevie's equipment, and he couldn't perform. he walked off crying, he just couldn't do the performance. He ended up coming back and performing later after they figured some stuff out. But she got up there and she did Fast Car and it shot the record out of the stratosphere. She had sold maybe 250,000 copies before then. And then after that, it just went fucking crazy.

And I didn't even know she was going to be at the Grammys. Maybe that performance was going around because people knew she was coming out at the Grammys and they were circulating in the performance. But it was just a coincidence. The performance was. the performance was mesmerizing. I'm not sure why that song is so meaningful.

I remember my mother used to react when that song came. I was like 88 or 89. And the song just like transfixed people. Like the video to the song, her sitting there in black and white

and just telling this story is just, I don't know, it's odd, just how powerful the song has always been. and I watch her do it, she looked amazing, beautiful, skin glowing up there with what Luke Combs is the guy's name? Yeah, I wonder what the decision went into having her not do it by herself. But Luke Holmes is, I'm not as familiar with his music, but his performances, yeah, I mean, remember he did the national anthem with Jasmine.

Is Jasmine? Yeah. Can't remember. I don't know much about it. But I will say that it was great. It was great having them both up there and her being up there. It was just, it was fantastic. The Jay-Z speech was interesting.

I thought that was a fantastic platform for him to say what he said. The reality is that oftentimes you can take yourself out of a conversation by not being in the place that the conversation is most impactful. And there wasn't an interview. there wasn't a late night show, there wasn't a podcast, there wasn't even a song or anything else where Jay-Z's criticism of the academy

would have been as impactful as it was on the academy stage. So if you're going to do that criticism, if you're going to have that criticism and actually make it mean something to people, then that's the perfect place to do it. Question, because I didn't watch it in order. Did his speech come before?

Taylor won? I can't remember. Because if it did, regardless, the fact that Taylor won, I think, highlighted what he was saying even more.

And I'm not saying, listen, we talked about this last year when it came to album of the year. I have not listened to every single album that was nominated this year.

But the fact that she set a record, his wife is the most nominated, and she set a record for winning it four times, it highlighted what he said even more, whether it came before or after.

And I think that's what took his speech also to another level. So typically album of the year is the last award given out. So I would imagine that it came before. Donnie, check on that for us. I would imagine that Jay-Z, because remember, I didn't watch the awards in the quarter. I watched Jay-Z's performance live because people started talking about it.

Oh, Jay-Z's coming up. He's going to get the awards. I watched that live. But the other stuff I saw after. But I'm imagining that she was on after that because they normally do that last. So this is what I'll say. So, you know, Taylor Swift won album of the years.

She's got four album of the years now. All right, we'll look back here. We'll take a look at the award itself and who has won it. All right. Ashley did confirm that his speech came before. It was before. So you know the Recording Academy had to have been dying that he said that

and then knowing that Taylor Swift was going to win and set this record coming up in the show. Yeah. So she won in 2010, 2016, 2021 and 2024. She's also the most nominated woman in the category with six nominations. Frank Sinatra was the first two-time winner

and the first three-time winner Stevie Wonder won three times 74, 75 and 77 Paul Simon won twice as the main credited artist in 76 and 87 and then once with Simon and Garfunkel

and then the only group act to win twice is U2 1988 and 2006 and then Adele won twice in 2012 and 2017. Now according to the academy this means

that Taylor Swift is better Then, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gay, Prince, Fidel, Michael, Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, J.Z, Kendrick Lamar. She's better. She's the greatest ever. She's the greatest maker of albums ever Ever Four times she's had the best album ever Lauren Hill

She's better She's better than Nat King Cole Okay She's better than Phil Collins She's better than any Linux Better than using rhythmics as a group It's better She's better than Radiohead

She's better than Nirvana She's better than Pearl Jam She's better than the Roethystons She's better than the Rolling Stones. She's better than the Beatles. She's better. She's better than all of these. Taylor Swift has now been deemed by the Academy to have more albums of the year.

She's wanted more times than all of these people. She's better. That's all I'm saying. Hey, yo, Taylor, you guys out there, you say that Taylor isn't talented. You're full of shit. Taylor Swift is ungodly talented. She's ridiculous and talented. A fantastic songwriter, great singer,

knows how to make these pop tunes. But essentially, the Academy just said that Taylor Swift is the most important artist of all time. Everybody just take that for a second. And this is the kind of thing that happens, right? because like in these other situations, for example, Emma Stone is up right now

for a Best Actress Academy Award for a movie called Poor Things. The movie is fantastic. The movie is really good. The thought about maybe given Emma Stone who already won a Best Actress Academy Award from La La Land, the thought is going to be,

what does it say to give her two best actress Academy Awards before she's like 35? is Emma Stone ready to be put into the same category as Captain Hepburn as Merrill Street as all of that stuff? I mean, so you have other performances. You have Louis Glaston. You have all of these other people that they nominated. They nominated Annette Benning from Nyad of fucking goddamn abomination. but they

So you know You just think four She's won four times Four album of the years Beyonce has zero So what the What the academy has essentially said Is that Beyonce

Has never been an important enough artist To win album of the year even once And Taylor Swift has been important enough To win it four times That's what this means It means that Taylor Swift Is that more important of an artist

than Beyonce knows it. Danny. Danny. What's this wrong? Donnie. I think I was thinking Donnie and Ashley. Donnie and Ashley. Look up Taylor's speech

because she made some type of comment about the recording academy being a reflection of what the fans want. And I want to make sure that I quote that right. So please look that up. No, don't look it up.

Play it right now. I mean, play it. Oh, yeah. Obviously. But to your point, Donnie's got it ready to go. I want to say thank you to the members of the Recording Academy for voting this way. But I know that the way that the Recording Academy voted

is a direct reflection of the passion of the fans. So I want to say thank you to the fans. And there you go. That's how she feels. I'm not, look, I'm not trying to kick Taylor Swift in her ass. No, no. I'm not, but I just thought when I heard that

I thought that was a little bit of a dig. A dig at home. A dig at everybody who hates on not even hates, just calls out the fact that or doesn't believe that Taylor is deserving of the awards that she's received from the Grammys from the Recording Academy.

That was, I think Taylor is very calculated and she is purposeful and intentional on what she does. And for her to say that, it was almost to say, it's not the recording academy favoring me. They are a reflection of what the people want and the people want me. That is what she essentially said. And I was like, whoa. And I don't know if that speech came after Jay-Z or not. If it came after, that's very interesting. But she is basically saying, this isn't a subjective thing. The people want me and the recording academy is

reflecting that. It's almost as if she's really saying, too, it's not even necessarily that maybe she had the best well-written album or produced album or best songs. The people want her so she is deserving of the awards that she receives. I thought that that's a dig to me. But it's similar to kind of what you say when we talk about the Oscars and movies. Who else is nominated during those years versus compared to all the other artists that we had before? Is there an argument that music was better back then. Was it regarded in a certain way versus the people who were up against her in this category, this time, and the other three times before? It might have been a down year. It might have been an up year. Like there's so many different factors that go into that.

Yes, by number, that is what the recording academy says. But I don't know if we can say that that means that she's the best of all time. I mean, it's subjective, right, to use Jay-Z's words in his speech. It's subjective. So subjectively, are people saying that? I don't think so. So this is what I would say. If you take any one year, that's true. If you take any one year, like even this year, I heard people are said about Siza, very upset. I thought it was her time to win. I did too. But I heard Miley's album, which was good versus only heard three of the albums, but I thought it was her time to win. I thought I would like to say right now, Shout out to Punch Top, everybody over at TDE.

I thought Cizor should have won. And I'll tell you something right now. The fact that she didn't and the fact that a black woman hasn't won since Lauren Hill won. In 1999, when I was a fucking freshman in college, that says that the Recording Academy hasn't thought that a black woman's music has been important enough to win album of the year for the last 25 years. That is tough. That's a tough one.

A black woman's music hasn't been important or revolutionary, timely enough to win in 25 years. But in that time, Taylor Swift has been four times. Adels has been twice. So I'm just saying, I'm saying here. It's interesting. And this is what I'll go back. I'll say about what you said. I don't disagree.

But I'm saying, if you're talking about somebody winning in one given year, then yeah. But when you're talking about four different wins over a 14 year span, like four wins over a 14 year span,

one of which came when she was literally like probably 23 or 24 years old. So they didn't, the barrier to entry for Taylor Swift She didn't even have to do the whole career achievement thing. They're like, this is the

illest motherfucker right out the gate basically, right? I'm not saying that the album didn't deserve it. I'm saying this is them, to me, making a statement. When I say making a statement, they're talking about not just what Taylor Swift's music is, but who Taylor Swift is. They're saying that Taylor Swift right now,

by their standards is the most important recording artist ever. And I get it. I get it. I'm just saying, I just want something else. I got to say this. In a lot of ways, black people invented American popular music. They invented them.

In a lot of ways, black people invented American popular music. 11 black people have ever won album of the year. It's wild. And most of it, was pre the 90s. You know, 11, 11 black people have ever won album in. So I'm just saying, look, congratulations to her. What, like, what Jay-Z was talking about, I think it's valid.

But there are a lot of people out there that are listening to this and they are saying, why do people take over what show so seriously? Why does it matter? As much as we would like it not to matter, it always will. Mm-hmm. The award show and the accolades will always matter. They'll always matter because there are benchmarks of success. Tell what I mean.

Let's say right now I made a movie and the movie costs $15 million to make. Nice little taught indie, $15 million. Say that movie makes $7 million back at the box office. We lost money. we lost even more money than the $8 million because we lost money on P&A, we lost money on marketing, we lost money with all kinds,

we lost money, we probably lost the studio a bunch of money. But let's say that that film that lost that money wins best picture, best screenplay, and maybe one other one. Let's say it only wins best picture.

Let's say it only wins best screenplay. Let's say it only wins best actor, best actress, best supporting actress. The studio made its money back. It made its money back because the prestige from winning that Academy Award in ways does a lot more for the studio than the actual money. Inside story here. Two distant strangers. When we first started making the movie, we felt like we needed $200,000 to make it.

We took it everywhere. Hey, give us the money. Couldn't get the money. We ended up funding it ourselves. Right? Funded it in ourselves. It costs X amount of dollars to make. When the film got nominated for Academy Award, we could have sold it anywhere we want.

We sold it for millions of dollars. Oh. And the reason why we did is because they bought the Oscar. They knew we were going to win and they were buying, the Oscar because that matters. That matters in the business. It is a part of the economics and the longevity of a career how much you are lauded and awarded. Yeah.

Now, if the question becomes, when do we have award shows to match the Grammys and the Oscars, then that question has to start now. That answer has to start now because that prestige over these 100. 100-year-old entities would take a long time to build up. But to say that they don't matter, they don't matter to you who has opinions about them, but they're certainly always going to matter to the people inside of these industries whose livelihoods and whose careers are based on not just how many people like their music, but how many people think that their music and their performances are good.

So they do matter. They shouldn't is the better thing. But they do. It doesn't matter if Drake doesn't go. It doesn't matter if Hove doesn't go. It doesn't matter if your favorite artist doesn't go. The Grammys will still matter. The Oscars will still matter.

The question is the NAACP Awards should matter. The Soul Train Awards should matter. I'm saying like the AFCA Awards, all of those should matter too. But awards are always going to matter. Killer Mike won three awards and then they arrested him. He was arrested for an altercation that happened

while he was walking into the goddamn Grammys. They took Killer Mike out of the goddamn Grammys where he won three awards. He swept every category he was in. They took him out in fucking cuffs. Don't you think that for him to be taken out in fucking handcuffs on a career

defining night for him? Don't you think he needed to he'd have to fucking be the joker for them to for it to make sense for them to do that to him right? No,

am I tripping about this? This is not outrageous to you? I thought it was a publicity, sir. You did. I don't know.

Isn't there a whole like free killer mic thing? Well, why would you be the publicity? Why would you need to going into this? Prior to going into this wasn't there,

isn't there like a whole thing? like a movement with that or did I make that up? I don't know what you're talking about but they're saying he's accused of knocking down a security officer he was booked

for misdemeanor battery isn't it kind of fucking wild to go and get him and pull him out of there in handcuffs like that? I mean, when you compare to what happened at the Oscars,

absolutely. I mean, compared to what happened to Will Smith and then he was allowed to go sit right back down and enjoy the rest of the show it seems outrageous.

that just some type of miscommunication, maybe slight altercation, but not where anyone was hurt in any kind of way or felt like their life was threatened resulted in that. That's why it was so absurd to me. I thought it was a publicity stunt. I did. I don't know, and like, forgive me if it isn't. I'm just saying, I thought it was so ridiculous that that happened to him that it had to have been planned. That was just my thought. I put out a fantastic body of work this year. He won Best Rap album, Best Rap Song, I think Best Rap Performance or something like that as well. We're going to stay with Killer Mike because

he was in town for the Grammys and he went to visit with his old pal, Bill Maher, and they had a back and forth. The back and forth, a clip from it has gone viral and it's about who Killer Mike, who's very politically active and politically controversial to a lot of people, who he might be supporting in the 2024 election bill. Barr asked him about it, and this was my response. What are your feelings on the election coming up?

I mean, Biden and Trump, are you just depressed about that as most people as a choice? My feeling is pick your policy, not your person. Find out this is not the Dallas Cowboys versus your favorite team. This is the policies that will affect our generations for the next 20, 30, 40 years to come. So close your,

eyes, listen to the policies that are being pushed, and pay attention even to the people who don't have a chance of winning because they're going to say policies you may want to push, and I would say do that, but make it policy-based. So that means you're for... That means I'm four black people in happy black history. But you're not saying one candidate over the other? Hey man, my niggie, he ain't going to get me in no trouble tonight. No, no, that's your job with me to get me in trouble.

My grandfather gave me some stellar advice sometimes. He says, son, sometimes you just got to know to stay out of white folks business. This time, I'm going to keep my mouth closed. I still like the policy that the old man had that I was supporting. I would encourage people to find who's supporting that policy and see what happens. But you can't get yourself to say vote for Biden over Trump? You want me to list it now. I'm just saying that.

Can he get itself to apologize for the crime bill? Can he get himself to get his head out of his ass and say, black people, you are black regardless. I need you to tell me what I need to do. Can he pick a coalition of former people who are affected by drug law, street gangs, recidivism and crime and say, I need you as a board to advise me how to fix federal prisons? If he can do that, absolutely I can.

So my challenge is out. All right. Rachel. Um, okay. When you listen to what he said, like everything he said, I totally agree with him. Listen to the policies and not the person. He's absolutely right. I also love that he said, even listen to the policies of the people that you know aren't going to win. Because he's right. Like, just because they're not popular doesn't mean that they're not, what they're not saying is legit. Doesn't mean that you may not agree with him. Expand your horizons. Listen to what everyone has to say and then fully make you. your decision. He is absolutely right. He said in that statement, I mean, in his response, he says, you know, I agree with the old man's policies. He says it. He's talking about Bernie Sanders. See, I didn't gather. I know, I know he supported Bernie in the last election. I did not gather that from what he said. He's he's 100% talking about Bernie Sanders right there.

Do you understand how that, even though I know that he voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary. Yeah. That is not clear in what he says. First off, they're all old. Right. Second, the conversation is about Trump and Biden. Bernie doesn't even enter that. So that's extremely confusing.

So I assumed in that moment that he was talking about Joe Biden. No, he's certainly talking about it. Why does Bernie even matter? Because he's, that doesn't matter in that instance. Bernie's not running. He's letting people know that he still supports the policies of Bernie Sanders. Donnie, Ashley, did y'all get that?

No, I didn't. I feel like you have to know a little bit more about Killer Mike's political background to gather that. If you're going just based off from Bill Maher's question and his answer, I would assume if you were talking about Joe Biden. And I know he supports Bernie. I know that. But Bernie is a non-factor in this. He said, I still support the old man and the old man's policies. the old he's he's he's not talking about Joe Biden because he's never supported Joe Biden he's he he's

he's talking about Bernie Sanders I promise you that is not clear but makes more sense but that is not clear uh it makes more sense to why he wouldn't answer it because my thought was okay he said I support the old man's policies talking about the incumbent talking about the people who are actually going running in this election I thought then why couldn't you specifically say Biden. That was my thought. All right, now I have to look at it in a different way. He was talking about Bernie Sanders. If you're talking about policies and not the person, what policies, if the two people are Trump and Biden, which we know they will ultimately be, what policies has Trump done that have particularly helped the black community? And you might say that Biden hasn't done that,

But has Biden done, has Biden put policies out there as a president that have particularly hurt the black community? Whereas Trump, even if you say he hasn't put them out, which he has, but if you say he hasn't, look at what he's talking about building in his next four years. They will particularly, the things that he is promoting and the people that are under him, that support him and promote him, are specifically putting things in their jurisdiction, that specifically, specifically hurt black people. So I don't say, I don't understand why in that moment, you would take the opportunity to point out a 30 year old issue that happened, that yes, Biden was a part of that, but so was Bernie. And I don't, and so I don't understand why you would take the moment to

specifically point that out, but not also either equally point out both things that you have a problem with or particularly point out if you're for black people, the things that Trump has done that hurt his part, that hurt black people and the things that he plans on doing will continue to hurt black people. This is why people have issues with Killer Mike. This is why they do. So let's look at it from a couple of different ways. Number one, we know that Killer Mike has a conservative streak and he goes his own way. We know that he has a conservative street. We know he goes his own way. Very famously, he went to visit with Governor Brian Kemp and said that he found him to be a decent and principled man. This is on the hills of Governor Kemp being accused

by Stacey Abrams and other people down there in Atlanta of significantly, excuse me, in Georgia, of significantly disenfranchising black voters, purging hundreds of thousands of black voters off the voter rolls. Now he was working with Mike on some training school initiatives. Trade school initiatives that work for a lot of people in the communities

that might come from and probably work for black people in other states as well. I guess a question would be, is there any single initiative that Governor Kip could put through that would be worth making him the king of Georgia?

Because essentially, if he is purging voter rolls and disenfranchising black people, then you'll never be able to win an election there, and then he will be able to be governor as long as he likes, or whatever the term limits are. So is there any one thing that he could do

that's worth the power trade-off for you not being able to vote, which is an essential function of an American citizen, of a powerful American citizen, which is the right to vote? I say no. I haven't heard Mike discussing in a very robust way. particularly because he's not really asked about it, but I know that he has a set of beliefs and values

that he thinks benefit his community and he acts upon those beliefs and those values. I don't live in Georgia. I guess my critique of that or that as a strategy or even the tenor in which it would done would come from like a more of a philosophical place and not an actual place. So you couldn't ask me what the people

in various neighborhoods of Atlanta need and how important it is for them to be able to get it. I would assume that those needs are the same needs that people in other areas of America who are black and non-black need as well.

Now, on this particular thing, there's two failures here, but one failure resonates with me more than the other. The questions that you're asking right now are questions that Bill should have asked because he was concerned in that situation with getting Killer Mike to choose between Biden and Trump.

Right. And he was pressing that. If it's about policy, then let's discuss the policy. Killer Mike talked about a lot of policy or a couple of different policies he'd like to see President Biden adapt. The question is, has President Trump adapted those, like, excuse me, adopt? The question is, has President Trump,

adopt with those policies, right? So is there something you need to see from Biden that you saw from President Trump, or is there something that President Trump has promised to do that President Biden has said that he is unwilling to do? If we're talking strictly about policy, I agree that that's where the conversation should lie. The conversation should lie about which one of these guys is going to deliver for you. But that conversation wasn't had on real time. I think that's kind of the frustration with people. Mike goes his own way. He's the son of a police officer. He's he's for cop city. He's talked about not having a problem with cop city.

So a lot of people are upset about that as far as it deals with the carceral state, the police state, things of that nature, right? He's done stuff with the NRA. People criticize him for that. There's a lot of things that he is a little bit more conservative on that people could have legitimate policy disagreements with him. He's always up for the conversation. People should have it with them.

I think we should have these conversations in good faith more so than we have them going at each other. But what I will say is that if you want to start a policy debate, then you have to have a policy debate. You have to have it. You have to talk about policy. And you have to talk about policy based upon the two guys that are running. Like I'm looking at Donald Trump's policy agenda. And as far as what we know right here, this is Donald Trump's policy agenda, dismantling the deep state, which I assume means reorganizing or firing a bunch of federal bureaucrats and going deep at the heart of who he feels like is holding up American progress. The border, obviously, stop the invasion of our southern border. He says he wants to direct

U.S. immigration and customs enforcement to undertake the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. He would target people who are legally living in the United States but harbor jihadist sympathies. Think about that. And revoke student visas of those who espouse anti-American and anti-Semitic views. So I want you to think about that. Jihadist sympathies, that is a broad, broad term that is up to so much interpretation that your Muslim homie from across town who has criticisms of the American government could be deported if Donald Trump gets what he wants, right?

So it's another thing. Once to reimpose his travel ban that targeted Muslim majority countries to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the country is one thing. Trade, he wants to institute the tariff system of perhaps 10% on both foreign goods. Pilities would increase if trade partners manipulate their currencies or engage in other unfair trading practices. Now, this is almost directly aimed at China. He also said he wants to pass a trade reciprocal act, the Trump reciprocal trade act, should I say? And that focuses on China. That brought me to the website of the Tax Foundation, a right and center-right think tank, which reviews presidential policy.

Trump's imposed tariffs from before have negatively affected jobs in America. You can look this up, TaxFoundation.org, and in the next 10 years, will affect not only the wages of Americans, but the long-run GDP of the country as well. It is not a sound economic move by Donald Trump, according to this organization. There's a lot of stuff out there. The long run GDP for the retaliatory tariffs as well, down 0.4%. The long run rage, down 0.2%. And it's going to cost us 30,000 jobs. And if you read the Tech Foundation's findings on this,

the Biden administration has kept most of the, the Trump administration tariffs in place, right? It's kept most of them in place, which I found to be very interesting. So if you're looking for policy, it's all there, foreign policy. So it's going to end the endless flow of treasure to Ukraine. He is going to end the Ukraine war. Then you have transgender rights. He wants Congress to pass a bill establishing that there are only two genders that is

incredibly divisive. He wants to crack down on gender affirming. He will declare the hospitals and health care providers that offer transitional hormones or therapies no longer meet federal health care and safety standards. So if you are a hospital that endeavors into gender affirming care for anyone who's trans in America, Trump will defund you. He will defund that hospital. All right. Energy, the whole drill baby drill thing. He will exit the parents' climate accord, the Paris Climate Accord.

so the environment will be less off. He's going to terminate the Department of Education. He's going to vow to fight for patriotic education. He says that under his administration, schools will teach students to love their country, not to hate their country like they're taught right now. He will promote the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers,

and the things that make men and women different and unique. He will support school districts that allow trained teachers to carry concealed weapons. Right? He will also provide federal funding so that schools can hire veterans, retire police officers, and other trained gun owners, other trained gun owners as armed school guards. So other trained gun owners is really interesting.

That means people that are essentially from whatever community that they're in will walk around with guns on student campuses. I want all of you are on the high school campuses and middle school campuses, school campuses. I want you guys to imagine how long it'll be before some young black man or woman is murdered by a gun carry member of their community. Yep. I want you guys to just think about it. Like how long is it going to be before Jed or Billy Bob, who is now, because he knows how to work his pistol, a student resource officer on a campus, sees two people get in the fighting and he kills one. So it's like, you know what I mean? It's, it's, it's, if you look at these

policies, these policies to me, and I can go on, these policies to me are not only like ludicrous. I don't know how much of these are actually going to get done, but even on accident, the ones that are not directly aimed at depowering margin. marginalized groups, even on accident they will. On accident they will. So if we're going to have a conversation about policy, then we have to have a robust conversation about policy, and we can't have it theoretically.

And that's the issue. No, he didn't have, as Bill pointed out in that entire interview, he only had 10 minutes. So he didn't have the time to go through every single one of Trump's policies. But what he did have the time for is to call out the one thing about Biden that is equally the same thing that the person that you voted for supported as well. And it just seemed odd and a little bit irresponsible, in my opinion. And the thing with Trump, too, is you just called out every policy that's written on paper. This is Trump. He's unpredictable.

That's just what he's putting out there. We know that he goes rogue and people who are in his administration and who support him go rogue with him. go rogue with him. They support him blindly. So that's just like, who knows what else is capable under a Trump presidency. What we do know is that he wants to lead without any type of restraint. I guess the only other question is this. And this is the question that we always ask when we talk about these things. Prominent black people are more hesitant than they were in 2020 to stump on behalf of Joe Biden.

Not the killer Mike ever did, but we've seen this from other prominent black people. They're more hesitant to say that Joe Biden should be the president of the United States of America. I don't know that there are very many people who feel like that, that you should be the president. Even if you want him to be the president, I'm not sure that there are a lot of people out there to go, Joe Biden should be, should implies that he is the absolute best guy for the job. And there's nobody better out there. I don't think a lot of people think that. And that's the difference between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's supporters desperately want him to be president. I could desperately want him to be president. All the things that we talked about earlier, they agree with those things. They have a very clear vision of America that is, that comes from the fact that their coalition is founded upon very similar. simple things. No niggas, no gays. Everybody else deserves to be marginalized and powerless, basically except for the wasps who built this country and it's better in their hands. You know, the same anti-C-E-I, anti-CRT people, that Brian Kemp is one of them. Certainly one of them. He's a very likable culture warrior, Brian Kemp is, as it was put in the headline.

So they desperately want their guy. And on the left, people don't desperately want Joe Biden. The people that I talk to don't desperately want him. Correct. I think they more desperately want Donald Trump to not be president than they want Joe Biden to be president. So the question that becomes, how do you talk about this? And I think everybody has to ask themselves this question. How do you talk about this upcoming election in a way that deals with that reality

but also deals with the reality that everything that you're complaining about right now would be markedly worse during a Donald Trump presidency, particularly presidency, where he'd be a lame duck, where there'd almost be absolutely zero accountability for him. He'd have the house with him, and the power that he was salivating for would, would nearly be unchecked. And that is why I have a problem. with Killer Mike in this interview.

Everything that he implied is that he is voting for Trump. And specifically what you just said, he may not be, but that's why it's irresponsible the way he handled that interview. You just said, people aren't eager or think that necessarily Biden should win the presidency. They are just anti-Trump. So if you're pushing out, vote for the policy versus the person. which I believe in

but then you couple that with I'm not going to say who I'm voting for because I don't want you you don't have people after me out here you are implying and then you couple that with triple that with I have an issue with Biden

because he did this 30 years ago everything that you said tells me you're voting for Trump and if you're not then I need you to say something otherwise he was extremely in my opinion, irresponsible in that interview. Now,

he doesn't owe us and have to tell us who he is voting for, but the way he handled that interview gave more to Trump than it did for anybody else. And that's why I have such a huge problem with that interview. Without saying it,

he said Trump. Not one issue did he have with Trump in that interview. That nigga like Trump then. Fuck it. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window?

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Who? Keith Lee. Yeah, I just go ahead, leave the conversation. More, more. I don't dislike Keith Lee. It's just this whole issue that we're about to delve into is a non-issue to me. But let's get, let's go. You set it up, I'll talk about it.

Okay, so this happened in Rachel's home, Dallas, Texas. Even more so, the people came from Milwaukee, a place I spent three years of my life in. And then came to my hometown. I'm familiar with both. So this is what happened. Keith Lee is doing a food tour. He's in Dallas, Texas.

I got it. Let's try it. I already went through 10. He's asked to pull up to a food truck called sweetly seasoned. Food truck in Dallas, Texas. Now, there was a young lady who was a TikToker who was a, working for free on the sweetly seasoned truck. And she has a reach on TikTok.

Donnie, try to find her name for me because she's very, very prominent in this story. And she was working on the truck. Her brother had come who's going to cut hair on the side of the food truck. There was her brother who was cutting hair and somebody else who was braiding here. Her brother cut the hair

of two of the sweetly season ladies kids cut their hair is the brother of the girl who's working in the truck Keith Lee visited the truck he got it he tried it and he rated it one through ten he liked it for the most part

yeah you got some eights some sevens he doesn't like sweets as much old Keithy Keith but for the most part He doesn't. He doesn't. So after that, he goes back up

to the food truck to leave a tip. And if he likes your stuff, he normally leaves fat tips. Donnie, play the audio of Keith Lee leaving the tip at the sweetly season truck.

Before he left, we went in and had a conversation with the mom, and we thanked everybody for having us. Me and the mama prayed together, and we left a $4,000 tip behind. God is amazing. I see y'all giving out haircuts.

So we want to leave $1,000 to the barber. So we get cut in a $1,000. So we want to leave $2,000. So until you start my barber's $4,000, you all get me, you hired me y'all pay. Absolutely. So in case you couldn't hear what Keith did, he left a $4,000 tip. Mm-hmm.

$1,000 was supposed to go to the guy who was cut hair so he could cut hair for free. Another $1,000 was supposed to go, I think, to the brader or to the girl who was working the side of the truck. You can remember? Right. And then the other $2,000 was supposed to go to Kim Verrett, who is the owner of the sweetly seasoned food truck. All right. Now, according to various sources, Kim Verrett said, fuck all that.

Yeah. And she decided to keep the entire $4,000. Now, Donnie, do we have the TikTok where the girl runs the story down? Yes, I do. Play a little bit of it. All right. A lot of y'all know yesterday I got to meet Keith Lee. Great.

Congratulations. I'm still humbled by the experience. Like, I am aesthetic. Blessings to your family. I really appreciate you. But now this is where the downfall comes in. A lot of y'all was. on my life when he said this.

I see y'all giving out haircuts to say, my little brother, yeah. So he wants to leave $1,000 to the barber so he can cut everybody. Oh, that's my little brother. He wants to pick up my baby brother for school. We want to leave you $1,000 to do it to cut here.

We want to leave you $2,000. And granted, everything was cool, right? Me being me and thinking everybody else is going to have the same genuine heart as me, I charged him $4,000 on his car, meaning all the money went to the food truck in hopes that she would do what she needed to do. Right wrong. So after everything had died down, mind you, on top of him tipping $4,000, this man left an extra $886 to feed everybody else that was coming, right? Right. But this is what she went wrong. I'm in the truck. Mind you, I'm a worker. This is your business. So I'm doing what you say? She tell me after this person, which is a third person, that you got to start charging again. Now it's one thing when he say, I'm leaving this for free and for somebody to come and order like one of everything on the menu and try to get both. This person. and drinks and shit, like, yeah, you can put a limit on that.

But if this man left you almost $1,000, why the fuck did you stop handing free food out after the third person? Not only that, but SS Ace, who is the girl, claims that after that the next day, she talked to the lady because they put it on a cart. she talked to the woman and the woman told her that she doesn't think that she should give her brother a thousand dollars that she is going to keep the money

and give the money to her son and then her son can give her and her brother who was cutting hair what he thinks they should get because they weren't out there with them. Let's hear a little bit from Kim Verrett, her side of the story. He wasn't very, he thought that they were my king. They're not my kids. Those were my son's friends.

But this ain't even about money, y'all. This is about the principal. So, how dare you come and make it seem like this was something that it wasn't? You were supposed to be out there to support Sweetly Seizing. So then we're going down the Red Rose path here, guys. I snorted. It became a big deal. It was all over the internet.

Sweetly seasoned ended up being a den of theft and a place bereft of the moral fiber that's upheld by food trucks. The whole community, not just Dallas, but of black people on the internet,

was like, how dare you sweetly seasoned? How dare you? take the kindness shown by the food angel, Food Angel, Keith Lee, and use it to be selfish. So much so that Keith Lee himself had to involve his brand of family and God

in this nigger mess. So Keith Lee said this. regardless of what was going on behind the scenes, I felt into my heart to do what we did. So to disregard my heart and distribute the money how she felt necessary was 100% wrong in my opinion.

And the woman came back and she said she will now give out all of the money that Keith Lee wanted them to give out. But so far, they haven't responded. They don't fucking want her money. Now,

not only is she accused of keeping all of the tip. She's accused of telling people to charge for the food after Keith Lee, Food Angel, said that it should be free. She's since disabled the company's Instagram account. They ran her off social media.

And the question is, will the sweetly seasoned business ever recover from this debacle? Rachel, the floor is. Let me pretend to try to care. Why does drama follow Keith Lee? Every city, Atlanta, San Francisco, now Dallas, that's just what we know of. There always seems to be some drama.

And I don't question Keith Lee's motive, his intent. I really truly feel like, since he's been on my radar, that he is actually trying to help these businesses that are struggling. I wholeheartedly believe that. The problem is some of them were struggling before they met you, right? But they might not have been good entrepreneurs. They just maybe weren't handling things correctly. And so when you drop something on them like this, they continue the pattern that they were doing prior to you even being involved in their life. case and point here with Kim Veverett

Kim Kim What's going to call him? Case and point here with Kim of Seasons Sweetly Sweetly seasoned, whatever it is. I do think I'll start with this that Keith Lee thought that the Brader and the barber

were attached to Kim. I think he thought that they were relatives. I think he thought that this was all one big package that they put together to lure him in, to come and taste their food, right? Because at this point, he's becoming so popular, people got to step up their game to get his attention.

I think he thought that this was all one thing. And Kim allowed it when she said yes to this Barbara and Brader. She didn't make it clear that like, hey, this is a Dallas community thing. Everybody just wanted to show up for you. On the other end, I will say, Keith Lee is about the food business. There could be an argument made

that the money should have just stayed for the food. and it should have been for her wait I'm just saying I'm not saying I agree with this but there can be an argument made that hey just you're there for the food

and the food business give her the money and allow her to distribute it to her business there can be an argument that is made for that however I don't agree with that because he specifically

out loud said this money is for this and this money is for that and that's exactly how that money should have been distributed but I do think the lines were a bit blurred because it's like you're there for the food, just give the money for the

food. I can see that argument. But Kim is wrong here. And Kim took the low-hanging fruit, the quick money, and shot herself in the foot. Her business it's a wrap. I mean, if I go to Dallas, sorry, if I go to Dallas,

she'll be fine. But she wasn't fine before. Right? She wasn't fine before. And to me, the beauty of Keith Lee is that he shines a spotlight on these people who aren't getting it,

who have a fantastic product and are just passionate about what they do and are so deserving of your business. Kim said I'm about Kim. Kim did not reflect that. And that's the problem with this. If I'm going to Dallas, I'm not trying to find this food truck

because I know Kim's heart. And Kim's heart is about Kim and her son. Her son promoted it. Her son is not the barber. Her son is not the braider. And this was just, Kim had an opportunity to make so much more money and to look

beyond what was right in front of her and the benefit of what this could be for her business, but instead took that $4,000 and held on tight to it. And now she wants to distribute the money after the fact and it's too late. A couple of things.

One, I said this on Instagram, and people thought that I was making Keith Lee Jesus or something. I'm not. What I'm saying is that I do believe that God works, the universe works in very direct and mysterious ways.

Let me tell you what I mean. Okay, Dottie, give him the Keith Lee close up as he's saying this. Get right into the nose and the mustache like Keithley does. Go ahead. This is what I think, for real, is that Keith Lee is actually a symbol

and I guess how do I put this? Please take your time. Please take your time. Take your time. We're in church. Take your time, brother. We in church.

This is what Keith Lee is. Keith Lee is a question for these businesses. He's a question. And that question is, are you prepared for the blessings that you are asking for? Are you prepared for them? You want all the business,

you want accolades, you want people to frequent your establishment. Are you prepared for that? A lot of people ask God, the universe, whatever they believe in, for blessings and abundance. And then when that blessing and abundance comes, they're not prepared for it.

A lot of people aren't prepared for success. A lot of people aren't prepared for money. They're not prepared for stability. They're not prepared yet. They haven't done enough for themselves and on themselves to be prepared. So Keith Lee comes to your place. Your service is subpar. That means when 100,000 people come to your place,

it's actually going to make your restaurant look worse because you haven't figure it out how to adequately and properly take care of the people that would come to your restaurant. Keithley comes to your spot leaves you a bunch of money. You think having a bunch of money is good. But you're not to the point of stability that that money can be divvied out fairly. You're in a survival matrix, which causes you to be greedy. Unfortunately, with a lot of the black businesses that we're talking about, they don't really know how to deal with the success that's weighing around the corner for them. That's why as a community, we have to have conversations about what we expect from these businesses and how we support these businesses. We have to be

both honest with them and then we also have to be patient with them, right? But for this lady, that was a lot of money, maybe more money than she had seen in one transaction ever before. So it's understandable to me that she panicked a little bit. It's understandable that she went, oh my God, I don't know when this is coming again. I got to keep as much of it as I can. That tells me, though, that she's not quite ready for her blessing yet. She's not ready for it. She's not quite ready for the blessing.

If that's the way you react to it, you're not ready for it. the blessing should come. And if the blessing doesn't come when you're ready for it and you can't recognize it, it'll become exactly what this has become to her, which is an albatross. And so I think for a lot of people that are asking, we want Keith Lee to come to our restaurant. We want Keith Lee to taste our food. We want Keith Lee to bless us. Do you?

Are you ready for that? because if you're not ready for it, it's going to be worse for you than it is better. If you're not ready for it, then you're not going to know how to utilize it. I don't know if you're ready for it. And Kim might be ready the next time,

but she wasn't ready this time. But that don't make her a bad person. No, it doesn't. That don't make her a bad person. That don't make her a shitty person. It makes her somebody that's not quite ready for her blessing. Donnie? Donnie, play Chance the rapper blessings.

No. Let me tell you something, man. You were preaching in that moment. And I know that was applied to Kim and the sweetly seasoned food truck, but that could be applied to everybody in their life. The things you ask for, you need to be ready for them if you want to receive them. Are you ready for your blessings? Thanks.

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Restrictions apply. services not available in all areas. We got to talk about Tyrese. Isn't this your friend? You're not fucking Tyrese, man. You know, you know, you know people. I know Tyrese. Wait, wait.

When you say you know people, are you saying that in knowing him, you aren't surprised by the state? Not at all. Wow. Please. The floor is yours. The reason why is because, you know, sometimes Tyrese has been known to say things perhaps without maybe not quite thinking it through.

He thinks from his heart. Oh, he's from the heart? Yeah, I guess. I don't know though. It's what Tyrese said. On Instagram, he shared a video of. a Mexican man being surprised with a new truck from his family. And then the caption of the video,

he said this. Sometimes I wish I was born Latino. Yes, right. I mean, the Latin community is grounded in family, loyal entrepreneurs, businessmen, and women literally represent the dream,

the grind, the hustle, do whatever it takes to stick together and it's all the odds. If us is black culture was more grounded in these integral magical nuances of us we would be dominant. I've learned a lot from the Jewish community sticking together, eating dinner every Friday together. I learned a lot about the Muslim community throughout all my travels in the Middle East. They have a father structure where they honor their fathers and their Middle East.

The thinking is the mentality that they would much rather have a son over a daughter because they know that there's nothing like the leadership of a father and a man being the head of the household. I have no idea how we lost our way. I can't get anything done and accomplished. It's a fragment culture, insecure, threatened by each other, competitive towards our own race, killing ourselves every day. Fervilously, the majority of us is black men and the millions.

The majority of U.S. is black men. Okay, wait a minute. Here, Tyrese. Killing ourselves every single day, frivolously. The majority of us is black men and the millions are locked up in prison. that's how it's written. Of course, we are beyond powerful,

influential, and successful. But imagine if we all linked up, like other communities have linked, poured and built up upon each other instead of moving like fragmented, dysfunctional, then it goes off the... We have what it takes to take over the world.

We are nothing trying to do it alone. Please chime in. We'd love to know your thoughts. And then, I guess, he posted yesterday. Calete La Bocca. Coyete. Coyete.

Coyete. Coyete. It means shut up. Like, shut the mouth. Hmm. Shut your mouth. Black and brown pride. I said what I wanted to say.

And then he posted a picture of him wearing a sombrero with a wig on and a mustache. Why are we doing this? I don't know. It's funny to me. It's funny to me. Is he okay? We should start there.

We should just start with because what? As this is your friend, what happened? I know him. Like what happened to make him want to put this post out there? Because it's not that he just posted this and kept it moving. He had a long thought-out rant or a feeling, an emotion, a journal entry. There was something there that triggered him to feel like he needed to uplift every other fucking community except the black community. What happened?

And I hate this. I hate this so much. I just have to say this. I just don't understand how you can talk about unity and how the black culture could take over the world if we all unified and came together. Yet you have an entire post that contradicts that because all you're doing is tearing us apart and uplifting another community. You are literally putting us down to lift somebody else up. Communities, I should say, because it wasn't just the last. Latino community alone. He talked about Middle Eastern. He talked about Jewish culture and all to put

down black culture. There is a way to talk about maybe issues that you have or concerns you have within our community without having to put us down and then opening that up for other people to have their own negative opinions and stereotypes about us. You othered us. You othered us in it in the worst way possible. So I don't find it funny that you post after the fact and say, Kayete, and then post that picture of yourself, which some people could also find offensive. I don't, I don't, help me, help me understand your friend. So look, nothing that you said is wrong. There's nothing to understand. I mean, my thing is this. Yo, Tyrese want to live LaVita Loka.

Just do it. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it's like, there's no world where that can be considered constructive. That's just not constructive. It's not, right? Especially for mass consumption as a discussion topic.

First of all, if we are going to talk about fractures and inconsistencies and disregard, inner personally and inside of families, inside of the black community, it's such a layered, nuanced, and deep conversation. It is. It has to do with the attacks on black families and the specificity of those attacks, right? Has any other group in America been attacked in the direct way economically,

physically as the black family has? Has any group been attacked like the black family? church. Has any group been specifically disenfranchised like black people? The questions aren't about comparing ourselves to other groups that haven't had to shoulder the same burden that we have. That's not going to get anywhere. The question is about how we overcome the very specific set of circumstances that we've been saddled with. And the only way to do that is solidarity. The only way to do that is to place culture, community, friendship, and family first. The question is, how do you do that?

But if you came here, this is no disrespect, as an immigrant group, and you maintained your family ties and the structure of your family, that's happened over the course of X amount of years, contributed to American, did all that stuff, You're a little bit of a different situation than a group of people whose families have been pulled apart by the seams ever since they got here, even after they got free, and as they tried to ascend. So I think that the question is not necessarily about whether or not what Tyrese said and whether or not it's offensive or not. the question is whether or not he's qualified to have the conversation. And when I say qualified, I don't mean from an intellectual achievement standpoint. I mean,

have you done the work to understand the question that you're bringing up? It's one thing for me to, like, talk about what I think about stars. It's another thing for me to make assertions about the universe when I don't know the life of a star a fucking quasar fucking black holes

singularity or none of that if you know all that then get people started talking about it but if you're going to have the conversation have it in full

if not just say hey I want to live Lovita Loka I'm fucking with you Beyonce said this before Beyonce said she felt like At one point, she was born Latino. I think it's just another example of us always looking outside of ourselves for the answers to what it is that we need to do. That's not a conversation that the conversation isn't about who we need to emulate.

The conversation is what we need to be for one another. And there's no like example for that. As a matter of fact, if you're going to look at an example, you could look at us. from our past before they came around, fucked us up. The dollar in the Greenwood community circulated for 18 months inside the community before it left.

And they destroyed it on purpose. So I always say that Tyrese or anybody else is we want to have these conversations. We have to have them in a robust and intellectually honest way. And this caption is anti-black. The whole thing is anti-black. You got to do better than that.

You got to do better. As a person who married into the Latino, Latino community. No, I'm just We got to go. Got it. Rachel. Rachel, listen, I'm telling you right now,

everybody that's listening to this right now, think about whether or not you want Rachel to adapt the playbook. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready.

I'm ready. The playbook. You think you know what's good for me? Oh, I know how to do this. This is the only thing. This is what I know how to do. By the summer, this is the summer of the playbook. Okay.

I'm telling you. Going, we got, we out of here. If it's successful, we can market this shit. Mm-hmm. If it's successful, we'll see. I'm telling you. I know the playbook. All right, we got to.

Well. Take thing caps off, but do not stop learning. It's Captain Lemon Squeezzy Van Lathin Jr. The champion, number one voice. and wrestling. Yeah, it's Rachel and Lindsay. I put my belt down because I got tired of holding it. I don't know how you do that.

I have weak shoulders. Not made for wrestling. All right, bye guys.