Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Tekashi 6ix9ine and Privacy in the Age of Social Media

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s appearance before lawmakers as his company faces a potential ban in the U.S. (14:45), before reacting to the video of Tekashi 6ix9ine getting attacked in a gym locker room (37:53). Then, Sheryl Lee Ralph says she was sexually assaulted by a TV judge (51:23), and Burna Boy reignites diasporic discussions (1:05:40). Hosts: Van Lathan Jr. 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. Is I, Van Lake and Jr., my shoes stink. Okay. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. But Van, why? You're all the way up here.

Your feet are down there. What made you? Could you smell your, could you smell your shoes from there? I be honest with you. I think that I just part of my wish of my shoe from, being on my foot down and around. I'm not going to lie. I don't know what's going on.

Okay, well, now I feel like it's a fetish because you keep smelling it and it's weird. But these got wet. Like during the rain. Oh, of course they smell. But these got wet during the rain. Stop. Super drenched.

That's bad. Hold on. Let me let these air. Wait. Wait. Why did they get wet? Were you walking in the rain? Yes.

So what I did was I, what do you mean? I got to walk the dog. So I'm not like you with a million. The dogs don't go outside and ride. Well, I had to walk the dog and the shoes got locked. I'm telling you, drenched, wet? Stop. Okay, he smelled the shoe like five times at this point.

I think he's starting to like it. It's not like it. It's just that I think they like. I have really expensive insoles in these shoes. I paid $300 for the insoles. Okay. Have you and Brian had this conversation yet? Because he's big about the insoles too.

He takes them out and puts them in every shoe. Every shoe, the insult follows the shoe. Yeah, and I make fun of him because I'm like, what is this? I don't understand why this is so necessary. But now he has found his twin flame when it comes to the insults. So here's the thing about you that when you talk about this. You had about to start this podcast talking about your thing about you. When you talk about support, right?

So niggas was born in 1980, 1981. Brian was born in the 80, 80. He was an 80. He was in 80. He's 80. He was born in 1980. Nigin the insoles.

Okay. All you, like, see, you motherfuckers that were born, you know, all of this after Jordan came into the league, like all of that stuff. Like, y'all don't need, you haven't hit the in-soul age yet. But how about, how about this? How about you let me and Brian take care of our backs, take care of our knees, and get the insoles. You know what I mean?

I got my gym clothes on right now. I'm going to the gym right after this, even though my knee hurts, even though my knee hurts. And it's like, why would you give that man? I went to the insol place. Shout out to the people over at Runner's World or whatever the fuck it's called in Brentwood. They're runners first. What's the name of the place? It's like some kind of place in Brentwood.

Don't know. that I went and I got the insoles made. And it was, I don't know if I brought this up. It was another time that somebody remarked on my weight. And I was there as getting the insoles made. Guy walked by and said, oh, I know you was like, oh, okay, cool. Yeah. You're probably trying to come back down because you didn't.

Yeah, man, you didn't. Nick, give me my motherfucking insoles so I can get the fuck out of the store. But yeah, so I got the insoles. Brian got the insoles. And we are. I believe people talk. see, I guess it's just people don't know what to say. Like they're excited that they see you and then they feel like they got to say something

and then they just, it just comes out like word vomit. I just can't believe people just talk so freely like that in front of you. I get a lot of, I get a lot of, wow, you look so much better in person. Damn. No, I cannot tell you. I just went to a luncheon and somebody said that. I get you.

fat bitch and you get, you're so much more radiant when I see you. No, it's almost as if, wow, you look terrible on TV. Well, I'm shocked at how you look in person. It's a compliment, but it's not a compliment.

You know what I'm saying? Van, get them out the room because I can't have to make face the whole podcast. It's not great. Look, Rachel, I get it. It is, it is, by the way, it is fucked up when people say that.

it's very upsetting when they say that especially to to Rachel you get very upset Rachel how was your event last night it was so much fun

by Trachel yes Tracy Thomas shout out to the Stacks podcast did her event this is the third one it's called One for the Books it's out in Pasadena

I had so much fun on stage I knew I was going to have a good time with Tracy but also Chelsea Devon says join us on stage. She's a writer. She's a comedian. She has her own podcast about celebrity memoirs

that she's doing from the beginning to now. And it was just great conversation. We played games. The audience was really interactive. Tracy's, I always forget she's a theater kid, but you see it. She's such a star.

She's so great on stage. And so she's got the next one coming out in May. You guys should check that out. if you're in the LA area and then I think another one in July and I can't remember when the last one it is. But I was like, I was gonna go back in May. I had too much fun there.

You know, it was fun. It was really good. Last night, we went to the premiere, not the premiere screen of our friend Boaz's movie. Boaz Jaquine. He was a great filmmaker. He had his movie come out. It was very moving.

What's it called? It's called. Once again for the first time. It's a really good. movie. Emotional, raw. It's like one giant allegory. It uses poetry, dance,

all of these things to tell the story. Boaz has done a lot of great stuff. He directed Remember the Titans. Fresh, one of my favorite movies. So shout out to Boaz. He was a writer on The Heart of the Fall. Went to his movie last night. Then I came back home and I made Pita Pockets.

I'm not familiar with a Pita Pocket. You're not familiar with a Pita Pocket. Well, you take ground turkey. You put it in the middle of the pita. Yeah. A little bit of cheese heated up. And you eat yourself a pita pocket. I love it.

I get so excited about a pita pocket. There are certain little foods that get to me. You know, a pita pocket is one of them. So I came home. I ate a pita pocket. Okay. It was like a family night. I watch Madden videos on YouTube.

But the gay? Yeah, the Vio game, John Madden football. What do you mean you watch videos? Like you watch other people play Madden? Yeah. So there's a guy named Tid Barrett. And he's a Madden YouTuber. He plays against people.

Sometimes he plays against pros. Like he'll play against Tyree Kill or somebody like that. And the video will be like, I'll play against Tyree Kill. And he was amazing. And then you click on the video and you watch it. The videos are very entertaining. And he starts the videos off like, Bam Bam!

It's been a bitini-Berry. Today, boom, so excited. We're going to play Tyreek Hill and Madden. I need you guys to kill the light button. And before we get into it, I have a question. If you guys had one meal to eat for the rest of your life, would you choose? Burgers or pizza?

Answer that question in the comments section. I'm so excited about playing this game today. Tarik Hill, obviously you guys know from the Tennessee Chiefs. Now he plays for the Miami Dolphins. he has a sick gun bunch stack offense. He's one of the best players in the NFL. So look, kill the light button. We get into the game right now.

And that's how he starts the videos when he's playing somebody, you know? And you watch and it's fun to watch other people play the game. I don't know why. I don't know why it's fun to watch other people play Matt. I don't either. It is. You're not alone. I know it's a thing.

And there's another time where he plays this guy named Eastring. Shout out to Eastring from down to Mississippi. I tell you right now, you think you wouldn't like this. If I put on a, Rachel, if I put on a video of T.D. Barring playing East Ring in Madden 23, there is no way you would not be entertained. I promise, I bet you, I bet you. It's funny. Like, Eastring is from Mississippi and he's funny. and like

fucking Bear will be coming with a blitz and he'll say something like you know how much I care about your blitz and he goes how much you care about my blitz he goes I care about your bliss

as much as a fish care about a raincoat and T.D. Barrett's Canadian so he doesn't understand and he goes he's like country references yeah he doesn't

he doesn't understand he's like a fish and a raincoat what does that mean like a fish cares about a raincoat and it's just funny

it's funny It's funny. You know what? I love it. I said try me. I said I would. So you come over to the house. Watch.

And we'll watch TV Bear videos. What are you doing this weekend? I can't say. The fuck man. What am I doing? You know? Because it's a surprise and I don't want to say

just in case the person's listening. They're not. They're not listening. I'm not, I'm not, I'm doing something fun. So, I had an interesting. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I had an interesting experience yesterday.

A thought warrior wrote me a very long message about my takes and my talk regarding black women. And the message was so, detailed that I gave this lady my phone number. Here you go. Is she a black woman? She's a black woman.

We talked. We talked and there was a very amazing conversation. I can't say that there was lockstep agreement about everything because there was never going to be. But what I will say is that it was enlightening

to hear her perspective and hear some of the issues that she has with me. Is it one particular thing that you said on the podcast or is it a culmination? I'm pretty much a piece of shit. You know, there's a couple of other things. It's a couple of different things. So, so, you know, but it was really good conversation in a real way. Like, seriously. And so, you know, I appreciate it.

I don't, you know, I didn't tell her I was going to shout her out. So I don't want to, uh, uh, docs her or give her information out. Uh, so, you know, but I, it's interesting combo. Yeah. Interesting combo and something, and food for thought. Food for thought. You always want to be the best version of yourself.

Food for thought. Who for thought? Um, well, good. Yeah. I, I think, I think, I think, I might invite her on the podcast to have the conversation about how, before we do the summit of the sexes, about how Van talks about black women's subjects on the podcast. The three of us could talk about it together, you know? And I think that would be interesting for the audience, don't you think? Threat. What's wrong, Rachel?

What, like, you're sitting there, like, you're in the catbird seat. Like, you're like the, not the catbird seat. You're like the canary. Like the, what is it? Well, how do you say it? I'm trying to be like East string. You're like the cat that ate the canary right now. You got something to say right?

No, I don't. Well, I think I'm shocked you gave your phone number, but I'm glad at the end of the day you had a, you had a very enlightening conversation. It makes me excited about the summit. Summit of the Sexist. You know, I don't even know if I want to moderate. I just want to sit amongst the women.

Sit amongst the women. I can't wait. I can't wait for the Summit of the Sexes. When should we do it? Donnie, jump on, by the way. Donnie, by the way, if you have anything to say or anything to add, please do it in a respectful manner on this podcast as it relates to last time. Donnie, wouldn't you think we should do the summit of the sexist?

Like, when do you think we should do it? That's a good question. I feel like we definitely need some lead up time to like officially plan it out and get it right where it needs to be. But this could be a late spring thing, like pre-summer. When is the summer starting? You may? May? It would have to be May. Late May? Late May is hard

because Spotify is doing this Sweden trip. That's like the last week of May. So it would have to be like I think I am going to Sweden. Stockholm. Are you going to Sweden, actually? I'm not alone. Other people are going. Yeah, I'm going in August though. Oh, I see. Yeah.

I'm not going on shit. When when I wasn't invited. Yeah, well, number one, we're not invited. Oh. And that's why we're not going. Oh.

Niggas is not going out to that that shit. I wouldn't go anyway. Let's do June. Let's do June. Let's do June. Let's do June for the summit of the sexes. Let's do June. Let's tentatively say June will wrap Chelsea into this and like officially plan it. But for now, let's say June.

Yeah, because we got to get out here and meet these thought warriors. Since I've been doing the book, when I was in New York, had whole audience with thought warriors. Last night, thought warriors. And people are excited to come up and say that they're a thought warrior and talk about the podcast. We got to get out here to these cities. We got to have another live audience. So let's do it.

June. All right. We're going to take a break on the other side of this day, which is TikTok's fight against the U.S. government. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away.

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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 herms. Okay. Are you familiar with TikTok? Rachel?

right now I'm trying to familiarize myself with what you just put in the group chat so I'm distracted I'm distracted yeah we'll get to that after Ronnie put that in the rundown but what was you the question do you use TikTok rich?

I am on TikTok I am well guess what you're a fucking spy how is that how is that fit? I'm not a spy I might be being spied on but I didn't know all of you guys who are TikToking it up you're working for the Chinese. That's what people are saying now.

I hate to tell you this, but you're all over TikTok. Why? I post our videos. Oh, my God. And they do so well. Yeah, that's not. They do so well. It's not like I can tag you, but higher learning doesn't have a TikTok presence.

So I post some of our videos. Okay, so listen. So listen, like, seriously, there's a conversation about TikTok and the conversation is, is TikTok in and of itself doing two different things? And this is the conversation that's I understand it. Number one is the TikTok algorithm encouraging American youth to continuously dip into some of the more vapid, incipate, unproductive areas of youth culture. That's number one. There are people that argue that the algorithm here in the. America rewards a specific type of content, whereas the algorithm in other places, specifically China and TikTok's Chinese counterpart in China, rewards ingenuity and all of those things.

So there's a conversation about the actual algorithm in TikTok and whether or not there's some sort of conspiracy to corrupt the youth of America. Number two, there's just data concerns about a company rooted in China that is able to access the data of this many Americans and what the Chinese might do with that and about some of the regulations in China that deem it necessary to share information with the Chinese government.

First of all, before we get into this, how familiar are you with this discourse, right? Familiar enough? I mean, was I watching the hearings today? No, but I'm familiar. or not. I mean, I just got the run now. So this has come up in a couple of different really public scenarios. One was a video that was posted or made by a creator that referenced the ongoing human rights debacle involving the Uyghurs, a group of Chinese Muslims in China and their genocide and their treatment at the hands of the Chinese government.

and the claim that if you post something like that on TikTok, that the video is either deleted or the algorithm shoots it so far down that people will not talk about it. And then in this way, the Chinese government is censoring different types of speech and discourse about things that they might be involved with. Also, the Chinese government, which some view as one, one of the most significant forces. I'll play it like this.

One of the most oppressive forces when it comes to human rights. Look, I'm not sitting here on a high horse state side in any way commenting on what another government or another country does. What I'm saying is that we all know that there are ongoing human rights violations

that are happening in China and that the Chinese have no incentive or it seems like planned to address these these these these these violations or these situations in a way that in any way satisfies the international community's

concerns all right so that's something that you know with the risk of of having a conversation that drips into that spills over into xenophobia or anything like that that's kind of what we're we're talking about. And some people would say that TikTok's far reach allows the Chinese to legitimize themselves by having a company that's so big sort of being intertwined with different brands and those brands be on TikTok and the Chinese and the Chinese be a part of it. And

there's this whole ball of what some people over here feel like is impropriety. And and danger surrounding how big TikTok has become from a cultural situation from a straight-up data and spying privacy situation and also

from a situation where people feel like it might legitimize the way the Chinese are treating their population. So there's all those things wrapped up in one. It's a very layered thing but the the sort of it's the

still down to whether or not TikTok is safe. Safe for myriad reasons. And we had hearings on this. Yeah. More so about the privacy of it, right? And I think that seems to be

everything obviously that you said is right and you're right. It's layered. But I think the privacy issue is what it is what the hearings were on. And it seems to be what is politically. motivating. I mean, we know that Trump's administration tried to get a TikTok ban when he was still in office in 2020 before he was out. And now we're seeing the Biden administration really tap into a lot of the rhetoric, the talk that's been around about TikTok and really trying to get down to the bottom of is TikTok something that we can have in this country? And we touched on this a bit a while back on our podcasts about the journalist from BuzzFeed. right, who was starting to write about the fact that they're using TikTok to get our information.

And then her information was hacked into, I believe they got her, they got tapped into her IP address. They found out where she lived. And so it became a thing. And even the government, the Chinese government, acknowledged it. But they tried to write that off as, oh, those were just some bad actors. Those people have been let go. that was just a one-off thing. But now our government is saying, well, how is that the case?

If it's just a one-off, because it does mean that you do have this access. So is it bad actors or is it the fact that you have this algorithm or this technology that has the capability to do this? And so we know that TikTok's answer to this was, oh, we're going to create Project Texas, which Oracle, which is in Austin, Texas, they are transferring. I saw it's written two ways. I saw it written that all American users' information

would be kept there in the state. But then I also saw new users. I saw the word new users. So I'm like, well, what about the people who've been on TikTok? Is it just new users or not? I don't know which way. But for the sake of this conversation, we'll just say American users.

It'll all be in Texas. in the states and they will erase all the historical data that they used to have. Do you trust that? Well, does that sound trustworthy to you? Let's hear from the CEO of El Tiki de Toc. And let's judge together whether or not we trust what he says. All right. He testified before the fucking zoo up there in Washington today.

And he talked about this. Donnie, give us the sound. Now, there's still some work to do. We have legacy U.S. data sitting in our service in Virginia and in Singapore. We're deleting those and we expect that to be complete this year. When that is done, all protected U.S. data will be under the protection of U.S. law and under the control of the U.S.-led security team. This eliminates the concern that some of you have shared with me

that TikTok user data can be subject to Chinese law. This goes further, by the way, than what any other company in our industry have done. We will also provide unprecedented transparency and security for the source code for the TikTok app and recommendation engine. Third-party validators like Oracle and others will review and validate our source code and algorithms. This will help ensure the intent. of the code that powers what Americans see on our app. Okay.

So it seems there that he's promising two things. Number one, he's promising to address concerns about the algorithm and what it suggests. At the same time, he's promising to centralize their data in Texas, excuse me, in America, like you said, as part of Project Texas, which I guess it's Oracle and Liz in Texas. Therefore, making sure that that. That data is subject to American law and not to Chinese law. Because what people say is that, hey, if you have data sitting in a spot in Singapore or in Beijing or somewhere else, the Chinese government, by law, can say, hey, we need that data at any time. About any number of people and what it is that they're doing.

And that, of course, provides a great deal, a great deal. a great deal of anxiousness for a lot of people in government because they wonder just how much will the Chinese know or can they know about American activity, particularly the activity of youth, if they have so much access to TikTok service. All right, back to your question. Do I trust that he's being on the level and forth, right? And that that's going to happen. The answer is, I don't think it matters.

Okay. And why is that? Because I don't think that people are making this decision based upon whether or not about, I don't think that people are basing this decision in my experience based upon what the actual problems would be. I think people are making this decision based upon the appearance of problems. I think if it doesn't look like TikTok is selling data or sharing data with the Chinese,

I think most of this will be quailed. And I don't think that any of the TikTok users even care. Before we came on here, I asked some of the kids around here. I'm at Spotify right now. Of course they don't care. They don't give the shit. And their thing was my data is so many different places. You know what I?

My data is so. is around so many different spots that I'm not really concerned about what the Chinese are going to do with it. I think if all this is done and they make this type of effort, I think there will be some people that

that are satisfied by that. I think there won't be some people that are satisfied with it. As far as I'm concerned, this is indicative of a much, much larger issue, which is mounting tension, tension, growing distrust and an increasing sort of animus

between America and China that seems to be headed towards some sort of catastrophe. I mean, I 100% agree with that. I mean, you already have Biden trying to force the sell of TikTok away from China, which they're totally opposing that. You have the Chinese government basically saying that if they were forced to sell, that that would undermine the confidence of investors from other countries,

including themselves in China, to want to invest in the United States. So they're threatening to pull out, you know, investments or whatever it may be that benefit the United States. The United States forces, tries to force the sell of the app, which they really can't do because of, you know, the Chinese government has such broad power over private companies that I think Bight Dance, which is the original owner, creator of TikTok, would have to have permission, it seems, from within the Chinese laws to be able to even make that sell. necessarily wouldn't happen. I agree with everything you're saying. I do think that the bigger issue is this continued tension between China and the United States. But I will say that, of course, I'm not shocked that the users of TikTok aren't concerned about their privacy, but I don't think that it's not an issue. I mean, the fact that we can point to one specific example that we know of, of an American citizen's privacy being violated,

particularly by this app. I do think that it raises some concern, and I do think that's why you're seeing this bipartisan effort right now in Congress in regards to questioning TikTok. Maybe the underlying thing is that it is politically motivated, and it has to do with this tension between China and the United States, but I also do think that it's validated if you're, know, if I had a child and they're using TikTok and certain data as being compromised,

I'm worried about them. I'm worried about me. I'm worried about how this could affect us in general. So I don't think that you can just say it's not as big of an issue. Have we, is it time for us to redefine privacy? In light of how much our privacy, our stuff is just out there? Is that what you said? say has privacy already been redefined to a degree that it almost has a new definition?

It's not about whether or not we should redefine privacy. People know more about each other than ever before. Companies, brands, networks know more about us than ever before. But is that because we're allowing them to know? We're saying, yes, I accept these cookies. Yes. Yes. you can sell my personal information. Yes, I'm going to create a login. But we're giving that to you. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is that where does the line? There seems to be, if you ask people, most people would say, well, the line of privacy is very simple. It's what I want somebody to know and what I don't want somebody to know. right, that's privacy. That seems very, but as a contemporary idea, that almost doesn't make sense anymore. You know,

it almost doesn't make sense. There's, the data that they're collecting on us is they almost tell us what we want them to know now. Okay. Like you put, my credit cards on the internet.

Like my credit cards are on the internet. Right. I'm trusting somebody. You know what I mean? I think the TikTok situation is interesting in light of America's representation it's in light of America's relationship with China because you finally have at the core of it

something that is to American lawmakers and to some of the people at the top of the corporate food chain something inherently pernicious and distrustful. Meanwhile, we're not told to distrust Google. We're not told to distrust Facebook. We're not told to distrust Instagram. Like all of these people, all of these brands are sort of in league to try to sell us things. And probably all kinds of other situations.

But because China is something that is so big and so bad, and I'm not in any way defending China. And what they do and what they have done. and they are certainly in competition with America for world dominance. It's like there's a line that's being drawn here, almost like a pelt being put on the wall or a head, a trophy being put on the wall so that Americans can care about something that they stopped caring about a very long time ago. I don't know.

I know I've listened to you and I'm like, I don't, okay, my credit card is out there too. There's certain things that I've said yes to. I know being copper, been running that bitch up. I mean, I've been, I mean, I've been hacked. Yeah. Two times. Yeah.

So my information is out there. I'm sure there's other information out there. But there just seems to be a difference of I'm knowingly putting that out there versus, I guess I'm just like struggling with this redefining privacy. Just because I am allowing more of my information out there doesn't mean that I want to redefine or change what privacy means or that privacy has changed meaning just because it's more your privacy or your personal life is more accessible out there. I think you're right.

I think what I'm talking about is what's practical. and you're right maybe it's not practical to think that way maybe I am being you're not you're not you have every right

to define privacy for yourself and every right to be as private as what you want to be you're not at all you're not but what I'm just saying is that am I okay to be naive that I'm more private than I really am like because I really don't know

what's all out there I watched this one video and the video was about whether or not Google is listening to us, right? Whether or not all of these things, you know how we'll talk about something and then all of a sudden it pops up. Yeah.

They're not actually listening to you insofar as they are listening to your microphone and your phone. But they are compiling. Such precise information on where you are, what you might be spending money on, how you're spending money,

how you spent it the week before, who you might have been just texting or whatever as it relates to all of that stuff. And then they make a suggestion based on that. And the suggestion is always so fucking accurate that they might as well actually have access to your microphone. That's how good it is. And we've been living like that for a while.

And it's interesting that the tipping point for that is a company based in a country that we don't trust. Well, apparently their algorithm is even better than that. That's what, and that's part of the thing that they want to keep private. That algorithm for TikTok is better than everything that you just described. And I mean, maybe part of the issue is we want it. We don't have that and we want it. I mean, we're,

chat GPT. We're having somebody come on here to talk about chat GBT. I'm doing a GPT. Put a bad rude, nigga. I'm talking about rage. Sometimes we mix up our bees and our T. Bs and our T's. So I'm

I'm doing this history channel thing and, you know, they're asking questions and something like that. Somebody needs to know something and they just put it to chat GPT. The chat GPT doesn't give you like an answer like Google. It gives you a whole paragraph, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, on what is going on. The guy tells me, if you put your writing with the chat, GPT, you can ask it to write something

for you, and it'll write it just like you write it. I'm like, wow. Like, I mean, you, I don't want to come off like an idiot. And Open AI has made sure that you can't ask the chat how to make plutonium or how to construct a nuclear bomb or how to make a grenade. But fuck. You know what I mean? Yeah.

We'll go deeper into this. We'll see. We'll see. Like, we'll see, we'll see what happens with TikTok. If, here's the thing. If they banned everybody who's afraid of them banning TikTok, y'all will find something else to dance on. That was dancing on Vine.

I'll dance on TikTok. It'll be something else for you out of dance on. Yeah. Some people make a lot of money off of TikTok and their whole income. is about to stop. And you got lawmakers who are making these decisions who are not impacted

by the loss of TikTok at all. It does nothing for them. It ain't old as fuck. Okay. Takasha 69 got beat up. This is a song. Takashi 69 got beat up at LA Fitness

in Florida. Donnie played the audio. Don't you know. Picked ass. Mickey my head, brown-ass, Nick. Do something.

Go ahead. Take a picture. Take a picture. I want to be famous now, nigger. I want to be famous now, nigga. Did you hear it? Did I hear what?

Fuck, nigger. Clown-ass, nigger. He kind of sounded. They're from Florida. It's kind of the same thing. Y'all thought I was, okay, whatever, whatever.

I have a question for you, Rachel. Okay. What was your emotion when you heard that Takashi 6-9 got beat up in Florida? I felt nothing. And I don't say this in a way, like I'm dismissing what happened to him. I'm not wishing harm on anyone. I'm just not well-versed in the Takashi 6-9 of it all other than he snitched. Like, I'm really, I'm not familiar with his music.

I know who he is. I know what he looks like. I don't have this long history of everything that he did to become the malice. one of the most hated people, it really seems to be. So was I shocked when I heard this happen? No, because of the few things I know about him, I know he is extremely hated. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner

because he really seemed to be out here and so public with so many people who are displeased with him, hate him. So when it happened, I was kind of like, I mean, again, I don't wish anything bad. I don't even like, I hope he's okay, but I also was like, not surprised.

So apparently, uh, they caught him in a sauna. It was in a sauna. They caught this dude trying to get a soak, trying to get his, trying to get his pores open in the sauna. His name is Daniel Hernandez.

He was taken to the hospital, but the injuries were not life threat. But they fucked his face up pretty good. Down in Miami. There are a couple of different angles of what happened. You can see, it seems, someone walk into the LA Fitness because they knew that Takashi since I was in there. I've been tipped off by somebody from inside of the facility.

They go in there, they catch him, and then they beat him up. Interesting to me for a lot of reasons. Number one, it's been a while since a shit talker has been touched. a lot of people in the culture that talk a lot of shit and they haven't really been touched Is that that level though? What do you mean?

Takashi 6-9 level? Hell yeah. Think about it. You got Charleston White. You got a couple of different people that haven't and they've talked a lot of shit and they haven't been touched.

Sorry, I was only thinking rap for it. It's actually funny. I was talking to academics about this, who was somebody who also talks a lot of shit. I know. I was talking the academics about this the morning of, I think it was Wednesday morning about the fact that you know, nobody's getting touched. They're not touching

anyone. And then that same day, Takashi 6'9 got beat up. It's something interesting here. And it's from a cultural standpoint. I'll just talk about black people for a second. Let's talk about the people

that I know. Four a second. There is both this and Takashi 69 is not black. He's Mexican guy. There is both this this want to have violence

as a mode of conflict resolution to have that removed from the discourse and from our culture. And there's still also sometimes the want and almost the need

to see somebody get smacked in their motherfucking face. There's this connection to and this satisfaction of watching consequences being meted out in that way that's still deeply satisfying

to hotems. And it has to do number one with the way America deals with us because if you're black and you do something wrong, America punches the shower you dead in your face. In a bunch of different ways. It actually punches the shit out of you, right?

Be it the police or someone else. They actually punch the shit out of you. They punch the shit out of you by throwing you in jail. They punches you about, you just get punched, right? So sometimes when somebody runs a foul, especially breaking a cultural edict that we have, we want to see them get punched in the same way. We want to see consequences meet it out in the same way.

And like it or not, you know, Takashi 6-9's disrespectful way of navigating hip-hop and his decision to snitch on the rest of his gang members for some people that broke a cultural code. That's not a cultural code that I necessarily abide by. I'm never doing any crime. I'm not going to be in a situation where I have to tell on anybody. But the reality is it doesn't really matter to me.

All that stuff is kind of silly to me. anyway. But, you know, it's, it's weird because I saw a lot of people that have nothing to do with the streets that were happy that this motherfucker got his. That, that, that were happy. And I saw a lot of other people who, uh, were really appalled that they put their hands on him. For me, I looked at it like, I can't lie and say there wasn't a part of me that went, huh. Oh, that's what you get. You know what I mean? It's like I don't wish anything bad necessarily on him or anybody else. But there is some sort of, it's deeper. There's some kind of thing that says you don't want somebody to be around while and going crazy, doing all kinds of things and kicking up that much sort of negativity and dust without

something happening to them. But the same time, it was interesting to see the celebration over him getting beat up. there was like a very large portion of Twitter that celebrated the fact that he got his ass kicked. Do you think that will make him stop? He's kind of been quiet. No. Or he's not been paying attention. Okay.

I mean, he's been a little quiet. Yeah. Of course he's been quiet. He can't really get any money over here like he used to. Nobody. I mean, I think what we learned was that you're not going to be able to be a rapper in the way that he was a rapper before. if you are a government informant that everybody knows.

Now, we also know that there are many government informants in rap that there are rumors about that we know, but kind of don't really talk about for whatever reason. The government informants in, I mean, they're government informants in rap. Everybody thinks their government informants, they're government informants that are running rap labels.

And then, so, you know, it's all kinds of different things. but we kind of just don't talk about it but for whatever reason with Takashi 6-9 it was so public and everybody saw it and they talked about it so they want to see this happen to them it's an interesting moment

because I think there are people out there that are now wondering if this is the age where the universe is going to start touching people you know they're people well yeah which is why I asked you do you think he'll stop talking

me because as you pointed out, which I'm not aware of, people haven't been touched. So now, is this the message to, you know, other people out there who do speak and move around in the same way that Takashi 69 does? Are they on edge? Are they scared? Do they think, oh, now it's like open season where other people might feel the freedom to do it if it's going to shut this person up because I don't like the way that they keep talking or the way they keep moving around here? Do you think that's going to happen? Do you think that's what the universe is given? I don't think he's going to stop talking because he's boxed himself into

a space to where he can't stop talking when you go as far as what he's gone you know, this is everybody that's there he finds what you like and then he says fuck it and says suck my dick to whatever. You can't turn back because there's nothing to pivot to. What I will say is this. I'll give everybody

a counter sort of argument on this, people that are in favor of more violence. Anyone who's in favor of more violence. I can't say that I haven't been involved in violence. You know, I've lost it and I've done stuff. Okay? It happens. I want anybody to, that's like, okay,

we want to see everybody get fucked over. I understand wanting to see somebody, especially when somebody says, hey, I'll beat the shit out of you. It's just in me to want to see, okay, we'll do it. You know what I'm saying? It's just like, that's been my answer to that my entire life.

It's like, yo, I'll smack the shit out of you. Okay, we'll do it. Smack. But like what I don't want is that, I mean, yeah, let's think that nigga, I'll smack. All right, do it. Go ahead. Let's see what smack me.

Let's see what's up. Like, you know what I'm saying? And what you don't want is kind of what happens on the internet now sometimes, which is people all day. long that make threats and they don't ever do shit. It's like there's this, there's an accountability. You just, you want somebody to be about what they say that they're about so that they can move on or they can either learn their lesson or prove that who they are who they say they are.

So if you're a big bad wolf, you want to see somebody bite because the barking starts to get annoying and you start to think, God damn, you wouldn't say this in this person's face, whatever. But so I get that. I understand there's a nigger part of me that wants to see niggas fight when they say they're going to fight. All right.

But let's look at this situation like this. Florida is a state where you can have a gun, right? Takasha 69 did not have a gun on him. The reason why he probably did not have a gun on him because he was inside the LA Fitness. What people don't understand about places like Georgia and Florida and these open carry states and Texas is the place that you're going inside of,

they still have a right to tell you not to bring your gun inside. So just because it's an open carry place As a private business or an establishment You can tell people don't bring your gun in here Right and there are plenty of places If you've been around Atlanta Or if you've been places in Florida

That some of them even have a little gun With like a fucking ghostbuster sign through it Don't bring your gun in here All right cool Let's say that he brings his gun Because he's scared of ops or whatever Inside the The LA Fitness anyway

Niggas beat him up he goes for the blicky, he starts letting, he starts letting shots go. Because that's what's going to happen. What's going to happen is if he's in a situation where he feels like he's about to get packed out, he's not going to run a straight fade,

he's going to pick up the gun up, and he's going to start shooting the gun. He's inside of an L.A. fitness. He shoots somebody in the locker room, not the people that he's getting at. Or the bullet goes through the wall. Those places aren't made for, the bullet goes through the wall,

hit somebody that's on a treadmill. Just know for everyone that wants to see more violence for whatever reason that any time you do that, there is a chance that things go wrong in a way that you can't come back from. A friend of mine, a great podcaster named Tachstone is in jail right now and he's on trial. Tax Stone and another rapper who testified against him while you're talking about snitches named Troy Ave, we're going back and forth for the whole time that the tax season podcast was happening. You guys all know what happened, 2015. There is an altercation in Irving Plaza between these two guys.

They run into each other. They had talked about what was going to happen. I'm not getting into who did what to whom and what happened. Free Tax Stone. I believe that he is coming home and I'm hoping and praying that he comes home. What I do know is somebody died that night and somebody else was shot.

So all of this be about what you say you're going to be about and do what you say you're going to do, there's a cost. Yeah. And sometimes it works and take it from me. Nigna, sometimes you lose somebody.

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Order now at order. sweetgreen.com. Shirley Ralph. Yeah, you sent this in the chat. I just sent this. It's just not saying it. Shirley Ralph 66, royalty.

Worldty. Yes. She was on the Wayup podcast with Angela Yeat. And she revealed something, Rachel. Donnie, give me the audio. Yeah. I could tell you of another time.

This was a famous TV judge. Not Judge Mathis. I love him. He's a great man. Not him at all. Good, because I love Judge Mathis, too. I don't know him personally. I would hate to have a chance of Judge Mathis.

No, no, no. he's a great man. This was another one. I'm at a very public place. I have on, you see me, I was suited. I had my suit on. I was handling my business for the television show I was on at that time. He and I were on the same network.

This man walked in, grabbed me by the back of my neck, turned me around and rammed his nasty tongue down my throat. Are you serious? And everybody at the network saw it. And the mayor of New Orleans at the time was, why am I blanking on his name? Mark Morial. Mark Moriel. I called Mark Moriel.

Mark Moriel, he said, you want me to send the police there right now? Because we will fix his, you know what, right now. Somebody at the network tapped me on the shoulder. They said, please don't. Do you know that they did not want any bad press around their show? Yeah. And did not care what it just happened to me. It wasn't so bad after a, was it?

Rachel, your thoughts. Shirley Will. Listen, it shows, I don't think she says when this happened. It doesn't matter when it happened. It just shows that, oh, between sometimes between 94 and 2002. First off, when you introduced Shirley Roth, you talked about how amazing she is. She's a legend.

She's iconic in everything that she does. And the fact that this TV judge could walk in, and the way that she describes it says, I'm sorry, I'll go ahead and assume this. This isn't the first time that he's done something like this. Because he was confident enough that he could come in, do this in front of a group of people, and he would be completely untouched.

I mean, it's just, it's upsetting to hear Sherley Ralph talk about that because it just shows at a time when not just women weren't valued but black women aren't valued and not just by the network in everybody who was in that room by, did she say it was a black judge?

I'm not assuming it was a black judge. She didn't specify this. I don't think she specified. She said, that it wasn't Judge Mathis. She said she said who it wasn't but she didn't say

who it was. I'm not to assume it was a black TV judge because I can't think of any white TV judges that were that were big at the time. I mean,

you got, you got Ed Koch from the people's court. You got Wapner who might have been on. I don't know. Yeah, I'm not as familiar

with these names. I mean, it could be a black. The fact it was, it was, the fact he disrespected her as if she was,

treated her as if she was nothing in front of room full of people disrespectful, embarrassing because he could and he knew he would get away with it and he did. And I just think that you know,

I would hope that if that's that situation wouldn't happen again, I would think that we've moved past it but I think we still have a long way to go and it's just such a shame that Sherley Ralph couldn't speak out on it before. It's my understanding this is the first time that she said this that she felt

like she couldn't because she felt probably felt like she couldn't be protected because she probably felt like the thing is she was the one who was violated but she would have been the one to suffer at the end of the day. He would have gone on and had his career and been completely untouched and she would have been the one who was blacklisted

which is basically what that tap on the shoulder was for her. And it's sad to me to hear that she went through that and that she just now feels comfortable enough or that she can discuss it. And even now, she still won't even say who it is. And I think she has the right to. I don't think it's like inappropriate for her to say it happened to her. She has every right to speak on it the way that she wants to.

But there's still this level of, but I'm not going to say everything. It's almost like there's still a fear to tell it all because of what could happen to her. And this is a woman who's, you know, we've always known her greatness. But right now she's having a moment where she's even crossing over to the other side. Why not name him? I think there's fear. I think that, you know, it could be, and this is again, me assuming, I think she could say, you know, I want to be respectful. He could be married.

He could have children. He could be this. And I've held it this long. At this point, there's no need to name him. Maybe that's what she's thinking. But personally, I think there is still a fear of what will happen to me. How will the public react to me? How will people judge me?

How will a network react to me? could be the very network she still works for. We don't even know if I say that person's name. Because, you know, me, why forget just calling him out? Why are you not also calling out the networks, which I guess if she calls the man's name out, then she will, in essence, be calling out the network too. So maybe there's that fear as well. But I think that's exactly why she's not doing that.

Because still in 2023, somehow they will blame a woman. somehow it'll be Cheryl Lee's fault, for holding on to it this song and just now saying it will find a way to make her a fault for this. And I think that she knows that. And so she can tell her story, but she's still only allowed to tell part of it.

So I receive and understand that I have absolutely zero zero understanding of what it's like to be in that position. Things have happened to me in life and I've been discriminated against, but it's really nothing like what a black lady goes through, right? I still get mad when they don't get named.

I'm probably looking at this from like a male perspective, but when will there be a time when, especially you think now when it's just, okay to like tell your story because in in this situation it probably makes her feel better to feel

to tell the story and then like to discuss what's happened to her and I imagine that that's probably something that she's held for a while but like there's like a like a predator like somebody that at the very least

at the very least needs to understand how shitty they made somebody feel in that moment. Is there a conversation that would be had about sort of when it's going to be okay when something like this has happened to somebody? Did you just say, this happened and that person did it? I thought that we had actually already passed that threshold. Oh, no. Women, I'll take

it out of the black sector and use just a man and a woman, Brad Pitt and Angela Jolie. Angela Jolie has said certain things happen. Angela Jolie is hilarious and that's probably somebody that works at a bank somewhere. Angelina Jolie is Angelina Jolie.

Angela! Angela! Angela! Angela! I'm thinking of whose podcast that Cheryl Lee Ralph is on. But Angelina Jolie, she has said certain things

have happened, had happened in her marriage with Brad Pitt. The public, gets mad at her. The public refuses to believe her. I'm not saying everybody, but most of the talk around it is against Angelina

and in favor of breath. And that's current. That was happening in 2022. That type of conversation. We aren't past it. They will always find a way to blame the women. The women tricked them.

The woman was dressed in a provocative way. The woman asked for it. Why did the woman wait this long? Did it really happen? Or is the woman just asking for attention? There's always some sort of excuse. And it's so unfair because Cheryl Lee Ralph is coming out for the first time

and holding on to a speaker that she felt like she couldn't share it. And she still can't share it for fear of how the public will react to it. That's why she's not naming it. What's the answer? And the name him is to name the network as well. What's the answer? I mean, self-preservation. And that's what she's doing.

She's telling her truth in a way that she hasn't before, which still is a huge step. But she's got to protect herself at the end of the day. And that is not naming him and naming a network that she knows at the end of the day, it'll all come back on her. So that's the name. That's the answer. Protect yourself.

I'll tell you something right now. I personally think that this person will reveal themselves. No. Let me tell you, the X TV judge that's the maddest about this, and I got my sight to all one person, the X TV judge that's the maddest about this is the person that did it. I think everybody will be quiet. But I do love that she was like,

before y'all even come there, it's not Judge Mathis. Yeah, because it's Because if you're Judge Mathis And that happens, you're like, God, damn. Thank you. Because you didn't know people kind of jump in there and see what it is. Judge Mathis, I love Judge Matthews. Just Madge is the great guy.

I feel like there's a personality. And you're right. Donnie, it wasn't specified whether or not it was a black or white judge, right? So I'm looking at the list of judges that are here. It's a real good story if it was Judge Judy. I'm looking at the judges who are here. Wapner was gone by this point. Ed Koch was on the people's court.

Let me see. Ed Koch was on the people's court. But then there's like reasons that Ed Koch probably wouldn't do that. Let's see here. Ed Koch was on the people's court. by damn Ed, rest in peace, dog. You had a really fucking incredible career. His Wikipedia is long as hell.

So 1997 to 1999, Judge Wapner did a show called Judge Wapner's Animal Court. You know, there's maybe a couple of reasons why, you know, if you know a lot about the life of Ed Koch where maybe he's not a great guy. candidate for that. But anyway,

it's interesting. I feel like there's somebody I have in my sites, but I I think we all do. Yeah. Which is what? Especially with coming out and saying, and just so you know it's not

Judge Mathis, I think that was also intentional. Yeah. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 US-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum Business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. This episode is brought to you.

by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. I have that news to report, and it's directly related to something I just said before. The gentleman I was talking about Taxstone, real name Darryl Campbell, has been convicted of manslaughter for the shooting at Irvin Plaza in 2015. Backstone is now probably going to await sentencing.

He's convicted of manslaughter in the first degree. It's class B felony, one count of that. Assault in the first degree. That's a class B felony, two counts of that. Assault in the second degree. That's a class D felony, one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a class C felony, two counts. I don't know how much all of that is going to add up to.

But I do know that that's a situation to where two general, had disagreement beef, whatever you want to call it, and they felt like there was no other way, but to get busy once they saw each other. Now, I have a clear understanding of what happened that night. I don't think in any way that tax was doing anything other than defending himself. But, you know, remember, whenever there's violence of any kind, and I'm not talking like I'm Gandhi,

there is the opportunity for lives to be ended and forever changed. So whatever you wish for something to happen violently, just remember what you're wishing for. Yeah. And that's not me being hound my horses, whatever. All right, my favorite artist in the world right now musically is Burner Boy.

Do you like Burner Boy, Rachel? I do. I like Burner Boy. He's good. He's good. You know, I like Burner Boy. but you know some people got at Berger Boy a little bit to some backlash

Shaka Bar, shout out Shaka bars he posted a question why is it important that the diaspora come home if you guys don't know who ShakaBars is and you want to get on some of your Pan-African is shit Shaka-Bars is somebody good spot not for everybody

okay Shok's gonna have some opinions that you guys are okay all right not for Everyone. Certainly don't agree with everything that Shaka says, but he's well read on things that have to do with the continent and sort of some of the conversations that are had about the diaspora. But go at your own risk. And if you like something, you like it. If you don't, I probably don't either.

Get out of my fucking face about shit. All right. Burnaboy responded that African Americans are unaware of where their roots stem from in Africa. Donnie, give me the audience. So I'm here with him. man himself, the African giant, Burner Boy, and I want to ask you, why is it important that the diaspora come home? You know why, okay, let's use America for example, right?

Because this, where we can use it anyway. Yeah, but let's just use America, right? Why do you think the Chinese American, yeah, has their respect? And they're not, they don't go through the things that African Americans go through. Even though they might go through their struggles, not taking any way away from them. But they don't go through what the African American does. You know why? Because the Chinese American has a base.

He actually knows where he's from in China. Right. And they have support from the Chinese government. You understand? The Italian American. They have Italy. They know where their grandparents came from in Italy before. They know the first.

person in their family to come to America to start that line that made them Italian-American. They know. You understand what I'm saying? The same goes for everyone else, except the African-American. So Burner Boy cleared it up on Tuesday. He took it through his Instagram story. He said, it's sad to see that in 2023, there are still such black people who would prefer, we say, divided and conquered. Maybe it's my accent or something, but I never said you are African and not Americans.

I also did not say Africa is part of heaven. You all deserve the land and reparations you want from America, and I am in 100% support of that. All I've ever tried to do is make you understand that you have Africa too that loves you. And I believe that coming together as brothers and sisters is the only way forward for us black people worldwide. You work against the progress of our people if your goal is to keep us divided. Rachel. I don't understand what the big deal is.

You don't understand what the big deal is. I mean, did you have a problem with what he said? Yeah, I did, of course. I have a problem. I'm not mad at Burner Boy, but I have a problem with what he said. Well, okay, because what I didn't hear in here is what is something that's written in the rundown, which he said, oh, no, no, the question was, why is it important to come home? home. The way I understood that was to just come to Africa, to visit, to see it, to understand it,

to be with the people, to understand your culture, where you come from. That's how I took it. Or is he saying was the question like, you need to come home, like, you need to live here? No, I think it's come home. Shock Barrage is very into reconnecting with the continent. So I think she should come home means the first thing that you were talking about. So I guess I really, okay, and that's how I interpreted it. So I guess I really don't have a problem with it if all he's basically saying is like, yeah, I think it's important that they come home so they can connect and understand where they come from. I think it's important.

I mean, one of the things, it would be a biggest regret of my life if I never make it to Africa. like personally I want I want to go more than once but if I never get to go in my lifetime it'll be a huge regret of mine so I guess that'll to me see people seem to be exaggerating and taking it out of context so I didn't really have a huge problem with what he was saying but you're saying you didn't like everything yeah I'm not mad at Burner Boy but no he's your favorite of course you're right fage my thing I love Burner Boy

I'm not mad at Berner Boy but it first of all Africa is not my home that's the first thing my home is Louisiana and my answers is earned that so okay

there's there's roots whatever well Africa's so I I I keep going sorry I'm going to listen

no no it's all great no we're all from Africa okay like Africa is the cradle of humanity, right? We're all from Africa. I am from Africa in the sense that I am African, that my, obviously when you look at me, the people that were transported across

the Atlantic are from Africa and those people are my ancestors, right? All right? My ancestors that came here went through hell and high water to build a culture here. Absolutely. And for better or worse, my culture is their culture. Now, that does not mean that I don't see myself

as part of the diaspora. And that does not mean that I don't see myself as someone whose spirit and whose lineage comes from Africa. But my home is Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Gardier, to be exact. That's my home.

Okay. That's important. And the reason why that's important is because if we're trying to forge a connection, then the first thing we have to do is learn about everybody's different experience. Burn a boy's problem, the problem of what he said, should I say, is that he made all types of sort of, he came to all kinds of conclusions about African-American, black-American culture when it's obvious that he really doesn't know anything about it.

And that's something that in this type of way only happens to black Americans in my opinion. In my opinion. All right, this is why the black Americans don't have the same thing.

This is why black Americans don't have this. This is why black Americans don't have that. This is why the Chinese American is this way. This is why the Italian American is this way. There's a familiarity that people feel about the black American struggle, life, or existence that they feel like gives them the opportunity to weigh in on who we are and why we are what we are. Right. If I were to ask somebody walking down the street that's black right now, tell me about the Europe. Tell me about the Ebo.

Tell me about the Rivers Trott. Tell me about anything else that's going on in Nigeria or the life of a Nigerian as it relates to their place in Africa, their place in West Africa, or anything else like that. They probably couldn't do it because they don't feel like they have the authority to speak on tribal ethnic differences, wars that may have happened, how the borders there were drawn, and specifically what those people want, need, or should be able to expect. but because people watch like consumer American art they watch American TV they listen to songs

might have even cracked a couple of books they feel like they get why the difference between us and Chinese Americans they feel like they get the difference between us and Italian Americans Burner Boy left so much out I mean there's

there's so many reasons why An immigrant class that voluntarily immigrated from a place to another place is different than people that were brought there in bondage and slavery. If there is something to be gained from us having a deeper, more concrete relationship with the continent, be it Ghana, be a Sierra Leone, be it Nigeria, be it Kenya, be at any of those places that, you know, we might be from, that needs to be discussed. That information needs to be synthesized. And we need to decide that together. Sure. But like to vaguely say you're struggling because you don't know where you come from is like a night.

Well, do you think you're struggling? Not. Okay. Donnie, run it back real quick. And wait, before you do, this is, and this is, you said something very key, which is why I think we, we see it different. You, you said he didn't, you said something like he didn't even say all that. And the thing is, is he was so vague in what he said. It was so general that I took it super general.

I didn't infer anything. I didn't, I was just like, okay, he's saying, you know, come back home or to your roots or whatever it may be. Like, this is where you were, like, I guess, I was just like, okay, he's just making a very general comment. I didn't put in anything else into it. I understand how you can, but I took it for that, which is why when he went through and explained it back on Instagram, and he said, I never said you're not African.

I never said anything like that. I really think he made a general comment that really is more layered than that, and that's why people are having taken different interpretation of it. I took it as super general, but I but I'll totally understand how you heard it as well and why it's the issue for you but for me I was like so let's run the clip one more time to make sure I'm not tripping donnie play it again okay let's use america right because this where we can use anyway yeah but let's just use America right why do you think the Chinese American yeah has their respect and they're not they don't go through

the things that African Americans will do. Even though they might go through their struggles, not taking it away from them. But they don't go through what the African-American is. You know why? Because the Chinese American has a base. He actually knows where he's from in China. So stop it right there.

Okay. So Burner Boy is not trying to be disrespectful, but there's problems in the statement because why do you think that the, there's some struggles. What do you say that the Chinese American has their respect

or this other group of people has their respect and it's because they have a base they know where they're from they know all of this. So

that's just not why that's the case. Okay? That is true. I agree. And so that's so if there's a conversation about how

us reattaching to Africa or coming back to where we're from, where our ancestors are from, where we are, the genesis of us, if that's going to do something for us, as black people,

if that's going to do something for Africa, then for, not Africa as a whole, the continent as a whole, but to the places Nigeria, Ghana, wherever we're talking about, right? Then we need to forge that together. Right?

We need to, we need to decide how, that's going to benefit us. We need to decide if there are ideas to be shared. We need to decide whether or not there is economic sort of ascension to be shared. We need to decide that. That has to be something that we decide together. We'd have to decide it as purposefully as we were ripped apart from one another.

Okay? We'd have to decide that. So there's a, even though he didn't try to do it, there's a value judgment there. And the judgment is that if we knew where we came from, that we would be doing better in America. Now, we used to think that, hey, let's take it back to, I mean, Rachel, that's what was said. What was said is that the Chinese person has a base. They have a base of power. They understand where they come from.

Well, they have a base because they made the decision to come over here. And like Shaka inserted into that situation, when they came over here, they were incentivized. by parts of their government in large parts to do so. The Italian part and all of that other stuff, I'm not even going to talk about that because then people white. So it's obviously a completely different situation. The only thing that I'm saying is what I would like to do, what I would like to do,

what I would helpful to do is when people talk about us as black Americans, that they don't talk about us as if they know everything that we go through and they don't have conversations that are so vague and unspecific that they introduce this type of scrutiny and discourse, which is what happened. And it's a good thing to talk about it, even if we don't have to string up Burner Boy or set Burner Boy on fire. It's a good thing to talk about, right? Because it's a good thing to set boundaries about how you want to be talked about.

And the way I want to be talked about is I want people to understand that our experience, over here wasn't like their experience. They dealt with their own city. They dealt with this very specific colonialism. They dealt with very specific interference from foreign governments in Europe. It's different. And I wouldn't tell a Nigerian about why Nigeria might have some of the issues that they have or why certain people over there wouldn't have the issues that they have.

And so, you know, I don't want to be too, you know, going, rambling a little bit. but it was just weird. I would say it was weird. It was weird. And I think he got lost to some of what he was saying. But I see it deeper. I took it very general.

And that's why I was like, whatever. Yeah, I look. But I get you. I got you. No more diaspora wars. But, hey, relax. It's mailback time.

Mailback time. Time to read your letters and then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback time. Write us with your queries and we'll chime in. All right. First one is from White Hart Lane fan. They ask, when can we expect Rachel to appear on The Midnight Boys? Van. When we Cover like how still the guy Roo's Back or something like that I'm sorry I could have been on for Ant Man You're gonna be on for Ant Man

I gave you a whole segment to allow me to come on I'm not trying to get in there and act like I'm one of the Midnight Boys Remember we talked about the whole virgin look or virgin eyes or whatever it was When Donnie you remember this Virgin eyes. Yeah, definitely did happen. Thank you. Well, I talked about how as a first timer, I'm coming in.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, I created a whole segment for me to be able to fit in. Okay, look, I have no problem with you coming on to me. Well, what's coming up next? What are we covering next? I'm not doing a series. I'm not doing the Mandalorian. But you know what?

You know what we're doing next? I did the interviews for the Mandalorian, so I know a little bit more than you think. You might. I'm interested in it. We're going to do a home at home. I'm going to come on. I'm going to call on morally. corrupt because here's the thing.

We should do that. You know, you, you, you act as if I'm super hard on you because of, uh, your opinions, but I gave literally one opinion on the real housewives and I was excoriing. I got, I got, I was punished. You know what I mean? I don't give opinions on Marst Paul. I don't know. I don't give opinions.

I know I don't get opinions But what I'm saying Is that for me And you When we come on these platforms With each other Just take it easy on each other People have been getting at me about my list

I stick by my list When am I coming on morally corrupt To talk about my list Potomac is over But we I mean We record tomorrow It's seven in the morning If you want to come

No Yeah Yeah Listen Whenever the next big Marvel movie comes out, you should let me come on. The series is a lot.

A series is a lot. Yeah, Kalika been on it. She goes your own way more than me. Oh, I can do the Batman. Yeah, it's interesting. I have no problem with that. They would love that.

They would love that. Everybody loves you. All right, next. All right, next one is from Ron Wees. He asks, In honor of Vance, collection of basketballs for each different kind of run, What is Van's all-time favorite shoe to hoop in and why?

Curious if Rachel has one from when she hooped in high school. Rachel? Had two. Well, first off, before I played basketball, I had the Shaquille O'Neils. Remember the ones where you could pump it? Remember that you had the little pump? I won't play in it. When I played, I was big, big Allen-Iverson fan.

So I had the answer, I think, three. The answer three. Remember those? and then I also had to share offoops. I don't remember the name, but they had to like the squiggly all the way up. Like it's like a squiggly lines on both sides. Yeah.

Growing up, I played in the jump mans, the Kevin Garnett joints. There are a lot of good basketball shoes, but the best basketball shoe of all time to me is the Kobe 6. It's not even close. The, the, the, the, the, the, the, Kobe's that kind of run

I mean it was still dope when they put the little thing in there like the little it's like they had like a little fabric there that that's like ankle support little extra ankle support after he heard his after he tore his Achilles or whatever but that run of Kobe basketball shoes you felt like you were playing in your socks like you they were so light they were when you when you broke them in they move so easy, they held their structure, but yet you feel like you were running on clouds. They were fantastic, and they were low tops.

And they were low tops? Oh, yeah, those Kobe's were low tops. Man, I was playing so much ball. I had, when I bought them, I bought maybe like four pairs. And I was running through them. Those were by far the best basketball shoe. To me, the best basketball show I've ever played in in life. Those copes.

Rest and peace being. All right, what else? All right, last one from Daniela Ella. What does your self-care look like when you're having a bad day? Do you have any tried and true methods that work well for you on those days?

Bam. I mean, I like to take a walk, you know. I like to take a walk, get outside, you know, look around. I have to cuddle with Bozeman. It's very good. Like, Bozeman, he'll look at me. He'll be like,

You know, all right, Dad? Not really. Like, hey, tap the bed, jumps up on the bed, cuddle with the boy, go to sleep. Everything feels better when I wake up. No. Bostom is my boy. Love our dogs.

Yeah, just like stuff like that. And weirdly enough, like watching the sun go down helps me relax in the evenings. Where do you go to watch the sun go down? You know, like the city spot or you could do it from home? You don't necessarily have to watch. the sun go down.

You just have to watch, you have to just almost like feel the sun pain. I'm not actually watching the sun. So let me correct that. You just have to like feel things like being outside at that time in the evening where day is turning to tonight is very, is very helpful for me. Interesting. For me, it's a bath. I love a hot bath. Turn the lights off, light a candle, have a glass of wine.

and usually put on a Bravo show. And that is just like completely, it's like detox for me. Also, a little bit of comfort food sometimes. Yeah. And that will be wing stop. Big hunk of pork. No, it is wings top. I'm like, you know what, Rach, you had a bad day.

I'm going to go ahead and order the wing stop. Get that wing stop. Let me ask you this. After you take a bath, do you take a shower? No. I'm not that dirty. So what you're saying is that you take a bath and then no shower after. You just been in your own filth, back the amount of time, your butt hole, all kinds of stuff.

But this is the way I take a bath. I soak in the bath first. I'm not bathing. I'm just in a bubble bath and I'm chilling. When I decide to bathe myself, I bathe myself out of the tub, rinse off, and they get out. I'm not laying all back still in the tub after I bathe in it. So what do you mean?

Like, explain this process. By the time I'm bathing myself, I'm getting out. I'm about to get out. So I'm in the tub to relax. You know, I put like, you know, all these,

I have a whole concoction of stuff that I put in. And I'm just soaking. I'm just laying there. Then when I decided to bathe, I like put the soap on the washcloth. I stand up. up outside of the tub, and I behave myself. And then when I'm done, I take the cloth, and I'm, like,

rinsing myself off. I don't lay back in and soak. Yeah. You probably say my water's dirty, but I just don't, I still, I'm like, I mean, there's no doubt about the fact that the water's dirty. No, I'm just rinsing myself off. If I took a bath and then I just soaked in the water, maybe, but whatever I'm trying to. So I decided I was going to take a bath Maybe like, I don't know, two weeks ago.

And this was my first bath in the new casing that I mean Because I haven't taken a bath since I've been a big guy in a long time, right? Okay. So I decided it's okay to laugh, Rachel. No, I'm laughing at the term casing. Okay, so it's okay to laugh. So I was like, you know what, I'm going to take a bath. I've been in hot tub and stuff like that, but I haven't gotten a bath.

I used to get in the bath every once in a while. and, you know, I couldn't really get comfortable in the bath because, you know, things are spilling all over. It's like the stomach is trying to decide whether or not it's going to go left, whether or not it's going to go right. And I'm in there. And you know what it's my thighs. The thighs were touching the edges of the bathtub. It was like the bathtub was thigh to thigh. And it was like the bottom, my thighs could cover the whole thing up, right?

And so I'm down there and there was just no way for me to get clean because I didn't even have the moveability to like move around. And I'm pulling stuff. You know, I tweaked my ab like trying to get to different spots. I did. Try to get to what? Have a nigger 6 foot four. 290 pounds. Try to get inside of a tub that's like in a regular joint.

it's not easy. Well, I mean, you, sorry. I'm just, set yourself up for failure. How? Brian does,

right? You just described your height and everything and you got into a regular tub. We, we, I don't know what you would call it. It's bigger than regular size, but Brian won't get in the tub either. He's too tall.

And he would fit in it. He's too tall. Like it's got to be perfectly proportioned. You're right. You can't have your thighs touching them. The tub. You've got to be able to, like, yeah, like, you just got to be able to move around.

It's length and it's width. Do you know the difference between Brian and I getting in a tub? I'm just saying Brian because of his height won't take a bath either. This is the difference. This is the difference. The tub. When Brian's about to get in the tub, you know, Brian's in there. He comes in.

He's got his ass cot on. He takes the ass cot off. He's on the house. He takes off his silk robe. When Brian takes his shit off the tub, it's like, oh, shit. Yeah. This is about to be amazing. Look at this.

Look at this motherfucker. This motherfucker about to get in the tub. We can't wait. We can't wait for this motherfucker to get this goddamn tub. I can't wait. Look at this goddamn calves. Some calves about to be on us, baby. We can't wait for him to get the tub, right?

Brian gets in the tub. The tub makes itself all ready for Brian. All right. The difference between me is I'm in there. I come in there. You know what I'm saying? I got no jumper playing on my phone. and, you know, I take my shit off.

The tub was like, I know this big motherfucker not about to try to get this nigga, nah, it starts making itself slippery. You know what I'm saying? I know this motherfucker not about to try to get in this motherfucking tub. I hope the lights go out.

You know what I'm saying? Stop! I'm not going to let you do this to yourself. You know what I'm saying? I hope the power goes out in this bitch. So this motherfucker got to mute him. I'm not going to allow you to do it. Don't compare me getting in the tub.

I'm not comparing you. I'm just saying that height is an issue as well. Listen, I encourage you to get back in the tub. It really is a beautiful. I fucking tweak. I tweak my shit the last time. I'm going to tweak my ab.

I bang my knee. It's not happening. Okay. Anyway. Rachel, we have ultra beauty stuff to do. This episode is brought to you by Ulta Beauty. There's nothing like a spring refresh, especially when it comes to expressing yourself.

And this season, I'm going full reset from the inside out. So one of the things that I have promised to myself is that I'm going to prioritize me. And that includes just having a routine every day. That means waking up in the morning, not looking at my phone is the first thing that I do. And just sitting there meditating and working on my breathing. Does somebody say something? No, I'm agreeing. I'm going, hmm.

I was like, yeah. And also, what's an internal refresh with that? a new makeup routine to match. So also for me this season, I'm all about supporting black beauty and leaning into the amazing products that they make. So I've been hitting up Ulta Beauty for a few of my new faves. Okay, so the first item I got to tell you all about beauty stat. I've been a fan of beauty stat for a long time, but I've never used their universal pro-bio

moisture boost cream. I love this because sometimes with moisturizer it can be just a little too heavy, but this is really light. and it's packed full of probiotics to just revitalize that dull dehydrated skin. My skin gets really dehydrated out here in LA. I'm just not used to the environment. And it provides that hydration for 24 hours.

Also, what I want you guys to get into that I'm into right now is Juveas Place. It's their warrior, eye shadow palette. Now, I like to change up my eye shadow. Sometimes I like to make it light. You know, when I'm on TV, just to make it daytime look. But then at night, I like to change it up. I like to make it more bold.

and soul tree in this palette gives you every single thing that you're looking for. So refresh this season and head to your local Ulta Beauty store or visit ultimbeauta beauty.com. All right. Before we go, sad news from the world of celebrity relationships. It looks like Damson and Lori broke up. I saw that. And said they only been together for three months.

Really thought they've been together longer. It's like Damson and Lori broke out. And you look, it's the way it happens. Okay. What do you mean? It's the way it happens. I mean, this is what's like kids love, kids move on. Why?

Kids? In Damsden in his 30s? Is he? Hold on, let me see. Let's see. Damson is, I didn't think he was in the 30s. Yeah, 31. 31.

Okay. Yeah, 31. Lori is. So what are you saying? No, you were just like these kids. And I'm like, they're not really kids. I mean, they're younger. 26, he's 31.

Yeah, she's 26, she's 31. But I'm saying, it's like, it ends it a lot quicker than I thought. Well, they all end for, for, she, you know, for Damsin, Lori, they, they haven't, they've been with people before. He was with Suedey for a hot second or something like that. He was?

Something, what me? I don't fucking care. I don't know. I don't know. Move on. They look great. They'll be good. I don't give a fuck.

Rachel, what's your unexpected ally at the week? I don't have one. do you have one? No, my unexpected ally of the week is, in fact, Keanu Reeves. He might be an expected ally to some of you guys, but Keanu Reeves is a great guy. I'm not even going to tell you guys why he's my unexpected ally of the week, but Keanu Reeves did something amazing.

And it's a fact. And John Wick is coming out. And I hope that all the good things that are supposed to happen to Keanu Reeves, happen to Count of Rees. Why would you not tell us what he did? it's not for me to tell. Oh, he did something.

Okay. Oh, there it is. It's not for me to tell. Insider information, okay. Don't, hey, look, don't take these caps off, but do not stop learning. I'm Van Lathian Jr.

I'm Rachel and Lindsay, I guess. Oh, my God. You're sick.