Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Death of Lindsey Graham and Jay-Z’s Colin Kaepernick Diss

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Van and Rachel react to the death of Senator Lindsey Graham and the speculation around the health of Senator Mitch McConnell before digging into Jay-Z’s mention of Colin Kaepernick at a recent performance. (0:00) Intro (27:25) Rachel’s porkless week (29:52) World Cup updates (33:29) Reactions to Lindsey Graham’s death (56:21) Mitch McConnell speculation (1:00:45) Jay-Z disses Colin Kaepernick (1:51:31) Rachel’s “Finest” (1:54:26) Revenge of the Bison Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Jade Whaley Social Producer: Bernard Moore Video Supervision: Chris Thomas and Jacob Cornett Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, Thought Warriors, what is up? Harlearn is on, is I Van Lathen, Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Yeah, that's right, Jay, be ready. My dad would hunt with a muzzleloader. He would also hunt with a bow. He would also hunt, so, like, he liked the hunting season to be longer, and you could hunt primitive before.

So we're talking about hunting, guys, if you just, and my dad would hunt all of that stuff. but going back to what I said on the last podcast, when it came down to like, you know, hunting a bore, we never did that, and he just wasn't with hunting the board. Just let you guys know what happened. There were some people in my family that weren't so thrilled that I told the story that my father did want me to go hunt a board

with everyone from the baseball team. Why? They say it made dad look like he had a problem with white people. No, I think it made it look like. I mean, I could see that point of view, but I don't think we didn't take it like that. It made it seem like he was very cautious. about the situation.

Can we, so my dad, I'm not going to say that my dad had a problem with white people. Okay, don't say that then. What I will say, though, is that he had instructions. Growing up in the South, and I don't want to dismiss anybody else's experience of where they grew up in this country, but I feel like there's always,

a heightened sense of, I don't know, awareness when you are black in the South around white people. I agree. He had a plan. What do you mean? So my dad, so this is what my dad was. You can make a joke, and if you were black, my dad would laugh. If you were white, my dad would be like, hold on now, what you mean about that?

That sounds like you. But look, he would say, he would say, here's the thing, son. Men are men, people are people. But he was like, I tell you one thing. I can't say it the way he said it. He's like, I tell you one thing. You can't give an inch. You always got to know exactly.

Just make them say it. Because if you don't make them say it, they'll say it without saying it. And I was like, what does that mean? I couldn't, I didn't understand what he mean. He was like, you got to make him say it because if they don't say it outright, they'll say it without saying it. You'll get called a nigger 13 times

in a goddamn sentence and you won't even know it. So just make them say it. I didn't get that at 15. God damn it, I understand what the fuck he was talking about. I know exactly what he was talking. Just get it out and maybe force it. But yeah, it was just funny. It was a funny story to me.

I just remember just a look on his face. It was like, no. Are you fucking nuts? They also looked at me different that I wanted to go. What do you want to go up there? Play grab-ass in the woods. He knew he had some work to do with you.

He needed to make you aware of certain things. I don't know. It sounds cool. A lot of the shit that would happen, it just sound cool. It's like, hey, we got a pit bull and a four-willer. We're going to send this sound cool. Of course it does.

It also sounds dangerous for multiple reasons. But I was saying that my dad hunt, you know, hunts with primals. of weapons. You ever shot a muzzleloader before? No, no, never even seen one in person. Boom! Black powder gun. Where do you get that?

So, like, you had to load it in. This is, like, stuff you see in movies. So he had, I actually never shot it. Okay, I was gonna say. Like, I, my father was like, my father got really into the spiritual era or the spiritual world of hunting. I remember.

What does that mean? So, like, okay, you guys ever see Lasson Mohicans? One of my favorite movies. Okay. So you know how at the beginning of Last of the Mohicans? So my father never got emotional over shit that you should really get emotional over, like stuff going on with me. Like, you'll tell my dad something and he'll start laughing.

Mm-hmm. You know, my-so's really. So you'll tell my dad something and my dad, he'll laugh at it. Like, you'll try to pour your heart out to him and he'll laugh. But he would get emotional over, like, stuff that you wouldn't think that he would get emotional over, kind of emotional. Okay. So at the beginning of the last Mohicans, remember they killed a deer, and they pray over the deer.

They call the deer brother. They say, brother, thank you for like we killed you. You're a part of us. And that respect for the outdoors and for nature and for ecology really was moving to him. So he started getting into that type of shit. So he would pray over what he killed? Never. He would never pray over it.

He didn't do that. But like he looked at hunting with a muzzleloader and hunting with. a bow and arrow as being pure. Like he got to the point to where he was so deadly with the 30 yard six or the seven mag or whatever that like anybody could stand at 200 yards and bam. But like if you had to rattle the deer up, if you had to put the deer piss on you,

if you had to go and scout out corridors and all of that stuff, if you had to rattle a deer for an hour and a half, which I did not want to do, to make the deer come within 50 yards so you could stick them with the bow, that's real hunting. That's real hunting.

know if pure is the word. What I mean pure as? Well, the result is the same at the end. Doesn't matter how you kill it, you killed it. Well, pure insofar as methodology. So like, so it's like... So you work harder for it. Well, think about it like this.

Put you like this. So there were people that would like electrocute the water to get fish. That's insane. But listen to what I'm saying, though. So there are people who will electrocute the water to get fish. And like, they shock the water. Or I see now people use fish finders, which is

Nothing wrong with using the fish finder. It's like a little, you can see the fish in there. It's like a little radar with the fish. My father wouldn't do that. The purity of it is in the method. The purity of it. Right. So he's saying, I would never electrocute the water or not to let you get the water.

Throw dynamite in the water is what I meant. They would throw dynamite in the water. Fuck the water up and then like get the fish. And so he would never do that. And he got to a point to where he looked at just sitting up on his deer stand with a high power rifle and sticking a deer. from yards and yards and yards away. It's not that he didn't think it was fair.

He just outgrew that level of his hunting. It's like it happens in like a hunter's life, the life of a hunter. Yeah, he became also more skilled. He was skilled. If you win a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies.

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Spider-Man, brand new day. In theaters, July 31st. Well, Hunter. When's the last time you been hunting? I stopped at 15. I told you the story. Yeah, you did tell them on the podcast, but I couldn't remember that.

The rabbit. I looked at the rabbit. The rabbit looked at me, and I was like, I can't. I can't. Yeah. When you see it dead, I don't know.

I've never actually hunted, but I've definitely been in the deer stand. And all of that. But when I saw it, somebody came to my grandmother's house down there in South Texas with the dead deer in the back. And like when you see it that way, it's a little older than 15.

You were older than 15. When you see it that way with like eyes open the blood, I was like, I was like, ah, wow. Blood doesn't bother me, but the animal, but looking at the animal in that way bothered me. Like I'm not a person who gets grossed out by gory stuff

or like dead animals in that way, but like the intentional, killing of the animal and looking at it like that in the back of the truck, I was like, nah. Yeah. It never bothered me just because, I mean, it was obviously a part of my upbringing, right? So that was the main thing. It was like I saw it all the time.

But also, these guys, it wasn't just deer. So in Maringo and another place that I would go, like these guys had cows and they had pigs and they had chickens. Man. we was out back I told you this story we was out back I lost my spinning top

my dad gave me his spinning top I lost the top I'm a little niggily with me he's like you lost a fucking top already it went under a deuce's house and when I was under there trying to get the top I saw her

with her hand on the head of a chicken and just yeah yeah ringing the neck of the chicken and then I'm like I freak out

I run the daddy. He was like, well, you want the chicken, don't you? He went dinner, don't you? Like, it's like, we fry the chicken. Like, they plucked it fried the chicken. The women plucked the chicken and we eat the chicken. And so that type of thing was like, I was like, I was maybe like four when that happened. The women plucked the chicken, the women prepare.

I don't know, just the way you said it. It just sounds so. The men weren't. Ancient. I don't know. I get you, but it's just like the men go hunt and then the women prepare the dinner. They pluck the chicken. They fry.

I just. I tell you. I'll tell you out something. It sounds ancient, but I tell you, everybody knew what they had to do. I'm not hearkening back to that because it wasn't even my upbringing. I was a baby. I was a kid four or five years old. We lost all those people.

But like everybody knew what they had to do. Everybody knew you provide chickens and somebody plucks chickens and somebody cooks chickens. Not somebody. The women. Right. Sometimes the women hunted too. But like you would, in my family, you know, but. Like you provide chickens, somebody plucks the chicken and cooks the chicken.

Like men didn't complain about what they had to do and women didn't complain either. Now everybody complains about everything. Longing for the good old days. Nope. I'm just saying, no, no, hold on, hold on. Oh, you know, it's funny. Women, like, it's not that they didn't, they might not have complained outwardly, but like that doesn't mean that they, just because that was their role, they did, they loved it.

No. I'm sure that the men didn't love it either, right? I'm sure the men didn't love having to be providers and having to, to like go work and all that stuff like that. I'm sure that there was a lot of stress. I'm sure that that everybody in that situation. I'm not saying that that was better or that we should go back to that.

It's interesting. I watched Ross doubt that interesting times. And there was a guy on there and he was obviously a conservative Christian thinker and he was talking about the absence of God and what we will replace God with when there's no more Christianity. He's arguing that Christianity should come back.

We're living in, revolutions, this, the end times, all that stuff, whatever. I think all of that stuff, the sort of sociopolitical framing of that argument is one thing, and it's not very useful to me. But what is useful to me is the fact that we will have religion. There will be religion. And if religion is not in the God that the deity that you worship, politics will be your religion. Yes, that's like your philosophy will be your religion.

there'll be a set of rules, codes, and understandings that you hold up to be sacrosanct. And everyone that violates those rules, you will deem a heretic. And the question is, like, what's a healthy way to sort of negotiate that? And I just say that because in the past, those people, they were, things were simpler, not good, not better, but they were simpler because they spent a lot of time worshiping God. thinking that their roles were ordained by God. Sure. Okay. So a lot of the fact that they did not argue about these things, even though, just to let y'all know, wasn't nobody pure, everybody had kids out of well life. It was all fucked up. All of the country secrets. Uncle Nusha had 42 kids and all of that shit like that. But I'm not saying that it was better for anyone. It was probably worse off. But their happiness came in the fact that there was this transcendence that we have a problem connecting with.

with now. Like there was there was there was an understanding even if a simple one that there was something more to this and that earthly toil and like travails were temporary and they really believed it. And so and now I think not across the board, but I do think though that we are trying to create meaning. Like we're trying to create meaning in everything. We're trying to make everything feel like something that is grand because we don't really truly believe that there's anything transcendent about the human experience anymore.

I will agree that times were simpler just because we obviously are so much more advanced and have more distractions and more freedoms and freedom and liberty than we had before. happiness, I wouldn't say that it was happiness more of acceptance. I think people were more willing to accept their roles under certain duties that were placed on them through religion. I look at it more of that because if I say that it was happiness, then it's like those same, that same religion, those same duties were in slavery, right? And so like I won't say that it was a happiness. It was more of like this is what I need to do to win favor to something that I believe in. I have faith in because I'll have something better on the other side. So it's like an accepting of the situation rather than a challenge of it. And if you challenged it, the other side of it was death,

whether it be on earth or whether it be spiritual. So I understand exactly what you're saying. I'm not necessarily disagree. Disagreeing with it. It's just like more of like of the happiness of it. It's more of like you're willing to accept it. I mean, same thing. growing up in a religious household, I had the fear of certain things, right? Because I wanted to, I was willing to accept certain things for something greater on earth and in eternity. And so I'm not saying I was happy in everything

that I had to do or that it was easier that I even wanted to, but because I was being guided by religion and putting my faith in that, then I was willing to accept certain things in order for the benefit at the end of the day. So I think that that's what they lived in and you don't necessarily have to be clear here. I want to be clear here. I'm talking about 1984. Did we get to 1984? No, this is when I, this is when I was happening. So I'm talking about

1984, 1985. Okay. I'm not necessarily talking about 1734 or 1834. Okay. Obviously, I'm talking about people who part of their happiness was the fact that they were free. So obviously, if you go back far enough. Like, if you talk about whatever, there's an inflection point, you can go back to the dark ages. Everything's fucked up, right? Obviously, I'm not, I'm not talking about, when I am saying, what I mean to say by that is, yes, if you go back far enough, you go to slavery. I'm not talking about slavery times. Like, I didn't, that's not where I was, this is 1984, okay? We didn't get a year. So, so. Well, you got me being four years old. So, I didn't, sorry, I did not hear me of that. So, so I'm talking about 1984. Also, I also say this,

another thing when we can move on for this because we got a pack show today a happy life is not the absence of struggle that's true and that is something I think right now that people are having

a really hard time wrapping their mind around in all of the reading that I've been doing I think there is a contemporary idea that anything that brings you struggle or anything that brings you emotional pain is inherently evil. Like a lot of what we used to understand

was that struggle and overcoming is a part of life. And it's not that people today are less resilient, but they are less tolerant of struggle, which feels like, that feels like, like that is something that's positive. To the human condition, it's probably a net negative that people are so uncomfortable

and so unwilling to undergo a little bit of pain. Like a little bit of pain. Give me an example. Well, I mean, there are too many examples to give, right? Like, I talk to people all the time and like younger people all the time and they'll tell me about how bad things are going.

at their jobs. Right? And I'll be like, yeah, I want you to understand that the way that you feel right now is the way that you are supposed to feel. It doesn't mean that I want you to wallowing it and accept it, but I want you to understand that just in the structures and the reality of the job, the career that you are trying to have, your frustrations right now, that's the way you're supposed to feel.

As a matter of fact, you at 24 or 25, you are actually more resilient to feeling this right now than you will be 10 or 15 years from now. Doesn't mean you have to like it. Doesn't mean you have to accept it. But what it does mean is that I don't want you to think that it's super normal. I don't want you to think that like you're in a position right now that people haven't been in or that it's personal or that it's striking at your soul or your character. or anything like that, yes, you're being undervalued.

That's a part of it. And so, like, that's not in any way to say that, like, it should be that way. Sure. But I do think that there's an aversion to a lot of just, like, pain or inconvenience now that is net making people less resilient. Well, yeah. I mean, I think we talk about it in other ways when you talk about how different generations were treated or what generations, different generations expected. And I mean, we've talked

about that, I guess, in the sense of the mentality when people talk about Gen Z in certain ways. And I don't mean to generalize, but I guess I will for the sake of this conversation of it being softer than being treated softer with kid gloves. I shouldn't say kid gloves, but just like the same way we were, I don't know, just like required to just kind of figure it out or maybe didn't have necessarily the tools so easily available to us where we had to like grind a little bit more in ways that necessarily through advancements in technology and whatever that the younger generation doesn't have to even like making space which is not a bad thing for mental health and protecting that that wasn't something that was that wasn't even conversations that we

had coming through and I'm not saying that we should talk about that but I wonder not I wonder I think that that contributes to some of the less being less resilient, like not having to, like for us, it was kind of like in my house, the mentality was, I mean, you're a Lindsay. That's what you're supposed to do. Like just go through it, work through it. I'm not saying that that was always the right answer, but that was the mentality. Like, figure it out. You just have to do it. I was raised to be really self-sufficient and independent and to figure things out and to struggle through it, you know, more than what I think we put on the next generation. And maybe that's because of what maybe just gen Xers and millennials had to go through that they necessarily didn't put those same strongholds on the younger generation that they were raising. So I think it all contributes to it. Yeah, I think the millennials themselves were the ones that were like, that were like, hey, we're going to rebuild the world.

Like, we're going to change the expectations. And honestly, I think that they've largely abandoned that. I think a lot of things go too far. Well, what I think, though, is like, even if I look back at, because I can't speak to everybody, I don't have enough data. But if I look just back to my people, the people that I'm talking about, I'm not saying that they were happy all the time. It's basically what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying that they were happy all the time. It was a lot of shit.

My auntie U.M.A., her boy had died in a car accident. And she had a picture of him up there. and whenever, sometimes she would just look at the picture and just burst in the tears. Sure. Right. And so, like, there was all kinds of stuff that was happening. But, man, we were outside. We were together.

We were cooking. We were hunting together. We were riding horses together. We were playing baseball together. We were experiencing pain together. We were an intergenerational black family that, like, really took a lot of pride in our identity in who we were. And that meant a lot.

just describe community and the things that are in place, like with the advancements of technology, we've seen it really with COVID. We talk about the mal loneliness epidemic. Everything that you name that gets you through the struggle that makes you laugh through the pain, that makes you realize you aren't alone. You're not the only one going through it is community. And we just, it's fractured at this point. And there's so many different communities. And then we politicize communities and we litigate different communities and we're going to get into that in some of the show but there's just we've just gone too far it's like innately within humans we just take things the attention might be good but it goes too far it's also different we're just going to we're going to talk about it we're going to talk

about all of it now we we talked about all of that stuff and now we're going to get into emiserating you with dissension well I had community I tried to get you tried to FaceTime you yesterday I had community yesterday I've seen the invite oh you're in the movie yeah Apologies. But I went to everyday people. Oh, Daddy. I didn't know it was happening. I didn't either.

I didn't plan on it. I learned Saturday about it. Duran was shooting a music video for his song with Big Sean. They have what they call the cousins in this group come and be a part of it. I really wasn't going to be a part of it, but I ended up being a part of it. I got nervous. I got nervous when it came for showtime. You're in a music video?

Which has always been on my bucket list. Video Vixen Rage? It's always been on my bucket list. Really, I thought I would be like, and I really thought this would come after, I never said this out loud. I never said this out loud, but I really thought this would come after The Bachelorette. Like I've always wanted to be a leading lady in a music video since I was a kid.

Because, like, remember the day, I said leading lady. That could be, I said leading lady, the love interest, the riding in the car. I always, I grew up, the box, I grew up watching these music videos. I always wanted to be a part of it. So I thought, oh, after Bachelorette, it'll probably happen. Nope, never did. So this was my moment. Now, hold on, hold on.

Now, my auntie and them, they can't be happy ringing the chicken and cooking the food, but you want to be a lady telling you, we got rolls, man. That's the same thing. We got, like we got rolls, man. Not quite a thing, but yes, I did it for his, a song. Yeah, I can say that because he was,

I think I could say that. Okay, cool. I think I, well. You get the cat's out of the bag now. Well, they were shooting in front of everybody. It was like a part of everyday people because he performed, but it was great. Met some people, met some people you know.

Remind me, Jade, I actually have to connect you for something, but there's some people that you know that tried to call you, sent you videos. Oh, yeah. Where's Van? Where's Van? I said, I tried to get him to come to everyday people. I had dinner with Tommy Alter after. Could have brought him. We went to Great White. And so I tried to get them to all come to everyday people after that. They was like, they didn't want to go.

Oh, after I told you? After you told me, I was like, hey, do you guys want to leave and go to everyday people? And they were like, no. It was, they actually would have enjoyed it, Especially by the time you got there. I've been there so early because we were there at the beginning. But it was, I've been in like three years. It really was a really fun time. Tell me about the video-based experience. Well, it was a group.

It wasn't just like me. There were a group of us. And Jeannie Mai was there. She loves Durant to. And neither one of us were going to be a part of it. Like she was just there to see, to watch him perform. And we ended up, we went from being like, we're not going to be a part of it.

to be at like four scenes. We committed to it. And it was a lot of fun. And again, you know, I just can't speak to Rand's praises enough just to see him so celebrated. You're the man. And so many people just, like he feels like he's everybody's friend. Even though he did tell y'all, stop yelling his name out,

stop touching him in public, which is a real thing. But it's just great to see somebody realize their dream in such a big way. And he's such a big talent. So that was fun. And yeah, just had a good time. And then on Saturday, Saturday, I got to go to a show and I got to watch the mistress of rap perform. And when I tell you,

When I tell you, I said this before with Kermm, mistress of rap, you have no idea how talented, who's the rap wife, how talented people are who aren't on these microbe. I just can't speak enough of like, I'm always in shock. It's like I know everybody does, has there certain things, but the talent is next level. I'm telling you, Jade is, has, is so talented as an artist,

has the best stage presence. I mean like, quiet Jade sitting over there in the corner, not even close. It's like a Sasha Fierce Beyonce thing. Interesting. Truly. So good. Good. So great. Had the crowd going. I mean, I just, y'all need to go check her out.

Go to her. Jay, tell them. Tell them. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yes, it was great. Had a good time. We were doing a show with L.A. County Parks and Rec for their summer series concerts. Oh, where was the show at? It was in Compton. Oh, that's the fuck I'm talking about. The community, man. Yeah, I had a great time. Thank you, Rachel. But like. Performed with a live band. A lot of. the younger people here at El Ringer. This is how me and Benara got hooked up,

keep them off the mic, but a lot of people here at the Ringer are really, really talented in the things that they do. Jade is one of them. Jade is talented visually, also. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember the one record you let me hear you was rapping?

Was it the one I said? Oh, uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Fuck with it. Well, good. That's amazing.

That's a full weekend for Rache. Yeah, and I was trying to chill, but it was where it was like beautiful to come out and support people that I love. So it's great. All right. I want to talk about this, this pork thing that you're doing before you get into the show. You should be so proud of me. Yeah, what about it? I am one, actually eight days today, no pork.

Jesus Christ. This is a big deal for me. You know, I love bacon. and I bring it in a little zip log bag here sometimes. It's concerning. I pepper it over like a salad. It's like no meal is complete to me without a little bacon on the side.

What you guys to consider that? I love a pork chop. We know this. Pork-based diet. I'm giving up bacon for sure, but I still haven't had pork chops at all either. Like no pork at all. Part of the reason that put me on this is one,

like I swear it's the algorithm. I'm constantly seeing stuff about people being diagnosed with like colon cancer and stuff and like the main thing is one of the main things I see is bacon so I'm like okay is this a sign like maybe I need to lay off a little bit then I went to the doctor got some blood work done I had high blood pressure when I went in it went down by the time I was there but still like even that so I start looking up like what are some things that I can dial back bacon bacon bacon this is huge for me I I did get turkey bacon at the grocery store the other day but no pork

Well, I've heard from people that if you don't eat bacon three times a day, that it might have a positive impact on your health. That is something that I heard. I think I read that on it. Like, I don't know. But yeah, pork, if you cut out, if you don't eat bacon at every meal, then it'll probably help you. People come up to me and they're like pork-based diet.

Pork-based diet. They say it to me. So you can't say it any longer. I'm so proud of me. Because I'm coming from a pork community, right? Like, there's a lot of pork, you know, in the, South is a lot of pork. Yes.

And then one thing that changes when you get out to L.A. is less pork. Are you mean? I found all the places. I bet you did. You know, just less pork overall. People use, they substitute stuff that they use the pork in for other stuff, you know? Like this normally has pork in it, but we don't use the pork.

We're using this. But, you know, you're back on, but that's good. I mean, I have to have any bacon. You can have some bacon. Yeah, but I don't even want to buy it because I can't control myself. It's tough. If I buy it. It'll be gone.

So I'm like, I might as well just not get it. Let's go. And we'll see. Free for the rest of the summer. And then you have a pork fucking fall. Let's just see. Let's get through July. All right.

Before you can this show, one last thing I want to talk about the World Cup. I'm still into the World Cup. I'm still watching. Even though the United States of America is out of the World Cup. And my favorite player is out of the Cup. Holland is gone. And I want you guys, Donnie, put this up if the video, if you have the video. I want you out to do something.

here, everybody. Everyone that's watching and listening, I want you guys to do something. I want you to think of the person that you're fucking with right now. It's on your team that you think might be a little bit jealous of you. It's a little jealous.

You know that there's somebody that you fuck with that just is like a little jealous of you. Like you, you know, okay, I give you an example. You know, there's a friend. You had a friend back in the day. Not nobody. I'm not going to give you an example of a person. You have a friend. back in the day and you'll be like, hey man, I just got these new things

to be, yeah man, I got those. I got those like six months ago. You're like. A one-upper. Yeah, but you know where that comes from. You know? Or we had like, I could name all of these things but if I say all of this stuff, the stuff that's happened, my niggas gonna know and all of that stuff. Don't do that.

But just think of that person that's just like a little bit jealous, has that little envy thing and get them to fuck off your team. Just get them off your team. I want you guys to see what happened to Holland here. It's a breakaway. Do we have the video? Can we put the video up? I want you guys to see what happened to Holland.

Norway is on a breakaway. Norway is playing against England. They're up one nil. Nill. That's what they call it. It's called nil. They're on a breakaway. They're going to score if this guy gets the ball back to Holland because Holland is a fucking finisher.

He doesn't, though. He takes the ball. dribbles it into the defense and tries to score it himself rather than making the pass that would have probably resulted in a goal. The entire internet has been calling this gentleman out, okay? And what I'm looking at is jealousy, envy. I'm looking at somebody who didn't want to give the Viking, the Viking that we love, another shot on goal.

Maybe it's too much Holland for the rest of the Norway team. Maybe they don't think Holland's success is their success. And I'm looking at this and it made me go, who's on the team that wouldn't pass the ball? Huh? Who's on the team that wouldn't kick it? Is it Bernard? There's nobody on your team here.

There's nobody on this team. Is it Jomey? Is it steep? No, it's not Rachel. Is it Chris Ryan? Is it Chris Ryan? Who wouldn't kick the ball? Who's on the team that wouldn't kick the ball?

Find that person that's on the team that won't give you the ball in a time where you can score. Here is, look at this. Look, look, look at this. Holland's wide open. Wide open. Wide open.

Even allowed for more defenders to come up. To come over there. And look at the struggle. Holland knows. It was two on one. Not including the goalie, but you know what I mean? Like it was two on one. Just get back into the game.

Get back into the, look. Give it up. Give it up, give it up, give the ball up, give the ball up. Didn't happen. Who on your team doesn't want you to score? Who on your team doesn't look at you scoring being a score for them too? Because they don't like it when your hair flaps annoying. Think of that person, get them out of your life.

Okay. Sad news this weekend. Donnie? All right, yeah. Are we talking about Lindsey Graham or are we talking about the poop stuff? You're talking about Lindsey Graham. That is sad too. Y'all make sure y'all are cooking, peeling and washing your vegetables and

because it's out there. It's hitting all this tape. If you don't wash your vegetables, you're going to be washing your ass. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Which you should be doing anyway. Let's talk about Lindsey Graham.

He passed away suddenly Saturday. His office said in a statement on X. On the evening of Saturday, July 11th, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness. Senator Graham's family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period. All right. We're back having the conversation.

We don't need to have a conversation about who Lindsay Graham was, right? No. We don't need to have a conversation even about what some people think are the peculiar circumstances surrounding the death of Lindsay Graham. It's too early to do all of that stuff. I think the only conversation that we can, have being that we weren't political bedfellows with Lindsay Graham or any of the Lindsay Graham's is how do you react when somebody like Lindsay Graham dies a lot of people are upset

that certain figures on the right came out and were very gracious you know excuse me on the left we're very gracious very gracious and Lindsay Graham's death is like Lindsay Graham was a colleague like the news media is like, hey, we have remembrance of Lindsey Graham. Are you offended by people remembering Lindsey Graham in a way that is respectful or even celebratory? I'm not offended, right? Because I'm not going to take it personal. It's a more so, it's not funny. It's not funny.

But some of it is. I'm sorry. Like the rush to get to your social media page and put out a tweet, a thread, a video so you can have one of the first initial, or first initial, same thing. You can have one of the first reactions to the death of Lindsey Graham is funny to me from the Democrats, right? Because I'd rather you just say nothing. So maybe the word is disappointment. But maybe I'm also not surprised. at the performative nature of rushing to your social media to show that you're above it all,

that you're better than that, and you're going to take your time in a moment to honor somebody's life because that's the right thing to do. And to me, you get no points for doing that. I'd rather you just stay silent. I don't think I need to see you go out of your way to talk about who Lindsey Graham was when, if you're not going to really talk about who Lindsey Graham was. Because at the end of the day, no matter how you slice it, Lindsay Graham is a person who would do whatever he had to do to survive politically. That is who Lindsey Graham was. So if that meant pre-Trump, he worked across the aisle, if that meant he had a great friendship with John McCain because that was what was politically convenient for him, because that's what it's about. It's about political expediency when it comes to

Lindsey Graham. Or if it was the last 10 years where we saw him completely fold and mold to whatever it is that Donald Trump wanted in order to survive and keep his place in office. That's who Lindsey Graham is. And so being a revisionist or talking about him not in totality to me, maybe I'm just laughing because I'm just like exhausted by it. I mean, if I could have guessed exactly how certain establishment Democrats, would have done this. Again, I would rather you just be quiet. I would rather you not say anything because I don't understand how you can have your place or your position within the Senate or the House, Congress in general, and at one point condemn the right for their stance on immigration or on voting rights or on way that they, the things that they do were they're hypocritical and it works

against American citizens and doesn't have their best interest, but then praise Lindsay Graham. This is a man who voted for all those things. This is a man who stood by that. This is a man who, you know, I go on and on and on, but like specifically things he did to vote against the black community, specifically the way he was with foreign policy and he's part of the reason that we're in the Iranian war. All these things he did that are supposed to be opposite of what you believe, but you want to take time on your platform to call him a hero. Or, talk about him as a person or how fucking funny he was. Like, is it funny that we're in a war, the Iranian war? Is it funny that he said that Gaza should be flattened? Is it funny the way

that he talked about Palestinians? Is any of this funny? I don't find it funny at all. And so to me, if you're not going to talk about Lindsey Graham like that, I'd rather you just not talk about him at all. Hmm. Um, um, so. So this, so what you said is true about Lindsay Graham and about the politicians, right? They have to show you can't say nothing. You can't. You can't. You can't say nothing.

The reason why you can't say nothing is because if you say nothing, that is saying nothing, that is saying something. You are saying something by saying nothing. So you are saying it's I am not going to comment on the death of Lindsey Graham because I don't have anything good to say. Now people are going to be like, why did you say anything when Lindsay Graham died? Are you a good person? And then blah, blah, blah.

So they have to say something. Now, what they do say, I think they believe. And this is the deal that I... I think they do too. Well, what I'm saying is we continuously have this vicious vitriol for the other political side. And I'm not saying that that's not warranted. It is.

It certainly is, right? When somebody is trying to vote or... mobilize or organize against your basic fundamental rights, you're going to hate somebody. You're going to feel a way about somebody that says you shouldn't vote. Or somebody that says you shouldn't have a grocery store in your community. You're going to feel a certain way about that. There is nothing wrong with that.

As a matter of fact, that's healthy. That shows that you are not feckless. However, the people that work in the political thing are friends. I know. I'll just say that the people that work up on the hill they banter, they go against each other, and then they go to lunch and dinner. I once watched this video

and it was of Martin Luther King Jr. the 3rd talking to Lindsay Graham. Junior the 3rd. Is it June? Martin Luther King Jr. the 3rd. Sammy David's Jr. Jr. Martin Luther King, the 3rd, I saw, he was trying to go

and have a conversation on the hill about voting rights, and he was in Lindsey Graham's office. He's sitting down and he's talking to Lindsey Graham, and Lindsey Graham goes, I really think you're doing something that's awesome. I can't vote for it, right? Yeah. I think you should continue to do what you're doing

and try to get, like, I can't vote for it. Like, I can't vote for what you've got going on. I can't vote for. Lindsay Graham could not accept or could not endorse, cannot vote for the freedoms of black Americans because the political reality that he has hitched his career to won't and don't let him.

It's not absolving him for being who he was. What I am saying is the people that are saying we liked Lindsay and Lindsay was funny and Lindsay was cool and Lindsay was this, they mean that they are not you. When I said that Barack Obama was closer to George Washington than he was to one of us, you guys got mad at me.

but every single time there's a moment like that, I keep trying to remind you guys that there is a them and that there's a you. And I'm not necessarily even saying that that's a bad thing. Because to be real with you, if Capitol Hill was filled with people who genuinely hated each other, then it would be a blood feud that would actually be worse and less productive than it already is. Now, I'll say this. you guys want activists in situations up there

and you should vote for activists. You should vote for people that are going there and trying to change that system. But the system that we are currently in, it mandates that those people kind of have to get along. And I'm not at all saying that like this, I'm not in any way trying to say how somebody should talk about Lindsey Graham and death.

As a matter of fact, my greatest lesson from any of this. stuff is that you write your legacy every single day. Every day you write your legacy. You get up in the morning, it's unfair, but you write your legacy every single day. And if you want decency in death, you should try to be decent in life. Yeah. You should try because once you're gone, it's static. It's over now.

Like you can't stack up another win to make people, that's it. So people will remember you for what you did and how you affected. their lives and that goes for every single person. I am not going to celebrate anyone's death because I am a old Southern man and I don't believe and I believe in bad juju and energy. My mama do root work and all of that stuff and I don't want to have the energy of celebrating somebody's death around me. Sure.

But I'm not going to lie for them. But I'll say just as an observation, everybody disappointed and people saying all of that type of stuff, yo man, these people are really friends. Like they really get along. They really go to have a drink after. They really argue. And then, oh, this is my great friend. Like, they are really friends.

Here's the thing, though. We talked about it. We've seen it happen. You've talked about it even outside of Capitol Hill and just being on these shows and seeing how people are cordial to each other. I guess to me there's a middle ground. I'm not saying that, and I agree with you,

I don't believe in celebrating anybody's death. I'm not on that. But I believe that there's a middle ground of, I have to work with you as someone who we work in the same space and we have to work together to try to get things done. Doesn't mean I have to like you in the process. And that's the thing for me. I understand you respecting someone as, you know,

a public servant even though I would argue that Lindsey Graham is, a public servant for for for a one group of people but I I just don't understand how you have to you're right the people who are like that's my friend my unexpected friend to quote Cory Booker yeah I believe he believes all the things he says that's his friend I then believe that there's some people who are saying something just to keep the decorum of what is expected of a politician when somebody who's similarly situated with you and in Congress passes away respecting the place that they held. I understand that.

I believe some of that is performative. But I think that you can work with someone, disagree, but you don't have to like them. And that's where it becomes a problem to me of reading the room. When I said at the beginning where it's funny to me how these people rush to their social media to be the first to tell their story of their experience and have like this different and hot take,

read the room in where we are right now politically. and how that is going to make certain people, particularly your constituents, if we're talking about establishment Democrats, feel when I'm listening to you, try to tell me about your personal relationship with someone when I am reaping what their policies are doing to my life. That's where I'm like, we got to find a different way to do it. I know you know him differently than we do, but that's not what the fuck we want to hear. And I'm not saying that they needed to get on here. and criticize him, I would rather you say nothing. I get your point. You can't say anything. Or just say, you know, sorry for this, you know, like the loss. Heart goes out to the family and then, but talk about him in totality. Like I just, I just think that there's a middle ground that we're missing here.

And that's, and that's my thing. It's, what I'm really trying to do is manage people's expectations. I'll tell you why I'm trying to do that is because like, those people aren't you. And by the way, when I say that they aren't you, it seems like a dis. No, I don't think people are. When I say that they aren't you, this is what I mean. Number one, they are, it's not that they don't have the same passion, is that they live in a pragmatic reality to where like, first of all, they're not as affected by the things that affect us. They're just not.

They're rich. They're powerful. They're not. That's who, that's a, how do I want to say? Because I don't, I'm not trying to impugn anyone. I don't think that's like what I'm trying to say is that's not you. You're mad. They have a cynical hold on power.

And it is their job to actually work with each other to consolidate their power. It's there's there are things that we are like all of those people who by and large like Cory Booker and Lindsay Graham do have a lot in common. You know what? They both love Israel. Like they both they both understand that there are things that are. joining for them that are adjoining for them that supersede the way we feel about them. They would fall in line with each other to defend corporate involvement in politics or to

defend the Israel lobby or to defend all of those things. The things at the margins that piss us off, like those people are all the same. And we want them to be avatars for our rage, for our feet. feelings of freedom or for our feelings of displeasure with government, but they're not. They're not. They're not in any way that. And so when on the podcast in the past, we had a conversation about Colmell Harris saying that this America's not a racist country, Jim Clyburn said America's not a racist country.

I was stupid. I was stupid in that, in my analysis. My analysis was like, hey, you are someone who says that you champion the rights of black people. You understand America. You guys use your identity as black Americans to undergird and buoy your political careers. You should stand up there and speak truth to power and say that America is a deeply racist country that has traded off the backs of African Americans since before America was here. And that the only way that America is ever going to be a full version of itself is if we reconcile that and systematically promote black Americans to their earned

perch and position in the country. Guess what? That's not going to be said because that's not politically expedient because those people are politicians and it is their job to do as much as they can to be as light as they can to hold on to power and they feel like power is the only way that they can do anything. So rather than criticize what I know is a reality, I now choose to vote for people who will say it, to vote for people who even if they are unpopular, even if they can't get on a ballot, will say the thing that needs to be said. And some places that is going to be inconvenient,

in some places there might be a cost. But when I look at it, look at the way people are responding to is I'm not mad because I'm not them. Really, their identity, not even their function, not even their function as policy. Their identity is of those people are wondering what people are going to say about them when they die. Yeah. I agree with every single thing you're saying. This is why I said I'm not offended. The reason I said I'm disappointed, it's not even because I'm taking it personal. It's that I think that people can speak in the way that I am and be disappointed in a fact that these politicians who put up these statements or videos can't read a room because I think that it's necessary to where we are right now, we're calling

these things out and like the veil has been lifted. What you used to be able to get away with or make us believe, people who are voting blue aren't necessarily believing that now. And maybe even red too, maybe more moderate people. they're not taking what you're giving them and just accepting it. It's still funny to me or disappointing to me that they still don't see that. When you have the rise of people really believing what democratic socialists are saying, when you're having the rise in the progressive movement on the left,

and we see what's happened with the populist movement on the right, you're not listening to what people are saying and what they're not willing to accept. and you're still adhering to insider decorum that exist within Congress and how you're supposed to be. And that's why I'm like, how are you still not getting it? That's what's disappointing. I think that they should continue to express their disappointment or how they feel because hopefully maybe it'll have some kind of impact on these establishment Democrats. Maybe it will open their eyes to the people don't want you to do what you've been

doing for all these decades. The people want something different. And so even though to your point, that is who they are and we are not like them, I still think that we should express our frustration when you do do that. Last thing I'll ask you, does class play a part in this? When I say class, I don't mean social class. I mean, in this situation, right, what you want, here's what you would want overall. Number one, you want a politics that's not based on denying people their fundamental rights. You do. If me and you are arguing about the tax rate or if we're arguing about foreign policy, if we're arguing about things that we have legitimate, like, philosophical and intellectual disagreements on, it's one thing. If we're arguing on,

if we're arguing about like whether or not I can vote, then that's not an argument. That's a war. We're now engaged in blood support. My citizenry is something that I have to fight to the degree for. I get it. I understand that these issues sometimes, and the prevalence of these issues sometimes deserve more vicious battles. But if in fact you want a political normal in American society where people do talk politics with dignity and class and grace, where they try to not dehumanize one another, then like Kamala Harris saying, I am saddened to learn of the past

into my former colleagues, Senator Lindsey Graham, he was full of wit, energy, and charming, he deeply cared about the Senate and the people of South Carolina. Doug and I are sending our thoughts and our prayers to his friends and to his loved ones. That's a classy response, right?

I mean, like, it's... I'd just rather the first sentence. It is classy, sure. I just rather the first sentence. But you don't want, at this, at this point, you're like... I don't want to hear that he was... about how funny he was in his wit.

I think it desensitizes the damage that Lindsay Graham caused by sacrificing his own morals and values, or maybe they never were there in the first place. What makes you think he sacrificed his own morals and values? I'm just going on the fact that he claimed to be Christian. Obviously, he clearly, like I just said the last part, I'm like, he probably didn't have them anyway. Jesus don't like none of these niggas.

I am using it to show his contradiction. This is a man who stood up, who talked about all this religion and moral values and then everything he did contradicted that. I'm more so using it to show his contradiction. That's why I said the latter part. I'm not sure he ever really had them. But for me, don't water down and try to desensitize.

That's what it feels like. Or try to make us see him in a different way. It is totally okay for you to say you're shocked. I was shocked to hear it. I'm shocked. It's sad. This person lost their life. Like, I don't wish death on anybody.

And, you know, thoughts, thoughts go out to them. Just keep it there. I'm going to start doing something that I'm going to start doing something that I want to do this every Monday show not every show but every Monday show this show comes on Tuesday I want to do a higher learning movie recommendation every single show

and the first one I'm going to do is a movie that came out in 1992 it stars Jackie Harris Rodney Dangerfield and Jonathan Brandis. Have you ever seen this before? No. It's a great movie.

It's a comedy. It's called Ladybugs. Oh. And you guys should watch. I don't know Jack A was in that. Yeah, she is. It's a movie about a young man who actually joins a lady's soccer team, dressed up as a lady.

The lady, the soccer team is called The Lady Bugs. And it's funny. It's got a lot of heart. So you guys... It's actually some controversy surrounding that movie. I literally just saw that on social media. I mean, it's basically a Joanna Man type of film. Don't let the politics.

No, not that. It's like something with Rodney Dangerfields and like how he was inappropriate and how he was on set. I bet he was. Like Jonathan Brandis, President Peace, spoke about it. Spoke about it. So don't judge the movie by today's politics.

Watch the movie. It's called Ladybugs. Watch that this week. And you'll have a lot of fun with it. You'll have a lot of fun with it. Okay. Donnie, what else? Mitch McConnell. He announced Sunday after weeks of speculation that he had had a fall last month that landed him in the hospital, posting a picture of himself with his wife in the hospital with the caption. My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages, but I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital while receiving excellent care over the past several weeks. I have also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia. And in that picture,

He's holding a newspaper of the Sunday Washington Post. Not much to say. I mean, not much to say. They thought Mitch was out of here. And maybe he is, maybe isn't a lot of people look at this and say that maybe this is AI or in some way set up. Or maybe it's a whole, you know, well, was the guy, what's the movie Weekend at Bernie situation? It's not, I'm not, guys. It's tough.

Okay. You know what? Don't we're not this is not a we laugh at death or people's being sick podcast This is what the conversation that people are having and like we didn't get into all like the conspiracy theories and stuff as you said surrounding Lindsay Graham But there are certain things it's like the newspaper like why are you putting it in there it's almost like to prove something I the fingers I personally would have preferred a video Right and I think that if whether it's a weekend at Bernie's thing or if it's or he really is you know, like awake and alert, I think it says a lot that there's no video

because I think still, you know, like, we'll just take it, he's alive, but I think that what, either he can't talk or express himself in a way that is okay for a video. I think that there is a concern of his current state, whether it's mentally, verbally, physically, that they still don't want us to see. But either way,

The picture looks alarming to me. It does. The health of these senators is not just something to be lobbied around in terms of like cultural conversations. The control of the Senate itself is tenuous for the Republicans, right? And it's going to be a hotly contested Senate race in the fall. Now, you know, the Democrats taking back the Senate is less likely than them taking back the House, particularly now. with Maine and you know

Grand Platner and all that stuff but the numbers I think are are close enough to where the Democrats aren't striking distance I don't know necessarily that there would be a strong enough Democratic candidate or there is a strong enough

Democratic candidate right now in Kentucky I mean Mitch McConnell already wasn't running again like what's the race there what's the race in Kentucky look this up but there's going to be a race there in Kentucky I don't know if there's a strong enough candidate to actually flip the seat.

And in Maine, it seems like they're scrambling a little bit. But, you know, these guys who were stalwarts for these parties for decades and decades and decades and decades not being around anymore makes those seats a little bit more getable. Mitch McConnell was already out of the running for that. But like, you know, these guys being out of here does leave a political vacuum that you would hope that an organized left in some way, would be able to take advantage of. You're not going against a denying term incumbent that's a part

of the political culture of either Kentucky or South Carolina. You're going to get somebody who's going to be making their case as a newer candidate. And you would like to think that at this particular time in America that you had candidates that would be able to do that. Yeah. Donnie put up some. Where's who's in the mix? Who's running right now? Who's running? Oh, oh, Andy Barr, Charles Booker Christopher Campbell Thomas Murphy these are all the people right now are running for the general election for the U.S. Senate

Kentucky seat on November 3rd, 2026. Andy Barr I know a little bit about. So look, we'll see about the way that this goes, but Mitch McConnell kind of being out of the picture makes you think that maybe you convince you could convince Kentuckians that they

should try something different. Yeah. Who else? Yeah. Okay. It's time to talk about Jay-Z. He had a three-night concert series at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. And during one of these performances, Jay-Z had a freestyle where he name drops Colin Kaepernick. Let's listen. That target, no excuse me only doing with Apple Walmart. You shopping at Amazon or you boycott.

You're posting on Instagram. That's better. Boy, stopping. Y'all know Google on YouTube. You picking and choosing a politician as you. They didn't get deep for narratives. This is embarrassing. They run out of characters, had to bring that other cap again.

The buddy took a check. I ain't even mad at them. But along with that check, got a sign of non-dispavagement. I'm the one they can't control. Y'all better be glad as him. I'm the one they can't control. We better be glad it's him. Half a billion back in the community.

That's just good math for him. I'm going to listen to Twitter activists. They type them. I'm laughing them. There's really no comparison. Y'all check my stats again. I'm bringing folks home to their family. Laws get past kissing.

You can like it a knife. We don't do no ass kissing. Extra drug dealer. You might not like the package yet, but my presence is the present and my gift is rapping. Oh, shit. Uh.

Go. This is all you. Why is it all mean? No, I'm going to join in, but obviously. But, yeah, we'll have a conversation for sure. Okay. When you took your cap off, I thought it was like a cap. I thought it was like a cap.

We were going to talk about cap. We were about talking about caping. No, I know, but we're about talking about cap. Oh, you thought I was doing a cap? Yeah, like, it's cap time. We're about to talk about a cap. Okay, the first thing that I, is that this weekend, from everything that I saw for people, was really beautiful and meaningful to them.

And this is Jay Z coming back and performing third anniversary of reasonable doubt, very meaningful to people. Reasonable doubt. Blueprint. Blue print. So, so much stuff. All this.

Yeah, stuff. So two things I'll say about this. Number one, like hip hop has a holy city and that holy city is New York. New York is the holy city of hip hop. Jay-Z is not a rapper. He's not a cultural figure. Jay-Z is the pope of hip-hop.

He most certainly is. He essentially called for a pilgrimage for people to come back to New York City and really sort of have a cultural worship session for this music. And that's very significant. I'm never going to downplay the significant of that because Jay-Z is the last guy like that. Jay-Z is the last guy that represents

the standard of New York hip-hop to that degree. There are plenty of people that are super New York that are really, really, really amazing rappers with amazing discographies and all of that stuff. But as far as somebody that represents the ideal identity of that city, that city's allegiance to hip hop culture, its innovation with hip hip hop culture, that is completely Jay-Z. And there's probably feelings, even though people would not admit this, I don't think

they would, that once he's gone in relevance or rise off into the sunset, that that is also gone. That that's gone to. that like the New York's not existence as a hip hop mecca, it'll always be that, but it's reputation as the hip hop mecca, that that will be injured.

So when you saw people celebrating Jay-Z and celebrating reasonable doubt and celebrating all the records, they were also celebrating themselves. They were celebrating what they did for hip-hop, but they were celebrating when they listened to it in their dorm rooms. They were celebrating when they first discovered reasonable doubt. they're celebrating a life inside of a hip hop culture and that in it of itself cannot be minimized.

That's just a fucking fact. Like it's monumental to see the people on the stage, they're doing all of that. It's monumental to see people go out there and feel seen to feel a part of putting him on that stage, to feel that their support, their love for culture, that it culminates in actually creating an entity that's as powerful, relevant, and consequential as Jay-Z. Everyone feels that way that was out there, right? And I get all of that. And I think part of the reason why people are wrestling with how to contemporarily contextualize Jay-Z

is because of that. And it's also probably why, for a lot of people, it feels a little unfair. And I've had to realize this. A lot of people, it feels a little unfair. It feels unfair to have to relitigate things that we thought that we litigated. And tell you what I mean. You ever heard the phrase flying the plane, learning how to fly in a plane while the plane's already in the air? Like a lot of people, I used to hear, I actually heard Nip talk about this.

Nip was like, well, he was in the middle hip-hop generation that was after Jay Z&M, but before the new school. so he was kind of learning how to do a lot of the digital stuff and all of this stuff while his career was already going. Right. Right. I see parallels in that 4J because the vision and version of American capitalism and American success that he came up under was very clear. After the generation of civil rights and really a lot of civil and social movement, we just wanted to be like Mike. Right.

Like we wanted to be like Mike. We, okay, cool. We're full citizens now. All right, good. For a long time, the thought was, all right, now we're full citizens or we feel like we're full citizens. Now, we have really insanely consequential and rich black luminaries. Not that we ever didn't, but it's different now. Eddie Murphy felt different.

Michael Jordan felt different. Oprah felt different. At this point, you have Ebony Jet Magazine. You have Robert Johnson. You have people. and black success and black excellence is being defined by people who are really attaining a lot, getting a lot. And it feels like it's all right there. I feel like America felt that way as well, that the glory and the excess of America, both here,

remember, we're living in a unipolar world at this point. We are the only superpower. In the 90s, everybody starts to give money. It's all up. Everything's good. A lot of the problems that we were having, we were there and we were rapping about them and stuff like that. But we were talking about them. We were writing about them.

There were people that were dealing with them. There was never not a socially conscious American, black American intelligentsia. But there was so much on top of us, like, in terms of what we were seeing. There were so much that we wanted to be. And we thought this was what was going to deliver us finally what we've always been after, which is equal citizenry, equal citizenship in this country, right? And very slowly over the past 15 or 20 years, it hasn't been a black American awakening to the fact that that's all a lie.

It's been an American awakening. And it's an awakening that's not just happening in Baton Rouge in Detroit and Los Angeles and Virginia. It's a revolution and an awakening that's happening in South Dakota, in Wyoming. It's a revolution that's happening in the aisles of Wal-W. and I was a target, like, this doesn't work. It's not working. Like, being rich isn't enough. Being successful isn't enough.

Like, the wealth inequality that we're dealing with right now, the income inequality that we're dealing with right now, the access inequality that we're dealing with right now, we're fucked up. We're a mediocre country in terms of life expectancy. We're a mediocre country in terms of infant mortality. We're a mediocre country in terms of infant mortality. We're a mediocre country in terms of literacy.

None of it is working for you. None of it. It's working for the people that were able to attain it. But as far as what we thought was going to be a windfall of a better life by being Americans, being connected to that identity, that's a lie. And it's a lie that people are waking up to and they're angry. And a lot of those people are taking their anger out on people that they feel like are avatars for that type of thinking. and then some people are actually just trying to pull it apart and analyze it and those people are being treated like they're angry. And then even still, there's a third group of people that believe that all of those people were handpicked to pacify us whenever they show their faces.

You don't have to be any of those when you're listening to me. You don't have to be in the camp of one group of people. all you have to be somebody this is all you have to be all you have to be I'll get into the Twitter activist thing in a second because I've been ranted to you on now all you have to be is someone who thinks

for yourself that is the only requisite is just be somebody who thinks for yourself that's it now before I continue

because I have so much to say I know but before I continue I want to dominate and run over the whole thing people don't like that people get in the comments yeah but I don't want you to disrupt what you're saying because I don't even really have much to say to what you're just saying just keep going

so I have two specific points to point out one of which something that Jay-Z said is a straight-up lie okay or how about this I wouldn't say lie because lie assumes intent. Might just be misinformed. But I'll get to a Twitter activist. Assuming.

Assuming, yeah. I'll get to a Twitter activist thing real quick. Okay, so let's look at the part of this that talks about Amazon, Target, and then positioning people as Twitter activists. First of all, let's take the Twitter activist thing. Everybody in here at some point was a nigger. Then after you became a nigger, you became colored. And then after you were colored, you became a Negro.

And then after Negro, you were black. Then you are Afro-American, African-American. Now you're to the point where it's all on the table for you. You can be a nigga if you want. You can be black if you want. You can be black if you want. Can't be colored. You can't do that.

No one's going to go for that. We got to tell I have to paint for that. Okay. The question is why? Why did the designation of who you are as a person in this country change? It changed through conversation. change through conversation guys like

W.E.B. Dubois talking about this. Guys like Stokely Carmichael talking about this women in our movement talking about this. Black people having a cultural conversation with each other, both through intellectual writing and

on college campuses in kitchens, everywhere. How should we refer to ourselves? Stokely and everyone comes along in the 60th's go, let me tell you why black is beautiful and black is powerful because black needs to be assertive. Black is scarier than the term colored or the term Negro. It's scarier than Negro.

Black is, uh, it's something. And that's what we need to be. We need to assert who we are in this country. And that's a conversation that we had. It's a conversation that we had amongst ourselves. You can say whatever you want about Twitter, 75% is what's going on on Twitter is bots. But what else happens on Twitter is people get on there. And they decide through information and through conversation what's palable to them.

Twitter is a place where those conversations happen. Social media is a place where those conversations happen. All of those are those are the, you, the only thing you owe yourself, the only thing you owe your community is to do the reading. You should get out there and you should do as much as you can for people. You should be an activist. You should go to the marches. But the thing that you have to do, to me,

is be conscious of this stuff, is to understand who you are, is to understand what you're up against. And access to information and different modalities of thought is very key in that. So I don't want anyone to think that using your voice on any platform anywhere is in some way insufficient

because you don't have the ability to stroke a half a million dollar check and get a law pass. You can't do that. You're not to that point. You ain't rap good enough. You don't have the ability to have people on take your vision and make it into something. You're not good enough with

the songwriting. You didn't do that. Well, the ability that you do have is to read a book and say this version of what the world is doesn't work for me. Even if you don't read the book, even if you just pop your head up and ask the question. Well,

How are things supposed to go? Those conversations matter. And nobody, no matter how rich, powerful and famous, can tell you that they don't. What that is is the establishment of hierarchy inside of this, of saying, I do more, therefore your trust in me must be implicit. Nothing I do can actually be questioned, pulled apart, analyzed, critiqued, because. I do so much that unless you do more, you can't say anything. That's not community. That's not the way a community works.

As far as stuff on a boycott, I want you guys to go out right now and try to boycott everything white. Go for it. Try to boycott everything that a white man has a hand in. Go for it. Come back and tell me how well that goes. I'm sure there are some people that are doing really good at it. But I'll tell you this.

The purpose of a boycott is to be strategic, to be direct and to pick targets that you can affect. And in this case, the target boycott is what we were talking about. You're not less into a boycott of target because you use meta or because you use Amazon. In that case, what is essentially being said on that stage is there's no possible way to hold a corporation accountable unless you do all of them at the same time. You guys, that is what American power wants. What American power wants is to consolidate itself so much that it doesn't matter what you do.

You're a part of it. They want you reading the Washington Post, and when you read the Washington Post, you're doing Amazon. They want you watching He-Man, and when you watch He-Man, you're doing Amazon. They want you using YouTube, but that's Google. All of that consolidation is part of a capitalist plan of capturing human beings.

So when you get to somebody that says, unless you can do it purely, you can't do it right. That is someone that is either not paying attention to the way that that goes or they're a part of it. Right?

Or they are an avatar for American capitalist power and they're saying, I do all of this. And so you have to kind of listen to me. So that end of itself. The last thing, thing, the Kaepernick thing, I want people to know something. That is not true. There was

reporting that was done by TMZ, Colin Kaepernick simply, simply never signed anything that stopped him from disparaging the NFL. Never. As a matter of fact, there is evidence that after Colin Kaepernick settled his employment case with the NFL, that he continued to call. out the league and be critical of them. We've talked about it. We've talked about them. Remember, Colin Kaepernick did a commercial, excuse me, not commercial,

he did a television show where he compared the NFL Combine to a plantation. Right. So Jay-Z in that regard is probably misinformed. The chances to me are very low that he got up there and said something that he knew wasn't true about Colin Kaepernick. That's not even the point. The point is, why would you say that in the first place?

Yeah. If your purpose right now is to make Colin Kaepernick look like a sellout to the NFL or someone who in some way had a nefarious motive for doing anything of any stuff that you did, the question is, why would you want to do that? Like, why would you want to do that? because part of the framework of American power is consolidating it. When we're talking about what we're going up against or like what we're critiquing or calling out, because really to be honest with you, we're not going up against anything.

These are two brothers that are within our community and culture. And what we're doing is having a conversation, a cultural conversation, about how we feel like things should go. It doesn't have to be about choosing one or the other. it should be about you making the decision of the life that you want to have and how you want to lead it. And I say that because in this situation of saying there was a deal taken that made him shut up, it's kind of saying you are Uncle Tom. That's what he's saying.

Like to me it's saying that you never really meant what you said. You got paid and now people are throwing you up in my face accusing me. me of doing the thing that you had already done. It's just very important to say. That's exactly what it's saying. It's very important to say that that's not true. So you guys can decide what you believe about Colin Kaepernick and his fight against the NFL, Colin Kaepernick and his fight against police brutality and the kids getting blown off,

get their heads blown off. I will always say this. I do not fucking think that any person. person in this country ever, ever, ever should have to lose their job because they have the gall and the temerity to at their job say that black kids should be killed by the police. And if you guys don't agree with me, fuck you. I don't care anymore. I will fight forever to say that you, you, you should not have to get.

lied on, should not have to get drug through the mud, should not have to get fucked over, because you said you used your platform to protest against police brutality. And we can go through it and pull the guts of it apart, pull the entrails of it apart. It is just that. It is just that.

That doesn't make Jay-Z and Rock Nation villains in the story. Maybe it does. decide for yourself. But what I am going to say is we can have a million conversations about a million things. I'm not in any way saying that there is purity in this, that there is one right way to be, one wrong way to be. What I'm saying is I will always say that the moment that a black man looked at his world and decided that he didn't like the way that it was going to go or the way that it was going and then use his platform, put his career on the line. I'm with that.

forever. That's it. And so while this is unfortunately devolved into what it always devolves into a hierarchy mandingo fight between two different versions and visions of black American freedom, we can't seem to not get here.

We can't seem to not have this. I would just say this, man. It's just important that everybody is fair and accurate about what they're saying about one another. And ain't nobody a sellout because they went to no concert or they enjoyed the blueprint 30th anniversary. Rock Nation is not an evil empire looking to take over the world and subject everybody to this. None of that's true.

What we are doing is having conversations in this time of incredible wealth inequality, of incredible corporate power of incredible political consolidation of power about what it is that we do. And if we see things that are inconsistent with that, we have to be able to talk about them without being called haters or sellouts or whatever. Yeah. So that's it. Well said. I'm not going to add too much to it.

And you are right. You shouldn't have to lose your job for talking. talking about an injustice that is impacting specifically your community. You should not lose your job over that. A couple of things I want to say, I think the important thing, you said a lot of important things, but the conversation should, people should ask themselves as they're going back and forth and talking about this freestyle from day one of the concert is, why would Jay-Z say this? Like, that's what I kept thinking. Like, why are you saying this right now? And And what you said about bringing up Colin Kaepernick

and then also talking about the target boycott in a sense, right, and calling out hypocrisy. One thing I do want to say, because I saw this now that TMZ is reporting, TMZ Sports is reporting that Colin Kaepardick did not sign a disparagement clause. And I was looking at the comments. A lot of the comments are like, well, then why is he keeping quiet? or, well, he hasn't said anything or, well, no, he's that we don't know the deal.

We don't know the terms. And I think what's happening, and maybe this is what Jay-Z did, is people are conflating non-disclosure agreement and non-d disparagement agreement. And, yeah, he probably did sign a non-disclosure, meaning you're not going to know the terms of the deal. You're not going to know the dollar amount. You're not going to know maybe like the confidentiality of like how the settlement came about and monetarily and maybe whatever else was put in it. That makes sense. But a disparagement

clause is like you can't criticize, bad mouth, all of that kind of stuff or speak negatively to. Two totally different things. Both have the same acronyms, not the same thing. And I think people are, as you already pointed out, multiple times and maybe people, not maybe people forget. And Colin Kaepernick has not spoken out on this. And I don't even know how long. So people forget, they move on. they have short-term memory, like he, I just think people forget that he did actually say things that were anti the NFL constantly on social media or whether it was on like that Netflix show or maybe in an interview or something else. So I think that's something that we need to reconcile. There's a non-disclosure agreement, which, yeah, you don't know the details

in terms of the money and all of that. But then there's the non-disclosure. Sparagement agreement and he clearly has been outspoken when it comes to that. So then the question becomes, for me at least, why would Jay-Z say this? And I actually like chuckled when I saw this because I was like, why now? My first thought was, does he not have anything else to freestyle about? Like this seems old, especially because Colin Kaepernick's not talking about it and the timing seems to be very off because right now Colin Kaepernick is in the news and he's in the news for paying for an independent autopsy of a young black man who was tragically and mysteriously

and mysteriously lost his life. That's what people are talking about right now. People are talking about Colin Kaepernick is still committed to the very thing that caused him to lose his career, a fight for social justice. Yes, it was police brutality and all of that, but it really is just social justice for our community in general. He's continued to do that fight. So like now the conversation being you bringing up what feels like an old beef when he's not talking about it and he has moved on to continue to do the work and be committed to social justice, it just feels like what are we doing right now? And I'm like, I guess I laughed because I thought here you are selling out Yankee Stadium. You just talked about who Jay-Z is and how he's

the last of it. He's this rap icon. He has this incredible legacy and incredible achievements when it comes to being a hip hop icon and even things he's done outside of his rap career. And all of that is being, you know, materialized in a sense in this three-day concert. And it's taken over social media and conversations and everybody's been like, who is he going to bring out next? And what song is he going to perform? And it's like he has such a stronghold on hip-hop. And that was, we saw that happen this entire weekend. And here you are addressing online criticism and bringing up the Colin Kaepernick thing. And it made me say, like, it made me think to myself, it doesn't matter how much success, how much money, like who your family is, all the

things that you've achieved. You still are bothered by the things that people say about you. That doesn't go away. And of course, he didn't say that, but this is what I am deducing from everything that I saw in regards to the freestyle, the timing of it, and actually what was said. And I guess to your point about people should be able to have the conversations of not litigating, but trying to figure out what they feel about a certain situation and they shouldn't be told by somebody that they revere that you're not allowed to do that. I think sometimes what gets, I feel like gets lost in conversation is that the reason people are critical or analyze what Jay-Z does,

it's not because they're demanding activism from their favorite celebrity or a legend or an icon. It's also because of who Jay-Z has positioned himself, which he very much so listed out all the things that he's done in that freestyle. It's the way he talks about black advancement, black struggle, the black experience,

the things that he's done to pour into the community. And then when people look at some of the other things that you've done and they feel like those actions don't line up with what you say, then they're obviously going to discuss that and they're really allowed to do that because it seems like the two things aren't aligned. You're talking about Colin Cabernick in the freestyle. You're talking about people not shopping at Target. And it's a little bit of when it comes to the target, it's a what aboutism, right? You, you, you, it's an online content creator and I wish I could remember their name was kind of like, that's a what aboutism.

That's the equivalent of saying during the Montgomery bus boycott, oh, well, you're going to do this? Well, you're not boycotting these grocery stores. You're not boycotting these other places that are discriminated against black people. Like, that's not what it is. What people are asking is we aren't boycotting everything, but we are boycotting Target. And there's a reason for it because of the rolling back of DEI when this is a company and an organization that positioned themselves as down with us. Walmart never did that. Amazon never did that. Target outright did that. And then all of a sudden from pressure of the

administration, they want to roll it back. People are upset about that. They have chosen this particular thing to boycott against that. And then here you come and then you're exclusively selling a special 30th anniversary album here and you get on stage and you say, well, okay, I know y'all are doing this, but you're not doing this and it's a bit hypocritical, but you're still not addressing the very thing that people are boycotting or the very thing that people are questioning as to why you did this. What people don't want to do is for you to say, okay, I see you doing this, but you're also doing this. No, we want to understand why you're doing something that is against the interest of a community who's fighting this organization because they are rolling back the

things that they said that they were going to pour into our community. So like I guess I would just challenge people or ask people to really take apart what it is. is that Jay-Z is saying. You're asking for understanding. You're asking for an explanation. And he's telling you, but you can't do that. You're not allowed to because you also shop here. That's not really right. And I think that people should be allowed because of who Jay-Z represents himself to be and the way he has ported in the community that we're allowed to say, well, then why did you do this? And I think that same thing goes with Colin Kaepernick. You're a man who went on SNL and was wearing a Kaepernick jersey. And then all of a sudden,

you know, now you're doing a deal with the NFL. People want to understand why that happened. And rather than really addressing it, you're pointing the finger and basically trying to get us to look at Colin Kaepernick one way instead of looking at you. And I'm not saying you should be called this or that. But why are you saying, but look what he did. See, I can't be controlled, but he's being controlled by this non-discharagement agreement. I just, it just, felt like I feel like you should be above that. To me I feel like Jay-Z for all that he's done for exactly what the very purpose of this show was over these last few days, why are you taking time out of your day to do this? Because you actually do care what people on a microphone

and on social media are saying about you. And rather than just addressing it head on, you're pointing the finger. Wow. Wow. I just, it's very Sophie Cunningham. But I'm just saying, like again this isn't I'm not here to attack it it's just that I kept asking myself why are you bringing this up why now and what is the purpose of you really doing it it wasn't just to have some hot like hot bars if there was there was intentionality behind it like there was a there was a reason that you chose those two things and those are the things that people the community have been very critical of of you on because they just want to understand why the community is still out

selling out the Yankee Stadium three days for you. They still support you. They're not holding you to an unfair standard. I think they just want to understand why. And myself being a fan who would have gone to one of those nights had I had the time, I want to know the same thing. By the way, and it's only some of them. It's like, so well said, it's only some of them.

It's only some of them. Like, there is a part of the internet that is like Jay-Z, is a bond villain. He got all kinds of crazy illegitimate. Remember the lawsuits and all of that stuff like that. There's a bunch of people that are being completely feral about this and I understand being like, fuck y'all. I do. Well, there's a different group of people who are just like, hey man, when there is somebody that moves in a way that is supposed to be in advancement or, you know, in advocacy for a community, there's always going to be a conversation about. how that goes. It always will be. I think you can't do social justice and activism in the same way you do rap. This is the way shit happens in rap. I've heard other people in from the Rock say this. They go, hey, I had a record and I love the record. The record was crazy. Jay-Z hears the record and comes in and goes, that's my record. and then I give the record to Hove

because it benefits the whole label and everybody if Hove does the record. Right? You hear song cry. You hear other joints and people laugh about it, right? Because it's just funny for you to be in there working on something. By the way, this is not something that's unique to like to Rockefeller or to Jay-Z.

It's funny to hear somebody talking about a record or something like that and then have Jay-Z come on and be like, I got to have that. That's mine. And then he goes, no, no, no, that's my record. When they tell it, they laugh about it, no matter what. Because they realize that him shining is actually in a way better for them. They are signed to him.

They get to be on the record. It's going to be a bigger hit if Jay-Z puts the record out. Him shining is better for everybody. Okay. That type of situation does not exist when you're talking about social movements. So Jay-Z going and going, hey, Colin Kaepernick, that's my movement now. It don't work like that. It's not the same.

He's not signed to you, right? He's not your artists, right? He is a contemporary of yours for whatever reason. The target thing. You can't come and just say, hey, now this is with me. I will say this. The target bar is really interesting because what I had heard two weeks before the Target thing

was from a lot of people that said hey what Jay-Z actually did with Target is not wrong because everybody does it. You guys are picking and choosing. Well, Jay-Z didn't say that you're picking and choosing between artists.

Jay-Z said that you're picking and choosing with boycotts. Those were pro-target bars. Sit with it, but that is unassailable. He didn't say, hey, you know, Jay Cole did it and Kendrick did it and whoever did it, y'all picking and choosing with Hove because Hove is the greatest and I'm the latest and I'm, that's why I never went platinum. I never went platinum.

But that's not what he said because that was the argument that was used a week before, two weeks before everybody I heard was like, hey, everybody's saying this. Number one, it's not even an exclusive. And even if it is an exclusive, people do exclusive all the time. That's not what he said. What he said was you're picking on target and not Amazon. Telling us stuff that we don't know. Who here doesn't know that Google owns YouTube? Like who doesn't know that Google owns YouTube?

Who here doesn't know that it's a little fucked up that we all metta? Who here doesn't know all of this stuff? So like to me, all that stuff was like, all right, bro. Like, you know what I'm saying? But the most telling thing was that that was explicitly a defense of Target. Yeah. Of saying, hey, you're treating Target in a way that's inconsistent. So everybody that had said two weeks before, everyone that had said two weeks before,

everybody that said two weeks before that it wasn't exclusive and it wasn't that, that's not the argument that he went with. The argument that he went with was that you're not consistent if you're boycotting Target and not Amazon and all of this and My Bell and the electric, all of that stuff. You got boycott at all. Can't have no bacon. All of that. Right. So look, once again, I'll tell you what I pray for.

This is why I pray for. Okay. What I pray for really, truly when I pray, is that one. One day, it'll be about the people. I'm not pure enough. This is coming from 10 years of working at TMZ. Before I even get to this, I look at celebrity different than you guys do. I do.

I look at celebrity different than you guys do. I don't, I can no longer be inspired by celebrities. I can be inspired by work. Like, I see, man, I see, like, work inspires me. The stuff that reform has done. Like a lot of the stuff about getting people out of jail and getting people home, I just told you that's inspiring. Art inspires me. Like, nigger, the blueprint inspires me.

I love the blueprint. One of my favorites. The blueprint inspires me. 444 inspires me. I can be inspired by work. I can be inspired by art. It's difficult for me now to be inspired by people and that is what TMZ did to me. And just because I understand the amount of heavy lifting

that it has to do, that has to be done, shall I say, to build a celebrity. I understand what they have to do behind the scenes. I understand. And it doesn't make them bad people at all. I'm not saying they make some bad people. I'm just saying that there's construction to it. There's sweat equity that goes into all of that.

So that stuff to me isn't inspiring because a lot of times it's not genuine. Celebrity is not genuine. Celebrity is about two things, fame and money. If you get famous and then you're not famous, people take it out on you. If you get rich and then you're not rich, people take it out on you. Celebrities know that so they do everything they can do to stay famous and stay rich because the audience will punish them. The audience will say, hey, guess what?

Don't talk to me. You fell off. The audience will say, hey, don't talk to me. You are not famous anymore. You are not rich anymore. So the construction of celebrity is about maintaining fame. access and wealth. And part of getting to that prestige, part of lasting and not falling off 10 years ago became activism. You saw a lot of people get involved and speak out and say things

because prestige is doing something excellent and being taken seriously. You can't have prestige without being excellent. You can't have prestige without being taken seriously. So as a matter how great of a rapper you are or how great your music is, if your music isn't taking seriously, you will not have prestige. It doesn't matter how excellent it is,

right? Or do you matter how serious it is, if it's not excellent, you will not achieve prestige. So some people, I'm not saying this about Jay-Z, I'm just making sure that everybody understands this, some people got into activism in the middle of the last decade

to establish prestige for themselves. to establish some sort of legacy for themselves and elongate their cultural relevance, right? Jay-Z didn't need to do that because he is Jay-Z. All I'm saying is I long for the time. This is van coming from a corporation and the corporate seat being paid by corporate power. I long for a time where it's about you guys.

Where it's not about this person versus this person about this person. The target boycott, fuck whatever you want to say. That was about the people. The people decided, led by some really, really awesome leaders.

They decided that we wouldn't go take it from them. We wasn't going to take it from them. We wasn't going to take it from them. Nah, nigga, I know you're not laughing. I don't know. I didn't been there before. I know you not laughing. What did Braun say when he was at the free throw line?

When Braun's at the free throw line, he was like, everybody else on the court can say that. You can't say that. You can't say that. and it was working. Can niggas had a boycott? Can we, come on, man. We, we, bro, we're in the dirt, dog.

Like, it's like, it's like, we didn't lost, bro, we didn't lost them. We lost voting rights in Louisiana. We got to ask, we're on the run, man. All we got is each other. Can we have our boycott, please, please can we have our boycott? God, guys, I swear. I get it. I talk to everyone.

all these people are my homies all these people are homies I talk to everyone and everyone I've talked to I'm not going to name their names everyone that said hey van I'm up here in Harlem people still going to Target hey van I'm up here and then people still going to Target I get it guys I understand of course they are I get it that people are

that black people still going to target but enough black people weren't going to target that the boycott in some kind of way was meaningful can we just have can you just can you just do what you said earlier can you just not not can you just not can we just have our little boycott can we do Can we do something together?

Right. We've had a couple of different opportunities in flashpoint moments to actually make structural and lasting change. And we're whiffing. We didn't get anything out of the George Floyd stuff. Nothing. Like both actual, the geniuses that, I'm going to stop after this. The geniuses that are our ancestors took these flashpoint cultural moments and then gave nigger citizenship. And then said, hey, we're taking it straight to Washington.

We're going to put it on the books that we cannot be treated this way. and their sacrifices live on in perpetuity. We have not been able to do that. Not on the whole. What I will say is there are activists working every single day, getting laws passed at state and local levels and stuff like that. But the sweeping change that we thought might have come and should have come after the George Floyd marches did not get undergirded by law. The will wasn't there.

We couldn't move the needle. So the wins that we have to establish for ourselves have to be wins that are at local, organizing, and cultural levels. So you have to support those people. You ain't got to march with them, but you got to send them some money. And when there is a boycott that is working against a corporation, when we get an opportunity to show that we are not servants to cultural power in every single aspect, it's got to at least be meaningful. I'm not saying, all y'all ain't got to go to Target. I'm not judging nobody. I'm just saying, God, damn, man.

It's every single time we get something going, it's a nigger that comes along and be like, nah, that's not good enough. What the fuck is happening? Also, like, it's really not that much to ask for, especially since we're not boycotting everything. It really isn't. And it also goes back to, like,

the very first thing that we were talking about, about happiness and struggle and pain. People aren't willing to sacrifice a bit, a slight struggle when you can literally, you could do Amazon, you can do Walmart, you go to the grocery store, you can do anything else to get some of this stuff. You don't have to go to Target. I don't think that it's a heavy lift, but people aren't willing to struggle. I'd be honest with you. I forget about it. I forget about it too.

Can I say something? That's what I was about to say. So, guys, so I want you guys to consider this. Let me tell you another way that the Target boycott works. We just fuck the everything else we're talking about just talking about boycotts in general Let me tell you what a company doesn't want Any company doesn't want

Actually can I use Bernard for this Bernard you're single right Never I don't want to use like I don't want to use like I was going to use like a sexually transmit disease And that's not great Oh actually you like white women You do He likes everybody

So you like everyone So then so then let's say That you met this beautiful a white girl. Your homeboy told you that he thinks she's a Nazi. Right. First of all, Bernard, what you're going to do? Ask Y. Ask Y. Ask your homeboy?

Yeah. Okay. What makes him think that she's a Nazi? Let's say he heard it. Right? Let's say he heard she's a Nazi. Like, he has reason to believe that she's a Nazi, right? Okay, cool. Now, he's out of the scenario. now before you go out of the date with this girl before you like have interracial sex with this girl you are thinking in your mind that she is a Nazi it stops you from fully giving yourself to this situation there is at least some hesitation in your mind is there not yeah a little bit

and then I'll actually are you a Nazi right but think about that. I'm glad you said that. Think about that. Even having to ask her if she is a Nazi injects into the situation an opportunity for it to go left. Even having to have that conversation, having to have that dialogue with her is suboptimal. And in romantic entanglement, you want things to operate at an optimal level. So now you and her having a good time at Dave and Busters, right? Like she says, you know, I saw fucking the movie life with Eddie Murphy. I didn't think it was funny. You're like, why?

What you mean? What you mean? She was like, I saw Moonlight. Moonlight kind of bothered me. You're like, why would Moonlight bother you? It's a beautiful movie about love and relationships in South Florida. Like, why would that bother you? Why was that bother?

Why was that on your mind? You see that hesitancy that people would have in an interpersonal relationship that kills companies. Companies can't handle that. Companies don't just want you to not hesitate to walk through their doors. Companies want you to evangelize their products. They want you to tell your friends how great Target is. They want you to tell your friends how great Walmart is. They want you to tell your friends what a great conversation that you had inside of a restaurant,

what you bought, what you did. They want you to be on fire about it. And any hesitation that you have about walking through the door of a restaurant, a company, an amusement park, or anything like that paralyzes their bottom line because you have so many choices. Even that is evidence of a successful boycott. The fact that black people have to ask themselves whether or not they could or should be going to target is evidence of a boycott that has penetrated culturally. and there's a million examples that I could use, but that's meaningful.

It's not the whole thing, but it is a thing. Can we have a thing? Can we have a thing? All right, that's enough. By the way, just to let you guys know, full disclosure, I am friends with Colin Kaepernick and Nessor. I am. You guys know this, right?

You guys know this. I want you guys to know this, and I want this to be a part of it because what I want to, what I want people to know is there's a part of this, this passion that you hear in my voice that comes from the fact that

I've witnessed firsthand look, niggas is rich. Don't get me wrong. Okay. Niggers got money. So don't get me wrong. But I've witnessed what it's been like for people to be drugged through the mud for simply trying to do the right thing. Even if they did it in a way

that you guys might not think is optimal. Even if there are actual critiques to make about the way Colin and Nessa did what they did. Even if I want Colin to come out and be like, hey, this is who you guys should vote for. Even if I want Colin to come out and do it,

even if I would say, if I was Colin Kaepernick, I would do it this way, which I try not to do because that's hating niggas shit. Right. But to have a conversation about whether or not something is actually for people is not hating niggas shit. to have a conversation about what somebody should be doing,

that's on them and you can disagree. But if you tell me you're trying to help me, then God damn it, I should be able to have some type of conversation at least about how you doing it. Right. And that's it. And I don't think that, like, I don't think that, I don't think that there's bad people in this.

I just think that, man, we are so ground up in this trick bag of cultural war and capitalist confusion and corporate takeover and self-interest. And self-interest. That's part of the corporate takeover. And self-interest that

man, everybody's a narcissist. I'm a narcissist. Everybody's infant himself. I'm awful myself. I just want somebody to care about these kids in Baton Rouge that look the same. fucking way that they did when I left, I'll rip this fucking place apart.

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Wayfair, every style, every home. Anyway, let's go. It's just not, it's, you know. It's frustrating. Yeah. It's frustrating. All right. What's next?

You wanted to do this list Oh no, we'll save it for We'll save it for Thursday My way, I'm trying to help everybody I'm trying to help the kids and stuff like that It's just not moving fast enough Like I'm getting older They're staying the same

It fucks with me sometimes Of course Let's talk about something that you do love Okay, so look, we're gonna do a list Because I'm not gonna lie And y'all gonna look at me in a way When I say this The goalie, have you seen the goalie

For Nigeria, the Nijia the Nigerian goalie that was at the thing with Cardi B. Of course. See? I said something that people kind of looked at me crazy. I'm like, he's probably number one right now on the finest niggas list. Wouldn't you say? And then I put this out to some of the ladies.

I asked some of them. Maduca. Listen to the way you said his name. I'm fully owning it. Maduca. Maduga. Madoca. O'Coye?

Okay, okay. Look, I'll tell you straight up, man. I have no, you know, I have no thoughts about you know, some niggas look good. It is what it is.

So this made you want to do something. It made, what it made me interested in. I mean, fuck it, bro. Like, you know, I'm not saying I want to fuck the nigg but the nigger look good. Like, so that's what it is.

And so what I want it, because we haven't done this, There hasn't been, everybody's talking about 90s fine, but nobody's talking about 2026 fine. And I wanted Rachel's list, because we never talk about, we talk about how pretty women are and stuff like that. Let's give the fellow some love.

Rachel's list of the top five finest niggas in the world. Did you make a list? No, we're not going to do it next week. I don't know I was supposed to make a list. Well, I want you guys to do, I want the higher learning fans to nominate people. I want you guys to nominate people. By the way, this is not gender dependent.

If you're a fellow, you want to step out there, you want to nominate someone, nominate someone. Has to be somebody right now that's in the zeitgeist. Because I don't want y' nighers going back and be like, Billy D. Williams, ladies sings, blues. That's the old shit. Okay, in 2026. In 2026.

That's the only time I've ever seen my dad look at somebody and be like, that nigga got it. My dad thought he was... There was a lot. Like from that generation, they had a lot of respect for Billy D. My dad, my dad, we're watching the movie.

My dad go, that motherfucker Billy D something else, huh? My mom is such a rap scaling. She goes, oh, you like that? And he goes, God damn it, not cooking. I ain't say that. Okay.

I still don't have one thing now. Yeah. This is for you. This is a pallet cleanser. Well, no, you love the animal stories. I saw this and I thought about you. This is more than an animal story, though. What is it?

Let's talk about it. There was a tourist in a Yellowstone. He is in his mid-60s. His name is Carl is McDaniel. He suffered multiple broken bones when this bison threw him in the air. Let's take a look at the footage. All right, what's happening right here?

The bison is chilling. No, he's not chilling. He's agitated. You can tell. That's fine. But when I'm looking at the bison right now, and he's looked at this guy, he's looking at them. And this nigger looks exactly like somebody who in 1835 would have been killing this bison.

This bison has epigenetic trauma. Look at him. He's rolling around. He's thinking about his ancestors. He's kicking up dust. The whole nine, he's like, you know what, nigger? Look, this guy drives by. He's like, you know what, nigga, fuck you.

Like, look, I'm here. I'm probably the only bison around. around here, I'm gonna get my get back for what y'all did to my homies. I'm overcharging y'all for what y'all did to the cold crush. So look at him, try to run. Look at them, try to run. And there's a kid.

Yeah, the kid. The bison doesn't really want the kid. Because these are the guys with the guns that made the bison almost extinct. Watch this. You're running. You can't run. You can't get away from me. Up in the air, nigger.

Boom. Now, this is not funny that this happened to this man. But I have to say this. When I see the animals getting a get back, I think of what happened to the bison. Do you know how many bison were killed? 40 million. Jeez.

They killed up the bison. 40 million bison gone. That's one bison right there. That said enough of this. Well, just like, look at the environment, right? Like, first off, people are recording. Even the man that you spoke of pulls out his phone. to record. He's several

feet away, but you can tell the bison is agitated. Yeah. There are picnic tables around. There's a road in the middle of it. There's a car, a truck that drives by. There's random people. It's such a not the environment that a bison should be in.

It just looks. It's just, it actually like, I felt sorry for the bison. I'm looking at it. It's like everybody's looking at him. Like, he's a spectacle. He's agitated. He's, he's irritated. And then the people the video that we get, I don't think that there's sound on that, but it's like, were people yelling to try to distract the bison from going after this man? Instead, they just pressed record and kept going for the video. That was troubling to me as well. But when I look, like,

it looks so out of place that a bison shouldn't be there because it just looks like such a populated tourist place. And that in itself is a problem. Like the bison's, that is his home. No, I know. But the fact that there are cars and people and picnic. tables and a road it's like man it's a sad it's a sad I'm glad I'm glad that he is okay the gentleman McDaniel I'm glad that he is McDaniel McDaniel I'm glad that

Think about that name Carl Eason McDaniel I'm glad that he's okay I'm not saying he asked for it in any way Obviously that's a traumatic that's traumatic footage But man it's also traumatic to just like see That's the environment this bison The bison How many bison killed

Bison How many bison were killed? I got to look this number. If you were a bison, who would you buck eight feet into the air? Let me see. So the bison. You're not going to answer? What'd you say?

If you were a bison, who would you buck eight feet into the air? The first motherfucker I saw. Legitimately, the first motherfucker I saw. You mean to tell me that we used to to be everywhere, roaming through the prairie. And y'all came along, by the way,

when the Native Americans held it down, shout out to my indigenous people everywhere. When the Native American, when they held it down, they would kill a bison and get 50 things from one bison. They get the pelt from the bison. They'll get the meat from the bison. They'll use the hair of the bison for a bowl.

So they needed less bison. White man come through wiping the bison out. just taking the pelt, taking the horn, lead the bison there, whole carcass of the bison, just the whole fields of bison dead, bison graveyard everywhere.

That's epigenetic trauma, man. The bison knows that. The bison knows. The bison looked at him and went, you know what, nigger, you're about to get yours today. It's not funny. But I, I'm sorry, guys.

I'm on the side of animals, bro. Like, I'm just, I'm on this side of animals. better be lucky that the orca's not still tipping y'all shit over. The orca's stalling y'all out. The animals, they've had enough. We used to have, that wasn't that a segment that we had? What? The animals have had enough.

Yeah. Bison throws grandfather, okay, come, okay, guys, it's not, okay, it's not. We should move on. All right, I'm just saying, I know the guy's a grandfather. I'm sorry, you know. I'm shocked, though, that once he saw that the bison was, like, he pulled out of His first thought was to pull out his camera and film it. I would have gotten the fuck out of the way before he even started running.

I wouldn't even be there. Guys, guys, SMEs suggests that between 30 million and 60 million bison roamed North America. Look up how many we have left. Between 1872 and 1874, they were killing 5,000 bison a day. They didn't even have no chopas. That's more than I thought. They, I mean, they didn't even have no AKs, bro. Like 1872 and 1874, I mean, they had pretty sophisticated weapons by that point.

But, but 5,000 a day. More than I thought or says that there are approximately half a million, American Bison. I thought there will. I mean, compared to what you're saying, obviously, I just thought it was even less than that. You take my people from 6. million, let's just say 40, from 40 million down to a half? And that's not even, there are only 11,000 that are genetically pure wild bison. Nah.

That was one of them. Yeah, he was getting his get back. I'm sorry I had to be you, Carl. He flipped the bison. I'm sorry I had to be Carl. Carl looked like he's. I'm sorry to have to be you. I'm sorry I had to be you, Carl.

He's sick of the shit, bro. Fuck that shit, man. All right. Well, everybody's going to be mad. now um so nominate for the finest niggas list got it some were saying he's not that fine some are lying they were saying he too regular who said that i just basically asked in the office like he's a he's like a objectively handsome man demigod Look at him like he's like a demi god

I don't more than a man No I just he's just very attractive And it was like oh Give me another one pop up out of your head Give me your I don't know See it was shocking because I had not I never heard of him before

You know I'm not tapped into The soccer football world So I was like whoa He's just out here Oh you know who I did that before with Who would be on the list? The boxer Anthony Joshua

I said where did he come from Same, same reaction. He's on the list. That's two. So him, I got to tell you something, he's two Nigerians, nausea. It's just, it's a list. You like your little nausea boy, huh?

I have thoughts. You're like a little, there's two Nigerians. Nigerians taking over, bro. You're always so extreme. Anthony Johnson. They are. Anthony Joshua. Joshua.

Not Johnson. You don't even know the man named. I don't need to. So Anthony, so Anthony, Anthony, Anthony, And what's his name? Mapuka. Maduca. You don't know his name.

I don't know his name. I've never seen him before. He's a goalie. Maduka O'Coye. Maduca O'Coye. Okay, so you got those two. You got three more. The higher learning inaugural,

finest niggas list. Bernard, you got to, you got to participate, bro, because if not, it's toxic. Okay? You got to give a nomination, Bernard. If not, it's toxic.

As men, we should be able be like, yo. Yeah. I already have my number three. You got number three too? Who's number three? Skepta. Skepta.

Another nausea. Skepta, I think, is Nigerian. Rachel, what's going on with you in Mother Africa? I didn't realize until we started putting the list together. Boy, you about to get filled up DMs. Every time you say that, that never happens. People are scared of me. But I don't think the Nigerians could be scared of you.

What the fuck did these niggas got to these days? They don't get them. They don't eat. They don't get them. They're not scared about DMs like that. They're not scared of the law. Oh God. They're not scared of the Nigerians.

Shout out to my Nigerians, man. Shout out to all my, shout out to Amaya. All of my guys like that. No, it's Amara. Shout out to Amara. That's your friends and names. These are my one friend, because Russ got nothing but Nigerians around him.

Okay. And so my one friend, so there's two friends. My one friend, Dave, who could really jump. Mm-hmm. Dought-on-Tray songs one time. the gym. Dave the kite, they call Dave, but Dave's boy Amara, who played at UCF with him, he ended up being one of the Nigerian niggas that be around Russ.

So Russ, Russ keeps it real. Okay. You and Russ together with the Nigerians. Okay. Anyway, we got to go, man. We got to go. Tell you, thin caps off, but do not stop learning, and don't think it's sweet with these animals.

Like, we might have problems with boys. boycotts and stuff like that. They're going boycott your ass eight feet in the air. Give them space now. I love that. That bison's name is M. Bison. Street Fighter. All right.

So you think he caps off with an ensemble lawyer and I'm bad late later, Jr. I'm Rachel and Lizzie. Bye, guys.