Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, and Ron DeSantis Runs

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay remember the life and legacy of Tina Turner, who passed away at 83 (:20). Then, Ron DeSantis makes his presidential run official (15:00), a discussion on the extravagances of prom (28:43), and Taylor Swift is diabolical (35:33). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Highland is on. It is I Van Lathie, Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. I'm sad. I know. Not great.

I know. No pleasantries because we have to make sure that we polish a queen's crown before she goes to rest. Tina Turner has died. this happened on Wednesday. She was 83 years old. She died near Zurich in Switzerland, when she had been residing for a while, she was 83 years old.

In 2016, she had underwent a kidney transplant. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and had received a kidney transplant in 2017. Anime Bullock was born, 1939, in Nutbush, Tennessee, and went on to Chang. the world in myriad ways. First is part of the I can Tina Turner review, and then as a trailblazing solo artist

and a symbol of survival and perseverance. Your thoughts when you first saw that Tina had left us. Oh, man. It was like a gut punch. Because, I don't know, Tina, Tina Turner meant a lot of different things to a lot of people. But what's interesting is there's a, you know, people say they live multiple lives. You really can draw the line in Tina's life before and Tina's life after.

And I was having a conversation with someone at work who actually had no idea about Tina's life before the what's love got to do with it. album. They did not know about the domestic violence that she suffered. They didn't know about her losing everything and, you know, being on government assistance. They didn't know anything about the venues of music, but they didn't know the story, which was shocking to me. And then I thought about it and I said, that is because Tina picked herself up, rebuilt her image and became an inspiration to people in her 40s coming back, becoming an icon, a legend with a solo career after all that she had endured. And there are people that truly don't even know about before because of everything that she built after that. And so when you think of Tina, you just think of a

story of perseverance, inspiration, and someone who really gave a voice to people. And so, when you think of a to people who were experiencing domestic violence, it didn't know that there could be another side of it. And it's been really interesting to see people share their stories and talk about how they didn't feel comfortable until they either listened to an interview with Tina or they read her book or they watched the movie What's Love Got to Do With It About her book or saw the musical. She really was a symbol of excellence. And she is. She still will be. Yeah. So, like Rachel said, two lives lived.

She's almost like a cultural parent. Mm-hmm. And that you grew up with the childhood version of Tina. You must understand. The touch of your hand makes my pulse read that. You know what I mean? And then that's like the Tina you know. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

You know what I mean? You know all of that. And then, like, you realize your mom tells you or your dad tells you or somebody telling you, like, Tina Turner been, like, doing this for a long time. Like, I don't know. That's what you know of Tina Turner. But let me tell you about the Tina Turner that I know. I remember it was my mother that first said that her husband used to beat the hell out of her.

And I was like, who was her husband? Because I had never heard him. You know what I mean? I didn't know. And she's like, yeah. Yeah, he's like, her husband used to beat the hell. I don't know who was her, who was she married to? you know what I mean? And she was like, she was married to Ike Turner. And then my mom told me who

Ike Turner was. And beyond being a vile human being, which is the first thing you should say about Ike Turner, he was also a very important figure in music, the origins of rock and roll, and a certain type of swangling and wrangling on the guitar. I Turner was very instrumental in that. but obviously the enduring image of Iy Turner is one that made Tina's life a living hell which was of course played out in the book

and then the movie What's Love Got to Do With It? And like the book is What's I, Tina? I think What's Love got to do with this is the name of the movie. And when I saw that as a kid or as a I guess a teenager I said it's 92 it was just insane to know everything that she had been through

to get to the moment where she could ask what's love got to do with it. You know what I mean? Like it made all of that stuff so much more powerful when you see a survivor and just the elegance and the strength on the other side of it. And like as much credit as we give Tina for what she endured and she deserves all of that, you hope that her story makes it so that people don't have to endure that type of thing.

But beyond all those travails, just in terms of stagecraft, in terms of vocals, in terms of energy, in terms of that essence that really makes a superstar and a lasting, memorable, important performer, she was like the blueprint in so many ways. There's so many people out there. and you think they're doing Aretha, but they're really doing Tina. You know, you think they're doing Diana, and by the way, all these women are queens, but they're really doing Tina because of the high energy stagecraft, the high energy, the endurance, the strength, the power, just is a force of nature.

Yeah. And, you know, got away from this hellhole. We called America. Switzerland and lived her life out in a quiet, dignified, reserve way on her own terms. You know what I mean? I don't know. It's just, just part of me that's not ready to let this generation of black Americans go. They, you know, it's, it's, sometimes I wonder, you know, I did a podcast recently.

And shout out to Math Hoff and everybody. over at my expert opinion. And we talked about a lot of things. And it was a lot of fun being there with the guys. I think they have a great podcast. But one of the things that me and math went back and forth on was the whole slavery was a choice thing. And whether or not it's fair to cast a gate

or criticize our ancestors for what we feel like they should have done during that time or any other time, really. because if you extrapolate that out, right? You can go from slavery, you can go to Jim Crow or why didn't we? And by the way, you know, I keep telling people. There were all kinds of people who said no and who stood up and who revolted in myriad ways. You have the deacons of defense that took on the Ku Klux Klan.

You just got to know a little bit more about your history to know in ways that black people have always asserted themselves in America. But part of this is a greater conversation about what it means to be an ancestor, what it means to be black on this planet for like a long time to go through the things that black people go through, to come from Nutbush, Tennessee, to deal with what black women deal with, to be a mother and a performer and all of that and have an existence that's so excellent,

but so specifically rooted in our culture and what it means to really value that. I just want us to value that. I want us to value Tina. I want us to value Diana Ross. I want us to value Aretha Franklin. I want us to value all of these people that did these amazing things.

And I also want us to value the people that did the things that are amazing in their everyday lives that went to work every day, the bus drivers, the black people who went through this specific point of American history. And those are the people that raised me

and we're losing them. It's hard. Yeah. I heard somebody say something like the older you get, we're at that age. where we're starting to see our legends leave us. And it never gets easy. And then you also start thinking, like, man, did I appreciate them?

Because that's the thing. I was like, I didn't even know, you know, Tina Turner was sick. You know, she lived a quiet life. She came out for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We saw that. She had a couple of interviews. There's a documentary on HBO Max or Max, whatever it's called. Now, and she's got the musical, which is coming to L.A., by the way.

way if you guys want to see it. I mean, in LA. It's traveling right now. Yeah, and you just wonder, like, did I, I don't know. It's just, I'm struggling with the words here. They're obviously not forgotten, and these are people that we, you know, admire and we grew up on and that impacted our lives in different ways. But then you also get caught up in your own life. Sometimes you forget, and then they pass away.

And it's like, oh, did I do enough? I don't know if this is the right way to say it, but did I do enough to honor them? Did I, did we appreciate them like we should have appreciated them? That's how I felt with Tina. But it just makes you wonder like who we have to appreciate the ones that we have left. We have to honor them. We have to celebrate them and let them know what they mean to us and not take it for granted, you know, that they're still here. We need to celebrate them while they're here.

Let me shoot you some bail right there. Tina wasn't trying to be bothered. Tina was just fine. Tina, Tina had had enough of this country. All right. That's fine. I can love her from over here. Tina,

Tina was just fine. She lived her life on her terms. It was very beautifully and well said. And we do need to appreciate everybody. That's why I'm glad that we joking with Smokey. I'm glad that Smokey was. gang bang. Gang bang.

I'm glad that because that lets us know Smokey's still here. You know what I mean? Man. That lets us know that Steve, like Stevie Wonder, he's still here. Stevie probably got his newspaper and looked at the newspaper and read about Tina passing away

and was probably very upset. You know what? While he was playing his PlayStation and looking, he was probably very upset. We stayed a lot. They still here. you know, a lot of them are still here. Yes.

You know what I mean? I saw the, shout out to Blitz. I saw the first trailer for the, for the Color Purple movie. Oh, my gosh. And it made me think about Danny Glover. Like, Danny's still kicking. Danny's still around.

They're still here. And I looked at the trailer. I'm looking at Coleman Domingo, and I'm like, Coleman Domingo an amazing actor. Mm-hmm. But he also brave. because you couldn't pay me $20 million to play Mista.

Like, I'm thinking about that movie, because that movie was a part of this entire time celebrating these people. You know, celebrating them. And looking at this movie, I watched with my grandmother's movie, that's a black movie. I'm looking at, I looked at the thing, I'm like, okay, color purple for it. I'm fucking with it. At the same time, you could pay me $20 million right now. I wouldn't play Mista. because Danny Glover,

every time my mother sees Danny Glover, she's like, this motherfucker. I'm like, it's one thing, mom. It's like, you know, he played his role well. But Coleman's playing it, you know, this is more the musical.

So maybe you won't feel as strongly. So what? So what that mean? Well, the story is going to be. The story is bigger. Like it's more of, Shug and Seeley's relationship that we didn't get in the movie.

Because I was talking to somebody about this. And, you know, in the movie, it made it seem like Shug just wanted Sealy to be love. And so she gives her that kiss and that affection in that moment because she wanted her. She wasn't getting love from any other places she wanted her to feel it. But in the musical, in the book, it really, explores their relationship. And so I don't know how much I missed a, Mr. We're going to get.

But you're right. It's a break. But if anybody can do it, it's Coleman Domingo for sure. Domingo, fantastic. So, you know, think about that movie. That movie is almost a celebration of a certain time or a real, you know, a look into it from Alice Walker. And by the way, I'm sure that it's a musical.

I mean, I'm not, I know that it's a musical. But the only thing that can make miss this treatment of Ceeley worse, is if he was singing a song while he was doing it because the niggil was wild. Okay? So, um, get ready. Uh, Tina,

we love you. You have earned your rest. Rest well, my sister. Uh, we will come back with Rhonda Santis. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.

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He did it on Twitter Spaces. It went off without a hitch. It went perfectly. It wasn't a disaster. The disastrous way to announce your candidacy. It was one of the best things anyone's ever done. That is called sarcasm, my friends. Twitter Spaces, Wednesday.

This is how it went, Donning, video. All right. I'd like to welcome Governor DeSanis for this historic. We're just trying to get it going because there's so many people. That's unfortunate. I'd like to have never seen this before. Governor DeSantis for the story start.

All right. There it is. Desantis is running for president. It's official. Rachel, how are you feeling? I know that this is something that you've been waiting for.

No. First thing that comes to my, all I think about is putting fingers. I can't see him any other way at this point. And that's what I'm waiting for. I'm waiting for the, debates. I'm waiting for the campaign ads. I'm waiting for the back and forth as they tear each other apart and they will. I don't know if it was, I don't know if it actually came from Trump's

campaign who put it together or not, but they've already started where they're, they say DeSantis wouldn't be anything without Trump. He was losing in his, in his, uh, governor race the first time he ran until Trump backed him. And it's because of Trump. that he has become who he is. He's nothing without Trump. This is paraphrasing what that ad says. And that's just the beginning. That's what I'm waiting for.

On the other side of it, it's a little terrifying. Because should Ron DeSantis, as he says in that ad, I mean in that announcement, win the primary and end up running against Biden and potentially wins the president, if you watch what he's done and continuing to do in Florida, if he gets the power to do that nationwide, it is scary. If people forget some of the things that DeSantis has done since he's been governor in the state of Florida, criminalized gender affirming care for minors, restrictions on drag shows, critical race theory, he's gone against that.

He's gotten rid of DIA, diversity, equity, inclusion. Yeah, diversity, equity, inclusion. He's got rid of that out of schools. We already know about the don't say gay bill. He's attacking corporations. Disney, we know that we've covered it. He's made it to where you can carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Book bans.

He doesn't allow transgender to participate in sports. He doesn't allow there to be bathrooms, for everyone. They have to be gender specific. And then we know his stance on abortion, six-week abortion ban. The only exception is if you're dying. There's no exception for rape or incest. He does allow abortion up to 15 weeks, but you have to prove, you have to have proof of a restraining order or a police report to get that exception. DeSantis is a monster and his monstrosity will expand outside of Florida, should he get the chance to be president?

And that's scary. And that's, we have to keep reminding ourselves of what he's doing in Florida. We think that it doesn't impact us because we don't live in the state, but should he have the opportunity to have that kind of power nationwide?

It's terrifying. Yeah. You know, the interesting part of it for me, I mean, DeSantis in this record, he's he's not running away from that he's made himself the poster child for

um regressive politics and he's proud of it he's proud of it I think the most interesting part of it is going to be twofold one how he is going to reconcile his relationship with the maga wing of the party in terms of the wing of the party that does whatever

Donald Trump wants them to do he in his Twitter address seemed to give hints at what he was going to what he was going to use to separate himself from Donald Trump and it was the fact that he feels like he can win and Trump can't that's what he said he said that he's tired of losing he says to do all the things that he wants to do he has to win we have to win to do these things and that Donald Trump's recent streak of losing, really he's lost since he won,

is going to make sure, it's going to make sure the Republicans can't do the things that they want to do because he's got to, so he's going to sell himself as the opponent that can actually be Joe Biden, Joe Biden, the Republican Act, that can actually win the White House again. Because as far as materially, there won't be that much difference between him and Donald Trump.

And he's not attempting to strike a court with any voters who might be in the middle or moderates on either side because all of his positions are so extreme. So this will be a lot of show for DeSantis. He did talk a little bit of his record in Florida, not the things that we just talked about, but other things. Minority employment in Florida, black-owned businesses in Florida to combat what he felt like was the NAACP's political attack against his candidacy in Florida. He talked a little bit about, you know, the economy of Florida as a whole. He talked a little bit about, you know, how he sees his vision of America and Florida embraced science is what he says in terms of mass mandates and all of that stuff,

but, you know, all of that's smoking mirrors. Right. You can look at somebody and look at what they believe and what they've used their belief pulpit as governor to put forth. and ascertain whether or not for or against the vision of America that we think that we should be living. But what I did see, though, in his Twitter address

are some political talking points that if not carefully vetted and discussed might work on some people. And particularly people who are particularly people who are who are less engaged politically than they should be. You know, who don't understand like what's going on.

I'm just being for real. No, I'm, yeah. And I'm saying this to say that here on this platform, we really have to be dedicated to being issue-based and really dive into who these people actually are. and not cover them in a celebrity

like celebrity cultural narrative type way, if I'm saying that right. Meaning we have to talk about what Ron DeSantis is doing and has done. Why what you just did is very important. And we have to keep it about issues because the fight between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump is going to be a bunch of bullshit.

It's not going to be about anything. That's like literally a celebrity apprentice is what that's going to be more about. But at some point, in this election, DeSantis is going to have a couple of things maybe happen for him. And then after that, a couple of other things will happen. If Donald Trump gets in too much trouble and all of this stuff looks like it's going to hurt him, then DeSantis and his people will smell blood. His daughters will smell blood. Everyone around them will smell blood.

And they'll become a point here to where the Republicans who desperately in their hearts, not the constituency of the Republican Party, not the people, but the brass desperately want to move away from Donald Trump. They really do. They do. But they can't because they are held hostage by what the people want. They try, remember? After January 6th, they thought, hey, it's over. but McCarthy was back in Mar-a-Lago

within a month because Donald Trump didn't lose any points in terms of the curating. He was still, you know, the man with him. But at some point, they'll see their moment. And after they see their moment to destroy Trump, DeSantis will come to the center. He will. He will come to the center.

And you'll hear about HBCUs. You'll hear about black ownership. And you'll hear about all of these other things that he touted during that Twitter spaces. And what you won't hear is that his entire political existence is dedicated to coddling and empowering the furthest right wing of the Republican Party. A vision of America that to me is not sustainable right now with where we are. So, as bad as this was, I just want to make sure we pay attention to him. And really all of them. Nikki Haley's going to, Nikki Haley's running essentially for vice president.

Mike Pence is a zombie. I don't even think there's anything under there. You think he's going to announce? I think he will. Because he is announced. Okay. Yeah. Mike Pence is a zombie.

I don't even think there's anything other there. Tim Scott is your nice guy. Rhonda Santis is your fighter. but there hasn't been anyone of any of these people who seem willing to stand against what the Republican Party has become in the last six years.

Yeah. Not one of them. I'm not saying that the Republican Party before was any walking apart. But I'm saying right now, they are some real fuck you niggers and gay people type shit. Yeah.

No, it is. And it's interesting what you say about Tim Scott, too, because you called him the nice guy. Not to be confused with he's so nice that he's not like the others. No, he's doing it under the guise of conservatism, conservatism, and religion. Like that's what he's hiding under. And that's, to your point, and the spelling out who Ron DeSantis is, that's what we have to do for all of them. Don't get caught up in the labels that you just gave them and going deeper and diving deeper into who they really

are. Pins, there's nothing behind there. I look at Pence now. I keep thinking Pence going to pull off his face like one of those mission impossible masks. Like Pence, there's nothing under. Pence, they killed Pence that day. Mike Pence as a political.

But like Mike Pence as a political entity, he died on January 6th. They executed him. You said, Nicky. Keep going. Go ahead. I'm just saying, like he, you look at him and he doesn't know who he's supposed to be or how he's supposed to be. Like the whole Republican Party is a big cuck sandwich. Cuckety, cuck, cuck, cuck. You love that word.

I do like that word. You do. You really do like that word. Nikki Haley running for vice president. Whose vice presidency? Is she, or who's she trying to run on? Whose ticket is she going to run on? Who's going to take her? Do you think DeSantis would take her?

Probably not. I think that the dream ticket for the Republicans before this was the DeSantis, Tim Scott ticket, which if they were smart, they would have been gunning for in the first place because it would be a formidable ticket. The Trump, I'm hoping for a Donald Trump nomination. Everybody else is against it. I'm hoping for it. It's the best thing for us.

The best thing for us is that Donald Trump gets a nomination. I completely agree with you. We could walk around holding up his picture and get everybody to turn out. Just with the messaging issues from the Democrats and some of the other stuff, you know, we need to have a real, real good rest of 2023 and early parts of next year to get things back on track. in the way. Other than that, I think they're vulnerable, more vulnerable than they think they are.

But we'll see. All right. Real House Wausse and Potomac. Candice Dillard Bassett. She disprone. Oh, my God. She shared a clip of Pennsylvania teens. Jay Marie and Young Liza going to prom.

They had, it was very extravagant. We talked about this. little bit. They were dressed up surrounding by friends and family. They stepped out into a storm of confetti, a DJ, all kinds of stuff. And she tweeted about it. Candace, who you love. She said, I pray this tacky overdunk prom trend is over by the timeline already. We're not doing this. They look nice, though. These are kids. She said they look nice. We got to stop this, man. Shout out to Kansas.

Shout out to the music. But we got to stop this thing to where we, this is like some real get off my yard type shit right here. I actually don't agree with you at all, but go ahead. This is some real get off my yard type shit. I've heard this before. When I was going to prom, you know what the thing was? Why they need a limo for the prom? Really?

Yeah. It was like the older people was like, why y'all need a limo for the prom? Why can't y'all just carry ourselves? Old people always got a different way of saying, getting a car and drive someplace. Why can't y'all just carry ourselves to the prom? Why y'all need a limo for the prom? Because, motherfucker, I love you. I love y'all, but guess what? We got limos now.

It's different. Relax. It's prong. They kids, man. You know, I saw a Bronner. Bronny was dressed off for the prom. I got my prom shit from Men's Warehouse. Bronie had some shit that looked like that shit came straight from Marco Aurelius Fashions in Milan, Europe, Fendi bag,

whatever. I don't know fashion. But it's different. Fendi back. Listen. So people were upset with Candace's tweet, like Van, apparently. Not upset, but, you know, he thinks it needs to stop.

That's a strong word. I think people were overreacting. I tried to get Candace to come on the podcast. She did, she would not to talk about this and address it. But here's the thing. If you break down her tweet, I think people were looking at, they just saw her say the word tacky, right? She said, I prayed this tacky overdone prom trend.

She is calling the trend tacky, not the people, not their attire. And she said, and she even ended it by saying they look nice, though. If you guys haven't seen it, it's a full on red carpet. There's like a step and repeat. There are balloons. They're wearing matching outfits. There's like a Rolls-Royce. There's all these other cars that are parked there.

It's like a whole thing. I don't think it's tacky. And maybe that's the word that's triggering people. But it's a lot. And I personally wouldn't take to my social media as a tweet about it. But what I, Van. I'm listening. You're pulling to me.

Closing your eyes and falling to sleep on. Listen, I'm not saying that I wouldn't do this for my kid probably. It's a lot of money. And who are you doing it for? I would do something nice. But I probably wouldn't take the social media to talk about it either. But honestly, get off Candace, y'all. Y'all are just looking for a reason to be mad about something.

It's not that big of a deal. She said they look nice. She acknowledged how great they look. She thinks the trend is too much. And it is too much. It's too much. This ain't no get off my yard type stuff. It's too much.

It's not too much. Can I be honest with you? All of this stuff, it's all arbitrary, right? I can make an argument that... Make it. Going to the prom... which is a once, maybe twice in a lifetime thing

representing a part of your life which you'll never do it again. I see all of these celebrity people they get dressed up and do too much at the drop of a hat. I see people dress up like cats going to the Met Gala. It's too much.

It's not too much. None of it's too much. Why is it too much? It's what people do. People get all dressed up. They put pictures. on their Instagram, look at where they're, they kids,

they celebrate, they go into the prom. They will never be in high school again. God damn it, leave them alone. I'm not saying they can't celebrate. And to go on there and call it tacking, like what is the, okay, what is it? No, they don't, see,

see how we split hairs for people we like. See how we split hairs for people we like. I am dissecting. seeing her tweet. She called the trend. If she hadn't said they look nice, I'd be right there with you. Nah, man. We're splitting hairs. We split in hairs. Is Candice, Giselle would have never said this. I tell you straight up. Giselle, Giselle would never said this. Honestly, Giselle would do this. Giselle would do this for her kids. See? She would do this for her kids. I put out my real housewives of Potomac ranking and everybody got on me. She was third. I like Candice.

I like Candace, I especially like the couple. But I like Candace. I like Candace's music. Candice dope. But I put out my ranking and everybody was on me. That's a terrible ranking. And then lo and behold, who is dissing school children? Stop.

School children. You got to do better than that, Candice. What's your husband's name again? He the man. Chris. Chris. Chris. Close.

Chris. Chris. Chris. Chris. Chris, Chris, Chris, you know what? I want to know what Chris thinks about this. You know, I want to know what Chris thinks about this. What did Chris get called?

He got called a sneaky. By your number one. Yeah, I wasn't right. I'm not saying that Giselle is always right. That wasn't right. But Ken, this wasn't right. This wasn't right. This episode is

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support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum Business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. All right, let me tell you how diabolical Taylor Swift is. There's no other words to use. Let me tell you how diabolical Taylor Swift is, man. I'm going to be real with y'all. Taylor Swift, she playing chess

and the rest of y'all playing fucking Candyland. We talked about Matt Healy on this podcast. Taylor Swift's rumored boyfriend, everybody pretty much knows they're together, who likes to watch ghetto gagers, which is the site where black ladies get fucking karate kicked during sex scenes.

It's not great. It's not a great look. He talked about all kinds of things. He's very problematic. He talked about his feelings about Ice Spice. Lo and behold, Taylor Swift has now tweeted that she is doing a collab with Ice Spice.

So much to tell you. I'm a massive fan of this, brilliant artist. And after getting to know her, I can confirm she is the one to watch. So delighted to say that karma featuring the incredible Ice Spice will be out tomorrow. Taylor Swift is working with Ice Spice now after her boyfriend, Matt Healy, with nuts talking really crazy shit. I'm not going to lie. About her.

About Ice Spice. Rachel, this is some of the. the shit I had never seen before. Taylor Swift is the Lex Luthor of pop music. She, nobody fucking with her. She said, I put her on the song. Then what? Now what y'all going to say?

How can we, Matt Healy, he'll probably going to write the song. They're probably going to have, Taylor Swift featuring Ice Spice, and then they're going to do the ghetto gaggers remix. A fan. I'm sorry. What?

What? So this is what? This is how it goes. This is what I was talking about. This is how it goes. Everybody now is like Taylor Swift got Ice Spice, put it on the song. And they forget about it. And they'll forget about it.

This means nothing to me. I wish, see, like, I could just never really fully be in this world because I just wouldn't play the game. I wish Ice Spice would say, no, I'm not going to be on it. I really do. I think professionally it's great for Ice Spice because it's Taylor Swift. It's going to open her up to, I mean, she's hot right now. She's crossed over at this point Ice Spice has.

But it opens her up to an even bigger audience. It's a huge collaboration for her if you separate it from the whole Matt Healy thing. But I wish she could be, I wish she could see that she's being used as a pawn in all of this. So which one outweighs the other? And for me, I just couldn't play this game. I'd rather come out and be like I actually said no to Taylor Swift because she is affiliated with this guy

who makes derogatory and racist comments about me and other women and then also tops it off by watching ghetto gaggers that humiliates black women that is what I wish would happen in a perfect world. I forgot the name of the site.

What's the name of the site? What's the name of the site? Say it again. Stop. You know it. You knew it before I knew it. I never thought that Rachel would say, you're not about the Taylor Swift, me, okay? I'm not saying it again.

But in a perfect world, that's what I would like to see happen. Don't, don't play into it all. She's using you. She's using you to move past controversy. Is it a genius diabolical move? Yes. But it would be so much greater if I say, spice and her people were like, nah.

And then Beyonce's like, I'm gonna use, I'm gonna put Ice Spice on a song. That's my perfect world. Or Rihanna or somebody, somebody big or just as big or bigger. So Taylor Swift has never worked with, I think they said, Nikki Minaj. She's never worked with. Cardi B. Cardi B, you know, Ice Spice, brilliant artist. Shout out to Ice Spice. It's a, look, it works.

You would like Ice Spicey. You're using you. She is using you. You want Ice Spice to not do the song. I want her to not do the song. This is even more problematic on Taylor's part. She is using. You already said she's playing chess.

And she's using Ice Spice to do it. Is it fair to ask Ice Spice? I get the, I get, that's what I said. I couldn't play the game. Is it fair? Maybe not. I get the professional reasons, the monetary. reason. I get it.

If you were Ice Spice, if you were Ice Spice, would you not do the song? I wouldn't. You're lying. I wouldn't. I don't believe. But I wouldn't, but I just, I don't, that's what I say I don't fully fit in the world. I don't, I couldn't play the game like that. I couldn't. Remember when I asked, remember when we asked the question, if you would take the, the, the, the,

$250 million or a billion dollars. or either that or in racism. Remember that? Yeah. Remember what your answer was? Because I don't think racism could ever Could ever. That's not the hypothetical!

Well, I said I take the money. I gave you an answer. I gave you an answer. And I would use the money to fight racism. I can't. If you ice spice, you got to be. From up here. From up here.

from up here. I fund the campaigns. I fund the campaigns. If I'm Ice Spice, you got to do the record. But God damn, Taylor Swift. She wins. Every time you think the whole era's tour,

Taylor Swift will get up there. She's going to shed a tear. You know, she's chitter-tint and then Ice Spice will come out there with much. And then we, And all of this is going to be cool until Taylor Swift invites

Ice Spice out to the Erez Tour to do much. And then we see Taylor Swift dancing to much. And then right away it's going to snap back into us. We're going to be like, that's not what we want. I guess I got to have a new poster. A new poster. It's a concert. It was going to go to the concert.

Ice Spice is a pawn. Well, you can't do it now because she's empowering black women. Ice Spice is a pawn. That's going to be your poster. Ice Spice is a pawn. I'm going to have two of them. I'm going to have two of them. All right, this next topic, we're going to take a break.

When we come back on this next topic, I want everybody in on this one. I want all four people. All right, one second. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tramphia, proper training is required. Tremfaya is a prescription medicine used to treat

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and no wire comfort that last all day. All over smooth, all day comfort, vanity fair lingerie. Find yours at Target today. Okay, look, I'm really, this one's interesting. It's not that interesting to me, but people have been making interesting comments on it. There's a Chinese makeup artist. Everybody pop in. Oh, damn it, guys.

Oh, shit. Here comes fucking... Nature. Nature calls. The fucking crocodile. Johnny, bro. Jesus Christ. So

Chinese makeup artist. She put Kobe Bryant makeup up. Okay. She said Kobe is forever in my heart. Her name is easy. Bobo. Balbo.

Bald cap, all of that stuff. So she can look like Kobe Bryant. And the question is, She's a makeup artist. Is this blackface? Is this black face in its form and function? Or is this her doing the makeup rendition of Kobe Bryant?

And is there space in between? I'm assuming we've all seen this video. What do we think? I look at somebody dark and in their face. I'm like, there it is blackface. But then I had a conversation with somebody, a Negro, that was like, is this blackface though? Because there's a whole part of the makeup community that's always stretching themselves in different makeup ways and all of that stuff. And I'm not sure if I know enough about that to know blackface or not.

What do y'all think? It's really interesting because I've seen like a few videos of this. It's a lot of like Korean, Chinese, Japanese people who, you know, do this black face thing. Which, yeah, it's literally, it literally is blackface, but they make the, I dare I say, excuse that they don't know the cultural significance and issues around blackface and see it as more of a, I don't know, a dedication. I think it's very inappropriate and they have the internet. So they should know what it is. Do I think it's the normal blackface that we know from, you know, America or Western cultures?

No. But do I think that it is a form of new age blackface? Possibly. Blackface is in its intent as far as what it was. It was very specific. but the cultural legacy of blackface isn't as specific. I think what black people are saying with black people, at least is what I'm saying,

I can't speak for all the black people, is that I find it unsettling at best and raging at worse when someone darkens their skin to look like a black person. Because I don't think that the world particularly in the Western world, has given black people enough agency in their own skin for someone to jump into our skin yet.

I think if I felt fully free, I might not have a problem with you darkening your skin to look like me or mine. But the thing is that there's a toll that hasn't been paid. And all of this shit it's not for free it's not for free

it's not for free no more all of the rhythm and none of the blues you know what I mean it's a great homage to Kobe that's fine I don't get dress up like Kobe all you want put on the jersey and and don't

you know what she should have done if she wanted to be like Kobe don't dark in your face do something really impressive put on Kobe's jersey and then dunk the ball. That's what I would say. I want to see her either dunk the ball

or I want to see that fallaway jumping. Because darkening your face to look like Kobe, that's fine. If you want to be like Kobe, go out there and get some buckets. But I'm not trying to see no god. Donnie, you laugh and I'm being for real. That's more,

being would be more impressed with that. Because that he had to work for it. You know, it's good. you can do makeup, whatever. Don't, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to hear this shit. Don't dark in your face. Can you see me?

Yeah. Can you hear me now? Okay. Sorry. Internet's bad. Or it's just, I'm at work and they're trying to cut me off here. Listen,

it's blackface. I couldn't hear everything everyone was saying, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating it. I don't, here's my question. If it was a bad job, would you feel what do you think people would feel different

I think people are trying to police our interpretation of this a little bit I don't know if it didn't look like Kobe like she was like I'm gonna I'm makeup artist and I'm gonna put myself as Kobe

and it looked like Uncle Ruckus or something I don't know do you think that people's like I don't think she looked that much like Kobe. It favors. It favors. Do you think,

but it's still a decent job of black face. If there's such a thing. If there's such a thing. Van, fuck off. I don't like it. But I think people would have a different reaction and they're trying to excuse it

because she did a good job of turning herself from Asian woman to a black man, which just saying that's it's out loud shows how problematic this is. Why are we even debating this? Why are we debating this?

This is so problematic. I don't care that she's a makeup artist. That's the other thing. If she was just, if she was a violinist and she did this, will we change our minds? I'm not giving her any type of excuses. Don't do this. You put on a black face.

It is costume. If you're that good of a makeup artist, be somebody else. be somebody else. You want to turn yourself into a man? I thought I was going to say bad. I was going to say Jackie Chan. Oh, Jesus Christ.

Be somebody Asian. Don't do black. Don't do black. It's my point. It's my point. Don't do black. I don't do black. Jesus Christ.

I only hesitated because I just said. You have no, nigger. The hesitation might have made it worse. If you would have just said it, I would. Yeah. Because if you just said it, then it would have been a situation My point is, don't be black.

You're Asian, do somebody Asian if you want to be a man. Don't do black. Really, she could do anybody. Blackface, and this is kind of what I was talking about before. She could come on that bitch and do Joe Biden. I wouldn't have a fucking problem with it all.

Blackface has a very, yeah, very specific history. Remember, y'all, it was dehumanizing a caricature. What people don't understand this, all of these little things that are little to you, that we're saying,

hey, we don't like them. Do you know what we think or what my mind goes to? Death. And let me tell you why. It's blackface. Niggers are less. We can put our faces on,

act crazy, but they dehumanizing. Death, death, death. Look, there is all of this talk about what racism really means, right? And so I watched this very fascinating interview or debate

this guy named Adolf reads from the world. And he says that he's a very intelligent guy. And he says that race should be, race is less important than class. And he talks about how building benefits. fast sort of political coalitions around race is going to be hard. And if we look at the issue from a class lens, right, then what will end up happening is we'll end up addressing all the working black people's needs. It's much more deep than that.

You can read him and his son, if you like, and they play it out. There's a book about his experiences. Jim Rose from New Orleans. So he's one of the guys that, you know, read for him. Here's the thing. And this is kind of what I say to arguments like that. This is where blackface fits in. There was a need to dehumanize black people to make everything that society needed to do to hold up its class structures easier.

Sure, it starts off with capitalism. It starts off with we need free labor, blah, blah, blah. But then after a while, even maybe even before then, probably. before then, because when the Pope signed off on this, on that, what it has to be is these niggers are cattle, and because they are cattle, we can treat

them any way that we want. So the dehumanization of black people in this country becomes necessary to holding up the structural and codified racism that existed in slavery and Jim Crowe.

I do not think you can have one without the other. I do not think you can have, like, of a fundamental system that props of white supremacy that is not married to the belief that black people are inherently less. And blackface is a symptom of that. Okay, white people using the N-word, it's a symptom of that. All of these things are things that say, hey, these niggers aren't as good as us. So therefore, we can do whatever we want.

And the only thing that we are saying is, if you guys say that you don't, believe that. Just don't do these things no more because we don't like them. And what do y'all keep trying to do? Tell us why they're okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. If you want to be like Kobe, go get some buckets. If I saw this woman right now,

put on a Kobe jersey, go out to a pickup game, and get 12 out of 15. That video will go viral for all positive reasons. She puts on a Kobe jersey. She puts on a maybe she breaks her her finger you know what I mean

and puts on a little Kobe thing plays with the broken finger goes out there to give buckets not the blackface though Ashley liked it yeah the black face come on y'all Ashley

Ashley sent me that video and was like man look at the talent that was the that's what she said can I ask a really quick question though like about about this particular thing

so um So in America, we all know black, well, we should know black face is wrong. But I've noticed a lot of like Europeans and, you know, in Asian countries just like in this video, they seem to do blackface quite a lot. I know like in the Netherlands, they have like a whole what, you know, yeah, they have a whole like party, an event, a holiday where they where they do blackface. And do what? And be black all day? Yeah, they just have party.

Yeah, they, it's like they dress up like black people. They paint their faces black. You can't tell me they don't know what the black person. You can't tell me. And then in Japan, they have like this whole culture of people who tan to be this kind of like character, a black character. But they say it's like a way to represent or, you know, who they, what they like about black people. How do we

as Americans, as Westerners, how do we acknowledge and approach this kind of culture when we see it? Because it's immediately offensive and terrifying to look at. I'm looking at the pictures now. So in the Netherlands, what

they say is you guys have heard of Black Pete, right? Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it's Black Pete. He's the bad Santa Claus. Remember, if you ever saw collateral and And the guy, like Javier Bardem and collateral, he talks about Black Pete and the whole deal. So they're trying to, they say that they're dressing up like Black Pete in Christmas and they come in the coal and the stocking. Black Pete is like an anti-Santa.

It's like a bad Santa. And that's what he looks like. A nigger, apparently. And so they say it's not racist. There are different places that do this. Oh, C-WICOvers. Fuck it. I don't want to go to Spotify

intro days. I don't want to go over there. I just know I'm going to go over there. I would be hanging out and it's going to be the day at a Black Pete Festival. But yeah, no, it's like I understand that. And that's, I guess, a very

salient point. But they learn everything else. You know, she knows who Kobe is and she loves Kobe. dig a little deeper. You know what I'm saying? Dig a little deeper. And now you know, how many times do we have to say it's bad? We have to say it's bad so many times.

Remember when the girl from Orange's new black did blackface? It's so many times they do blackface. How many times do you guys say it's wrong? No, it was Julianne Huff. It was Julianne Huff who dressed up as crazy eyes. She dressed up as the girl from. That's what it was. Let's call her name.

That's right. It was Julie, Julianne, Julie Huff. That's who did it. Yeah, she's crazy eyes. What is it called? It says Black Pete. Black Pete, Donnie, you kind of look like Black Pete a little bit. I'm not going to lie, bro.

You can't tell me this isn't right. Come on. I'm reading this article now. They say that black kids in the Netherlands when they were growing up, they called them Black Pete's. Come on. Oh, no, see? So they know.

See what I'm saying? They know. Of course they know. I'm not giving anybody a pass. Of course, they call black kids. They said anybody who grew up in their childhood knows that if they were black, they were called a black Pete. Come on.

It turned it to a slur. That's a great, it was a great, it was a great question. But like, y'all, y'all keep your antennas up. If they're out here calling you a black bee, don't laugh along. You need to understand. I don't even know about this day. You need to know. You need to know.

That's another word. I'm telling you go over to the Netherlands and you get over there and it's like, Pete, what would you like? What would you like? No. All right. Mail that.

What is the accent? What is the accent? How are they talking? Pete, Pete, what would you say? It's wrong. That's wrong. What I just did, doing the Netherlands voice,

I apologize. It was wrong. Okay. See how that's, see how easy. that is, it's wrong. Don't do voices of other ethnicities. It's bad. All right. Mailback time.

Time to read your letters and then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback time. Write us with your queries and we'll chime in. Milback. All right. First one is from Hot Girl in ATT.

which is better Cajun or Creole food or is it really just the same? It's not the same. This is a van question. Yeah, it's not the same. There are differences and I will say something right now.

I think that Creole food is better. I'm a little bit closer to that culture. But I will say something and I would like to put something on the blueprint right now. I would like to give out an olive branch between different factions of Louisiana. There was an incident that happened not too long ago. And an incident was that the Louisiana, the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, okay, they had a crawfish boil.

And after this crawfish boil, they dusted their crawfish. I don't know if you know what this is what you guys do. Texas. They dusted their crawfish. Meaning in Texas, sometimes what people do when they're having the fake-ass crawfish boils that go on in Texas is that they season the crawfish

after it's already been boiled. They dust the crawfish off. They put the season it on after it's already been boiled. Parts of Louisiana where I'm from, that is a no-no. You cannot tell the people from Cajun country how to cook. I'm sorry. It's just like a reality.

So it was really surprising to a lot of people to see them dusting their crawfish over at ULL. After that, it was surprising to see them do it. I'm sorry. It was surprising to see it happen. Okay. And this started a lot of intrastate, South Louisiana civil cooking war stuff. I want to say this, straight up right now. I love the Acadianas.

I love the 337. I love the way you guys cook, Bat Rouge, Lafayette, all of these places. We got to be together, guys. We got to be together. Was it a little shocking to see you dust your crawfish? Sure.

I trust you guys. If you guys, at first, I reacted poorly. But if you guys were dusting the crawfish, you dusting the crawfish is fine. I don't want my crawfish dust it. Okay, it's against the whole thing to me, but you can't impugn the way they're cooking over there. That's the Cajun, Cajun, Cajon, Cajon, Cajon, tap.

I've never seen them dust. Y'all never seen dust the crawfish. In Texas, y'all got certain things y'all can cook other than that you don't know what you're doing. I, like, never have seen the process. I just eat the crawfish. Yeah, but, you know, if, it's like, I don't know.

All right. Let's the next question. Next is up from October's very own. Why are you laughing? Move on. October's very own. October's very old. It's also making me hungry.

What are copper, brownie and Bozeman's favorite toys? Oh, shit. Bozeman likes any toy. Yeah, Bozeman comes to our house and tears up all our toys, all copper and brownie's toys. Every single one of them.

Yeah, Bozeman likes any toy. Bozden is just, those bozers is just a toy fanatic. So, like, he, his favorite toy is the ball. I have to say that low, so he doesn't hear me. But he likes any toy. Yeah, Copper loves a tennis ball.

Brownie, he just doesn't. whatever copper does. Honestly, my dog's favorite toys are food. Just food. Why are you playing Brownie like he a, why are you playing Brownie like he a punk-ass bitch like that?

No, he just, he doesn't really play. He doesn't really play with toys like that. His big brother does. Don't do. Brian Brownie hears me. He's not even bothered. Right here.

Next question. All right. All right. Mother of Teddy. when you were single, what were your deal breakers? Oh, DeFries? It wasn't. It wasn't, it wasn't many, man.

I was on the Simp train. I was on the train to Scent Bill. You know what I mean? I can't act like I was a guerrilla Pimp like that. I'm just too easy going of a guy, you know? It wasn't, I wasn't like laying down the law. I've never, I'm not even going to pretend like I was the type of nigger that was like, hey, you know what I?

make daddy a sandwich with extra mail. That's not me. I'd like, you know, I'll come home from work and make you a sandwich. I didn't have that meat deal breakers, you know? Rachel, what about you? I'm trying to think. I mean, like, bad breath. You needed to have a job.

I'm trying to think. Honestly, I don't really, maybe I did and I just forgot. I feel like I was very shallow. in my earlier years that Van, shut up. I hate when you start smiling in a sneaky way

because I'm like, what is going through his mind? I was very shallow. So I don't even really want to say all of that. I'm trying to think of stepping into my 30s what were my deal breakers. And there weren't that many. There weren't that many.

It's all about the connection. I got to be able to connect to you. I got to be able to feel you. If I don't feel anything, not being close with your family was a deal breaker for me, for sure. See, I didn't even fuck about shit like that because everybody got a sob story, right? So, like, everyone, everybody got a sob story. Good.

I know motherfuckers now. It's not that. But everybody, everybody got a sob story, right? So if you're not, see, that's the thing. I never, I never was looking at it like, damn, she's not close with a family. So what does that mean? I'm like, damn, you're not close with your family. That's so sad.

You want to go shopping? Right. I like, I don't have to hear the story behind it. You're right, you're right. You're right. I'll do it the story. But if it was like because you're just like an evil person and you don't want anything to do with them, like, I can't handle that. Yeah. All right. Next question. Is that it? Yeah, there is no next question. That is it. All right, cool. I want to say something real quick before we go. I want to give a special shout out to somebody. I want to give a special shout out to Ian Vaughn Spooner Jr. This is Ian's son. my nephew, who is a graduate, a 2023 graduate of Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Now, was I a fan of you going to Woodlawn? No. None of you guys went to McKinley, and that's fine. The only one that went to McKinley is Cy, Gino's son, because he lives his life right. Shout out to Cy. But I want to say something real quick.

there's a sacrifice that I've made in my life, okay? And it's not a great sacrifice. Moving to L.A. to go after the things that I've wanted to go after in my life means that I've missed a lot of the lives of Ian, Amari, R.J., Brooklyn, Cy, Leah, all of the children, Trey's kids, Brian's kids, everyone. I've missed so much of their lives. I've missed so much of the lives of the next generation of the men and women that I love, right?

Gabby, all of them. I've missed so much of their lives. And that hurts me a lot. Like, it hurts me to see Ian graduate knowing that me and him and I never played a game or pick up basketball. But I am so proud of Ian. I'm so proud of the men that, as much as I joke about the play, their proof, proof, about the fathers, the husbands, the dads that we are, and seeing these kids well-adjusted and out there living their lives, beautiful, black, strong, and confident,

it's amazing, especially if you guys just knew how ain't shit your fathers used to be. If you guys knew, if everyone knew just how ain't shit your fathers used to be, if y'all knew some of the things that I've went through with your dads to see how great you kids are. To see some of the shit that went down. I could tell stories after stories after stories. I'm so proud of these men. I'm so proud. I'm proud of Katrina.

I'm proud of a mark. I'm proud of everyone. And y'all really did good, bro. Take a thing. I'm also telling you some stories about your dad because you don't know. I know. And shit. Take things off.

Do not stop learning. I'm Van Latelythe Jr. I'm Rachel Lynn, Lindsay. Bye, guys. And happy long weekend.