Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Super Bowl Halftime Recap and a Talk With Timothy Ware-Hill

Episode Date: February 15, 2022

With Super Bowl Sunday behind us, Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay vent their distaste for the current state of big game commercials (8:05) before discussing the concern around drill music and a related rise in violence (12:25). Plus, the memorable halftime performance gets a recap (30:19), and Timothy Ware-Hill joins to discuss a problematic situation (43:02). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Timothy Ware-Hill Producers: Trudy Joseph and Donnie Beacham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher learning is on. It is I, Van Latelythe, Jr. And it's me, Rachel Lynn Lindsay. Destructive new, oh, hold on for a second. You got the Super Bowl hangover voice. You got your, you're playing her to do.

The thought warriors know what's up. When Big Rache comes in with the horse voice, that means she worked hard and she played harder. That's exactly what the thing. that means. Did you call them the throat warriors? That's a totally different podcast. I bet we do have some throat warriors. I bet we do have some throat warriors.

No, no. We only have thought warriors. I bet that's got to be some throat warriors out there. But I got to be honest with you. You're like, your voice. Don't start this. You like King Griffey Jr., man. You like, you remember King Griffey Jr.?

Craigford Jr. got hurt one time. Swinging the bat. Okay? Like swinging the bat, he got hurt. Like, it was like, we love Ken. King could do everything, five two player. But he was just injury prone. Swinging the bat, he hurt himself.

It's like King, Greenwood Jr. out for the season, tore his hip, swinging the bat. Lack of sleep, drinking, talking all day. That's a triple. That's a combination of I'm going to have a hoarse voice. I did it three days in a row. Actually, since Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I was working hard, but I had a good time too.

Did you have a good Super Bowl weekend? It was cool. Did you go to the actual game? No, I'm not down for that. You're not down for what? Like, all I kept hearing was two hours to get there, three hours to get out. I want no parts of that. I want to sit at home.

I want to watch it with like less than 10. 10 people. I want to hear the commercials watching the have time show. Watch the game. I don't want people talking over me. That's how I like to watch it. Super Bowl weekend was good. I'm glad it's over. Same.

Glad it's over. My feet hurt. You know. Hey, just walking around different walking around different places. Hey, Van. Hey, have it to you around. Oh, man. Oh, oh,

man. Okay. See, the pandemic, was like, yeah, man, Ped, no, stop. I'm just very, I'm sick of justifying how much weight I've gained to people. I'm not coming back outside for months. I don't care. No, how about you don't justify anything?

You just keep it moving and do your thing. You ain't got to explain anything to anybody out here, okay? Nothing. You're good. I dropped it on, on Instagram today. Fat Crazy and Tires is the book name. It's coming out April 22nd,

2002, Fat Crazy and Tired. Okay? That's the book. I put the cover of the book up. Yes, and now my book manager people are trying to get in there and do their whole thing. So, yeah, it's about a lot of things, but it's also about me doing that kind of stuff right there. Rachel. Wait, can you pre-order it now?

You can pre-order it now. Where can people go to pre-order? No, come on, let's promote this right. Where can people go to pre-order? I'll do it right later. Before I get to that, I want to talk about Miss Me with that a little bit. First of all, I didn't realize I was going. going to, my name was going to be mentioned in the book.

It's just briefly. You didn't ask. I don't need to. That's funny. You didn't ask. I should have to sign something. I thought you be pleased. No, I will tell you.

I'll tell you what. I've read parts of this and I'm wondering what the judge thinks of some of this wild ass shit that you got in this book. Like, I didn't think you were going. Like, I'm wondering. It's not that wild. some of it's wild rachel some of it's kind of wild i definitely didn't tell the wild parts of my life in that book then why not some some of it some of it's wild i'm gonna be honest with you there's some

parts like we i get to i get to know i love the copper stuff by the way i get to know uh i get to know you but some of it's wild have you heard from your parents about the book at all uh to a point in the book my mom asked me who one of the people was and that's that was it Did you tell her? Of course. Did she? But I prepped my parents before over Christmas time that I was going to be talking about sex in the book. Right.

Like I let them know before. But it ain't no like graphic novel or anything. It's just very, and everything has a point, like a purpose. I'm not just talking about it for the sake of talking about it. Those stories aren't in the book. Getting a little son. awesome. Look at you. So we're doing

big things over here. Speaking of relationships, Kanye West and Julia Fox broke up. Was that an announcement? They broke up. It's over. Well, I mean, everybody's, oh, it just happened.

Breaking news. Breaking news. They broke the fuck up. Kanye West. I mean, my God, when you're going to send a car to Kim's house with roses in the back of the truck that says the message is crystal clear spelled crystal clear spelled with K's. I mean, at this point, he's already begged

on stage for Ken Wally's with Julia. Julia, do yourself a favor. It's embarrassing at this point. You got your fame. You got the attention. You got your Birkin. Keep it moving. This elevated her status.

As she said as much, she said, she said, this is what Julia Fox said about this. And I want to make sure that we talk about this because if this were a black woman, the internet would be fucking going nuts based upon what she said. Julia Fox said, y'all would love if I was so upset, the media would love to paint a picture of me as a sad, lonely woman crying on a plane by myself,

but it's not true. Why not see me for me? Why not see me for what I am, which is the number one hustler? I came up, y'all, L.O.L. and not only that, but me and Kanye are on good terms. I have love for him, but I certainly wasn't in love with the man, Jesus Christ.

What do you guys think I am 12 years old? For the record, the only time I cried was in 2022. And that was on February 6th, my dead BFF's birthday. Anyway, if you want the full team, you're going to have to buy the book when it comes out. Now, there you go. She played a part.

She played a part. She played a part. Now, we'll say this. I've seen people. nobody's really, look, a lot of what Julia Fox said, first of all, it's all her business, right? It's all her business. Right.

It's very put out there for public consumption. But a lot of that's stuff that she said in there, had that been a lady from love and hip hop or had that been a lady from any of these other places that said, hey, I dated this guy, I quote unquote, came up. And if you really, I want the real story, I'm going to put it in my book. It would be dragging her. If she were black, I'm sorry to think they would be dragging her ass. I'm gonna cross the coals right now.

Sure. They were calling her all kinds of names. All kinds of names. When all she did was just play her apart. Play her part. And like if you don't think Kanye was using her for something, she used Kanye for exactly what she wanted,

she got it. I'm not mad at Julia. But you're so right about a black woman, though. I'm not mad at Julia either. I don't, uh, I'm not mad because I don't give a fuck. No, I know. Like what, like, what would have,

What would have to happen for me to be mad about it? You know, they broke up, Kanye's trying to get back with him. That's all. That's it for that little core. I just thought that was an interest in a piece of information that just dropped. What was the best Super Bowl commercial? Go ahead and tell me. You don't watch them.

I'm going to say the Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd one, the Lace Chips. Oh, it was good. Yeah. They weren't that great. They get it worse and worse. Big names in them, but like not that entertained. Can I have Old Man Corner real? quick, Donnie, we do this old man corner thing.

And I have an old man corner, just real quick, Rachel. Sure, sure, sure. Super Bowl commercials ain't what they used to be. It's old man corner. Okay? Here's the deal. There were a couple of these commercials I liked. Anything involving a dog? I like it.

Bozeman has changed me. I have a soft spot for dogs. If I see you, Jake, check your dog by his collar, I'll tell you about yourself. Hey, don't do that. Okay, let him sniff the shit. The Robo Dog commercial was my favorite one because I was helping that little pup found his way to the electric car so he could charge himself up. He needs a recharge.

But I'll tell you one thing. And back in my day, back in my day, Super Bowl commercials weren't just an excuse to throw as many fucking famous people in a commercial as possible. We had Clydesdale horses. we had cool ideas. We had the what's up guys. We had amazing animals. There were some celebrities. Yeah, sure.

But it wasn't just, hey, we got Salma Hayek and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hey, we got Paul Rudd, even though I like that one. Hey, we got Kevin Hart. Hey, we got all of these people. You can judge the fact that society is becoming celebrity obsessed by the fact that when they want to, to sell you something. All they feel like they have to do is throw a famous person in the ad and you'll buy whatever they say that they buy.

They don't even have to do anything fucking creative anymore to get you out of your seat. It's just do whatever a celebrity says. Do I am pissed about it. I did not enjoy the fact that the Super Bowl commercials were lacking in creativity, but overdosing with celebrity appeal. That's my old man rant for today. I'm sick of that. I didn't like that.

Am I wrong, Rachel? You are not wrong. I'm surprised you didn't say you liked the Sopranos one. Did you see it? I saw it, but once again, the Sopranos commercial to me is one of the worst things about the Super Bowl commercial. Like the Sopranos things is one of the worst thing about it. So it's either celebrity nostalgia or celebrity plus nostalgia. the Sopranos

ain't got nothing to do with no motherfucking car I don't give a fuck about that The subpranos Well that's actually not true Because he It was this opening song Yeah the show itself doesn't

But he's driving in a car So it was So what So it was reminiscent to the opening scene Like that's it made sense to me For a car Because he's driving in a car In the entire opening credit

It makes sense They lived in a house So why don't you just try to sell me a house based upon an episode of those But she's listening to the song in the car like he did. As she drives to see Robert Island, which is cool. All that's cool. No, you can't. The car part made sense.

I'm not saying it was my favorite commercial. No, what I'm saying is they're using that, which is iconic to sell a car. The show is about so much more than trying to sell you something. The show is about entertainment between generations and families. It's about real human shit. It's about the difference between trying to get healthy mentally. It's about repugnancy. And it's about all of these things.

You don't use it to sell me a car. It's just fucking sopranos, man. I'll take the nostalgia part more than I'll just take throwing in a celebrity. That's what I will take. But I agree with you. You're not wrong. You're not wrong at all. You're not wrong at Old Man's Corner today.

Like the commercials were not, we're lacking. They were lacking. Lacking. lackey. All right, let's take a break. Get back to the big deal of today. The playoffs are here, and you can predict the action all the way to the final with Fandul predicts. Predict the spread, total points, and even the game winner.

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Fandul.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya, gusalcumab taken by injection is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy and for adults with active

psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before a treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being

a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. Okay. Big deal of the day comes once again from New York mayor, Eric. Is this, is he your favorite mayor?

It's not even close. Of course I love, Mayor Sharon Weston-Broom of Baton Rouge, but that's because she's awesome. I love Randall Woodfin, Birmingham, but that's because he's awesome. But as far as Mayor Fuckery, this is the best guy.

That's actually his name. His name is Mayor Fuckery. This is his name. Eric Adams, Mayor Fuckery. I'm not so sure this is fuckery what he's doing right here, though. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. He is voicing his concerns about alarming drill music.

During a press conference on Friday, Eric Adams expressed his concern for the Brooklyn drill scene, linking it to gun violence and urging social media companies to remove material related to the alarming rap subgenre. from their platforms. This is the audio listening to Mayor. And I had no idea what drill wrapping was, but I called my son. And he sent me some videos, and it is alarming. And we are going to pull together the social media companies and sit down with them

and state that you have a civic and corporate responsibility. You know, I mean, we pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewed. Yet we are allowing music displaying of guns, violence. We're allowing it to stay on the site because look at the victims. We're bringing them in. We're going to show exactly what has been displayed. And we are alarmed by it. We are alarmed by the use of social media to really overproliferate this violence in our communities.

Okay, so that seems to be an indictment of the drill music scene. First of all, let's take it from the beginning. Rachel, are you familiar with the drill music scene at all? I had never heard of it. You had never heard of drill music at all? No, I had never heard of it. But when I looked into it, I was like, oh, I mean, obviously I recognized names of it. I didn't realize that that was a certain category.

of music. I didn't know that was a certain genre. I had no idea. But I recognized some of the people who originated it. Right. Right. So go ahead. So what, I'm not going to explain it. I mean, what do you? Why not? Our audience, I guarantee you

a lot of people don't know what real music is. Really? Interesting. Okay. I was about to bring in Trudy or Donnie, but I bet they knew. Yeah. Brin Trudy and Johnny. Trudy and Donnie.

jump in right now. Do you guys, are you guys aware of drill? I became aware of it because of pop smoke. Okay. Okay, because of pop smoke. I was like, Rachel, I became aware of it once

this story became a story. I was aware of names, but I didn't know that it was a genre called Drill. Right. Who knew Chief Keith was a part of drill music? I had no idea. I was outside of music.

Are you guys fucking kidding me? Are you being, Sometimes I think, no, sometimes I think that you think because you know it, like it's so widespread that everybody knows it. You know a lot of like random little things. I had no idea. Of course I'm familiar with Chief Keith. I had no idea that he had his own category of music.

Interesting. Okay. Get at me. Get at me if I didn't know who Chief Keith was. Well, I'm not getting that. First of all, I'm not getting that anyone. It is surprising. You literally go, are you fucking kidding?

Well, that's not to get, that's not really to get at you guys. I'm that surprised. There's, first of all, let's talk about drill music. Drew music originated in Chicago, right? So you got Chief Keefe, you got Little Reese, you got little Jojo, you got rest of peace, Jojo. And all of these guys who were in the drill came out of Chicago. There are now different subgenres of drill. There's London drill, London drill, which obviously the London drill sound got up there.

Then there became Brooklyn drill. Brooklyn drill is what cop was what pop smoke was into all kinds of drill artists out there. You know, you got guys like pop smoke, you got sleepy hollow, you got it going on all over the place. Drill music has been heavily associated with gangs. So be real with you. Gangs, gang lifestyle, gang warfare in Chicago, even in Brooklyn. All right? So when you talk about drill artists, you typically talk about music.

That has a lot of imagery that has, don't get me wrong, it's good music to the vibe to in the club. It for sure is, but the imagery and some of the sounds and some of the the subjects that they talk about drill of violent, right? If you're talking about, hey, some of this stuff talking about smoking on this guy and smoking on that guy. If you guys have heard that and rap, it's like, hey, we're smoking on this pack. We smoke on that pack. Like, dissing people's dead homies, dead brothers, dead parents sometimes in rap song. and further stoking escalation that exists not just on rap records, but also in the streets of places like Jacksonville, Florida,

even some here in L.A., Brooklyn, New York, where Pop Smoke was gang-affiliated. Then, of course, in Chicago, where it all originates from that, is what we're talking about drill. When we're talking about drill, we're also talking about bodies, right? We're talking about guys who have passed away. We're talking about the death of King Vaugh. We're talking about the death of FBG Duck. We're talking about the death of the little Jojo.

We're talking about the guys in Jacksonville shooting each other up. We don't know about whether or not drill music or any type of gang affiliation had anything to do with the death of pop smoke. That's unclear. He was killed out here. It looks like more of a robbery gone wrong type of situation. But we don't really know. There's been a lot of talk about drill music and the influence of drill music in hip hop right now on the youth. And how that is affecting people, the prevalence of guns in it, the prevalence of violence in it, the prevalence of not just dissing somebody on wax, but dissing the people that they know that your gang or your side has killed.

A lot of these terms you're talking about my ops, you know what I'm saying, getting caught lacking, smoking, all of that stuff. It comes from the influence of really of drill music. And so there are people out there beyond what the mayor is talking about that have started to talk about whether or not this particular subgenre of rap is a bridge too far in terms of its place in hip hop. There's a guy a DJ named DJ Drusky who said he's not going to play any drill anymore because the music seems to be propagating the cycle of violence. that is real world to a lot of people. Just based upon what you know about this entire situation, Rachel, what are your thoughts? I got to applaud the mayor. You know, we've talked about music and gun violence on this podcast, and we've talked about the need for influential rappers in the community to step up and do something because we talked about how there's a correlation between the two.

So here you have a mayor who sees this type of music being prevalent in the community that he has leadership over, and he wants to do something about it. He was unfamiliar with it. Once he became familiar with it, he said, this has got to stop. And if I have the power to do something, I'm going to do it. I love that he's calling on influential rappers to join him to make this stop. I love to see DJ Drusky saying, you know what, I'm going to use whatever power I have to stop this. And also, it's bringing awareness to a type of music that myself and Donnie, and I'm

sure many others out there, were unaware of. I mean, I'm thinking of the Chief Keith Keith's song, that's that shit I don't like. And now I'm thinking about it. I'm like, he literally says in the song, bang, bang, over and over again. I didn't realize that that was a part of, um, uh, uh, drill music. And I also read that drill, another name for drill music is kill music. You could, It's both. And so I think that what he's doing is extremely commendable. And I hope that it starts a chain reaction where people are saying, hey, there's been a lot of violence in these streets. We're seeing a lot of people get killed.

We literally just had a shooting in L.A. At the after party of Justin Bieber's show this Super Bowl weekend, it's got where rappers were coming out. There was a scuffle. It involved Kodak Black and his friends. unaware if he actually did get shot. I don't think that's been confirmed, but it is speculated. Four people were shot outside of a restaurant. You know, you can't say that the music and the gun violence aren't in some way related.

And I think, Van, you said it very well. One time we were talking about it on this podcast of people being desensitized to it because the music is, it's so prevalent in the music. So here's the thing. Number one, I don't want to paint all of this art drill itself, right? So what I'm saying is a lot of the slain that we see And the Jacksonville music isn't by definition Drill music right

But a lot of the slain that we see And the sectioning up and the size that we see It's inspired by Drill music It's inspired by a lot of shit that came out of Chicago Drill has a very ominous A very distinct sound And so you can't say that it's all necessarily Drill music and right now

Even though Chicago been doing their thing in Chicago is the originator of drill, the drill scene kind of is more centralized to Brooklyn drill. Pop Smoke had Brooklyn drill going crazy, and there's a sound that's bubbling in places like Karnarsie where Pop Smoke is from and other places like that,

where Brooklyn drill is a big deal. So this is my thing. So we talked about this before, and when we talked about it on the podcast, it seemed as if I came off as the old fogey by saying that we should examine some of the messages and some of the thoughts and some of the themes in the music and just ask ourselves whether or not those things are serving us.

I want to make sure people understand that. I'm glad you've changed your tune, Rachel, and now you're on my side now. Oh, Rachel, I flip a flop on there. That's a flip-flop. I was unfamiliar. I definitely educated myself on this drill. I'm so old on this drill music.

And I was like, I thought, I really thought about this. I was like, man, we talked about this before. Man, Van and I were not on the same side with this. I got to say that there's something, there's some sort of a correlation between it. I'm not blaming, I'm like you. I'm not saying it's all of it, but I'm just saying I had no idea that this was even like a thing in the culture. Right. So let's talk about specifically what we're discussing here.

Mm-hmm. What we're specifically discussing here is whether or not we should have. a conversation about it. Okay. The mayor's doing something different. He wants drill music off of the radio. He wants people on social media to take action. I don't have a problem with him going about it that way.

That's not the way I would go about it. Okay. I wouldn't go about it that way. What I would say is, and I don't understand why there's so much pushback on this, if we're talking about actual dead human beings, right, that are coming from a place where there's intense violence, right? And they're putting that in their music. I get that.

That's where they come from. That's what their music is going to reflect. But we're seeing some of these guys get killed even after they've made it as rappers. So what we're seeing more than we've ever seen before is a behavioral link between where they're from and where they're at. And one of the reasons why that happens is because now in some of these different music circles, being authentic is about actually being the realist killer. I'm not going to call names, but you guys know who I'm talking about if you know the music well.

It's about who has actually killed a bunch of people, who has actually gone on a bunch of missions. When you listen to these young men talk sometimes, they're talking about life as a real life GTA game. Like between what's going, between Fulio and them and Spottong got them in them and Young and Ace in them in Jackson. they are rolling up shooting each other up and innocent people are getting killed there was a girl outside of a restaurant that was murdered because she was on a date with one of these guys

and if you're telling me right now that you want to talk about everything else that affects black people everything else that affects young black males young black females but you do not want to talk about the fact that we might not be serving our community by some of the messages in this hyper, ultra, crazy violent, real life reflective music, then I'm wondering if you're just talking to hear yourself fucking talk. I get it. It's not any of their fault that they were born into a situation that had them click up and get it on like this.

But I'm saying now we have the opportunity to talk about whether or not some of this stuff is working for us or not. And when I see dead rappers, it's definitely not working. When I see dead people in the community, it's definitely not working. Think about what's happening, man. Duck, Dolph, King Vaughn, Drakeo the ruler.

I'm not blaming all of this on drill, but I'm saying it's getting way too lit out here. And you want to point the finger at everybody else, but let's take one second to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to address some of these issues and some of these problems as a community and maybe set some limits for what it is that we'll sing along to. And I don't see anything wrong with that. I don't either. I don't know. Why is it such a hard conversation to have you feel like? I don't know. I mean, you've got people saying, well, this is the way that they feed themselves

in their community. And this is the way that they make it out. But I feel like if you can make it rapping, you can make it rapping about something else. There are other things to talk about. Or there's ways to talk about violence or gun violence and not be bragging about it in a certain way or talk or naming people that you're killing. I think that that's that argument of, well, they're just talking about stuff because they're just trying to put food on the table. It doesn't make any sense to me. Or the whole like, you know, you're taking away our right to say what we want to talk about. I just feel like that's a very selfish way to think about it and you're not understanding the impact that it is or potentially is happening in the

community. I don't, I don't, I think people just want to be stubborn for the sake of being stubborn sometimes. I really do. Here's the thing. It's, it's very easy to say. I don't want to come off sanctimonious or high brown, but I'm getting, I don't think that's it. I don't think that's what this is. This is what I will say. A lot of this music is changing the economic situation of some of these brothers. So I understand that that. They don't want to see their creativity and what it is that they've got going on hampered it anyway because they want to be able to continue to make the music that's going to get them out of their situation.

I get that. I understand that. This is what I'll say. It's very simple to say it this way. That's what I'll say. When you talk about rat beef and the beef is all wax, there's a point to a rat beef when the beef is all wax. The point is music, right?

You might not actually like a guy, but you're going to drop a verse. he's going to drop a verse or she's going to drop a verse. You're going to drop a song, they're going to drop a song, whatever, whatever. Go back and forth, okay? Not that some of these things haven't turned violent because they absolutely have, all right? But at its purest, a rap beef is about who's the better musician, who makes the better music. I'm actually willing to support that. This guy thinks he's a better rapper than you.

You want to go in him and prove who's the better rapper. That's fine. I will not support. will not support any longer who is the better killer I will not support that if you want to talk about rapping

who got this who got that that's fine and it's purest form but if the the conversation now is who's the better killer who's up on the kill tally who's ops are running scared where you got to go to get this

where you got to go to get that, who we're smoking on, I'm too old, I'm too out of touch, I'm not fucking supporting that. I'm just not doing it. These niggas are dead forever. They're not coming back,

and I don't want to be a part of it. Let's take a break. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business, and even this podcast. That's why I trust Spectrum Business. It keep companies of all sizes

connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support, millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya,

Guseocomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before a treatment,

your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about trim fire. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimphaya, including important safety information. Super Bowl halftime show. What do you think, Rachel? I thought it was great. You liked it. I thought it was great. I did think there were going to be

more surprise guests because Drake kept teasing that, but I enjoyed every minute of it. And I think Brian sums it up best when it was over. He was like, that left me wanting more. that I think determines whether or not it's a good half-time show. I could have used more of certain people. You know, I'm a big Kendrick Lamar fan. So I, first of all, first of all. Kiermaire. Meteor man is a movie I love so much.

So in fact, yes. I remember, there's not a lot of things we could watch in the Lindsay household. Right. And I just want to, before I say this, I want to say what time period we're talking about. There were so many cameos in that movie, or not the cameos, but famous people in that movie, including somebody I loved Cliff Huxbull, okay? So you're like, as a child, I loved seeing that in the movie. I was just, like, fascinated with the whole thing.

Anyways, black superhero, doing good in the community. I don't know, I loved it. I love the whole thing. Anyways, so the fact that Kendrick Lamar did the Golden Lords, to me, it made the performance everything. I was in a room with people who didn't quite understand that. So I was trying to explain to them the importance of what that was. Plus the way that they were marching, the way that they were dressed, like this whole Black Panther feel.

I love the whole thing. So to me, seeing Kendrick Lamar doing his thing out there was probably my favorite part. Most people aren't going to say that, but that's just because I'm a big fan. But I loved it. Mary showed out. I wouldn't expect Mary to do all that. It just, I don't know. It just made me happy.

to see them all standing up there together. They seemed happy. I had the privilege of interviewing Snoop today, actually, at the opening of his store. And I asked him about what that moment meant to him. And, like, he said the stars just all aligned together because it's across the street, is in Englewood, across the street from his store that he has, what it meant to the community, the whole city there, standing on top of there. Like, it just, you couldn't have painted a better picture.

So I don't know. I just, I love the whole thing. Did you enjoy it? Kiju Bar gave you a little choreography. You see that? What? What I'm expecting it?

I was dancing. I was like, okay, Kidger, Kidger going, like shaking the shoulders a little bit. I don't know. I wasn't expected kids to dance at all.

I didn't know he would be dancing. It was my favorite. I enjoyed the show. I took a little flack on Twitter because I was maybe, I got a little woke. Because, Kids who performed all right, right?

Which love, love, love that song, right? And that song is a very important song to the movement. You know what I'm saying? These people's Black and Loss Manor walking up and down the street singing that song. Mm-hmm. And it's a part of the song where he goes, and we hate Po Poe Po. But the Kill's Dead, the Streets for Show. They leave that part out.

It's the whole powerful lines of the song. But that was me being a little bit extra woke. happens. I still enjoy the fact that that's the song that he chose to do up there. That's still meaningful. You can't go all the way. Don't let the, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Although I would like to see a time where we don't have to neuter ourselves at all to be ourselves, but I get it. He wants to get the message out. Kendrake Mark. Listen, I, I, if they told him he couldn't do the song, it would have been a problem. But to me, when I saw that show, I saw everybody being unapologetically themselves.

That to me was beautiful. So yes, they cut that line out, but it was all black. I mean, except him and him. But it was, you know what I mean? Like, it just everybody, I mean, Snoop was dressed in a blue flag,

which that outfit is on sale in his store. Now, by the way. He was advertising. Hey, let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Don't buy it. Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of other stuff at Snoop store that you.

you could buy. I'm telling you guys, don't get fucked up. Do you want to wear that whole blue outfit? It's on a mannequin in the store. It's on a mannequin in the store. Fantastic. Make sure your politics is right

if you're going to rock that. And make sure, by the way, if you are in Eaglewood and you buy that all blue joint, don't walk around too many places in Eaglewood with that all blue joint on because that's control by the other side.

Do you know what's, but they, but no, but in the store, a lot of their stuff was different, uh, like colors like that. Like same print, different colors. I was like, oh, okay. Women and for women and men. Yeah. Love Snoop.

I love Snoop. Like, love it. Just, if you go buy it, just make sure your politics is right. Take it over to the 60s or something like that. 90s or something like that. Don't be in Athens Park, different lanes, anywhere wearing that shit. You get all the way fucked up or at least pressed.

See, here's the thing. Have you ever been in a situation? I'm assuming you've never been pressed by gangs before, right? I have not. Getting pressed is a bad feeling by gangs. I would imagine it would be. But it's a bad feeling

for many reasons. Okay. One of the reasons is you know the right thing to do, but you don't want to do it. you know you're somewhere it's like yo man where you from you'll say every you know what they mean but you'll start giving them places that you live that are for nigger i'm from zimbabwe you know i'm from i'm from africa brer how about that we all from the same place now i mean where you from i know what you mean wherever you think i'm from i'm from there i'm from fucking god i'm from jesus that's what we all come from anyway right from god damn heaven is where i'm from

whatever will say, whatever can be said to make you not go in right now is where I'm from. And then, but you don't want to have to do that. Like you don't want to have to like, buy down the niggas. What's more important to you? What's more important to you? Your pride or your life. But I always, I always would be like, and sometimes it were. Sometimes it was first of our first got out here.

It was like, where are you from? I'm saying, I don't bang. I ain't involved in all of that, bro. I, you know what I'm saying? I ain't bang. All right, cool. You know where you at? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know. I'm at. All right, cool, cool, cool. As soon as I'll take a step away, what I want to say, this, nigga, don't fucking ask me that. I can do whatever I want to do? But that's the wrong thing to do.

That's the wrong thing to do. Can I just also say that we were in Englewood, community was out there? Folks knew me. They were fucking with me. They were fucking with you. Rachel, Snoop. get a picture? I said yes.

They fucking with you. The people, the people recognize me. Rachel, why do you feel like they don't recognize you? Because I, did you watch The Bachelor? Did I watch The Bachelor? You, wait, hold on. You went to Snoop shop one time and now you cussed me? No, that was a B-cause. That was a B-cause. That was a B-cause. That was a B-Cuck. Did you, hold on, did you get put on East Side Crip while you were over at Snew?

Rachel, I put all East Side Crip. What are you? Me, Snoop one time. You need Snoop one time and now you roll in Eastside Crip. Okay, cool. Yeah, of course. Some people love you. Eminem knelt.

He knelt during his situation. I didn't catch it until it was over. I didn't see it either. Does it mean anything to Neil if you're performing at the Super Bowl halftime it meant something to him it meant something to him and that's and like he wanted to do it they NFL says they were aware of it it meant he had the opportunity he was on an NFL field on stage he was almost like he was paying homage and I respect it I respected too look here's the thing it wouldn't be better to have none of them perform uh if you're talking about the Colin Kaepernick situation yeah too but if you

just want to make sure somebody knows somebody knows hey I haven't forgotten you there's nothing wrong with it at all. Should have, should Eminem have been on the stage? Why? Because he's not from L.A.? Well, neither is Mary Jablodge. I know. That's, that's what I was going to say. Neither is 50 cent. It seems like to be more of an aftermath thing than the actual L.A. thing. People are wondering, you have Eminem out there to do lose yourself. He does one song. Is that a situation where you want to have Eminem even on the stage with the rest of those? Could you, let's say, how many songs did Kendrick to. It was like one and a little bit of another one. And see, there's the thing. If Eminem's not there, you can give Kendrick another song.

You know what I mean? Should Game have been out there? Should Ice Cube have been out there? I honestly thought Ice Cube was going to come out there. You thought he was? That's what I thought. But yeah, it was a Dre thing. I mean, you saw how it started, right? Dre, like stood up with his arms up. You know what I mean? Godlike, stood out there. And that like, so it was Dre's show. You know, yes, it was an LA thing. But he let everybody know what was up. He was like in the backdrop of every.

I was like, is he really on the ones? Like, is he really mixing up there? Is he doing something? Let me tell you what it would have been a powerful moment that they miss. All of a sudden it's like, this is how we do. Starts playing. This is how we do. And then game at 50 cents start doing that thing.

Just a powerful moment. Because I know they had been squashing. but it just been a powerful moment to see them doing that together on the Super Bowl halftime show. We have to talk about this because I knew the people were talking about it. You know, I have the show later on this year,

hip-hop homicides. 50-cent guy. 50-cent, homie and mine, producer, guy who personally asked for me to do the show. So shout out to 50. 50 was hanging upside down and then he got there. People were noticing that there's a little bit of difference

between 50 now at 50 when he did the end of club video. We're doing this? We're doing this right now? They're doing it. So we're asking the question. What's the question? Is it fucking fair for people to expect 50 cent to look the same as he did in the in the club video when that shit came out when I was in fucking college?

It's been 20 years that came out in 2003. it's been 20 years since that video came out and people are talking about the fact that 50s obviously put on a couple of pounds. Like, is that a fair thing to do? Yes and no. The only reason I say no because it's like, you're right, it's been 20 years.

Like, cut the man a break. Like, who looks the same 20 years later? Exactly the same. Two, but the reason I say yes, I mean, is because you reenacted the video. like what of course people were going to I was a little confused when it started off right you know what I mean like if you're going to could do the exact same thing that you did in the video obviously people are going to point out the differences that being but I mean I'm not going to

you know the weight game which to me is fine but I would have never gone as far as calling him dollar like people were doing also I think for a lot of people it was their time Because fifth beyond his shit too. And he'd know that. Fifth beyond his shit, getting that people, sometimes going way too fucking far. But I think for a lot of people, it was their time to get at 52. Because even when I was like leave 50 alone, people were like, van, really? Come on.

All 50 do is bully people. We got to get 50. This fucking shit right now. So yeah, I get it. I get it. Let's take a break. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess.

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Timothy Ware Hill is going to be on the show to talk about why he can't read a book to young black children in. New Jersey. Very interesting story. Don't miss it. Okay, an issue was brought to my attention this past weekend by a dear friend of mine, a gentleman by the name of Lawrence Bender. Lawrence Bender, if you've heard that name, is the head honcho at a band DePart Productions. He was a producer on Two Diss and Strangers, the Academy Award winning short. I don't know if you guys heard about last year. He's done a million things with a million people. He is one of the best people in my life, Lawrence Bender. Lawrence Bender was a producer on another short, which was fantastic as well.

This was animated. It was called Cops and Robbers. And one of the people, the talented individuals behind the short, cops and robbers, Zhe was by the name of Timothy Ware. Now, Timothy, I did not know. He is a friend that I have met recently through Lawrence. But Lawrence connected us because something happened to Timothy that we think is worth talking about here on higher learning.

So Timothy Ware is with us today on higher learning. Thanks for joining us. And why don't you take the time to tell people exactly what's going on and what happened to you surrounding something you were supposed to do? Hey, Van and Rachel, thank you for having me on. Lawrence Bender knew me when I was Timothy Ware. It actually became Timothy Ware Hill. Oh, Timothy Ware Hill.

about that. Timothy Warehill is his name. I'm very sorry about that. No, it's all good. No apologies needed. No apologies need it. Yeah, I was invited to read a children's book called A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson. It's an illustrated children's book about two little black girls going to see Dr. King speak and to march with him. I was invited from the Montbell Diversity and inclusion committee in a small town called Montbell, New Jersey. This was supposed to be a virtual reading with their community that would have taken place on the last week of Black History Month. When word got out that I was the reader,

some of the community, Montvelle, and the police union started to research me to figure out, Who is this Mr. Warehill that's about to read the story to my kids? You know? And the only thing they could dig up was that I was the writer, actor, and creator of Cops and Robbers, my animated short that was, that's on Netflix and created to pay homage to Ahmad Aubrey and other victims, black victims of police violence, right? And from this, they took it that I hate cops.

So the police union and some of the community reached out to the mayor, Mayor Mike Gasoli of Montvale, New Jersey to let him know that this guy that you're having read for our community hates cops. And they want to cancel the reading and also boy, and remove funding if I happen to read for their community. So the mayor, Mayor Mike de Sali, he called me on Friday to explain this to me. And I said, Mayor Mike, can I ask you, have you seen my film?

He says, oh, no, no, I haven't seen me yet. I plan on watching it tonight. I said, okay, that's, so right now, this is your first time meeting me, and you haven't seen my film, and you've decided that I hate cops because of why. And I explained to Mayor Mike that the benefit of the doubt that he has given the police union about who I am

is the same reason I wrote cops and robbers and the things that I write. Because so often when we are victims of the police violence and when we don't survive that violence, we never get to defend ourselves. We never get to say who we are, but there is a narrative created about us. And we become the guilty party, even when we have been victims of their violence. And I had to explain to him, Mayor Mike, you're proving my point.

This is exactly what you're doing. You claim you didn't know me. You haven't seen my film. You believed these people and your police union that I'm a cop hater without getting to know me first. And he says, well, that's why I'm here to get known. you and say, well, let's get to know me then. Let me help you to understand what I write and why I write it. I grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, home of the civil rights movement. So I understand this world, the language, and why we have to continue to fight for what we fight for. And cops and robbers

is my perspective as a black man in America from my personal experiences of being pulled over, approached harassed for no reason by police officers. Nowhere in my short doesn't say that I hate cops. Nowhere in the short doesn't say I dislike cops. It is a cry and a plea for our lives to matter, for our voices. heard, right? And here you are, Mayor Mike, in this environment where all over the nation,

you're canceling books. You don't want to teach, you want to teach a false history to your, to your communities, and I teach them, you know, this is Black History Month, but I like to call it American History Month, because the rest of the history that we really learned in school was white history to me. Because without Black people, there is no American history. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. And so I, I push back

with Mayor Mike and I say, do you believe that police should be held accountable when they done wrong? And he goes, yes, I do believe it. I do believe it. But, you know, you just have to understand that with my constituents, my constituents, and I

have to be careful because Mayor Mike explained to me that he himself, is Syrian born. He was born in Syria and became moved here when he was 16. And he knows that his community still sees him as a foreigner. So I said, well, if you believe these things, if you believe that police should be held accountable, you must realize that you as the mayor,

you are mayor of the people, not the police unit. you are mayor for those constituents, the black and brown ones who helped get you into office because I know that though he is conservative himself, a Republican, he told me that he had both Democrats and Republicans spoke for him, black and brown people. And I said, those people had your back. You can't abandon them because they didn't abandon you at the polls. And you have such a small, diverse minority of people in your community who need stories, who need to understand black history, American history, right? And this story, a sweet smell of roses by Angela Johnson, has nothing to do with politics, has nothing to do with cops, has nothing to do with any

films that I've done in the past or plan to do in the present or the future. It was just me literally reading the words from this children's book so that the little black kids in that community can hear and see a person and see a person

that looks like them. So as it stands now, this reading has been canceled. The mayor is not letting you go forward with it. As it stands now, the mayor is not allowing me to go forward with it. And

If he does move forward, I think he's saying that from what I'm getting from someone in the diversity committee is that he may use a high school or middle school student, but he can't guarantee that he'll be a person of the same ethnicity. Wait, oh, wait, wait. So they're still going to have the reading. Possibly. But they're going to, but like it's a matter of fact that you will not be the reader. It's a matter of fact that I won't be the reader. So what about the, I'm sorry, I didn't catch it, the group who you were reading to, the group or the group who brought you in, had they come together, you know, to oppose the mayor's decision and, you know, like, what's being done on their end? Yes, they're trying to figure out what their next steps are. They were supposed to have, the mayor was supposed to meet with them today. But once again, he's pushed that meeting as well for later in the week, which gives them.

even less time to prepare before the month is through. So they're still trying to figure out how to push back. The problem is that it's such a small community of people of color. And when you have that against such a structure, there's fear to retaliate because the fear is, we're gonna lose funding. And if we lose funding, then we won't be able to do anything else throughout the year.

Montbell held their first LGBTQ pride event ever last year, very first time. And so the young people who are leading committee are trying to make these changes. And of course, they take baby steps. And what I've learned is that sometimes your allyship has to come from outside of your community, which is why I'm here on your show to make some noise because Major Mike, his whole thing, he said, my community isn't ready for this. It isn't ready for this.

And I said, throughout our history, we've always heard that, right? Nobody's, they're not ready for this. Who are they? Let's be specific about who they are. Because you're not talking about the black and brown people who are asking for it, right? And when do you as a leader help prepare them to be ready for it?

How do you eat them into it? And so he didn't want to make it a local issue. And I said, well, let's not make it a local issue. Let's make it a national issue. Absolutely. Absolutely. Timothy, we are glad that you stopped in to talk to us about it today. I'm going to ask you one last question here.

because we're about to get moving on this. We're not going to let this. Timothy, this already has been, let's face it, there's been a rocky black history month for us. Oh, yeah. It's been a lot of stuff going on, you know, nearly almost ruined it. Let's be honest.

It's been a rocky black history month. We can't stand this happening right now. We have to make sure that when situations like this happen, that we call them out, and we get to them, and we move together in love and not an outrage. We just want everybody to understand what is we're trying to say. Question to you. A lot of people would have been like, fuck it.

They don't want me to read it. Move on. Screw them. I'm Timothy Warehill. I got a lot of other stuff going on. Who cares? Why was this so important to you to follow up with this? Stick to this and make sure that the people of Montclair understand the mistake that they're making.

It's important to me because so often, you know, I grew up in Alabama. So we often think, oh, racism, that's the South. The first thing people ask me, when I say I grew up in Montgomery, like, so what was that like? And let go, you know, it was interesting. It was okay. It had its moments, yeah. But the most racism that I'd ever dealt with,

specifically with harassment from police, was when I moved to L.A., you know. And so we forget that auction blocks were in the north, too. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? We forget. Yeah. And here we have this small community with a small group of minorities.

When I say minorities of minorities, right, trying to get their voices heard so often they become overlooked. And change happens in the micro. They happen in the small steps. And sometimes we're just waiting for something. to shine a magnifying glass on those small moments to make them larger. I think of Montgomery, Alabama. I think of, you know, the Montgomery bus was caught. I think of Rosa Parks sitting in the front of the bus and how it created a storm across

the nation. And also the other young black woman who sat before Rosa Parks. You know, I think about the courage it took Emmett Till's mother, Mamie Till, to open that caskin and say, no, Jet Magazine, show my baby, show it to the world because this is what's going to ignite a movement, some real change. And I have two little cousins, little black girls who live in Montvale, New Jersey, right? And so I only imagine them being the only ones in their respective classrooms trying to learn how to survive, how, when do they allow themselves to be themselves or when do they crawl, you know, become small because we know how we know how

disrespecting black women can be treated. So imagine how bad it can be when they don't have anyone else in their room who look like them or who will advocate for them. And so it's important to me to make it a bigger issue and not just run away from it, not just go, oh, I appreciate you thinking about me, considering me, let me move on and go ahead. and use whoever you want to read this book, because that's what they want. That's what the community of Montbell, the police union, and those people who are complaining about me reading this book,

that's what they want. They want us to quit. They want us to give up. And every time we do that, it just gives them room and permission to continue to continue with their shenanigans. Let's call it that. Absolutely. I'm upset.

I'm so upset by this. But also, can I just say I'm extremely saddened by the fact that this man stepped out and told you that he's a person of color, knows the right thing to do, but won't do it. And I just think that's a whole other level to it. He has the power to do something and won't do it for fear of upsetting white folks at the end of the day, just because he wants to hold on to his title. It's so upsetting. And if you think if it's happening there, it's happening.

everywhere. And that's the point of this conversation. I'm so glad that you came on the podcast. I'm so sorry that happened to you, though. And I'm so sorry that those children aren't going to get to hear from you either. Yeah, no. They might. They might. They might. We're about to get active. Timothy, thank you for joining us, a down higher learner, bro. We're going to be in touch, all right? Van Rachel, blessings to you both. Thank you again. Thank you again. All right, my man. Chikarie Richardson back in the news. Yeah. Very interesting. Did you see this? I did. I'm not so sure I'm so sure I understand this.

I'll be honest with you. Okay. Shikari Richardson is talking about the difference between her and Camila Valia Eva. Huh. Sure. So Camila is a Russian figure skater who was allowed to compete after she failed a drug test. Now, you might remember that Shikari Richardson failed a drug test for a mayor of Joanna and was told that she could not fucking. B in the Olympics.

We had some people on here. We had, who do we have on again? We had, Sonia Richards-Ross. Sonia Richards-Ross. Shout out to Sonny Richards-Ross. We had Sonia-Richs Ross on here who said that Chikari, as talented as she is, should have known that she could not be smoking weed in competition. And that's just the way things go.

But a lot of people rally behind Chikari. People are wondering, like, what's the difference between that situation, which was weed, and this situation, which is performance-enhancing. This is some audio of an Olympic committee member talking about the entire thing. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, actually the ad hoc division of the court, has issued its decision in the procedures relating to the figure skater Camilla Valjeva. The cast panel in charge of this matter has decided to let Miss Valjeva continue her participation in the Olympic Winter Games, Beijing, 2022. Okay, so Valieva tested.

positive for a heart drug called Trimitatizadine. Trimitizadee. Okay, whatever. And apparently, you know, that's something, I did what I did what I could, America. Apparently, that's something that, you know, gives you an advantage. Now, the reasons why they're letting her compete at the tapment of this, which is 4 p.m.

On the Monday are unclear. They still haven't really decided. they still haven't really told us why. Donnie, am I wrong about this? No, what do you mean? They haven't told us

why she can compete. They haven't told us what the reason is that the arbitrators ruled that it was okay for her to compete. Because she's a protected person. Yeah, but what does that really mean? So a protected person,

the rules are if you're under 16 and you can show that your use of that drug was unintentional, then you can receive a warning instead of the two-year suspension and not face the potential loss of any battles. Okay, so that is the clear definition. So then, okay, if that's the clear definition, which when I saw that, I thought that was a preliminary ruling. I thought there would be more

coming out about that. But let's say that that's the case. So she's 15 years old, protected person, therefore has different rules that that means that she can make a mistake. That also means that there are probably dozens and dozens, if not hundreds and hundreds of 14, 15 year olds who are doping because they know they can get popped towards for it. And they know that they get popped for it once and they not have to like, you know, get suspended. If that's the case, and that's the answer to Shikari's question.

Correct. Correct. Like, if that's, I thought that was a done deal, but let's just talk about it like it is because that's what they're saying, the reason that, you know, she was allowed to compete. I don't know if Shikari is unaware of this rule because when I read it, I was like,

yeah, I get what Shikari's saying, but then I saw this. And it's like, well, it's two totally different things. Different rules apply because Shakari's an adult. This is a minor. I mean, this doesn't seem to be a black, white issue here.

Huh. Now, it's not a black, white issue. It is an issue of a very stupid rule. It is, but Shikari made it black and white. Right. And so you think Shikari Richardson was wrong to make this a race thing? If this is the rule, and remember, let's go back,

I was against what Sonia was saying. Like, I felt like Shakari should have been given the opportunity to be able to run. But if we're just talking simply rules here and the difference between her and this figure skater, then it's, I mean, it's very clear as to why things were ruled in a different way. The rules are different here for them. She said, can we get a solid answer to the difference on her situation in minds? My mother died and I can't run and was also favored to place top three.

The only difference is I see, the only difference I see is I'm a black young lady. Well, there is another difference. There's another difference that she's 15. She's a protected person and therefore has different rules than an adult athlete. Let me ask you a question then. Okay, so two things. Number one, the Olympics have said if she does win a medal, there will be no medal ceremony. Correct.

It's not going to be a medal ceremony. There's not going to be a metal ceremony if she was. It's not just Chicago Richardson is mad about this. A lot of other people are saying it's a slap in the face. she should be suspended she should be able to it's not just Shakira but it was Shakira

that made it about race question I'll ask you now that this is out do you think that Shakari should come out and say hey this is not a racial thing but this rule is stupid because there are going to be

a lot of people who see this that are going to be whipped into a frenzy because of this entire situation right I had to do the research to understand that actually the rules are different it's not about the races being different So I do think the responsible thing is to come out and say, because I agree with you, it's up, the rules are bad.

The rules are outdated. The rules are messed up. This shouldn't be in place. She should have been running in the Olympics. But that's not the issue here. But I think the responsible thing to say, hey, like, you know, shouldn't even have to say I jumped the gun. Oh, I've now learned the rules. You know, it's not a race issue.

But I still think these are outdated and the rules should change. Yeah. It's time for is this fucked up. Are you ready for it? Let's do it. Okay, Donnie, put a picture of this billboard up so Rachel can see it. Billboards in Memphis, okay? And former Memphis councilman named Fred Davis.

He's actually dead. Passed away in 2020. Now, these billboards have been out for a while. I had not seen this before, but they just popped up. I still think it's an interesting conversation to have, especially with you, Rach. Why? Because. Oh, you think.

I think I'm Fred Davis? I think you're, I think, Rachel, I think you're a little conservative sometimes, you know, when it comes to do with the expressions of sexualities and different things. I think you're a little conservative. You don't think so? Has anybody seen my Super Bowl pictures? When it comes to outfits? No, like, what is this?

What it? Don't put, no, no, no, don't do this. Don't put this on me. I'm not a conservative where I'm going to agree with this kind of thing. Not that you agree with this kind of thing. You don't think it's fair to say that you've, in the people. past, especially where we're talking about, particularly women, that you've been a little conservative on some of these issues. You don't think that that's fair?

If you're referring to the Britney Renner conversation, because I called her a pop, like, I'm trying to but Drea or anybody else, if you're talking about women who. A bird, a bob. I don't think that makes me conservative. Drea literally talked about, like, laughing at a domestic violence situation. Meg the Stallion cursed her out too. So don't like you're literally bringing up. What I'm talking about is a bop.

Like we talked about what it means to be a bop. What does that mean? And I told you what my definition of that was. Like you can literally look it up. In the South, when you talked about bopping, it was like girls that hung around certain people. Like athletes, musicians, celebrities.

But even that, there's a negative connotation to it. It's what I understand. There's a negative connotation to it. And it's nothing. They like to be on the scene. I'm not calling you a ho. I'm not calling you a bitch.

Like, to me, I'm not saying you're putting yourself out there in a certain way. Like, you like to be on a certain scene. In the South, we call that bopping. Is it negative? Is it negative? If I've used that thing against myself, like, I used to love to be on the scene. I used to love to be affiliated with that. That is bopping.

And I'm talking about myself. I used to the same thing. So that's why I don't think, I don't think I wasn't doing anything. And if you want to, that's totally fine. I don't call people hoes or anything like that. Like, I don't do that. If you want to, that's fine. But I don't think of Bob.

I think people were equating me using the word term Bob with hoe. And I don't. I don't equate the two. Bob definitely, I'm from the South. Bob definitely means ho. No, it doesn't just mean hoe. No, it does not. But go ahead.

It doesn't just mean ho. It's part of the whole arsenal. I think I can see how somebody would say that Bob and his hoe, but like that's not a hole, but that's not the term I used it in. Like. Okay. you just mean woman that likes to hang out with athletes

and be on the scene, but she's not a hoe. But there's a name for it. It is. I think there's levels. I think there's, yeah, I really, I really, like, like 100%. That is truly how I used it.

It's truly how I used it. But whatever. Okay. Go ahead. You think I'm conservative. You think that I'm going to have an issue with this. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Tia up. So, so there are these, there's billboards up. And the billboards. say, use your mind and not your behind. Show your mind and not you're behind. On one side of the billboard, there is a dude with a cap and gown on other side is a dude

that's showing his butt because his pants are sagging too long. And on the bottom, there is a woman with a cap and gown. And on the other side, there's a woman turned around showing her butt. We actually, we're going to have the lady that's actually in this ad who is, supposed to be on our podcast today, but she decided I guess she didn't want to come on there. She's actually in the ad. She hit me up and she goes. That's actually my butt that they're using for that ad.

She seems to be somebody who is very active. She talks about anti-blackness. She talks about all of these things on her podcast. So I guess she is using her mind and her behind. What do you think about these billboards? Rachel, do you think that the way somebody is dressed? You think I agree with that? You said, oh, Rachel, I'm so interested.

your take. You think that I... You think I'm... Go ahead. I'm interested in your take, Rage, because... I don't have much to say. I think they're hilarious

and ineffective. I think they're hilarious and ineffective. You know, despite popular belief, apparently, I think it's a ridiculous waste of money. I look... I saw the...

I never had seen the one with the woman, but I'd seen the one with the guy before. I thought it was hilarious when I I saw it because it's so ridiculous. It's so outrageous that somebody who wears their pants a certain way or wears those shorts, which I have very much so, and I got a mind. You know, like, it's like if you wear certain clothing, you don't have a mind, which is so wild.

Or that somebody who wears, who dresses like that is going to look up at that billboard and say, you know what? You're right. Right. And it's going to go change their clothes and go. go get an education like you can't do both. It's ridiculous. If you want people to stop dressing a certain way,

this isn't the way to get their attention and get the message across. Do you think that people should be categorized by the way that they dress? No, but I think it's human nature for people to do that to people. To judge people by the way they're dressed. So who cares about whether or not it's human nature?

Who cares? No, I'm just saying. Right. No, they shouldn't, but I'm saying people do it. do you think people should be categorized by who they hang out with and whether or not they're athletes or not? No. I'm fucking with you now. I know you are.

So you know what I think is interesting about this? Fred Davis, before he died, he said he was side by side with Dr. King when he kicked off his last March. He says, those of us who fought hard, those of us who fought hard just for the opportunity for especially African Americans to do well are disappointed. if Dr. King had seen this billboard Dr. King would have been like Fred do you know what that girl lives Wow No he wouldn't

He would have been like Fred He would have been like Fred Don't ask don't you even pretend like Dr. King I'm not I'm just saying he would have been like Fred There's a reason that you marched beside me And you're not on a microphone That's what he would have said

because this messaging is off. He would have said that to Fred, but at the same time, he also would have been like Fred telling you, after the prayer meeting, let's see if we can get her over. We got to start being honest about this kind of stuff. Nobody's not being honest about it.

It's just you always want to talk about that. Because it's funny to me. You guys, look, go watch a, go watch a documentary called FBI Martin Luther King. We've talked about this. In a couple of years in the year 2027, okay? 2027, the FBI is going to release all of the, I believe, illegal surveillance stuff that they have on Dr. King.

Supposed to come out in the year 2027. And when it comes out, there is going to be stuff on the tapes. and in the transcripts that is going to blow people's fucking minds away when it comes to Dr. King's promiscuity. So I'm telling you. But people know he was promiscuous. They don't know to these levels, I don't think. And what I'm saying is, and what I'm saying is, whereas it changes absolutely zero

about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and I challenge the historical validity of it actually coming out. I'm just telling people, we should just make our bows with the fact that this was just an aspect of this guy's character. Not denying it. Is this really supposed to come out in 2027 or that's what the documentary says? Well, no, the FBI tapes, that's when there's a seal on them and the seal is up in 2027. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. They'll probably come out. There's a seal on them and the seal is up in 2027.

And there might be some other things in there that are, look, I'll let you guys watch the documentary. make the decision for yourself. But it is very, very, very, very interesting. So I'm like, when I throw a joke out there like that, I just kind of want people to just understand that it's just a joke. It doesn't change anything about who Dr. King is. Of course it doesn't. What's the name of the documentary again?

It's called FBI MLK. It really, the documentary isn't so, it's not about Dr. King's from security. It's about the FBI and the concerted effort that they made. to subvert and undermine what Dr. King was doing during the Civil Rights Movement. It is a fantastic documentary, and it's one that everyone needs to understand what we need to watch to understand how American power tries to maintain the status quo. It's fantastic. So I was talking to a friend of mine. This friend of mine was like, hey, interracial relationships are damaging to the black community.

but only only when it is a black man with a white woman were you talking to a woman no this is a friend of mine only a male friend

a male friend only when it's a black man and a white woman and is a black man who said this he's a black man he said he said sisters they'd whoever they want everybody do whatever it was the only time an interracial relationship is damaging to the black community

is when it is a black man and a white woman. Two questions, two very serious questions. Number one, are interracial relationships in any way damaging to the black community? Number two, are black male, black white female relationships specifically damaging to the black community this conversation was kicked off because we were talking about Kanye West.

So are interracial relationships damaging to the black community? Okay, obviously we can say no because I'm right. But you're not in the bucket anymore. You're not in that bucket. So it doesn't matter. So you're not in the bucket. We're only talking about, let's ask the question again. Well, the first one was interracial in general.

The second one. That's why I say no. The second one. So let me just ask one question then. Okay. Are black man, white women relationships damaging to the black community in any way to you? Oh, when you say in any way, well, then yes, they can be when you add in any way. If you add, are they damaging to the community?

I would say no. But there are certain circumstances where they can be. And I'll just bring up, what were they kind of flash and fresh, fresh and what were they? I'm serious. I'm serious. Flair, fit and flare?

What was it? What are their names? You know what their names are. No, I'm dead serious. It's fresh and fit. Fresh and fit. I didn't say that? No, you said flash and fresh.

You said fit and flare. You said everything yourself. I thought I said that. When you bring up individuals like them who use their interracial relationship to degrade other black women, then it's a problem. Then it's a problem. Or who jump in an interracial relationship to put black women down, black people down, who lose themselves in their identity when they jump into a relationship. I've seen all those things happen. Then it's a problem.

So yes, interracial relationships with a black. man and a white woman can be problematic if it's one of those things. Does your opinion of a black man change when you see him with a white woman? And has it ever? In my 20s, 100%. 100%. I would be like, look at him. You know what? Let's ask that question.

That's the very serious question. I said this before. I set this on uncomfortable conversations. So your opinion of a black man, your opinion of a black man used to change when you would see him with a white woman? Throughout my entire 20s. I'm not even ashamed to say that.

When did that change for you? When I started, like, when I put my list down and I was just like, you know what, I'm going to be open to finding someone who I vibe with, I connect with, who we have the same morals and values who I love.

And that did not change for me until 30. The one time I tried to date outside my race in my 20s, I had a panic attack before I went into the Papados. I swear, again. This is not a lot. You had a panic attack before you went to Papados. Because I thought, because it was a bunch of black people in Popadoos and I knew it.

And I was like, they're going to look at me and they're going to think, there she goes. They're going to do to me what I do to them. I was like, they're going to say, She always look at her. She's one of them. That's all she don't even date her own kind. She's, she always, she dates outside of her race.

That's what I thought. And the guy I was with was totally comfortable because he only, from what I saw, dated black one. So he had been to Papadoes a bunch of times. He's like, they knew him. Like, hey! We had this guy. We had this guy that went to tech with us. And he was a football player.

And he was a white dude and he only dated black girls. And he was in the military, so we called him the lieutenant. And we would call him the nasty lieutenant. The nasty, nasty lulu is what we called him. And, like, that was his nickname. And we nicknamed everybody at that. We called him the nasty lute dog, the nasty lulu. And he was just always with a black chick.

and he'd be like, yeah, you know it's me in the shower when you see a pair of white feet and a pair of chocolate feet, and you know it's me. And he would walk up to black women. He would be like, he would be like, I love, you know, I love chocolate babies. That's what he was saying. No, I hate, I hate, I hate, so I talk.

You know, I read. Well, he was an athlete, but he, but, and yes, that's what, that's what he was into. But he never said the chocolate babies thing, but I will tell you this on The Bachelor. And I wrote about this, my book. I wrote about it in the New York Magazine article. They had me, I went to somebody's hometown and you never normally meet the friends unless they're just like circumstances,

they require that. And they go, okay, you're going to go in the restaurant and go in this, guy in this restaurant and meet his friends. And I go, why am I meeting his friends? And I go, they're interracial couples, aren't they? And she just looked at me. And I walk in and there were black men. He was white. The guy was white that I had. And there were black men with their white women and I was pissed. And I was like, no, I was pissed because they put me in a situation so we can talk about our interracial relationships.

I didn't like that. And then when they and when the men walked away, like when the guy walked away with his black friends, they left me at the table with the white women and they were bragging about mixed babies. Oh my God. Wait till you have mixed babies. And I was like, wait until you

have mixed babies. They didn't air this. They didn't air this but I wrote about this. I was so upset by that. They're like, oh, mixed babies, mixed babies. And I don't like when people say that. I don't like when people say, like, so this is another thing to add to how they can be problematic. When people are doing it just so their children look a certain way. And that happens, and that happens sadly more often than not. It happens. Okay. So. I don't know. I call my sister.

You're in the parking lot of Papadoos. I don't call my sister. You're actually having a full all panic attack. I went back to the car. I was full panic attack. Yeah. I mean, everybody's done that though. Everybody like, you know, if you walk around with a white girl, you see black people,

you literally turn it to fucking vision or the shadow or somebody like that. You just like you become whatever. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like vision from Marvel. Like every single black man is walking with a white woman has like you become. fucking you like just meld into whatever it is with the black ladies. You start like, you know, telling her about

there's one thing that's funny is a clip from Dance Flick where he's walking with a white girl. Oh shit. Dance flick. The same thing. The movie Dance Flick is so funny. He's walking with that girl. He goes, oh shit, black ladies.

And then he starts to give her directions. It's funny. It's very funny. All right, we got to go. Take a thing, you get us all. but do not stop learning. And if you are walking with your white woman around, Rachel,

hide that shit. She will judge you. I'm Van Lee Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. We out. Bye, guys.