Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van Returns and Reflects, Plus: Are We Still Mad at Kanye?

Episode Date: July 20, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay are back and take a much-needed moment to eulogize the life of Van Lathan Sr. (4:36) before switching gears with a 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' review (35:15) and some Kanye album drop speculation (47:11). Also, the NFL’s playing the Black national anthem before games (1:11:20) and Popeye’s thinks Black people sing when they eat chicken (1:37:23). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Donnie Beacham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, dog warriors. What is up? Higher Learning is back on. It is I, Van Lathen. And it's me, Rachel Lindsay. Hey, guys. We're back. Man, we're happy to see your face.

We are happy you are back. The Thought Warriors community missed you. Man, did they rally around you? They did. I really missed you. I want to tell you. everyone right now from the bottom of my heart not just me but my entire family we were very very very very moved by all of the well wishes that everyone sent it is and it was and is a

really difficult and hard thing to to to deal with for myriad reasons you know um a lot of reasons. It's hard, but it definitely helps seeing how many people like, you know, care about you and stuff. So yeah, that was dope. Yeah. We do. We care. We're here for you. We miss you. You know, we weren't going to do this thing without you either. We weren't going to do what? The podcast? I'm learning. We're a package deal, man. I was, I was waiting for Emmanuel Acho to be on here. I was ready for it. He's a friend, but I would never.

You know, me and him talked, right? We had a long conversation after his ill-fated weed tweet. Yeah. And what's the final verdict? Good guy. Good guy. Good guy. Good guy.

Very bright, very sharp, very clean and articulate as Joe, as Joe Biden would call Obama. I fuck with Emmanuel. Like, he's a good dude. He's a good dude. But I can tell that once again, we had different upbringings because there was, when we first started talking, there was a little bit of him that was like, are you telling me the weed isn't dangerous? And I'm like, and he's never smoked before. But the only thing you can ask from a human being is what Emmanuel Acho has, which is the willingness to have a conversation. That's the only thing you can ask.

Yeah. Yeah. Emmanuel and I had if you didn't already know had similar upbrings it's um we go we go way back we go way way back Dallas UT

ESPN now we're both in LA together I go way way back but I'm glad it was dope you all had a conversation I will say this though I do want to corrupt him

okay man you're not kidding It's on the playground anymore. I know. But if I wish that I could be the person that introduced some bad habits to him, you know? Like, yo, Emmanuel, man, hit this weed, bro. You know, you're not one of the cool kids unless you're going to be that easy. Yeah, yo, Emmanuel, man, hit this weed, bro.

Hit this weed. I don't want to do it. Come on, man. You can't hang out with us unless you hit this weed. You know why he would? You know what his bio says? If I followed, if I only followed one, it would be Jesus. Wow.

damn that makes me feel bad for what I just said crazy because he's following Jesus do we do we know that Jesus never partook is this something do we know how can we know that is this going to have to be one of those podcasts that we're going to have to do a deep dive no because I want to know because I did have this one guy because you know super super weed people they always have explanations as to why weed is the cure all for everything on the earth. And I did have somebody back in the day tell me that Jesus was anointed with cannabis oil. But how do they know?

I have no clue. He could be, could be not. We don't know. I have no clue. I have no clue. I need to hear an explanation. No, I didn't even add. I was like, for real.

It was like, I bet you didn't know that, huh? I bet you didn't know the facts. I always come with the facts. I bet you didn't know the facts. He said Jesus, the whole time he was high. The whole time. I'm like, whatever it is, I'll tell you what he was. He was the truth.

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Ask your doctor about trim fire. Tap this ad to learn more about Tramphaya, including important safety information. So I learned things about my dad over this past couple of weeks. Some of the things I don't think I'm quite ready to discuss in terms of things that his life sort of mirrors with my life or my life mirrors with his life, however that goes. but I also learned something else that I didn't quite know as many services as I've been to, Catholic services, is that you don't get to eulogize people in a Catholic service. And I learned this. It was my dad's wishes to be buried as a Catholic, which is what he practiced when he was, you know, a large portion of my family is Catholic. some of them moved away from it, but that's what you want it.

And I don't think I realized just how much I needed to say a few words. I don't think I realized it. I don't think I realized just how much, just how important it was for me to contextualize his life and to talk about it in front of people, to talk about him and me. I don't know why, but I was gutted that I didn't get a chance to. No, I think that that's It's one of those things I wondered

You know if you were going to speak I didn't know it was a Catholic service And I think it's one of those things where I don't know maybe if it's because you weren't you weren't able to Or maybe if it's therapeutic in the sense of being able to say something I think that I would want to say something Yeah Yeah it was tough

Your dad hit me up Judge I know The judge judge Judge Lindsay. I would really like to, I would really like to really thank Judge Lindsay

for what he said. I don't even know what he said to you. He just immediately said to me, can you please give me Vance number? Yeah. Like, it was very nice what Judge Lindsay sent over. And it's just crazy that when I,

when I read something from him, you know how the voice of God. It's a voice. I was going to say it's the voice. The voice of God sounded in the Ten Commandments, which is a breathtakingly good, if not historically, inaccurate movie. It, well, how God, that's how it came across.

Well, I was by myself in tears, but I stood up straight when it said, this is Judge Lindsay. I was like, oh my God, it's him. Did he say Judge Lindsay? He said, he said, Judge Lindsay. Oh, gosh. That's his name.

I know, but like, maybe like Rachel's dad or, I don't know. Let me make sure. Let me make sure. Mr. Lindsay. No, why would you, why would you want him to be Mr. He left Mr. behind. He ain't no mister. I'm a mister.

This man is a judge. Like, yeah, he said, van, this is Judge Lindsay. This is great. He was dope. Mm-hmm. And he gave very wise words. So I can see. My dad really, really likes you.

I mean, like, immediately asked for your phone number. Immediately. Yeah. So. I appreciate that. So because I could not eulogize my father at his services, I was wondering if it would be okay if I gave a eulogy of sorts for him now. Absolutely. You shouldn't even have to ask.

Please, go ahead. Okay. So I thought about, I thought long and hard about the best way for me to sort of put into words the relationship that I had with my father. and put into words sort of the ways that we bonded, put into words sort of sometimes how we talked past each other, the comfort and the complication of like Van Lathen Sr. and Van Lathen Jr. And I think the best way to do it is through story, like always.

Yes. Now, my father had really two things that just were the defined, things in his life. As far as like things that he loved to do. One, anybody that knows him knows that he was an avid outdoorsman. I actually brought back one of his bone handled knives and his horse rope right there. Yeah. So a lot of stuff.

His guns all the day. He was an avid outdoorsman. He loved to ride horses. He also loved to hunt. When I visited my father's home after he had passed, the way. I was actually shocked at the condition of the place. I don't

visit Baton Rouge that often. And he was a he was a very a very self-sufficient proud man.

But I did not think that the way that he was living was quite like that. Seemed to be by himself seemed to be sort of it's like one room where the cords

ran into the room he was drawing power from somewhere else a lot of rooms in the house were completely empty only seemed like he was really using his bedroom in the kitchen house was kind of far out

a little dingy had been flooded before and never quite recovered from the floods so that was pretty shocking but one thing I noticed was that in my dad's room he had a television that was sitting on a chair

that he was watching the outdoor channel of course and in the middle of the room he had a saddle and next to his saddle he had his hunting equipment that was incredibly important to him being able to connect with the land

being able to connect with the outdoors it was really his whole life it was how he coped It was his therapy. And it was really his escape, for better or worse, even from his family sometimes. I have those same escapes. Basketball, boxing, whatever it is, just things to get away from everyone and sometimes express myself and sometimes be emotionally selfish and shut off from people.

But that's how he was. The last time we went hunting. was off of, I think, Seagin Lane in Baton Rouge. Now, a lot of people are going to be listening to this. They're going to be like, Van Segan Lane is not a very wooded area. There's only a couple of wooded areas off Segan. That's because my father would put rabbit dogs in anywhere. If my dad came to your house and he saw you had a patch of woods behind your house, he'd say,

hey, y'all have seen any rabbits around here? and you say yeah you be like all right well I'm gonna come back around here Sunday around four day in the morning and I'm gonna put a pack of dogs in there just one or two whatever come out I'm gonna put some meat in your freezer so we were actually hunting

this time it's a nice actually big patch of land to be honest with you behind a friend of mine's house that I had gone to school with but it was big big enough for the dogs to run nobody's in danger

now I like Like hunting. Liking hunting is different than loving hunting. You know, I like to hunt. You know why? Because I like to eat. Nothing eats better than a rabbit to me. Never happened.

A rabbit. Oh, damn it, Rachel is so good. Oh, my God. I don't know if I could get past the way that rabbits look. This is, the story is coming for you. Oh, gosh. This is the deal. So, um,

So whenever I would go hunting, the only thing I would think of was the end result, which is the rabbit in the pan, mama frying them up, frying them down hard with a little olive oil and nice little gravy and it's good. Okay. So normally what my dad would do is he would go in, he would put the dogs into the thick and into the woods or whatever. And he would place me exactly where he knew the rabbit would come out because he knew this. He had Hunter's ESP. he knows where the rabbit's going to show up at. So he puts you right here because he doesn't care if he kills. He wants me to kill because he wants me to have the same addiction that he has.

So he always puts me in a position to see. So I remember this one particular day. This is the last time I went hunting. I might have been 15 or 16. He puts me right in a spot. And he goes, all right, watch right there. He puts the rabbits. He puts the dogs in the woods.

Now the thing about this is The rabbit is always going to be way ahead of the dogs Way ahead Right So if you hear the dogs Way, hey, hey, hey, hurry, way back there Be looking for the rabbit The more you hear, the closer you hear them

Not when they're right on top of you But right when they're in earshot They're on his trail But he's way ahead of them Okay Now I killed rabbits before Lots of rabbits killed a lot of them.

Normally when you kill a rabbit, that sucker is moving. I know you guys have seen the history channel or not the history channel or not geo or whatever. And you see a rabbit and a rabbit is moving. Right? He's moving.

He's like getting up, boom, boom, boom. So you really only have the chance to raise you a shotgun. Line him up, boom, he's dead. Okay. Now, when you see the rabbit after he's been shot, he's not cute. He's got quail shot in him.

He's got fine shot in him. Now he looks like you don't even want to look at him. The thing you want to do is you want to dress them as quick as you can. Get them in your back sack and then get home and fry him up. You don't want to look at him too much because you can even, you can sense the finality of death. Like you can see it. The animal, you can see the soul not in the animal anymore. Anyway.

So I'm standing there and I'm waiting for the rabbit to come out. I hear the dolls. I know it's getting close. And something happens. The rabbit comes out. But instead of streaking across the opening where I could get my gun up to shoot him, he stops.

Okay. He just freezes. Yeah. The rabbit just freezes. Like directly in front of you. Directly in front of me. Oh gosh. I'd say maybe 11 feet.

Oh. He just freezes. He stops. He literally tips out. He doesn't even run out. He tips out and he stops. And he looks directly at me. And I swear to God, I locked souls with the animal.

I believe you. I'm looking at the animal. And I realize, Jesus Christ, this is cute. This is a cute little furry woodland creature. And he's looking at me like, you really want to do this dog? I'm just trying to hop home to my family This is how you're going to do me? You know what I mean?

You haven't had enough? You haven't had enough of my people already? You're going to do this again? And I kind of look back at him and I was like, you know what you got it, man? So I froze. The rabbit froze. The rabbit after a while

tipped on into the weeds, into the thicket. About 10 minutes later, my father comes. The dogs come. my dad looks at me he goes did that rabbit come out here I was like nope he was like

you mean to tell me because he's watching the way the dogs come come out of the brush yeah loose at me he goes you mean to tell me that that rabbit did not come out of that brush right there

you never saw him and I was like I don't know maybe my back was turned he's like why would your back been turned there's nothing back there your back wouldn't have been turned i was like i don't know i might turned around or something he's like forget about it just telling me yes or no did you see the rabbit because if not we got to put the dogs back on him i'm like no and he just looked at me i just looked at him he knew that that was a lie mm-hmm mm-hmm okay so that was a lie that

I held from my father for 20 some odd years. In the conversation earlier this year, I think it was around January, February, I told my dad. I was like, dad, I want to tell you something. He's like, what? I saw the rabbit that time. He's like, what are you talking about? I remember who was hunting behind Shelley in them house

and a rabbit tipped out or you didn't know that he tipped out but he came out right in front of me and I told you I didn't shoot I told you I didn't see him it's like I did see him I just didn't shoot him I couldn't shoot him

and he laughed he laughed as hard as I've ever heard him laugh before in my life He goes, why in the world didn't you tell me that you saw the rabbit and you couldn't pull the trigger? He was like, you don't think that's ever happened to me before? Hmm. And I was like, no.

No. The reason why I would never think that something like that would happen to my father is because the measure of manhood and the degree to which I think his standard is unachievable, I cannot begin to articulate on this podcast. I've spent my entire life wanting to make one person proud of me. Yeah. Like legitimately one person. I don't drive around in fancy cars.

I don't drape. like jewelry all off my body. I don't do any of that stuff because none of that stuff was impressive to my father. And in the ways that I could impress him and make him proud of me, I always felt like I felt, I fell just a little bit short.

But what I was doing to him for all of that time was holding him to a standard that not even he could achieve. When I finally told him about that, I realized after years and years and years that my dad was just a dude too. He told me half a dozen stories about seeing beautiful deer that he thought were too perfect to kill. About not being able to get his gun up. About times when other points in his life to where he wanted to meet a moment and he couldn't.

but we wasted almost a lifetime never discussing that what he showed me was absolute strength and what i feel like i showed him was absolute weakness and so for me having my father passed away pass away more than anything i reacted selfishly because i lost the opportunity to prove to him who I think that I am. When we had the conversation that we had, when we talked about it, as much as he laughed and told me that it was okay,

and I was a kid and whatever, I still didn't believe him. I still was thinking to myself, yo, what does he really think about me? Like he climbs up in a deer stand with a deer stand on his back with a bad heart, puts it up there,

stays out there all day. He goes out by himself, contracts a job, pours the whole thing up. He's like an eat what you kill kind of guy. I was anxiety and Star Wars and what's going to happen when the ozone layer depletes and fighting kids at school because they called you nigger and just completely different. I never thought that he understood. So I guess if I was saying words about my dad, what I would say is that the thing that I'm most sad about

is that I don't think I ever really knew him. I don't think that I ever really got a sense of who he actually was. There was just something that as much as I revered him and as much as he taught me, there was a space there. and I filled it with stuff. And I don't even know if it was his stuff. So the best way that I can really honor my father

is to not let that happen in the relationships that I care about now. It's to not have people fill in the spaces between me and them with stuff. Be it insecurity. Be it. pain, anguish, whatever it is, I want to feel the space between me and people. I loved him, but it was more akin to worship.

And I'm not sure that's what he wanted. I think he just wanted to find some kind of way to, like, connect with his son. And so I'm more than that. I'm more in the fact that even the way I talk about him on the podcast, I go back and listen to it. I just looked up to him. I really did.

So I'm going to miss my father. I'm going to miss the man that I made him out to be. And I think a part of me is going to miss not ever knowing the man that he actually was. That's that. Can I say something? What compelled you to ask your dad, to mention that story to your dad at the beginning? of this year?

That's a good question. I think after everything that happened last year, I think I just wanted him to know that I didn't shoot. I think I wanted him to be comfortable with who I was. I don't know. I just wanted to know what he was going to

think about me, the actual me. I guess I just I'm listening to what you're saying. the first thing I thought, the reason I ask you that question is because the first thing I thought about when you said that is after all these years, why in that moment would you ask that question? It's deeper than that to me. It wasn't just like a random thought. It might have been something you've been thinking about. It's crossed your mind over the last few years or several years, but for some reason in that moment, you asked that question and you had a level of understanding about your dad that you never had before. That means something. And I guess, you know, like, you say you didn't know him, but the way you shared him on this podcast, the stories that you would tell, whether they were funny, whether they had

a meaning behind them, whether they were just like crazy and ridiculous, it all told a certain side to your dad. And so, like, I do feel like, and I'm listening to you, too, and you're like, your dad like this, and you like Star Wars, your dad like this, and you like this. Sometimes I think his parents, because I revere my dad maybe to an unhealthy level two. And it's, I do things completely opposite from him, right, to the point where I think that he's not proud or he doesn't like understand what I'm doing or he was like, are you getting paid on that? Like, what are you doing? That's like, as if it's almost ridiculous. But I think that there's something in our parents where

They appreciate that we can do things and we can be free in a way that they never could be. Does that make sense? It does. And whether your dad told you that or not, sorry, I'm sensitive or emotional. Whether you're saying, I told you that or not, he knew it. A hundred percent. So like, I'm emotional because I'm hearing you say that you feel this way or maybe you connect a certain way with your dad, but I know you did. and I know he felt it

whether he told you or not I feel like our dads are the same when they don't really tell you they never really do but they see it they know it I don't know I just want you to hold on to that I'm not you know I understand

I receive that I will say one thing I'll correct one thing is that he did like Star Wars I did just figure about that he did like he so you know what Star Wars the Phantom Menace is. Come on,

of him. Of course you don't. You know I don't. So one of the funniest moments in my entire life. So Star Wars the Phantom Menace is a prequel. Okay, it's a prequel to the rest of the Star Wars movies. And it tells the story of a young Anakin Skywalker. Now, Anakin Skywalker goes on to become Darth Vader.

I'm assuming you know who Darth Vader is. Wait. So he's related to Luke Skywalker? Oh, that's right. I'm your father. Okay. Hey, look at that. Hey, look at that.

Right. So Anakin Skywalker is Luke Skywalker's dad. Okay. Spoiler alert. Darth Vader. Hopefully you guys, I didn't spoil anything from having in 1980 for you guys. So my father, I don't think quite, he didn't quite get the prequel aspect of this, right? You know, my dad never really thought about like stuff with prequels.

My dad would say the Empire Strikes Back was the baddest movie he ever saw. He's like, that's some bad shit. That's some, they was, that Louie Skywalker, he bad. That's a bad motherfucker right there. Went up against a guy that guy that was his daddy. It was his daddy the whole time. I'll just show you sometimes, boy. Sometimes, boy, you got to go ahead.

You got to, it can't be two bulls in the same pin. Sometimes, boy. If there's one bull in there, that young bull got to go get it from that. old the bull and that's what Luke Skywalker was doing. One day that's going to happen with me and you. You know, one day that's going to happen with me and you. You're going to bring your ass in here because a man don't take care of another man. You're going to think you a man and either the old bull going to win or the young bull going

win, but it can only be one bull. All right. So when the prequels came out, my father thought that they were actually sequels. Because number one, they don't look nothing like the old movies. They look better. It makes sense. makes all the sense in the world. Yeah.

Yeah. Like they don't look nothing like the old movies, right? They look better, right? The Jedi actually even fight flashier. It just, he thought they were sequels. And so the Phantom Minus comes out. I go to the movies to see it probably six or seven times. But now it's on DVD and I'm watching it at the house.

And my dad is like, now that little boy, because Anakin Skywalker is a little boy in the movies. He goes, that little boy. Who is that little boy? and I was like, oh, that's Anakin Skywalker. And he goes, oh, that's Luke Skywalker's son. And I was like, no. Anakin Skywalker, dad is Darth Vader.

That's, this is a prequel. This happened before. And he was like, what you mean? I was like, this happened 40 some odd years or whatever before the movies. They're showing you how things got to where they are. And he was like, so you mean tell me that little boy right there is Darth Vader? And I'm like, yeah.

And he goes, well, why won't somebody cut his fucking head off? And I'm like, what? He was like, that's Darth Vader. They're going to blow up the whole galaxy. Why won't somebody just cut his head off? They need to kill him now. And I was like, dad, they're not going to kill the kid.

This is how the kid turns into the thing. He's like, nah, I can't look at this shit. Turn this shit off. Turn it off. He's like, cut this shit off. Like, cut this shit. I don't want to look at this shit because all they got to do right now

that's what's wrong. All they got to do right now is get rid of that motherfucker right there. And then I was, and then I never forget, I go, with that, if you kill Anakin, there would never be a Luke

and Luke's your favorite guy. He paused for a second. And he goes, you know what you do? You get your motherfucking ass up and go out there and beat them horses. How about you Luke Skywalking at? Like Luke Skywalker

that? Luke Skywalker, of your ass out there to that barn and you feed them goddamn horses. Confusing me with all of this stuff. I'm with you, dad. Yeah, well, yeah, you would be. Also, that's like, looper. Literally, your daddy was writing the script to looper.

Well, I mean, look, it's really not that big of a deal. Like, it's not that, and this was another thing is that, like, it was not that big of a, it's not that hard to understand. This happened before. It's like, it's not that difficult. It's not that difficult to understand like this happened before. He didn't want to understand it. No, he doesn't know.

In his mind, Darth Vader is a fixed evil character, even though he turns good at the end. And he doesn't really want to know. I'm never going to watch Star Wars now. Yeah, Darth Vader, the last thing that he does before he dies is he picks the emperor up and throws him. Stop. This is years and years ago. One of them. Not a one.

How many other nine, ten? 3-3-3-9 but then there's Rogue 1 and then they're solo so there are a couple of offshoot movies there's a couple of offshoot movies and there's some TV shows, The Mandalorian how do we get back to Star Wars?

This is the whole thing I was talking about. See how we started? A shared love of Star Wars. Right, he did like Star Wars. He did like Star Wars. I love you, dad. Van Lathen, senior. Rest and peace. I will never, ever in my life not think of you

and I will never, ever forget the standard that you wanted me to hit. And I'll try to be the man that you wanted me to be, even if I realized that maybe you weren't even that man. Okay, we're going to take a break. We're going to come back. This episode is brought to by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and make it a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer,

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Ask your doctor about trim fire. Tap this ad to learn more about trim fire, including important safety information. Rachel. Yes. Did you see Space Jam a new legacy? I saw about 10 minutes of it. Did you see it? Okay, you didn't like it.

No, no, no, no, no. It's not that. Did you see it? I watched it. You got a screener because it is not available at home yet. HBO Max. Oh, I thought it was 30 days after in theaters. Oh, I got to watch it then.

No, it's 30 days after that it'll stop. Oh, I didn't get that right. Okay, well, I saw about 10 minutes of it because I went to the premiere to interview, the folks. Interview the folks, yeah, I had to work. I had to work. So you went to the premiere of Space Jam. I worked the red carpet.

I didn't go inside to watch it. You didn't, so, oh, so you didn't go inside to watch. How did you see 10 minutes of it? I had a screen. You had to screen there and you didn't even watch it. But do you have to watch it to work the red carpet? No, but it helps because you're able to like point things out in the movie and bring certain things up. But I mean, we didn't get LeBron like that, right?

It was like a press conference. You know, LeBron stood in three spots. We need to throw our mics up there and ask one question. Did you get to ask him something? Yes, but they acted like he couldn't walk down to each outlet like everybody else did. They were like, he doesn't normally do media. He's not used to this. LeBron knows how to do this.

This is after every game. Stop. So wait, you felt played. Well, it was just more annoying because I had a lot of questions to ask. I only got to ask one. What did you ask him? I asked him about the inclusion of women in this film versus the one 25 years ago. and the importance of doing that.

With WNBA, it starts off with his mom and I saw the first 10 minutes. His wife is a strong figure in the movie, helping him develop the relationship with his son. So I asked him about that. He gave a very great answer about growing up in a single parent home, what his mom meant to him,

what black women mean to him. It was a great answer. Okay. That's amazing. So look, look, I enjoy stuff when we can, what? What? Wait, I keep going.

Keep going. You enjoyed the movie? Keep going. I want to hear you. I want to hear your thoughts. No, but here's the thing. I didn't enjoy it, but it didn't suck. Oh, here's the thing.

It's fine. Well, people have to understand this is this. So this is what happened. So Space Jam debuted at number one at the box office, right? $31.65 million. People are going to look that number and go, hey, that was low. No, because you don't know how many people like myself watching on HBO Mac. So I think 31.

point six five million bucks it debuting at number one I think Warner Brothers is happy with that I think they're happy and it beat Black Widow which is huge MCU you know it's a big universe all you all in the MCU I don't know anything about it beat Black Widow it'd be Black Widow and like Black Widow's like was it second or third third or fourth week

it doesn't really matter though like the people come out to watch that stuff like crazy yeah they watch it like crazy but only for a set time it's not like Black Widow was going to like dominate for like six months. No, but we're talking second or third week. Anyways, even I think LeBron was that, which is why he was bragging about it. What, Donnie, what week was Black Widow in? Was this the second week of Black Widow or the third week of Black Widow?

It does. This was his second week. And actually it was the biggest drop off box office wise for a Marvel movie. Right. Because it was a woman. That's what that's what people are trying to say. It's because it was a woman. I'm not saying that.

I'm saying it was the biggest drop off, maybe because it wasn't that great. Had nothing to do with the being woman. See, you all even know. Because I don't do MCU. Here's the thing. Black Widow was fine. Black Widow was fine. And Space Jam was fine.

LeBron James, the movie was apparently raped over the Coles by the critics who, I guess. Oh, hell yeah. What were they critical about? Is it the same reason you didn't like it? What did they say? They were literally, they were watching Space Jam. Like, it was goddamn moonlight. The character development of Bunk's Bunny and Daffy Duck.

It was not a very strong performance by Daffy Duck. Look, I'm not saying, they could take, look, I'm not saying Richard Roper said that it was, Richard Roper hated it. And by the way, the original Space Jam was reviewed pretty poorly, too. I'm not saying that like, you can't go to a cartoon movie. and be thoroughly entertained, which leads me to my point.

I am saying that I think we are putting a one-size-fits-all sort of blanking on films like this. These films are particularly for kids. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I think there's one culprit behind this, Pixar. Okay. Why? Pixar has ruined the cartoon-going experience for everyone.

True. Because like a Pixar movie, really, there are jokes in Pixar movies and Trek movies sometimes that kids won't even get. And you know that it's there to broaden on it. Space Jam, this movie, this is for kids. Right. Like there's some. Compared to soul. Yeah. Soul is very heady.

Like soul is like like like, like, do you know soul would have gave me a panic attack when I was a kid? Oh, just talk about life and death and shit like that. Kids don't get it. My nephews are obsessed with it for different reasons. Then we, they don't get the. bigger picture of it. Right. So,

uh, Space Jam, it got killed by the critics. And LeBron, he, of course, he hit back as all basketball players, uh,

of this generation. They always snap back. So space jam, a new legacy, oh my goodness. And finally just hit me. I can't believe it. I'm so honored.

I'm so humble. This is crazy. Doesn't make sense to me. But I've got so much energy today. I hope everybody goes out, check it out, the movie theaters, HBO Max,

whatever is around you. Please check it out. I promise you won't be disappointed. I'm just super high. right now. I can't control my energy right now. I'm watching my son play now playing this basketball game in Augusta, Georgia. My wife is right next to me. She's looking to me crazy because it's like 8 o'clock in the morning.

And then that's what he said before. And then he put high haters to the movie after the movie opened up with a $32 million opening weekend. I guess, you know, I guess I'm happy for LeBron. Sure. Can I be honest with you? I don't really give a fuck. You know, here's the thing. It's like, you know what?

This is really about, this is about the fact that no one is going to look at this space jam movie like the original space jam movie. That's not true. I don't, I think that's true. I don't think anyone's going to look at this one that's like the original space jam movie. What do you mean by that? Because if you're talking about us, yeah, because we grew up on the other one. But the kids, kids now, this generation of kids is going to appreciate this for everything we appreciate it, the first one to be. You think so.

I know so because I'm like parents I like my friends who are moms are like oh my gosh you got do space gym my kids are going crazy over this. They don't they don't see it that way. So think about how it was for us because when I was doing research for it to do the red carpet I didn't realize how many people were critical of the first one. How many people said there's no way you can mix real people with the Looney Tunes. This is going to be weird. This is the guy who played the agent.

There were like three other people in front of him because no act. would take that role because people thought this would just be such a terrible movie and then look what it became. So I think that for this generation, people are going to love it. It's got all the gaming stuff, the servers fear and all of that. It does. It's not that I don't think Space Jam a new legacy. I just don't think anything is the way it used to be.

First of all, Space Jam has Michael Jordan. And this is the difference between Michael Jordan and every other athlete. right this is the difference nobody is ever going to go as hard as michael joy it don't matter what happened doug can come out right now average 65 points a game three steals five blocks whatever uh nobody's going to go his head as michael culture is in a different place i think in a lot of ways michael jordan and who michael jordan is has really ruined a lot about sports culture because he's this unassailable unapproachable everything he did was the best everything and so now Even this movie is not even LeBron's like own movie.

It's going to be judged against space jam and the monoculture that we had then. Sure. I asked Anthony Davis, Jordan or LeBron. And he said, Jordan. And people said he was going to get traded. First of all, you messy as hell. Why would you ask you that? Ryan showed me that he found it, like went down like a dark hole.

He was like, look, people are saying somebody took it. And they were like, betray. And they were saying he was going to get trade. I'm going to put it on my Instagram. But I was talking about it in the sense of like, because some people were like, oh, she was talking about shoes because then I was pointing out my space jams that I was wearing because LeBron came out with his own version of space jams.

Did you see that? I did. So anyways, he was like, but Anthony Davis is from Chicago, you know, whatever. Anyways, find it. Go look. People were like, he's out. But so, and I guess that's the thing. I guess the reality is that.

I almost think it was a bad move for LeBron to make space share. I don't think so. And normally that is something I would say. So it's just another thing for him to be compared to Jordan. When the Jordan thing, the Jordan love and the Jordan shit is just completely it's irrational to this. Does that mean that he shouldn't do certain things just because of fear of being compared to Jordan? I guess for me, I'm thinking about this generation of kids having something

like we had. And it's not a sequel, which I thought for the longest time this was a sequel. It's not. It's a whole new version of Space Jam. So I guess for me, it doesn't bother me because I'm not looking at it comparing him to Jordan. I'm just looking at he is the greatest basketball player at the moment. And so he is bringing this new Space Jam legacy to the forefront.

And maybe 25 years later from now, whoever's the greatest in that moment will do another version of Space Jam. It just seems to be a brand more than it is like a comparison. Oh, man. Do your own movie. Don't do no space jam. Don't do space jam where you're the space jam. No more space jam.

Forget about it. We jammed out. It's a brand. It's becoming a thing, right? So like this was a new legacy. It'll be space jam. I don't know. Like space jam three.

We ain't stopping. Space Jam four. Like, just doing, I don't know. And you just name me nine, ten Star Wars movies? I don't know. That's completely different. It's completely different. It's totally different.

Don't. Your eyes. It's totally different. Number one, it's totally different. It's completely different. It's one saga, the Skywalker family. Shout out to LeBron. I'm glad the movie made a lot of money.

I didn't care about it. But once again, you guys out there, it's not for you. If the kids liked the jamming of the space, then God damn it, it worked. Good for him. Good for math, good for everyone. Jordan was just a regular guy, guys. Jordan did a whole documentary.

His family wasn't even in it. His family wasn't in the documentary. So Jordan had some shit with him too. Get over this Jordan shit. He is the best of all time, though. All right. Justin LaBoy, shout out to Justin LaBoy over there at the Respectfully Podcast.

Justin LaBois tweeted that he heard Kanye West's new album in Las Vegas, with Kevin Durant. And he says it's the best Kanye West album he's ever heard and that it's going to knock everybody on their asses. He actually said Kanye else, he says Kanye's album is really done. When it drops this week,

we probably not going to listen to anything else for a while. The production is light years ahead of his time. And the bar sound like he's broke and hungry trying to get signed again. Any artists who plan on dropping soon should just push it back, Rachel, happened. Are you still excited for a Kanye West album to drop in 2021? I'm not going to lie. This may be controversial. I'm always excited for a Kanye West album to drop. I want to hear what he's got to say. I want to hear what's different that he's going to bring to table. I'm

curious of anything else. I want to hear it. However, this whole thing that I'm not familiar with Justin LeBoy. Does Justin the boy typically get to listen to music first? Is this typically what he gets to do because to me this seemed like a publicity stunt because he's really, really boosting it. I actually hope he's telling the truth because I would love for a Kanye album to be like that. But it doesn't it sound like a publicity stunt to you unless this is what this guy does.

I don't know. I'm not familiar with him. What this guy does, how dare you speak ill of Justin. I'm not speaking ill. I'm not familiar with Justin. So Justin runs like a meme page. He started Demon Time. they're on the uh you know you remember demon time when it was time during the pandemic after a certain time it was time to get sexy and show off your sexy side to twitter you know tweet your butthole

or whatever like that demon time is what it started off demon time and then it had a demon time only fans and then after that he he made it was a meme page it's funny just a little boy justin le boy has a mean page very popular meme page very where he posts memes post like you know other people's quotes and stuff like that it's very popular people go to it but now he has a really, really popular podcast with Justin Combs. So there's, remember this was the podcast. Oh, that's who Justin does the podcast. Yeah.

Okay, okay, okay. Gotcha. Why are you hating on Justin a little boy like this? Oh my God. I said I was unfamiliar with him. I was like that's who Justin Combs. You know, we've talked about that podcast and things that have come out from it. I didn't realize that.

Okay, okay. Now I'm familiar because that was the podcast when Soidi went on there and made the threesome comment. Which, by the way, I was back home. in Baton Rouge for a couple of weeks. And shout out to the playerproof crew. We are older, but we get into the same type of shit. You know, like we get into the same type of shit.

It's so easy to set a fire in my crew. Just everybody's sitting around and just ask a question like, hey, man, do y'all think that a threesome with two guys and a girl? What do y'all think about that? And they'll be like, that's not a threesome. That's not a threesome. That's a train. That's a train.

That's a train. I'm like, actually, no. It's a threesome. Van, don't come here with your LA sensibilities. Just because you're living out there amongst. It's a train. It's not a threesome. I'm like, well, it's three people having sex.

No, it's only a threesome if everybody is interacting. I'm like, okay, let me ask you a question. What's the point of doing it if it's not a threesome? It's something that you guys are all doing together. Because you could easily have sex with one person, one person, whatever. Why you and your boys get together, just face it, you wanted to have sex with a girl with your homeboy around.

That was a thing. Don't ask yourself any questions. Just go with it. Nah, what you're trying to say? What you're trying to say? What's you trying to say? I'm trying to say that I know what you did in 99. It's not a big deal.

I'm just saying that's a threesome. You have a threesome with yourself and another dude. And then whatever. Anyway, but no. Am I excited about a Kanye West album coming out? No, but I'm not not excited. You're curious. I think I'm curious.

I think I'm over. Am I over being mad at Kanye? I think I am. I think he'll probably reignite it. But it's just hard to stay mad at him. It's hard to stay mad at Kanye. I'm not going to lie. But why do you think that is?

Is it because we know that like he has his own struggles? He's going through things. is that it? Is that it? No, you got something else? No, you're right, but even that's like just making excuses for him, right? It's, you know, everybody goes through things. It is, but we're publicly seeing, like, we've seen public breakdowns.

Right. With Kaye. So I think there's a part of you that feels sorry for him. And so it almost lets you excuse it. Like you forgive him, you're like, okay, I'm going to give him another chance. Let's see if he's going to redeem himself. At least that's how. I mean, that's true to an extent, but you know what else is true?

It's also true that there's still some stand-up people around Kanye, like, John Legend still hangs out with him. And I'm like, I don't know why that matters. Like, that matters to me that John Legend still hangs out with Kanye West, that certain people stick by, like push a T is still down with you. John Legend, being with Kanye doesn't surprise me. He stood by other people who've been, who've had some issues lately in the public. What is he supposed to do, Rachel?

I'm just saying he's down for people. He's loyal, is my point. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you have a problem with John Legend sticking by his wife? Okay, I absolutely do not. I would be very disappointed if John Legend left. I'm just saying left Chrissy over what happened.

I would be very disappointed. I would be like, really you just go dip out at the first sign of trouble. The headline. John Legend leaves Chrissy Teigen over mean tweets. That would be so. No, I'm just saying John is loyal is my point. Yeah. So apparently there's a listening.

That's your next person. A lot of people are stuck by. Push the T's a stand-up guy. Push-Tee's a stand-up guy. A lot of people. My point is a lot of people have stuck by him. Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle.

A lot of people. You don't think Dave Chappelle stand up? Is that what you're about to say? You understand that guy? Dave Chappelle is stand-up, but Dave Chappelle likes problematics. Dave Chappelle, I mean, Dave Chappelle is just doesn't give of fuck. Dave Chappelle, like Dave Chappelle is hanging out with Lewis CK. And I'm not saying that he's,

no, fuck that shit. I wouldn't hang out with Lewis CK. But like, but, but, you know, Dave Chappelle, so Dave Chappelle, like, he, he thumps his nose. He's a, he's a repeated nose thumber, you know, um, but I don't know why. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm a house nigger because I'm, I'm not mad at Kanye West no more. I'm not either. We're, no, house a nigger. I think it's more curiosity because it's I'm like what are we going to get is he how is he going to sound what is he going to talk about that's more so what I want to know than like man I'm just ready to jam kind of know I'm like I feel like it's going to give me some insight as to what's been going on that's what I think and that's why I think I'm eager to hear the album maybe it's is con is

is there another Trump supporter that's as beloved by the African American community as you know why because I don't believe And maybe I'm making excuses. I don't really believe that he was a Trump supporter. I don't. I don't. I don't. I think he was not okay.

He was sick. Right. So you're, so you're giving him. So you're, I don't believe it. Attorney, attorney Rachel is saying,

is pleading by reason of insanity, defense by reason of insanity. Kanye West was just out of his gourd. And that's why he, he went hard though man for years he went hard for years is this album gonna be gospel there's a listening session

yeah my boy just more because he was in the room when Kanye was that that infamous picture of Kanye with the hat on in front of Trump and he's and my boy sitting like this in the background we should bring him in and see because I don't believe it so we will listen to the Kanye West album we will sellouts here

is it really coming up Friday is it really coming out Friday that's what they say they say it's don't die. They say it's got a lot of people on it. Baby Keem. A lot of people that are featured. I like Baby Keem. I fuck with Baby Kim Hart. Um, so yeah, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Uh, we'll see. But I just, I think that being mad at Kanye West is, it's like an expiration date on it. Now, there's a lot of people that are going to be in a fuck Kanye West forever. I'm with you too.

I'm with you too. I'm not going to run out to listen. Well, I'm not going to turn it off if it comes on. I haven't, I tell you what, I haven't listened to any of his other stuff. I haven't listen to any of the stuff that he's put out. But for some reason, maybe it's the headspace I'm in right now. I just, I don't have that much energy for Matt, you know? I get that. Not that much. Let's take a break and come back. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 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. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming. You deserve a break that actually satisfies.

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40 grams of protein Made to keep up with whatever comes next New sweet green wraps hit different Order now at order.com Yo Why don't you tell your people to stop wreaking havoc out here in the streets Who are you talking about?

This delta variant Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta is out here Delta's out here stomping on people. Don't you affiliate that with my sorority. It's like an invisible elephant stampede across people's lungs. Shout out to Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. Don't you talk about.

Delta Sigma Theta. But, but, oh, I've never heard you hit that bitch before. That was legit. I'm a little rusty because I'm hoarse. I'm a little rusty because I'm hoarse. Wow. Hell. Boy, that brings back so many.

memories. That was like, they used to hit that bitch on the yard. That was like a mating call. You see all them goddamn, you look, that was like a maid. You see all them goddamn deltas over there hitting that shit. You're like, oh my God, bring your asses over here. Pank it. Um, but, um, no, um, yeah, the delta variant is actually not funny. I wish it was. The delta variant of COVID-19 is now the dominant strain worldwide in the U.S. cases of COVID-19 are up 70% over the previous week, this week. Deaths are up 26%. Outbreaks occurring in parts of the country with low vaccination rates.

I'm going to tie two of these stories together. Okay. Okay. Low vaccination rates happening right now. The starkest uptick in cases are in Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nevada. It is quickly becoming a pandemic of the vaccinated, which is what... Of the unvaccinated. Excuse me, of the unvaccinated.

This is what Roussel Walensky of the CDC said. So what we're saying is, obviously, there's some places where there's some places all over where there's still extreme vaccine hesitancy. And here in Los Angeles County, I think the number was about 99.8% of the actual deaths regarding COVID right now or due to COVID right now due to the Delta variant are coming in unvaccinated people.

Now, put a pin in that because I want to go to another story that relates to that story right there at least as I see it in the black community. All right. California is paying reparations to victims of forced sterilization

in California state prisons. I don't know if you guys have heard this but Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the state budget, and including the budget is $75 million in reparations for survivors to force sterilizations of prison inmates allowed under the state's eugenics laws. Thousands of women, thousands of women were sterilized without their consent as early as 11 years ago are said to be paid in an effort by the state to make right its egregious and immoral sanctioning of a practice that denied incarcerated women, the right to decide what to do with their own bodies.

All right. I'm going to go down to something down here at the bottom. It says, The history of forced sterilizations in California dates back to 1909 and reportedly was the inspiration for eugenics programs in Nazi Germany. But investigators found hundreds of women that were victimized by the practice as late 2010, even though it was illegal by then.

$75 million is not going to make a woman's body whole, but it is something that the state is trying to do. in order to pay back victims of something that heinous. So I'll tell you why I'm connecting these things. At this particular point, anyone out there that's spreading misinformation about the vaccine, you're killing people. Straight up. I posted that on Twitter and I let up on Instagram, shall I say?

And I watch my comments full of anti-vaxxers and people like, oh, man, you got paid to say that. You got paid to say that. You got paid to say that. I didn't get paid to do shit. I've been in Louisiana for the last two weeks, Barry my fucking father. So fuck you. Nobody paid me. Nobody pulled strings on me.

What I'm saying is if you're out there spreading misinformation, if you're lying about vaccinations, then you are contributing to the deaths of people needlessly. I stand on that. I said that and I meant that. If you've done all the research and you decide you don't want to get the vaccine, that's on you. But the reason why I'm tying these two stories together is because

as an aside, I want people to understand what we just read. What we just read was that the state of California was sterilizing women without their knowledge. I had never heard this before. I never knew anything about this. Just sitting there.

I didn't know at all. I knew that what I did know is that the eugenics that Hitler attempted or went through with in World War II and in Nazi Germany, really he had learned from over here. And a lot of the things that Hitler had did,

a lot of even his anti-Semitism, he learned from the Dearborn Independent guys like here at Henry Ford and all of that stuff. It's true stuff. Look that up. But if you wonder why people don't trust the government and people don't trust things that the government is telling them to take. And if you look at them as cooks and if you look at them as people

who are crazy, then you only have to look at them, that story as to reasons why they might feel that way. Now, that doesn't mean that you're going to excuse vaccine hesitancy right now because it's killing people. It is. But it does mean that we have to be grown up to, grown up enough to have these conversations in the face of the facts that we know. Yeah.

And in the face of the history that we know. So maybe particularly on this issue, it's not the time for a culture war. Maybe there shouldn't be a culture war between the. vaccinated and unvaccinated. Maybe what we need to have is a cultural conversation around things with people that are coming to these conversations in good faith. And I would say that there are people on both sides of it that aren't. Bullshit. Not true. Why am I fucking around? They're not people. I haven't heard very many people on the pro vaccination side that aren't coming into it in good faith. I've heard dozens of people. Yeah. dozens of anti-vaxxers. I'm not both sides of anything anymore.

that you only get one of these motherfuckers and I'm not holding my tongue. There's dozens of people on the anti-vax side that I don't feel like are coming into this in good faith and are using this as hysteria, using these actual real putrid facts of history, using this as hysteria to whip people up and they're hurting and killing people. The question is, and I'll ask you, how do we have a conversation both about the fact that the United States of America has a disgusting record as far as dealing with the United States. the health care of its citizens, particularly its black citizens, but also in this particular time, convince people that the vaccines, by and large, are safe and effective. Like, is there a,

is there a nuanced conversation we can have to where we bridge those two thoughts? I don't know if there's a nuanced conversation to have, but I will say this. A lot of the conversations I do have with people who won't get the vaccine, it's not because they're fearful of what's happened in history to black and brown people. That, it's just missing. misinformation. I don't really hear people say, oh, this happened. I mean, I've heard it, but the people that I know who won't get it, they're not saying that. They're just saying they don't trust it. So it's, it's, it's, I understand what you're tying together, but I guess in having, if we're having this nuanced conversation or figure out ways to talk to people, that's not the argument that

I'm hitting from a lot of people. It's just that they don't trust it. Oh, it's too soon. Oh, it's not necessarily giving factual information that happened historically as to why, they're afraid to get it. But to answer your question in regards to that, I don't know if there is a way to do it. I mean, because the facts are the facts, this happened in history. It happened to groups that were, that marginalized groups that society, this particular society did not care about and that they treated as if they were less than human beings, which is why they were sterilizing them or using them as experiments. How do you get past that? It's really a personal decision of just trusting that that's not happening.

That's so, how can I prove that it's not? How can I necessarily say, promise you that getting the vaccine did not sterilize you? How can I do that? But why should you have to promise that to somebody? Well, for the person who's fearful,

plain devil's advocate, I'm a person who's like, I just, I haven't gotten vaccinated. I have for everybody. This is just hypothetical. I haven't gotten vaccinated. And I just heard this story

about what's happening in the very state that I'm living in. that people thought they were getting a cyst removed and ended up getting their ovaries taken out and didn't find out till years later. How do I know that what is getting injected in me? 100%, how do I know that what's getting injected into me is not going to sterilize me a person who has yet to have children?

You don't. But with anything, do you know with 100% certainty? Yeah, so it's weird saying that you don't. But you don't know anything for certain 100%. Right. You don't know that the ad deal that you're going to take. Well, yeah, look, look, you know what I think I want to do? I want to have an anti-vaxer on higher learning.

We could easily have that. That's a great. How have we not thought of this already? How? I want to have an anti-vaxxer on higher learning. Great. Now, there are a couple people that have reached out. Antivaxers?

Yeah. They've reached out. Are you familiar with Riza Islam? Do you know who that is? No. Riza Islam wants to come on the show. It's a member of the nation of Islam. Wow.

Got that. Yeah. Reza. What? Because of the name, Reza, he wants to come on. But I want to have a serious anti-vaxxer on to have this conversation. And look, I know that we always have to be careful about platforming dangerous things. And there are going to be a lot of people in the comments. Shout out to our Thought Warriors over there.

The pop and this Reddit that exists. Our Thought Warriors. What's up? Shout out to the Facebook group. Shout out to everybody. People are like, why are you going to be like, why are you going to platform this. Why are you going to platform this? I think even more so for me and it doesn't have to be somebody that makes a living as an anti-vaxxer and I don't want to beat anyone. I don't I don't work for

the pharmaceutical companies. I don't want to beat anything into anybody's heads. But I do have to understand what some of the concerns are as they relate to the real world historical data that we have because what I would say is this is that obviously people still go to the doctor. doctor, right? Like, people still go to the doctor. They still take some pharmaceutical drugs. They still use things, right? They still trust, a lot of people still trust condoms to protect them from STDs and from, a lot of people still trust condoms. Some people don't, Rachel. Some people out here going meat to meet. A lot of people are. Just meet to meet. I know more people who don't use condoms than use condoms. What kind of this, what what kind of crazy people? So you

Are you anti-condom yourself? No, I'm married. So at the moment, yes. So you're anti-condom right now. But before, were you anti-condom or were you pro-condom? That's a very important question. We've never talked about this. I'm pro-conduums.

So where are all these me-to-me people? It's more so like I hear stories or personal experience where people don't want to use condoms. And I'm confused. Look how serious you are about this. So you're saying that condoms, as far as you're concerned, It's like people are like, oh, no, no, you're on the birth control, right? Okay, okay.

What? That's what we're doing out here. That is, yes. Me to meet. Yes. Me to meet. But so I'm saying, is there other calculated risks that people take? But for something, for this right here, I think it's the speed of the vaccine.

Because look, we really have to get to the bottom of this if we are going to dispel some of the myths and rumors around the vaccine. If there are people that are going to watch all of the stuff and read all this, stuff and just not take it. It's America. They're right. Do your sea moss, do your turmeric, the whole nine. I'm with it. Cool. But if there are actually lives that could be saved, right? If there are actually lives that we could be saved by having a constructive dialogue about why people are hesitant to take the vaccine, I think it's worth the conversation. I think it's worth the conversation to do this. Oh, which brings me to another thing. Okay. Oh, I don't like the way you're looking at me. What?

I've been asked to go on Candace Owens' show. Well, that's not surprising. Why isn't it surprising? Because she likes to bring people on that have completely different views and that she's going to get a big audience from like a lot of people are going to tune in

to see you and Candace Owens have a conversation. I think I'm going to go on it. I'll be listening. I wouldn't. I would not go. Why wouldn't you go? I just, why wouldn't you go? For the same reason that she's never coming on this podcast.

What's the point? She will. No. We could do a home and home. No, no, no. We could do, we could do, we could do, we could do, we could do, we could do, we could do, we could do, we could do, I go on Candace Owens. No, no, no, no, no. And then Candice Owens comes on here and we get what we want.

No, no, no, no, no. It's not that, of course she would come on this podcast if we asked her. You and I have had a discussion of not bringing her on this podcast. Not bringing her on the podcast. Of course she would come. You should totally do it. I will be listening. But what's the point?

What are you? What's the topic of conversation? I don't know. They, they asked me and I'm like, I'm in, I'm in this kind of like, fuck it mode.

So I was like, I was like, nah, I don't have any. I was like, I don't give it a beat. I don't want you to be in a fucking mode and go on there. No,

I'm like, I'm like, you know what? Because I told them like September, like last week of September. I was like, you know what? Fuck it.

Let's do it. I'm about to, I don't tell these motherfuffing. is what I think about then. Okay. And then tell them to tune in a higher learning on Tuesdays of Friday. Speaking of black people,

so you're down to do the anti-vaxxer situation. Love it. As COVID runs rampant. Okay. The NFL is going to play the black national anthem. Didn't even open up the story to read it. I just can't. For what?

For what? What does that do for us? What does that help? Is that doing it? for you? You feel good? You feel good about the way the NFL handles things because they're going to play lift every voice and sing. I'm going to be honest with you.

I don't fuck with lift every voice and sing like that. I'm not a lift every voice and sing as niggott. I'm not a sing. I'm not a lift every voice and sing ass nigger. I'm not I don't I don't fuck with lift every voice and sing like that.

Like it's I don't hear that that was okay, like that that was going to make the black community feel more okay about the NFL's treatment of black athletes. Like, that's what I, it just makes me laugh. It makes it what, which isn't it? There's an answer to that question. What's the answer? This entire thing is part of the NFL's inspired change initiative.

Well, what's the rest of the issue? Advised by rapper and business mogul. Jay Z. So you can make an art. that when you ask who the fuck told the NFL that lift every voice and scene before games would help something, you could make an argument that the answer to the question is Jay-Z. Well, it is. Because it's certainly inspired change.

But I'm more so, because again, I didn't open up the article because I see the headline and I'm like, next. But if this is a part of the initiative, what's the rest of it? Because I don't want to just hear, did they name other things? Because this isn't going to cover. So this is what they say. This is what they say. The league will also continue many of the social justice initiatives of anti-racism and unity on helmets and on the field

and communicating to fans through signage and public service announcements. So they're going to play a lift every voice and seeing before each game in the 2021 season as part of a $250 million investment towards social justice. That's great. People won't even be in their seats when that's playing. Right. Nobody will be there. Let me tell you why this is a bad idea.

I'll tell you why. This right here is the type of thing. First of all, there's a reason why this is a bad idea. Number one, nobody asked for lift every voice and seen to be played before the games. Like nobody. Like nobody.

This is akin to being with a significant other and you want to have sex and they give you a hug. Like no one asked for this. Like there are specific things that have been asked of American out of the league and stuff like that, no one asked for Lift Every Voice and Seen. When they play Lift Every Voice and Seen before these games, people are going to boo the shit out of Lift Every Voice and Sing.

So it's something that we didn't want, right? But when they boo, we go get mad. Correct. Like, I don't, like, I don't, I'm not a lifted voice, Lift Every Voice and Sing ass nigger, but when they view, when they boo, when they booed lift every voice and sing I'm gonna be pissed off and now we've got a problem

this is this is one of those things that helps nothing but opens up it helps nothing but even the $250 million and all the other stuff the signage and all of that stuff that's fine but to me this is corny

and they can't take it back so now that you've said you're going to play Lift Every Voice and Sing if you next season if in the 2022 2023 season you don't play it we don't have a problem with it now you got to keep it going question you don't like lift every voice you don't like lift every voice and sing if the community was polled for a song to play before what would you

what would you pick that's my thing they should have asked us what we wanted them to play right they they should have rather than take this assume because like rather than assume right that we all fuck would lift every voice insane that we like love that song once again nothing against lift every voice and sing. I just, it's not that thing. It's not a, you know, it's like whatever. I care about the alma mater to my high school more than I care about. Hail, Hail McKinley. High. We all belong to you. For you, we're all to do our best and always be true. Like, like, I care more about that. That's not how I feel about First Baptist, but keep going. Not that thing so.

We sing, praise is high for you. We do or die. So here three cheers for old McKinley. The school to us, most dear. So I care more about that than I do living in a voicing. I'm going to be real with you. So no, but that's your point. That would have been dope. Let us choose. Let us choose what song is going to play.

Let's fill that out there to hire learning. Higher learning. Only a certain group of people can vote now. Yeah. Let's just be honest. If we were going to choose what song to represent us, because it'll be some crazy shit, man. Maybe fuck the police.

I was going to say fight the power, but. Let me tell you something. See if they play fuck the police before every single game. That would mean something. That's taking a chance. Not lift every voice and scene. Forget about lift every voice and scene. If you really want to, if you really truly, truly want to go out there and be there,

play fuck the police before every single game. Play it. Every single game. Fuck the police. You know what I'm saying? Like come home hard with this ice cube in W.A. Shit. Okay.

So there is something happening in the world right now that is, that begs our attention. And it is happening down in Cuba. Cuba is gripped by unrest. There are protests that are happening right now in Cuba. And there are myriad reasons why these protests are happening. I think most people are in agreement that these protests were. inspired by very poor living conditions down there in Cuba. The coronavirus has been particularly hard on Cuba recently.

And there's also an economic crisis that exists there in Cuba. And people are taking to the streets to protest the fact that there's not clean water, there's not electricity. COVID infections are going crazy. But there is also something else that, that is tied into this, the idea that Cuba and Cubans down there have been living under an oppressive regime for around 62 years. And you're hearing a word down there in Cuba.

That word is libertad. That is a rallying cry for the citizens down there that they want the opportunity to have democracy and to have free and fair elections and to be able to attain the sort of dreams that people in other countries do. Now, this is a political quagmire for a lot of organizations out there. Black Lives Matter, to be honest with you, stuck their foot in it. So bad. Black Lives Matter, to be honest with you, stuck their foot in it.

Black Lives Matter put out a statement. You know what? I am going to actually read the statement that Black Lives Matter put out. This is what Black Lives Matter put on their Twitter. Black Lives Matter condemns the U.S. federal government's inhumane treatment of Cubans and urges it to immediately lift the economic embargo. This cruel and inhumane policy instituted with the explicit intention of destabilizing the country and undermining Cubans' right to choose their own government is at the heart of Cuba's current crisis.

Since 1962, the United States has forced pain and suffering on the people of Cuba by cutting off food, medicine, and supplies, costing a tiny island nation an estimated $130 billion. Without that money, it is harder for Cuba to acquire medical equipment needed to develop its own COVID-19 vaccines and equipment for food production. This comes in spite of the country's strong medical care and history of lending doctors and nurses to disasters around the world. They go on to talk about how the people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. government because the country has maintained a commitment to sovereignty, has maintained, because the country's, should I'm saying, has maintained its commitment to sovereignty and self-determination. A lot of people were upset about that and a lot of people are upset about. what's going on in Cuba.

When you read that statement from Black Lives Matter, what did you think? And what are your thoughts on what's happening down there just 90 miles off the coast of your former home? Well, it's, in regards to Black Lives Matter, the organization, it's, it's so upsetting. I just don't understand how they could get it so wrong,

how they could be so ill-informed as to, like, miss the whole mark on. They're blaming it on the U.S. because they want to blame the U.S. for, you know, they want to make the U.S. the enemy. I understand in that sense. But to ignore what the government has been doing in Cuba since the 60s, if not before, did I get the right, the 60s?

Yeah, 50s 60s. 59, 6th decades, we'll say. To ignore what the Cuban government has been doing, the way that they've been treating their people, especially for it to come from Black Lives Matter, when you look at who's in the streets, you're not. seeing a lot of Afro-Latinos and Latinas at the front of these protests. And that's because they are being disproportionately affected even more so all of Cuban, all Cubans are, but even more so black people, black Cubans. So for them to say that, and for them to also, when

they make comments like that, it gives, it opens the door for people who so want to find a problem with Black Lives Matter. It gives them a scapegoat when statements like that are made. Because just Because I believe that Black Lives Matter doesn't mean that I also believe that everything that organization with the same name stands for. I absolutely think they were so wrong when they made this comment. They are completely ignoring what's been going on in Cuba. They want to point out a couple of things that go towards what they believe, but are missing the mark and ignoring how those people have been oppressed for decades and decades and decades.

That's why they are risking their lives to come escape over here. And they have been for such a long time, which when you ask me, what do I think? about what's going on in Cuba, I have to look at myself and I have to fault myself and almost turning a blind eye to what's been going on. Because we have seen people come over on boats. We have seen them be on vessels and they turn over. People die trying to come over here. We all remember Elion Gonzalez. What was that 94? I told it beginning that year wrong. I was in college. So it was probably like 99 or 2000, maybe 98. Okay. So we all remember that even at a young age and we saw what was happening, but I have to fault myself for not doing

the research and delving to what was really happening to that country. And now that it is coming to light, now that they are seeing possibly what's happened with Black Lives Matter, with other people who've been oppressed and marginalized, how they are standing up against the system, I'm glad that people are taking to the streets. We've seen protests before. They had a big protest in 94, but this is happening throughout the country. And so I'm hoping that it garners attention. I'm hoping that things change for the first time in a long time in the country. And I'm hoping that things turn out better. And in whatever way we can help, I hope that we're able to and things change for Cubans.

Yeah. So it's a political quagmire. And the reason why it's a political quagmire for, potentially for an organization like Black Lives Matters, because the history of what's going on in Cuba. So before Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Raul Castro, overthrew the government in Cuba. It was run by a dictator named Batista. This is called the 26th of July movement.

What happened during this time was there was a dictator there in Cuba who was propped up by the West. And according to Fidel and the vanguard, I guess, of Cuba at that point, wasn't doing right by the people. Over the course of X amount of years, Fidel Castro, his brother, Che Guevara, they overthrew Batista. They took Cuba back. Fidel Castro actually traveled to the United States of America and did TV and stuff like that and talked to people about what kind of government was going to exist there in Cuba now that Batista was gone. The United States tried to get Fidel Castro out of Cuba, most notably through the failed Bay of Pittsburgh. pigs invasion.

And also through other things like Operation Mungoos, which was actually, according to some, an actual clandestine terror, it was bad. There's a lot of reading that's there. As you can go read about things that happened down there. So this is why it's a political quagmire. the Cuban government that exists there now is a socialist government. It's a government that is supposed to have health care for all. You see that Black Lives Matter talked about that.

It's a government that has loaned out its doctors and nurses. And if you are a far left person, what you want is what you want to believe is that the socialism that exists down there in Cuba is free from dictatorship or is free from any exploitation of the proletariat, right, of exploitation of the people down there. Now, the truth of the matter is this. It wasn't very long until after Castro actually overthrew Batista and took power in Cuba that he started to execute dissonance, that he started to silence any opposition to him and his brother and the ruling faction there,

and in a sense became an authoritarian dictator. That's a fact. So whoever else wants to talk about Fidel Castro and what they feel like the 26th of July movement meant in terms of overthrowing or fighting against Western imperialism, all of that stuff is fine. But the reality is that the people in Cuba for a long time have wanted freedom.

Yeah. Have wanted freedom, not from any one specific form of government as much as they want freedom from the one specific group of people who are the people that are holding them back and holding them down. The politics gets involved in this because of the fact that there's a large Cuban majority in Miami. Those people tend to be Republicans. Those people tend to be Republicans because of the government, the United States government

that was in power during the Mario Boat Lift that allowed a lot of people from Cuba to come over and resettle here in America, right? So there's a lot of allegiance to Ronald Reagan, people like that. And a lot of the people that are in Miami right now, in South Florida right now that are Cuban, they tend to be that way.

And those are the people that are trying to support their folks back in Cuba. Now, there are a lot of ways and a lot of barriers between them being able to do that. There's not just an embargo on things that the United States has coming from outside of Cuba. There's actually an embargo inside of Cuba. There's not like you send money back to people

and then they just get the money. Like if it's funneled through the military and all of that stuff, it doesn't get to the right people. You end up supporting the government. The government takes a huge chunk. The people of Cuba are not free. Right. Okay.

The example of what's happening down there now is it harkens back to what happens when America doesn't have their shit together. The embargo, the trade embargo has gone on too long. And there are definitely economic ramifications against the people in Cuba for sure. But what's more happening is that the cultural war that is existing, the political culture and cultural war that's existing, the political culture and cultural war that's existing here in the United States is trickling down to places where it's unintended. There shouldn't be any hesitation for us to support people that want democracy. Correct. There shouldn't be any hesitation for us to support people that want freedom, that want access

to the internet. The government is shutting down the internet in Cuba so that the people can't share information about how to best protest and keep this alive. We should be on the side of people having, free and fair elections without us even having the middle in that. We shouldn't be puppeteers. We shouldn't annex Cuba

politically and economically. We shouldn't do that, but we should be on the side of people who want freedom. But see, we can't do that. We can't do that because the soul of our country is so fragmented that we can't even listen to people who are screaming for help. Lazzalanzo went on and talked about

what he felt about Black Lives Matter statement and Lazz Alonzo, who was a friend of mine, I spoke with him, who, oh, that's my first one. That's my first. There's a friend of mine. It's only a matter of time. Lazanso talked about the fact that a lot of the things that socialism is supposed to guarantee people in societies where it works, right, it's not working properly in Cuba. It's not working right.

Things aren't going right. People are being exploited. Does the United States have, have a hand in that? Sure, of course we do. There's very few things that are going wrong globally that we don't have a hand in, to be quite honest with you. But what we should be doing right now, as it relates to this situation, is putting people over politics, listening to the people of Cuba

and what their wants and needs are. It shouldn't be colored by who's going to win elections here in the States. It shouldn't be colored by whether or not you believe in hyper-capitalism, communism or socialism. It should be your moral decision about what's going on, literally a stones throw away from South Florida, should have to do with what you think is right for humankind. And in order to do that,

you have to talk to people who are going through it. You have to talk to people and listen to their accounts. Forget about the Black Lives Matter account. Forget about our account. Forget about anything. Listen to the people down there that are talking. They're using their voices. They're wanting to be heard.

heard. And so don't listen to Marco Rubio. Don't listen to Joe Biden. Don't listen to Kamala Harris. Don't listen to Ted Cruz. Listen to the people of Cuba. Yeah. And if you listen to the people of Cuba, you'll get very clear answers on what it is that they want. You'll get very clear answers on what it is that they need. And you'll also get very clear answers on what it is that they don't have right now. So everybody, take your big, huge fucking American egos and put them to the side. It's not about you. It's not about whether or not you believe in your specific form of government,

in your specific party. It's not about you. It's about them. If you can't do that, they shut the fuck up. Well said. So that's the only thing right here. If you can't do that, chill. Chill.

Stop. Like, to be honest with you, that's the whitest thing Black Lives Matter every day. It's not about Black Lives Matter It's not about what they think about the U.S. right now It's not about that It's not about the never-ending need To be in a revolutionary pose It's not about that

Love them to death will still support them What it's about what it's about Listening to the people down there But they're guilty of doing exactly What you're saying the government is doing And that's putting politics over people And if you're using this as an opportunity To criticize the U.S. government

And it's foreign policy Rather than listening to the people down there then they missed the mark as well. And you're doing exactly what the people you criticize are doing the same thing. Absolutely. All right. You know what? You know what?

We will actually have someone on the show. Maybe Las himself, but maybe see if you can get somebody on the ground there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring him on. You don't like Las Alonzo? No, he's, of course I would love for him to come on. Are you kidding me?

Oh, you like Las. He's attracted. Okay. Oh. Little la. Okay. Yeah, but I'll bring Las and Lanzal on and or somebody in that and they'll speak more intimately to exactly how we can help and what what needs to be done. But never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever turn your back on people crying out for freedom.

Ever. Ever. Ever. Now you want to cut through the bullshit and make sure you're listening to the right people, but never turn your your back on people crying out for freedom. Um, Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Make the stallion, Naomi Osaka. They all made history. And the third one.

Do you don't know how to pronounce her name? Oh, is it Lena Bloom? Oh, that's the most important one. Yeah. Lena Bloom is the first trans woman to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, progress, progress, progress. What I loved was when this, I love the shade room comments. Sunday this one.

I didn't see. Boy, boy, boy. Do we have a long way to go? I didn't see. I didn't see and I don't want to. Right. I don't want to. But congratulations to all these three beautiful women.

It's love to see it. We love to see this. You know what I do miss though? What? I'm glad that Meg the Stallion and Elmiel Osaka got on there. Because Lena Bloom, I think, is a model herself, right? She's a model.

So I do miss just when the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue wasn't about like celebrity. But I don't think this is normal. You realize that. What do you mean? No, they've been doing this for a while. No, Megan the Stallion is the first rapper. Beyonce did it. But is it celebrities?

Yeah, Beyonce on there. But that was years ago. I don't think it's typical celebrities. I like it when we had to research the girls. where it would be like a girl and she would be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated and all of a sudden she's like a huge celebrity and then we had to research her and like follow her follow her so she got married to a billionaire and then that that was it you know what I mean has it always been more than one um person that's what it used to be okay you know in back

back in 93 i bought a uh i bought a sports illustrated swimsuit edition to McKinley Middle Magnet and they took it from me. Wait, I think you told this story. They did. They took my goddamn Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. I think you told this.

Dad was pissed. He was pissed because he wanted to look at the swimsuit issue too. And then I brought it to school and it got to. This is very historic though. Magda Stallion continues to defy the odds. The music is just not that good.

Meg the Stalian continues. Meg the Stalian's music. It's just not that good. You're on your DJ academics? I got to be honest with you. Act wasn't lying about that. Like, do you love Meg the Stallion's music? I listen to her music.

Like, I listen to it in the car. Like, if I'm getting ready for something, I'll turn on Meg. I like Meg. Once again, maybe Meg's the Stalian's music is like Space Jam. Like, why would it speak to me? Maybe it's more for the women. Yeah, it's for the ladies.

Look, here's the ladies out there. Am I wrong about the fact? Because there are female, like I listen, I'll be honest with you, it's problematic. I fuck with some Doja Cat. No, I like Doja Cat. No, I do like Doja Cat. It's hard.

But Doja Cat's versed, like she sings, she raps, she dance, like she's, like I look at her like an artist. Like she's versatile. Like I can see she crosses over. But I like Meg. I do. Maybe it's the Texas too. No, don't get me wrong.

I like her. her. I don't like her. I actually love her. I think she's an amazing personality and stuff like that. But I like her music. I do like it. Yeah, I really do like it. Like, right, like who other, like rappers, female rappers right now. Are you in the Bia? I'm in the Bia. I like Flo Millie. Jesus Christ. Do I like Flo Millie? Yeah, yeah, yeah. My God, been on Floomilly. Flo Millie crazy. I like Flo Millie, man. I think Floom Millie. I think Flo, yeah, yeah. I think Floor Millie is out of here. But once again, once again,

just for the ladies, it's for the ladies. But I just don't, I look at it and I'm like, Meg is really, she's doing her thing. She's doing her thing. She is everywhere, though.

Like, everywhere. She is everywhere. Last thing I'll say before I get out of here, before we get out of here, a Popeye is stockpiled chicken meat. You don't want to talk about Popeye's chicken? Do you have something to say?

Are you, I do. Go ahead, go ahead. Talk about it. I do. I do have something to say. say and it's not to Popeyes. Okay, I have something to say to all

chicken manufacturers. All sellers of chicken, listen to me right now. We've talked about it before on this podcast. Popeyes is coming out with chicken nuggets. This is my message to Popeyes. The Popeye's chicken nuggets are going to go hard. We all know this. We know that the chicken nuggets from Popeye is going to be off the chain.

I can't believe they haven't done this before. There are chicken wars that are heating up. Popeye's got chicken. Obviously, Chick-fil-A is a chicken place. Everybody's going to chicken route. I think there's some beef shortages, but people love chicken. They're landing chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken. I want Popeye's to fight the urge to do one thing.

What is that? And I'm serious about it. I better not see in one Popeye's chicken nugget commercial, a black person singing about chicken. Okay? I've seen this too many times. I saw a Chick-fil-A commercial about a grilled chicken salad with a, where she goes, Mm-hmm.

Lemon-Cale Caesar. On Chick-fil-A? On Chick-fil-A. It's not even fried chicken. It's like, Lemon-Calcesar. And then you got to see that commercial, and then you got to watch, Mm-hmm. I got Papa's.

I forgot about that. I'm telling you, and it's always like white people enjoying chicken in like a very wholesome way. And black people go like, oh, my God. And it's just chicken, chicken, chicken. I can't believe it. It's like what Cat Williams said. Cat Williams has a whole bit on it. I'm telling you right now, stop with the chicken singing.

I've eaten more chicken than anyone. Chicken might make you do a little dance. I'm not going to lie. But we don't walk around the house singing, singing our food like that. Singing chicken praises and chicken hymns? The moment I, it's so fucked up how hard it is sometimes. The moment I saw this, I'm like, Popeye's got chicken nuggets. I wouldn't think of damn those are going to be good.

I was thinking they're going to make some niggis sing about the chicken. Somebody right now is getting a call. You know, chicken singing. I haven't seen the singing since 2020. So I'm hoping it stops. The Lemmy Kale Caesar commercial. I mean Popeyes. Oh, that's true.

Okay. So hopefully it stops. Hopefully it stops. No van's very serious question this morning today. We already did kind of very serious podcast. I'm very happy to be back. Very happy to be recording the podcast again. I'm very happy to start on a journey that I hope helps me remember my father and

live a better and fuller life. And that means, you know, coming to terms for some things about myself. So we touched on it before, Rachel, to you personally, the video that you made, we all sat around and watched it as a family. Like we watched it as a family. And it touched the entire hearts of all of my family. And everyone was just so thrilled. I couldn't have asked for a better group. So weird, only two weeks ago, three weeks ago, I was at war what the thought was.

And now I don't know what I would have done without so much love and support. And what my family would have done. So Rachel, I just want to make sure that everybody knows right now how much we appreciate you, how much we appreciate you holding it down and all the nice words you said in the well wishes. And the barbecue that you sent. And the barbecue. Yes, we sent the barbecue. I was nervous because we were like, is this going to be good barbecue?

I don't know. I don't know nothing about batteries. you can tell me if it wasn't. We don't know nothing about Baton Rouge Barbecue. But it was good. So here's the thing. So I get to Baton Rouge and the first thing I do is have my mom and my grandmother go to Whole Foods. Because I'm like, I'm going to maintain my diet while I'm here.

Right. So this is what happened. This is what happened. I'm going to maintain my diet while I'm here. I'm going to work out. I'm going to do all this stuff. I'm not going to take an excuse to gain like 15 pounds because I'm back home around all around all the food and stuff. So I made some salmon.

and we had gone and did stuff with dad at the beginning of the day and then I come back and I had whipped up some salmon and some salad and I had made it and I had just eaten and I was like yo that's a good day of eating all of a sudden I go outside to the Airbnb I'm like who could this be like what are we talking about go out to hey and my boy Chris is like oh shit and I see it says voodoo barbecue

and I'm like who I'm like who is this from it says It's from Kalika or K, which I don't know why they said that. I put her name. I gave them her number if they were going to cost that. Oh, okay. Oh, so then we get it in there and I'm like, huh. And Kalika's like, yo, did you send us food? She goes, no.

And then I open it up and says from Brian and Rachel. And I'm like, oh, my God. Man, Rachel came through with some poor pork, some sausage, some smoked chicken, some sweet potatoes, some goddamn, like, what did you have? Some macaroni and cheese. The whole nine. The whole nine is on the plate. I don't think you sent anything green.

My grandfather would be upset. And you know what? This was right after I ate the salmon salad. I was like, fuck it. We doubling back. But that's how it should be. And we ate. Yeah.

Yeah, you don't need to worry about that. But I have to say, it wasn't just me. It was a team effort. Trudy. Donnie Beach him. TD, the whole higher learning fam, everybody wants to come together and just support you. So we, as you embark on this new journey, as you stated,

we are here to uplift you, support you, wrap our arms around you, and do what we can. And to give you shit. Like, welcome back. Like, not going to stop doing that either. Oh, yeah. We're back on our shit. And I also want to say something else right now.

Shout out to our producers, Donnie Beecham and Trudy. Trudy is actually dealing with some family stuff right now. So our thoughts and prayers are with Trudy as she deals with some things that are going on in her family right now. We're thinking about her, Trudy. We love you. And we support you. Don't know what lessons are we're supposed to be learning in this season. But hopefully whatever lessons we're supposed to be learning in this very difficult season, we are learning them.

And that's what we're doing here. We're putting our thing caps on. So learn from each other. learn from the universe. All right. Take your thing caps off, but do not stop learning. Higher learning is back.

We will be back on Friday. I am Van Lathen Jr. I'm Rachel Lindsay. Bye-bye. Bye, guys.