#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Roland Martin Deconstructs The Reaction To 'The Shop: Uninterrupted': Lil Nas X On Coming Out

Episode Date: September 11, 2019

During a recent edition of LeBron James' The Shop: Uninterrupted on HBO, Lil Nas X talked about why he decided to come out publicly, address how homosexuality is viewed in the black community and confronted the criticism of those who thought he made the announcement for attention. On Thursday, Roland Martin and his esteemed panel of guests discussed the reaction to the controversial episode, the backlash against Black barbershops, homophobia, Kevin Harts' comments and more. Watch the 9.5.19 edition of #RolandMartinUnfiltered https://youtu.be/QHRizoHU_GY - #RolandMartinUnfiltered partner: Life Luxe Jazz Life Luxe Jazz is the experience of a lifetime, delivering top-notch music in an upscale destination. The weekend-long event is held at the Omnia Dayclub Los Cabos, which is nestled on the Sea of Cortez in the celebrity playground of Los Cabos, Mexico. For more information visit the website at lifeluxejazz.com. - - 📘 Check out #RolandsBookClub and some of his favorite tech gear http://ow.ly/M5zF50uJPam ✅ NOW AVAILABLE: #RolandMartinUnfiltered Merch - https://bit.ly/2VYdQok ✅ Subscribe to the #RolandMartin YouTube channel https://t.co/uzqJjYOukP ✅ Join the #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BringTheFunk Fan Club to support fact-based independent journalism http://ow.ly/VRyC30nKjpY ✅ Join the Roland Martin and #RolandMartinUnfiltered mailing list http://ow.ly/LCvI30nKjuj Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position.

Pre-game to greater them. Let's put ourselves in the right position, pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org, brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. You want to support Roller Mark Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered,

by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com, you can make this possible. Let's talk about this here. So I saw this clip on social media, and it was, so LeBron James has this barbershop show on HBO, okay, part of his media company, Uninterrupted. And so there was a conversation with Lil Nas X, Kevin Hart, and others about Lil Nas X coming out gay.

Roll the clip. And with all that early success, you felt it was important to make an announcement recently. He said he was gay, so what? Yeah, what's the point? Why did he feel that was nece... It's not about who cares. That's actually my question. Why did he feel it was necessary to come out and say that? It's not that, like, it's, like, being forced.

It's just, like, knowing, like, growing up, like, I'm grown... I'm grown up to hate that shit. I'm not supposed to... Hate what? Hate what? Homosexuality, gay people. Why? Come on, now. If you're really from the hood, you know. You like, you know, like, it's not something.

So it's like, for me, the cool dude with the song on top of everything to say this any other time, like, I'm doing this for attention in my eyes. But if you're doing this, like, while you're at the top, you know it's like for real. And it's like showing, like, it you're at the top, you know it's, like, for real. And it's, like, showing, like, it doesn't really, like, matter, I guess. Exactly, it doesn't.

There it is. Now, allow me to deconstruct this. And so, there was this huge backlash on social media of people saying, oh, that's the stuff that happens in black barbershops, you know, homophobic sectors. All they talk about is women uh and and stuff along those lines and they were trashing uh i can't believe kevin hart said that okay the point of the show is to

have conversations that we don't have see it's it's a little idiotic to say I'ma trash the people, I'ma trash, like, uh, I'ma trash Hart, I'ma trash the other guys who said, uh, well, so what? Why'd you come out? Them saying that

is what leads to Lil Nas X explaining why he did it. See, if everybody in the barbershop goes, oh, man, that's so brave of you, that ain't real. Because in real life, we have real conversations. See, what has also happened in this society is we have created this whole notion of black men as these wild, dangerous, angry, sadistic,

crazy, outlandish individuals as if beauty shops ain't talking about lesbians. How about that? See, we have created this dichotomy of black women of being so knowledgeable and accepting and loving and open and black men

as being haters and closed-minded when the reality is you got black men who don't like gay people. You got black women who don't like gay people. And then you got people

who say, let's actually have dialogue. For a lot of folks out there who don't even understand, I've been in black barbershops. I've been in the barbershop where one cat said some bullshit and got checked by somebody else. Every time. And then somebody said, oh damn, I didn't even know that. Come on, brother. Then you got the cat who think he knows what he's talking about, but he ain't Googled a damn thing and ain't read nothing. That's right. But then he gets checked by the knowledgeable brother in the barbershop who does know stuff.

Then you got the person in the barbershop who they think know a lot of stuff until somebody who actually has read some shit comes to the barbershop to get a haircut. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. See, I've been in that position. Well, you sitting there, Greg. You know, you sitting there. And then all of a sudden, somebody sees you talking.

You're like, you know, I ain't really trying to bust his ass. Well, I'm not done. Everything he's sitting there, you got to wait, Julian. This is a deconstruction. I'll let you know when you get to talk, okay? It's a deconstruction. So what happens, y'all, is I've been there. Well, they run their mouth.

You're like, I'm just trying to, I ain't trying to say nothing. Because see, I'm going to embarrass his ass if I say something. No question. But then he keep talking. Then you go ahead and embarrass him. Yeah, I say something. We also talk and say, well, black men don't talk enough.

That's what the hell they were doing. That's right. OK? They then said, then when Lil Nas said, come on, y'all from the hood, y'all know. He was saying, y'all know what the real deal is. Let's not trip because these cameras are here. So why do we sit here and trash them

for being them and having a real conversation? We know why Lil Nas X came out, and he's right. Because he said, I grew up and it was bad. Here I am, big star. I can help somebody else who's going through the same situation. Because, see, we all have understanding of what we do. I had somebody ask me and they said, somebody asked me and they said,

when Caitlyn had her surgery, you talk about it? Nope. I said, that's personal. They didn't write. I said, I don't talk about personal stuff. They're like, what do you mean? I said, have you ever seen me talk about a celebrity who got married?

Nope. Have you ever seen me talk about a celebrity who got divorced? Nope. Have you ever seen me talk about a celebrity who's dating somebody? Nope. You ever seen me talk about a celebrity who had a baby? Nope. You ever see me talk about a celebrity who had a baby? Nope. You know why?

Because I don't give a damn. There are so many entertainment shows out there. If that's what you want, go watch those. I don't have the time for that. So my deal is it ain't because Caitlyn went from a man to a woman. It's not because somebody gay found life when Robin Roberts came out.

OK. You do the story. No. Because that's your business. That's the standard that I have on the show, because if I start talking about all celebrity stuff, who's they dating, who they married to, who they now with, then guess what this becomes?

A celebrity show. We have finite time, and we talk about stuff that's not covered elsewhere. But again, that's my news judgment. Now, I would be wrong if I discuss celebrity stuff, but I ain't wanna discuss stuff that's where somebody who's gay came out. They're just like, hold up, why you got different standard?

The reason this pisses me off is because we have this society and black folks are really doing this as well, but we are trashing black men who are trying to be more transparent and open and honest and having conversations.

Because see, if y'all really want to go there, you go to a black women's conference, oh hell, they talking about all kind of stuff. They sitting here crying. I mean, they are wailing. You name it. Wailing. But you go to a black male conference,

and you got most folks talking about sports, playing dominoes, taunt, spades, bit of whiz, because it's about games. Because we promote this whole idea when black men get together or men get together, it's all fun and games, but women get together and they're working on themselves, stuff along those lines.

If you don't like the honest and raw conversations that they have on this show, well, don't watch. But it's wrong of us to get mad when somebody in an actual conversation says something, and that's their particular point of view. Remember a couple of years ago when Mark Cuban was on a panel and he talked about how he felt if a group of black men were dressed a certain way, and they were approaching him,

how he would respond. People got all upset. And I'm like, and I said it. Why y'all getting upset? Because that's Mark Cuban actually being honest. If Mark Cuban can't be honest about that conversation, then how can we actually break down walls? See, the problem I have is we have fake conversations.

Oh, we have fake conversations. We have fake conversations on television. We have fake conversations on radio. Or people sit here and they don't really want to be honest, and you sitting there going, you know you full of shit. And you know you lying. Because what they're doing is they're playing to the audience because I don't

want to come across as being a certain way. I believe the reason we have problems in our marriages, in our families, in our frats, in our sororities, in barbershops, in beauty salons, in groups, because we don't have real, raw conversations.

My last point in this deconstruction is why I feel this way, is I'm a life of my Alpha Phi Alpha, plays a Texas A&M-Palmicon chapter, and we had brotherhoods. So we had a reunion one year, and so we went to this clubhouse of one of the undergraduate brothers.

So we walked in and the brother's like, all right, man, so we got food here and so we got the music going on, we got stuff to drink. Our girlfriends, the AKs, they coming by about 9.30 and then we go to the party. We all like, um...

The grad brothers went, do they not know this is a brotherhood? We were like, okay, turn the music off. Put the alcohol down. Call your girlfriends, tell them they ain't invited. Call them AKs, tell them they can't come over here. And these young brothers were like, what y'all doing? We said, we gonna teach our lads what a brotherhood is.

See, a brotherhood, what we call it, is not a time we get together and play games. A brotherhood is where we get together, close the door, and we have brotherly conversations. We were having this one conversation where brothers were talking about black-on-black crime. We were having this one conversation where brothers were talking about black-on-black crime. We were talking about, oh, man, I couldn't kill another brother. Then we had one brother say, y'all all full of shit.

He said, I will kill a man in a heartbeat. They were like, what? He said, I did when I was in Iraq. He said, one of us was going home in a body bag and it was not going to be me. He described killing a man in an Iraqi, with his bare hands. That totally changed our discussion on killing somebody else.

Because we were talking about it in the abstract. He said, let's brought it for real. In that brotherhood, we had brothers who gave their lives to Christ. We had brothers who talked about the marriage disintegrating, brothers who talked about sexual addiction. Y'all, we didn't leave that brotherhood till 7 a.m. Mm. Mm.

What is my point? When black men get together and have real conversations... That's right. ...transformative things happen. The problem with the television show is you get to see it, and now you want to comment on it. That's right. I would rather have brothers say what they said

and then we talk about it than not have a conversation. That's right. So for those of you who got a problem with what you heard, check yourself. What you should be saying is, thank goodness there's a TV show owned by LeBron James featuring black men having discussions

that you ain't hearing other places. Instead of you judging what somebody said in the conversation. That's right. My deconstruction on this ends. Now y'all can comment. You know, Roland, I sent you a text. You would be talking about you would just jump out and be the first one.

Black men conversation. Julian, I want to go first one. You're talking about black men, this conversation. Julianne, I want to go first. Because I love black men, I love my brothers, and I Oh, I'm going to mess with you, but go ahead. You're always messing with me. What's new? But the point is this. What are the points? We don't wail at our conferences, by the way. Yes, y'all do. No, we don't. Don't even front.

First of all, my wife is a ordained minister, and look, y'all, I've been to women's conferences, and y'all wail. I've heard, matter of fact, hell, I was at the Chris Tucker golf tournament. And no, no way, no. That was a women's conference taking place at the same time. I walked, this sister was wailing.

OK. No, no, no, no, no, no. Let me be real clear, because you want to go there. Y'all, she was wailing on her knees on the ground What nobody patting her on the back? She was in the corner. No, I ain't done No, no, no, I'm letting her know they were selling stuff they were like baby go ahead and we'll do your thing But she was wailing. All right now you can go here you're going to tell me what I saw with my own eyes. You saw what Sister Whalen did. They did that collectively well.

Guess what? They on YouTube, Facebook said, yeah, we well. Go ahead. I didn't see that on my Facebook. Somebody just text me. We do well. OK, bro. What did that say, Greg?

It says, we do well. Yeah. Brothers well, too. Brothers be well, too. No, but the point is, I was watching. Not enough, but go ahead. I was watching, for a number of reasons, some of your previous programs,

and being touched by the transparency in the conversations you were having with brothers. I think last week you had the brother who did the book Color Me Father. Yep, yep. And before that, you had the brother, your fat brother, Omari. Omari Harvey.

And I was watching those, trying to put together something that I'm working on. But what struck me, Roland, and I sent you a note saying, you need to begin to have these conversations with brothers and to make this something. We do, you know, there are plenty of women's conversations. We don't look at men as a collective. We look at women as a collective, women's issues. And, you know, I'm the last of living feminists, last living nationalist feminists. So but in any case, but we don't look at brothers as a collective.

And we must because much of the damage that happens in our community happens because there is no transparency among men about what's going on with them. That little clip, I had never seen that before, but the brother came, he said he was gay. Why do you have to say that? Because we know there's homophobia in our community. I ain't scared, I'm not scared of anybody's sexuality. In fact, let me just say that the black community

is like the human community, it's not a monolith. We know that. So people say the black community's not a monolith. We know that. So people say the black community is not a monolith. Please be quiet on that because you haven't said anything profound. That's number one. Number two, stay out the barbershop, please. Just like when we were growing up.

When we was growing up, you stayed out the beauty parlor. If I needed to get a message in the beauty parlor, I stood at the door. If my mom was getting her hair fixed and I had to go run an errand. In other words, there used to be spaces you could and couldn't negotiate. Now, because we're not a monolith, I accept unisex hairstyle.

I've had my hair cut in them. But when I wanna have that unvarnished conversation, Ron, when you were talking, it would remind me of that Richard Pryor joke. Richard Pryor said his daddy used to sit in the barbershop and wait for a negro to make a mistake. 1940, what? They didn't fight nothing. He said, get in your car. I'm gonna tell you a pride joke. Rich Pryor said his daddy used to sit in the barbershop and wait for a negro to make a mistake. 1940, what? They ain't fighting nothing.

He said, get in your car, I got the almanac at the house. The point is that anybody can get it in the barbershop or the beauty parlor. And I don't wanna hear a conversation between women, gay, straight, LGBTQ, whoever, when they are having a conversation where they unpacking something. Because there is a value to being in spaces where you can be unfettered.

Now, Kevin Hart, for whatever reasons jumped out there, Lil Nas X got to explain himself to the brothers. I'm not worried about your sexuality, but you got to explain yourself to me. And quite frankly, let's be clear, love to Kevin Love, but I ain't even in no barbershop with no white dudes sitting there, because I'm going to

have a conversation, and you can finally... This is the last thing I'll say. I knew Sue of Black would say I agree with you on that one. No, no, I'm just saying. Go ahead, go ahead. I know we gotta go. I know it's your show but you won't go too far. I guess what I'm saying is this. When you have spaces that are sacred to our people

those spaces are off limits if you're not ready to have that conversation. If there are other places you want to go, fine. But you have the choice to be able to do that, and you have the freedom of choice. But as far as I'm concerned, at my age, if you don't want to hear that, stay out the barbershop. So, Cleo, the issue, again, I had here was that

because it's a TV show and they're filming it and people are now getting mad at the response. No, the response was real because that's what real people say. And I'm not going to get mad when somebody said, well, why? Even you laughed when we played the clip where Kevin said it. Well, what's the problem? He's like, you okay?

Okay. And it's like, and look, you were saying you didn't love it and you were cracking up laughing but the point here is they were having a conversation and that's the whole point. Have real conversations. Well, excuse me. I completely agree, because it's true,

that we as a people are not having enough conversations, period. And somebody made it difficult for us to unify, to have dialogue some time ago, and we're now in the festering zone of not having had conversations and it's a long time coming that needs to happen. I think another perspective needs to be considered here. I saw this piece because your producer sent it to me.

I hadn't seen it, and I saw some of the comments. And this is what has not been said yet. Same gender-loving black people, including black men, go to barbershops to get their hair cut because they're black men. They've got this kind of hair. I hate going to the barbershops to get their hair cut because they're black men. They got this kind of hair. I hate going to the barbershop because either I'm hearing about some Christian crap

or some sports or some what people call so-called homophobic conversations about faggots, etc. This is what happens all the time. You got to change your barbershop. Oh, well, I'm not talking about my barbershop. I'm talking about the phenomena that people are thinking about

when they watch this show. There was some moments of probably waiting to exhale, if you will, among same-gendered loving people who watch this, because what we're not saying or considering is that that has never happened before. It's 2019. What has never happened before? A conversation between black men

where a same-gendered loving person talks about what they are I'm in the presence of other black men. I've been in those spaces brother. I'm not what you're saying No, no, he's saying that that's on Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you for hearing the content. No, you're right. I'm talking on air Yeah, so people are listening with sensitivity I disagree with the comments that I heard that were similar to what you raised in terms of people critiquing it. But I get it. Because another problem that we have here is

that the LGBTQ community, which is a war community that fights everybody, that don't take no stuff, that starts fights, that always invented the word homophobia, teaches black people how to deal with who they are in very defined and defensive ways instead of rational ways in terms of reflecting with other black people how to deal with who they are in very defined and defensive ways instead of rational ways

in terms of reflecting with other black people. And the black community, like I told you some time ago, has not had a macro conversation about same-gender loving people being part of the black experience. There's been a macro, a collective. What I mean is that there's been silos. There's been academic discussions. There's been discussions sponsored by white gays

to get black people to speak their rhetoric. What kind of... I'm curious. What kind of conversation are you talking about? A town hall at an NAACP meeting? Tell me what you mean. I'm talking about black people getting together to rationally engage the fact that they're same-gender loving, bisexual, and what's called trans people in our community, and engaging

that phenomena in ways that are no longer, at least for that day, judgmental or abusive or creating the scar tissue or exacerbating the scar tissue that's there that has yet to be resolved because we have not had the conversation, even on the continent, in Uganda and Azania, Africans have had a conversation about this that was macro. It was televised and there were local conversations. We have not done that in my lifetime. But there have been silos. So there are people who are watching that phenomena

who might be considered, if you will, too sensitive, and that might be true, who are reacting because they didn't see it pan out the way they wanted it to pan out in terms of a conversation. Right. What you're saying, Roland, is that it was a real conversation

and it should be seen as a real conversation and people should not be dogging it because it didn't turn out the way they wanted it to because people were doing something that we need to have that we're not doing. Because when you dog it, what you're now doing is you're telling somebody, oh, I ain't gonna say nothing

because I know what happened last time. And my point is, you can't... When somebody says... Again, I go back to, again, the brotherhood concept. Okay, the brotherhood concept. I remember being in a brotherhood where one brother let some stuff. He repeated some stuff that happened in the brotherhood.

Oh. And he got his ass whooped. And we didn't move. He got his ass whooped. And we let it go. Then it was like, okay, then we're done. Now, why? Somebody probably is like, that's violence.

Keep your mouth closed. The point there was, no, no, no, no, no. See, again, though. See, again, when you take care of stuff in-house, see, that was a reason why my college chapter

never got infected by external forces because we didn't let it in the house. We took care of business in the house. That's what a brotherhood does. The purpose of a brotherhood is I should be free

to say whatever I want to say and it stays in the brotherhood. But most brotherhoods... So the point I'm saying here on this conversation here, the reason I take offense to the people who got mad is because we, because

of television, we are observers of the conversation, but we're in the brotherhood. If you stop it, if you stunt the conversation, you're never going to have a real conversation because everybody's too careful. And that's why my deal is when we If you stop it, if you stunt the conversation, you're never gonna have a real conversation. Because everybody's too careful.

And that's why my deal is when we talk about race, when we talk about sexism, misogyny, when we talk about what you're talking about, same thing to loving, you have to allow the space to create it for somebody to be so against, so... I don't care, because if I shut you down from the outset, there will never be a real conversation.

But guess what? Hold on, hold on. No, no, no, hold on. Cleo, I'm ending this in three minutes. Go. One of the critiques I saw was that Kevin Hart was being phony. Right. Because Kevin Hart was like, oh, he's gay. And what y'all talking about?

I'm not saying what I agree with. I'm talking about how people, I interpret behavior. They were like, wait a minute, he's gay. And what y'all talking about? I'm not saying what I agree with. I'm talking about how people, I interpret behavior. They were like, wait a minute, he just got finished not getting a gig, and he has these attitudes that sound like somebody who's anti-homosexual. But the people also, here's another piece. People also don't know, which I also don't know, when that was shot. Sure. So I don't know if that conversation was shot before the Oscar controversy or after.

Right. But wait a minute. I'm almost finished. Cleo, go ahead. No, Cleo, go ahead. When the controversy happened is not really relevant. I got you. What he did that was so-called homophobic, and on another show I'm going to tell you why I say so-called because we don't have time today, happened before the Oscars.

It happened a long time ago. I got you. And so that had been registered before then. But one thing I want to close with, so you can understand the difference between somebody who's heterosexual who might be watching this, somebody who's same-gender loving

who's watching this, in terms of how they're reacting to it or might be concerned about things beyond Kevin's phoniness, is that wherever I go, people assume I'm heterosexual. So I'm in a barbershop, and we do the handshake. I'm going to get my hair cut.

And people will launch into the Jesus Christ N-word field. LeBron did a good hook shot faggot conversation. And then I have to come out. But I'm not really coming out, because I don't do believe in coming out. I come in to self-love. I come in to self-knowing, and everything else takes care of itself.

I'm not concerned about what nobody thinks. I don't come out to nobody. I don't care what you think, so I don't even come out. I come in to self-love. I come in to self-knowing, and everything else takes care of itself. I'm not concerned about what nobody think. I don't come out to nobody. You know, I don't care what you think, so I don't come out. But the point I'm making is, though, when I see black people being foul to black people, I intervene. What happens? And I have to intervene a lot. How does that unfold when you do that?

Oh, we got time for this? No, we don't, but that's the big... But we gonna save that one. So hold on. Go ahead, Julian. And literally, I got 120 seconds. The issue for me in this is you're talking about authenticity and fakeness,

but is a television program the place where you expect to really see authenticity? Hold on. Depending on what the show is. I don't expect authenticity with them damn housewives show, which I never watch. I don't watch reality television.

But what my, the philosophy that I have brought my entire career in media is that when I'm on radio and we're on TV, we ain't having fake conversations. No, we real, but that's not... No, no, no, but that's my point. So my point is the realness of the discussion is really predicated on the platform

and the folks involved. Well, is that the appropriate platform role? I don't... First of all, I don't watch the show every week. What I... I have seen clips. And what I've seen is they've had some real honest conversations on their show about some issues that are unsettling.

There are people who got upset that LeBron and some other cats, I believe, have used the N-word on the show in the conversation. And their deal is, this is who we are and this is our conversation. The only point I'm saying is, is that I need people to understand you can't keep saying, man, keep it real.

Right. And then get mad when folks keep it real. I agree with that. That's the most fundamental issue. I agree with that. Absolutely. And we can't tackle tough subjects in any community, but especially in the black community, if you don't allow people who might disagree vehemently to be there. We can't tackle tough subjects in any community, but especially in the black community,

if you don't allow people who might disagree vehemently to be there. I don't mind... Y'all, black conservatives are scared to death to come on my show. But here's the deal. I don't mind you being black conservative to come on my show. As long as you're not stupid. I have one... No, no, no. I don't even use stupid. I have one rule. No, no, no. I have a very simple rule.

Don't lie. If you, here's the deal. If you come on this show and lie, I'ma light your ass up. I don't allow lying. I don't allow, and if you make a mistake, Greg just said something and I corrected him. did the thing is and I've done it In the past and here's why I do that because a person who's watching that's right. I don't want somebody to say something

They like we're old and say nothing so it must be true. That's right So I tell that's why the site so I'm like any black conservative y'all are more than welcome to sit on this panel But don't come here lie Then it's gonna be a problem. But we just gotta have these real conversations. Alright, folks, back to our Roadmark Unfiltered video in just one moment. I'm telling you, it's a great camera work. So Gerald Albright was in Virginia.

I shot that video last year. So we got some other stuff we're going to be showing y'all. But that's Gerald Albright, one of the folks performing Life, Luck, Jazz Experience in Cabo, November 7th through the 11th. I'm going to be there, folks. We'll be broadcasting Roller Martin Unfiltered at Thursday and Friday. It's going to be a phenomenal opportunity, folks, listening for you to have top-notch music and libations.

That's alcohol. And, of course, golf and spa and wellness. We have the Omnia Day Club Los Cabos, nestled in the Sea of Cortez, a celebrity playground of Los Cabos. It's a wonderful experience, the second annual Ultimate Jazz Getaway for folks who appreciate that music. It's going to be a phenomenal time, luxury accommodations. Again, as we said, great food, great drink, golf, spa, health, wellness,

all kinds of stuff we'll be doing there. And, of course, the various things taking place include many concerts, the spirit of jazz, gospel, brunch, jazz, sunset, cruise, some of the confirmed guests, comedian, actor Mark Curry, Gerald Albright, as I said, Alex Bunyan, Raul Madon, Incognito, Pieces of a Dream, Kirk Whalum, Average White Band, Donnie McClurkin, Shalaya, Roy Ayers, Tom Brown, Ronnie Laws, Ernest Qualls, and more. If you want to see the whole lineup, go to lifeluxjazz.com L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E

jazz.com L-I-F-E-L-U-X-E jazz.com And if you're wondering, this venture, it is a black-owned venture, just so y'all know that. And so, I'm one of the ambassadors. I'll be there. A pre-birthday celebration for me. We're going to have a great time. So I want y'all to go to the website, check out the

packages, and look, it's going to be cold in November on the East Coast. So y'all can come hang out in Colorado for four days so we can have a grand time. So really looking forward to making that happen. LifeLuxJazz.com. LifeLuxJazz.com. Now back to your Roland Martin I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer

will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that in a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

I mean, he's not only my parent, like he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart Podcast.