The 85 South Show with Karlous Miller, DC Young Fly and Chico Bean - BET Awards Media House ft. AJ McQueen

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Karlous and Navv sit down with  AJ McQueen at the BET Awards!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. I'm I Belongoria. And I'm Maite Gomes Rejoin. And this week on our podcast, Hungry for History, we talk oysters, plus the Mianbi chief stops by. If you're not an oyster lover, don't even talk to me. Ancient Athenians used to scratch names onto oyster shells to vote politicians into exile.

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Listen to Atlanta is on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, man, welcome back to the 85 South Show. Hey, my name's Carlos Miller, 2025 BET Awards. We're live here at the Media House. My man, Nab Green. I'm here. You man?

Then I matched the tone. Yeah, you fucked up, bullshit. At least you're honest. I threw it right to you, NAA. Nah, man. We got a very special guest in here with us today, man. Hey, pick you one of these cameras and tell them. Who we got?

Oh, Pete, AJ McQueen. So glad to be here. Tell them. Yes, Lord. That's me. That's me. Don't come over here being homely. We're renaming this.

You know what we're going to call this? What you're going to call? This pop your shit corner. Oh, I don't do that too often. So let me tell you, AJ McQueen, AJ the Great, you hear me? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am, I'm him, for sure.

Been here for a long time, and this is my first BET, and I feel like everything happened the way it's supposed to, you know what I'm saying? Your first time at the BET was. First time, first time. What you're expecting, what you want to see, bro? Honestly, bro, just organic conversations like these, you know what I mean?

Like, I've been making this music, bro, in my career, bro, when ain't nobody looking, you know what I'm saying? So, I was telling somebody early ain't that I, it ain't that I don't like stuff like this. It's just that, you know, I'm so confident in my faith in God, bro, that I don't feel like I need validation, you know what I mean? And not that it's about it, you know what I'm saying?

But I'm saying, you know how it is as an artist. Like you feel like if you not need spaces, then something ain't happening. But I feel like everything happened the way it's supposed to, you know what I mean? I'm still, I have what I have, but I'm also meeting you, meeting you, you know what I'm saying, meeting other people. It feel good, though. All right, look at it like this, right? Say, for instance, somebody watching this, right?

Yeah. No idea who you are. Yeah. Where would you tell them to start? If you had to give them some music to say to introduce yourself, what song would you want them to hear? I'd be honest, I would tell you started my interviews because, you know, listen to how my mind work first, you know what I'm saying?

And then go to the music. Learn me as a person. Yeah, no, learn my story, you know what I'm. And if that resonates until you then press play, you know what I'm saying? Like, I want you to know I came from the streets and, you know, got shot and was abused as a child and I made it through all that and sent away homeless. I don't want to get on just arrive.

Like, oh, he heard. No, bro, I want you to know it's a journey. You know what I'm saying? If the trophy don't mean him about the journey. But then after that, then I'm going to tell you to go to my album, God Body, or, you know what I'm saying, go to Sorry Mom's Distracted, where the whole album's about me navigating mental health. And as a black man, while remaining a masculine black man,

but also being in tune with his emotion, how he feels. Then I'm going to tell you to go play that. But I'll say go see how my mind work first. You know what I'm saying? I face value in that, man. Like, I'm a mind, bro. But all you're a rap, I'm a mind. You know what I'm saying?

You're a rap, I'm a writer, bro. And I feel like, it's more depth to that. And honestly, if somebody watching this, I want you to be inspired because when you by yourself, that's who you really is. So I just, I want, I want you to see how I operate when I'm by myself. All right, so let me ask you this. Yes, Lord. You say you want people to be inspired?

Like, what are some of the things that inspire you? Yeah, growth, bro. Like, I got 50 plants in my career, bro. Like, I love plants, you hear me? And it taught me a lot about life. You know, coming from the street. bro the cribs i used to grow up in i used to be locked in the house you know we used to have a key to get out the house like shit so yeah i know bro it was crazy so now that i got on

my own as a man i'm able to create my own life i used to play the sims when i was when i was a kid oh yeah see a lot of people don't know about that same i love the sim because i used to be able to create i used to be able to escape through a game you know what i'm saying and uh alternate realities alternate reality bro so now as a man i'm able to choose man plants inspire me bro uh i got four sisters you know what i'm saying You got 50 plants. I got 50 plants. What's some of your favorites, man?

I got a whole nation of plant people. I got you. That fuck with this show. Birds of Paradise, you know what I'm saying? One of my favorite, man. That's a roster for a plant. You know what's the most expensive plant? What's the most expensive?

I don't know because it's all about... I might not buy it, but I might just pop that shit on the morning. It's all about this. The best thing about plants is, long as you know any name for a plant, it's going to sound expensive. Yeah. Bitch, you ain't got no philidendrums at your house.

I just bought a birds of paradise. Bro, I got a eucalyptus in the bathroom. I got a snake place in my house. Eucalyptus in my house. Eucalyptus, Nick. Oh, yeah, I got a, I got a you. I got a U. I call her a U. I don't know.

I got a U in a shower. No, that's a bar. Nah, because you can tell her on their mind. But anyway, you know what I'm saying? Like, plants, you know what I mean? Things that grow, bro, like, I was telling somebody earlier. Shout out to Nip, bro. We on West Coast.

And, you know, I think that we've had too many great things Make an early exit in this life And I think that, you know, if guys had the same, my journey is going to be one that you see the fullness of it. I want to get old. I want to get 100 years old, bro. You know what I'm saying. But, you know, God's timing.

That's true. So that's why I tell you, I talk to God. Basically, I'm asking if it's your will. I just want to show, you know what I'm saying? Because on the human side, right. Time only matter to us. Right.

But you never know. You never know. God, he already got your time. Like, what you're supposed to do in this life, it might not take you 100 years. This is true. And your work might last 100 years plus. Oh, 1,000?

Yeah. I did Bullett Kev yesterday, right? We were talking about, we were talking about Nip and Park and all them, right? It's amazing how your work propels after the real ones leave early, right? But I'm talking about the generation right now, the crash out generation, the Y, N's all those that feel like I need to. I'm saying when the last time you've seen an 80-year-old, 90-year-old,

old former reformed gang member somebody who did that you know all that they get old you see the kids you see their wife you see all that and they're able to show you just a different trajectory so when i'm when i'm talking to god about it i ain't saying it on no vanity i'm saying god look use me if you need somebody to use take my story i'm gonna be honest about it i ain't gonna get up here and a lot of y'all and all that it's really me though and let me show them that you can get old bro you know what i'm saying you can get old you can get 80 bro you can you can it's cool to have bring kids that's what i'm just i'm just saying it's great her i'm i'm i'm embrace mine bro yeah yeah yeah yeah so i'm i'm embrace it and that's why my music sounds like

maturity it sounds like a man navigating the world it don't don't get me wrong i'm i'm definitely one of them ones for sure on you know what i can i'll wrap anything in anybody but it has to have a purpose to it i don't want to just be up her you know what i'm saying saying shit i mean saying stuff that don't really matter you know what i'm saying to nobody and they won't be her you want to her all in line with the brand like this is me when you talk to me right when you listen to me because it's a because it's thousands of them it's thousands I don't say thousands of me but it's people that feel the same way but they they in their crib when ain't nobody looking

I'm saying let your camera phone let your phone be a fly on the wall let it show who you really are that's marketable bro I be in a crib making smoothies on Instagram blog and juicing I'm a black attack I got turdry out some of that I got bullet holes in me and I'm just showing you like no you can really do that so that's why I'm out that's why I'm hurt and really furthering the story it's a part of the story bro so i appreciate even y'all giving me the platform no but i was going to ask you this though it's like a lot of the things that you say that you shy away from are that's 95% of people in the rap game would glorify yeah what made what gave you the motivation or what gave you the insight to say hey maybe this ain't the shit to talk about because i'm really

living this shit yeah you know the mirror i don't i got to look it up i need to see when it was invented but the mirror like the the physical mirror was it's a man-made invention right um but for the sake of the earth the earth been there longer than the mirror was created so one day i was sitting there right and i'm like man how was people seeing their self if it wouldn't know you couldn't it wasn't no mirror the only way they were seeing themselves is through the eyes of somebody else right or through a body of water some but for the most part the eyes somebody else right so i'm taking in a while this world is so advanced in technology whatever i choose to go internal you know what i'm saying and um and then outside is just a reflection on what's happening on inside so people see these 19 year locks

but that's that's how my soul is tethered you know what i'm saying so i'm just choosing to go within and i believe that's again that's that's what god's having me do bro i ain't i ain't gonna ever get get up here and present ultimate poise like i don't have the same challenges and and i heard all that but i want to show people you know what i'm saying like healing bro the most gangster thing i ever did was Hill, bro. The most gangst thing I ever did was apologize, you're in me, and forgive my mama, bro, and, you know, and love a black woman, bro. So it's taking that and marketing that.

And if that, bro, if I got to do all the other stuff to go mainstream, bro, I'm going to make my own stream, bro. That's why, if y'all ever, I would love for y'all to come to my show, bro, you're going to see a line around the corner. I sold out Atlanta on a Monday night, 400 tickets. And so people like, damn, I ain't never heard a dude, bro. I ain't never seen them on the radio or whatever. It's a movement of your people, bro.

It's something happening out of her. And it's happening in real life that my, I got 500-something. thousand follow on Instagram and not that I occur about the numbers but numbers mean awareness so it's something happening and it's like damn well I ain't ever seen them well when you validated by God

you don't need to see it for it to be real so I just want to show everybody else you got the right people following that that's all I'm saying bro so and I feel like that's what I need you know what I'm saying like and you know and I'm going to show it's somebody else in their room right now bro who debating like okay cool I don't want to crash out

I don't want to show my body I don't want to talk about this but I need to do that or whatever I'm her to tell you know you don't. I want to answer you this because he's talking about the mirror. So I know you heard of the mirror theory. Like what if we was never supposed to see ourselves? Yeah. I don't think we was, bro. I don't think it was. I feel like, you know, everybody has a,

it's called the RAS, the particular activating system, bro. Everybody has their own system inside of them. Social media was created off of us, right? They literally studied people to figure out when the time to post. What's the algorithm? Now we, now it's instead of, now, We're using it. You know, now we need it, but they needed us at one point.

I don't think we're supposed to. I think that internal reflection was the only mirror. We reflections of each other, bro. And that social media shit, it's like, now that that shit has learned our behavior and they know about how you're feeling on which day of the year, or when you're going to like that whole shit or when your birthday is or what type of women you like. So now that's why you hear people announce, like, man, I'm getting off social media.

Healthy, bro. They know that you're going to get off that shit three years. They're going to see a month's out of a year. They're forcing you. And they're going to send you an ad. So when you click back on there, they know exactly what to show you. A vacation or something, something, something. But that's why I, bro, I started solo traveling this year.

You hear me? I went to the DR for seven days in January by myself. You know what I'm saying? I just came from Jamaica a couple weeks ago by myself. I encouraged solo traveling, bro. I encourage meditation, bro. Man, get on a yoga mat, bro. Eat healthy.

And it's sad that when you start talking like this, it gets put in a conscious box. Oh, bro, conscious. No, bro. I'm showing you the other side of, right? Right, I'm showing you the other side of men, of manhood. We all deal with it. I post a video today, bro, encouraging black men to watch their face, bro.

Something that's crazy is I ain't started watching my face intentionally, intentionally, so I was like 30-something, bro. Like, I ain't never paid attention to that because I feel like it was feminine or I felt like I don't need to do that. So I feel like that's why through my music, you're going to hear me saying, hey, bro, go with therapy. Hey, bro, man, go apologize. Hey, bro, sit with yourself, solitude. And sometimes people don't even realize. I'm glad you're bringing that up. Sometimes we have so much, like, built in.

Sometimes you just want to vent, just talk. It ain't about, like, you're going to get some insight. Like, somebody that's just listen. Yeah. That's good for the soul, bro. Even the good books say, confess your faults to one another. And that's a powerful thing. Confess your faults to one another.

I'm a call, call. I'm saying, bro, I didn't crash out, bro. And it's power in it, you know what I'm saying? But everybody, you know, vanity is popular, suppression is popular. But that's why I know it's my time because the world, everything repeats itself, bro. And people are hard to die. their song, bro. They are. People tired of it. I mean, I love the duality of it,

but let's get real, bro. You know, they don't raise your kids to that, bro. So, who are we going to listen to? Who are we going to put on? I'll put on some AJ McQueen, bro, you know what I'm saying? And, and bob out. You know what I'm saying? And I ain't saying, do it because I'm, I got faith, you know what I mean? That's because you know God don't mean your music hard, bro. I'm saying,

well, you really listen to it, like, nah, nah, bro. Yeah, if you don't. Yeah, if you don't. If you don't, you don't. But I wrote my first book when I was 23, bro. I got a war at the White House bomb when I was 24. So I didn't even start music. It wasn't music first. I was a youth activist, bro. I was on BET 1060 when I was 19. They made a T. Miles special about my life, about gang banging and surviving. And this is time where social injustice was high. The police brutality was high. And I was rapping. I rap, but they never, nobody ever wanted to hear me rap at first.

They like, no, talk to the people. So what I started doing at these shows, I would start doing a cappella's in between, like, talking. So then they start calling me a poet. So I'm like, okay cool I'm gonna write a book you know what I'm saying then I wrote a book started a non-profit bro I just started doing music for real for real three years ago and it's brought me to places where I'm traveling

the country I put my team on and it's all independent so that's why you quit to tell people watch my interviews first because I want I want you to be like damn okay I'm gonna go check out you know what I'm saying this album but man listen to the way I think I study minds bro I got a sticky note 11 11 11 by 11 sticky note in my yard

in my crib and it got it got a Napoleon in the great Kobe Y'all LeBron Mike Tyson I'll just be writing down different minds I come across

bro Hey bro a great bro a great mind bro I want to be a great mind because you can study your mind for millions of yours bro I want you to put this

in a museum bro and they don't and I'm from the street so I can relate to any and everybody you know what's up that's Lord

AJ we damn show I appreciate you stopping I'm glad to be here bro chopping game yeah let them know

what they can find yeah for sure AJ McQueen on all platforms yeah that's my real name you know except people

me that stage and now that's really me bro uh AJ McQuinn on platforms AJ had a great you know what I'm saying uh if you want the music all all platforms if you want to mix tapes you got to go to even because they're all direct to consumer you know what I'm saying proud to pay I just sold a mix tape for $900 you know what I'm saying a week ago bro so you want to make say you can't stream you got to go buy it you know I mean uh 1900 bro I'm gonna start selling mixtape bro my mix I just dropped the mixtape a couple weeks ago I just made 10k off of it you know I'm saying so if you if you're looking for the independent game and follow me man like 1900

I feel like you're supposed to just go rap to them. You're supposed to go to their house. You're part with you. So listen to this shit. Hey, it's AJ. Came to wrap this shit to you. You know what I mean? So if I follow me.

It's not following God, for real. Amen. We appreciate that one, man. Hey, we ain't going to see what going on? Oh. Oh, come on, man. Listen here. So for the 2025 B.T.

It was me and that came up with our own segment. Okay. And it's called. What the fuck you got on? Yeah. So you just let us know what you got on it. How are you rocking your shit? You're popping your shit.

Okay, cool. So we're going to start with the rings, bro. Uh-huh. This is Sankofa bird. This means to go and retrieve, you know what I'm saying? So you go, go get the knowledge, bring it back to your people. You know what I mean? We got black pearl.

We got tiger's blood and we got feral. You know what I'm saying? So people are like, man, you wore rings and all that. It's because it's black furrow energy. You know what I'm saying? Like, man, I'm a gangster and I'm a gangster and I'm a, I'm a gangster and I'm a god. Like I show, you know, not God. need to be the name of mixtapeer a gangsta and god you're gonna feature you're gonna feature on

hell yeah all right babe so me and call i got some dropping soon you know what i'm saying you know what i'm a minimalist bro so i don't really put too much focus on what i'll be wearing you know i'm saying i feel like this right here the rings um bandana always man it's a not at the park but it's also you know not to just me connecting to the streets and and where i used to be and still keeping that a lot of people put they pass in the back and i'll use that the reason you went through it because God wants you used you know what I'm saying then I got on some card um overall man and then tatted up I got like six 70 tats and it's all hieroglyphics and um I got nephratiti I got lower heel on the chest you know what I'm

saying like I just wear skin bro you know I mean I wear skin and energy you know I mean so I ain't really wearing nothing but I'm wearing my my spirit for you I mean I think you you you really hit the concept of what we were saying it ain't about what you win it's about what the fuck you got yeah you know you ain't about fashion you ain't a body you ain't a body with a soul you're a soul with a body man so where your soul man your raw soul like authenticity if you funny be funny if you if you if you live be loud if you this be that because that's who god want to use because when you take them clothes all who is you yeah you know what you you know what you know what you know what you know what you know you know you know you know you know you know so yeah

you're yeah 2025 bg awards 85 shop so that boy nap green he got that eucalypt he got that ukule we out here Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Yo, yo, yo, can we get a Thanksgiving first? I'm hungry. What's up, y'all? It's Kadeen. And DeVal, the host of the Ellis Ever After podcast.

This holiday season, tune out the noise and tune in to Ellis Ever After. On Ellis Ever After, we get real with our crew about family, love and marriage, and everything else in between. Listen to Ellis Ever After on America's number one podcast network, eye heart. Follow Elizabeth Rafter and start listening on the free IHeart Radio app today. You know the shade is always Shadiest right here. Season 6 of the podcast Reasonably Shady with Jazelle Bryan and Robin Dixon is here dropping every Monday. As two of the founding members of the Real Housewives Potomac were giving you all the laughs, drama, and reality news you can handle.

And you know we don't hold back. So come be reasonable or shady with us each and every Monday. Listen to Reasonably Shady from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Yvesa and Gaila and this week on our podcast, Hungry for History, we talk oysters plus the Mianbe Chief stops by. If you're not an oyster lover, don't even talk to me. Ancient Athenians used to scratch names onto oyster shells to vote politicians into exile. So our word ostracize is related to the word. Oyster. No way. Bring back the OsterCon. Listen to Hungry for History on the IHeart Radio app, Apple

podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro. We were in the car, like a rolling stone came on, and he said, there's a line in there about your mother. And I said, what? What I would do if I didn't feel like I was being accepted is choose an identity that other people can't have. I knew something had happened to me in the middle of the night, but I couldn't hold on to what had These are just a few of the moving and important stories on my 13th season of Family Secrets. Listen to Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Pointer, chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at the Atria Health Institute in New York City.

I'll be talking to top researchers and clinicians and bringing vital information about midlife women's health directly to you. 100% of women go through menopause, even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? Listen to Decoding Women's Help with Dr. Elizabeth Pointer on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.