The Best One Yet - 🦋 “Kendrick Lamar doesn’t Venmo” — Cash App’s rap battle. Bitcoin’s anti-bro. McDonald’s de-arching.

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

Kendrick Lamar dropped his first album in 5 years, but to get the best tickets you need a fintech app. Shocker: One of the rockstars of crypto just actually critiqued something about crypto. And McDonald’s is “de-Arching” from Russia (new word, they made it up) — the Happy Meal is perhaps America’s most important export. $BTC $SQ $MCDFollow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy Tuesday, May 17th, and today's pod is the best one yet. Somebody got the lawn mode before this podcast. And then the sun opened and you mode your lawn. I got it in right before the rain. That's why this is a TBOI. It's a TBI.

First story, what have we got going on, Jack? Hendrick Lamar didn't just drop his first album in five years. He also downloaded the cash app. It's an endorsement. That's an enforcement. For our second story, one of the most important crypto bros, out there just did something extremely rare. There's a crypto bro who's critiquing crypto.

For our third and final story, McDonald's isn't just pausing operations in Russia. They're permanently canceling the Russia business. America's greatest export, it's the happy meal. But before we hit that wonderful mix, perfect mix for a T-Boy Tuesday. Yeties, we've said a lot of controversial things on this pot. Oh, Jack, we have stirred the pot like a young chef boy R.D. For instance, we told you to microwave your ice cream for 30 seconds. We tweeted out our own Uber ratings.

Zach Gwock, you thought was free? We told you it's actually extra. Oh, man, we're the only pod with two nicknames as of yesterday. But there's one thing we haven't done. No. We haven't chatted with you live yet. Yeah, we haven't like hung out with you. Our audience.

We should do this. So why not you, us, maybe Dahlene from Duncan? We had to talk. Two pumps of hazelnut jack. We're going to do it. We're going to go live. Now that Nick and I are entrepreneurs again, we want to launch new things more often. Like chatting with our bestie yeties every week.

Is that too much to ask for? So we're going live with you. Hopefully you join us this Friday. On Instagram, this Friday, the real Friday. At 3 o'clock Eastern, noon Pacific. All you got to do is follow us at T-BoyPod on Instagram. Actually, you have to follow us on T-Boy pod on Instagram. Now, we'd love to take your questions.

Like, maybe you have thoughts on that Bro-Tox takeaway we did a couple weeks ago. Maybe you witness to zucking and you want to say something. Maybe you just want to see what slamming salmon looks like in real life. Are you going to wear the turtleneck with that collar jack? It's called fashion, honey. Look it up. Not a turtleneck, it's a tortoise neck. Three o'clock Eastern, noon Pacific, Friday, the Real Friday, at T-BoyPod on Instagram.

At T-Bipi-Pod on Instagram, we would love to see you winters. Let's chat our three storms. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. That's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%.

That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show. For our first story, rapper Kendrick Lamar is partnering with the cash app. Because the goal of fintech should be cultural finance.

Okay, so a lot of rappers talk about money. Kendrick Lamar's latest album, he's talking about therapy on like the third track. Kendrick Lamar doesn't rap, Nick. He opens up his journal and. rhymes his diary. That was actually pretty poetic yourself, Jack. That wasn't too shabby. No, it wasn't.

It was actually quite a fumbling line right there. No, but I thought, you know what it was? It was a natural fumble. That works in the studio. It's part of the vibe. I call that an endearing human imperfection. And you know what? That's what's going to win us that Grammy.

In the meantime, Kendrick Lamar is a rapper, a poet, and he actually has won a Grammy. Yes, but the last time he dropped an album was 2017. Wow. That's been a while. That album was called Damn. And it won the best rap album. in the Grammy Awards.

And a Pulitzer. Jack, let me just pull up the winning envelope here. Okay, the Pulitzer Prize Committee said that it was Kendrick's rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African American culture. Is that so? That's what they said. That sounds like a term paper. I'm just impressed you said that with one breath.

In the meantime, while I catch that breath, Kendrick's latest album happened to have just dropped in the last week. And so did the dates for his live tour, which is 67 concerts. They all start in July and they're across three different continents. But besties, Yetis, Yetis named Bestie. This story that Jack and I whipped up, it's not about Ticketmaster and it's not about Spotify or the whole music industry. No, because tickets for Lamar's concerts, they go on sale Friday. Unless you're using the cash app.

If you use the cash app, they're on sale a day earlier. Now, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Your typical celebrity endorsement, Jack, what are you going to see for like your typical celebrity endorsement? You're going to see a hashtag ad. You might see a TikTok. You're going to see some Instapost. You might even see a TV commercial. Or maybe if they kick things up a notch, you're going to see some outdoor advertising, like billboards, which, you know, are expensive these days. But Kendrick Lamar's deal with cash app is different. This is an endorsement with enforcement. This is an endorsement with enforcement. To get the best seats at one of Kendrick's concerts, you're going to want to buy them on Thursday.

And you can only do that if you download and use the cash app. So the front row isn't going to those who are paying more. It's going to the users of a payment. The payment app is cash app, which is Block's peer-to-peer payments app, which has almost as many users as Venmo. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the FinTech space? Cultural finance is where the FinTech War will be won. FinTech Financial Technology, the VC term for just techifying month.

Right. Well, Jack Dorsey runs Block. and he wants Block's products to feel like cultural finance. Now, Block's main business is those payment dongles you've seen at the farmer's market and the cashier tablety thing known as Square at your local coffee shop. But Cash App is a growing part of their business that now represents half of Block's profits. And it's grown because Cash App makes finance extremely social and cultural. Cash app has been successful in dropping merch and getting you to tweet your cash tag at Block

on Twitter. And Block just happened to buy title, which happens to be Jay-Z's music streamer. The Kendrick Lamar collab is a shot fired in Block's cultural finance race. To pimp a butterfly, you're not thinking Venmo. You're thinking Cash App. For our second story, after 30 years, McDonald's is permanently leaving Russia unprecedented. It's the de-arching because our business with Russia will never go back to normal. Speaking of going back, Jack, let's go back three months.

we said companies were canceling Russia. This was back in February. To punish Putin, hundreds of Western companies suspended their Russian business. But Nick, they all left in there that this is temporary. It was like a big asterisk, right? It was like, uh, the hope was to get Putin to end the war, but that hasn't happened. Well, McDonald's just announced it's selling off its entire Russian business. Like, for good.

permanently, forever. According to McDonald's, continued ownership of the business in Russia is simply no longer tenable. is the thing when it comes to McDonald's. At McDonald's, everything. Literally everything at McDonald's is a branding opportunity. Everything. Including exiting Russia, apparently, because they're calling this the de-arching.

McDonald's couldn't just say, hey, we're leaving, hey, we're packing our bags. They couldn't even go with like some kind of a cliche. They literally created a new term centered around their visual logo. McDowell's has the golden arcs. McDonald's has the golden arches. Russia has the de-arching. McDonald's literally said they are de-arching from Russia, which, Jack, can we give a definition of the new term? Yeah, they're selling all of their Russian restaurants and forbidding the new owners of those formerly McDonald's restaurants from using anything that's McDonald's branded.

Jack, there can be no McDonald's branding anywhere. From Moscow to Minsk, nothing McDonald's. They're sending supervisors to Russia to make sure that each location dumps out all the special sauce and scrubs away all the makeup from Ronald. so that he's just not a clown anymore, just a man sitting on a bench. You're walking? Would you like fries with that? Yet not happening. No fries with anything. Okay, but next, is this exit from Russia a financial blow for McDonald's? So that's the big question here, because McDonald's has 847 restaurants in Russia, which feels like a lot of restaurants.

But that's less than 2% of the total sales of the company. Okay, Jack and I jumped in T-Boy style. Get this. The state of Ohio has more McDonald's than the entire country of Russia. Ohio's not even that big a state. No, no, it's not. Actually, we also looked that up. Russia is 150 times larger geographically than the state of Ohio. I didn't know we looked that up.

I guess I did it like in our T-boy time. So McDonald's estimated that the cost of shutting down the Russia business, it's going to be a $1.4 billion hit on this next quarter's earnings. But to sprinkle on a little more context here, McDonald's is worth $200 billion. So they're going to handle this $1.4 billion. Oh, we found four more states with more McDonald's than Russia. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at McDonald's? The happy meal is perhaps America's most important export.

The way Jack and I see it, this McDonald's de-arching is one of the biggest business developments of the entire year. Because 32 years ago, McDonald's arching of Russia was one of the top business developments of that year. Okay, Jack, let's go back. January 31st, 1990, the first McDonald's opens in Moscow. There were three-hour lines to get in there. Russians were thrilled because McDonald's arrival was symbolic.

This was capitalism arriving on the other side of the iron curtain. And it was all the supersizing trans fat that comes with it. The happy meal gave Russian consumers who weren't used to this at all, convenience, satisfaction, and consistency. McDonald's tied the east and west with the supply chain, which led to peaceful trade. And 847 Russian small business people, they were. were proudly members of the McDonald's franchise. So America's uncoupling with Russia, it hits a whole new level with this McDonald's D-Arch. Because the Happy Mail is perhaps America's most important export. And now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. So for the last three and a half years, Jack and I were

running a startup within a startup, basically. We turned our company market snacks into Robin Hood Snacks, the news arm of Robin. And at Robin Hood, we co-hosted the Snacks Daily Pod that you got to know and love. At Robin Hood, we also got to hire an awesome team of news people who run the Robin Hood Snacks Wild fact here. The biggest newsletter in America, Robin Hood Snacks. A key detail, though, not many are aware of is the editorial independence. So Jack and I set it up so that we could independently cover the most interesting and most important news stories of the day. Robin Hood's commitment to free, digestible news snack style was an awesome differentiator. Yeah, if you're not investing in Robin Hood yet to get started, go to Robinhood.com

T-boy and choose a free stock. That's robinood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member S-I-P-C. By the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or the podcast. For our third and final story, Jack, is that a handheld or is that one of those riding lawnmowers you're working with over there?

We ride at dawn. You actually have a riding one? No, no, I don't. I've never cut any grass. But you know I have an electric lawnmower. It's so quiet and you don't have to do this. Like, you don't have to like, earning out your disc. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.

Either way, I have a feeling I'd be dangerous with any kind of lawn cutting equipment. So I'm doing to stake away. I forgot you. A city guy, you don't know how to do. The sidewalk clean themselves. For our third and final story, one of the biggest rock stars of crypto, just bashed Bitcoin. In the world of crypto, that is rare. That just doesn't have it.

But before we hit this, the fourth biggest startup in the United States, It's actually not an American company anymore. They moved to Bahamas. Yeah, they did. It's the crypto exchange known as FTX, and its founder is Sam Bankman-F. He goes by SBF. Sam Bankman-Freed is a bit of a vonderkint of crypto. Yes, yes, great pronunciation.

And he kind of looks like he just slept in a dishwasher. Huge, curly forest head of hair. Cacky cargo shorts? This guy's the anti-sw swag. This is Fruit of the Loom socks inspired, paired with. with a Haynes teeth. Not the look you picture for someone worth $21 billion. Now, Jack and I should point out, we're not making fun of someone here. This is not us ripping on someone's looks. You can see by our style, we've got some work to do ourselves. Well, Sam Bankman-Fried actually dresses this

way on purpose. He said to the New York Times this weekend, I think it's important for people to think I look crazy. But here's the crazy thing. He's only 30 years old. He's the founder and CEO of F-TX, the number two crypto exchange on planet Earth. He built it from zero to $40 billion in less than three years. One of the most important entrepreneurs in crypto. A vundercint of crypto. A rock star of crypto. Just said something,

you don't typically hear from a rock star in crypto. He said Bitcoin, the biggest of all the cryptocurrencies, doesn't work as a payments network. Yeah, that's a shocking thing for a crypto CEO to say. It's shocking because part of the first of the cryptocurrency. It's shocking because part of the grand narrative of Bitcoin is that someday we'll be buying everything with Bitcoin. It'll be like the digital dollar.

And that's why the whole country of El Salvador just made Bitcoin its legal currency. They're hoping for that. But Sam Bankman Free just said on Monday, it's never going to be that. Bitcoin is too inefficient and it's too energy intensive to become a payments network. Yeah, because Bitcoin runs on a proof of work blockchain system. And that's a more complex system. To make the Bitcoin network work, miners have to use so much energy. More energy than Norway or Sweden.

And if it became bigger, it'd be more energy than like the United States. Well, as FBI points out, a proof of stake cryptocurrency would be better for payments than Bitcoin would. And we should point out, Bitcoin isn't a payments network today, but it's still a store of value like gold. And that's how most people use it today as an investment. But the ultimate dream is that it becomes a currency you use. to buy everyday things. And that's the part that SPF thinks isn't going to happen. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all of us who are in crypto?

It's refreshing to see a crypto rock star critique something about crypto. Crypto, it's become the most polarizing issue in finance. So typically, you just hear two extremes. One extreme is the crypto-sceptical, who fully bashes everything about crypto. Yeah, like Warren Buffett, the legendary investor, says Bitcoin is literally worthless. The other extreme you hear is the crypto, bro. who pumps Bitcoin and choose your ear off like it was a Draft King's promo card. There are so many crypto pods and Twitter accounts on this.

Like, Jack, the one you were just listening to? Yeah. They are actually just rah-rah cheerleading audios. Yeah, one episode is like, the Bitcoin prices up. Well, it's got to hit a million dollars next. Bitcoin's prices down. Great time to buy some Bitcoin. Be brave.

Join the revolution. Buy now. Matt Damon. Matt Damon. Tom Brady. SBF has a financial incentive to be pro-crypto, but just said, that Bitcoin has a weakness. So it's refreshing to see a crypto rock star critique something about crypto.

Jack, can you whip up the T-Boy Tuesday takeaways for us over there? Kendrick Lamar's cash app endorsement deal is enforced with ticket sales. Cultural finance, that is where the FinTech War will be won. For a second story, after 32 years, McDonald's is exiting Russia for good. It's a big deal because the Happy Meal is America's most important export. And the de-arching is an impressive instance. of branding. It's just brand anything over there.

For our third and final story, Sam Bankben-Fried, definitely wants Bitcoin to rise in price because he owns it. But Jack and I own a bunch of crypto too, and yet we still think it's nice for someone in crypto to critique something about crypto. It's really refreshing. It is. It is pretty refreshing, actually.

Now, time for the best fact yet this one sent in by a legendary Yeti Basti named Monica Song in New York City. Great White Sharks. They're not just the apex. predator of the ocean. It's like a Jane Austen novel. They're actually gossipers. They love to socialize. It turns out Great White sharks spend up to it an hour a day communicating with the sharks about food, life, and what's happening in the town. Yeah, they mingle, they share info on like where the food is. They spend a lot of time just talking. Did you hear about Andy getting his head stuck in a

chum bucket? Are you kidding me? Can you tell me more about that whale carcass? Researchers have found that Great White sharks actually hunt together as a family and his enjoy quality time. Yeti's name bestie, you look fantastic today. And if you want to hang out so we can all see each other, how about we hang out Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern on Instagram at T-boy Pod. Yeah, that's it. At T-Boy Pot.

It's our first of many, hopefully, unless this goes terribly badly. Yeah. In the meantime, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Have you had the best on yet? And before we go, a happy birthday and a shout-out to Claudia Kelly, who's turning 70 in Rhode Island. Claudia just had a liver transplant, and the donor was Claudia's daughter, Lacey. That's a win to celebrate.

What a great story. And happy birthday to Betsy Reef over in Indianapolis. And happy birthday to Emily and Anne Wynn. Twins from Irvine, California. Alex Delosier, happy 27th in Pige and Forge, Tennessee. Big happy anniversary to Alessandra and Lenny in Milan, Italy. And Jared and Diana Bod, enjoy that five-year wedding anniversary down in Scottsdale, Arizona. Congrats to Colin Schmetzer, who got a new job in Rustin, Virginia.

Megan Williams, enjoy that graduation with the MBA in California. Congratulations to Amir Zakagani, who graduated with the executive MBA program in Union, New Jersey. And Steph Curry finally graduating after 16 years from Davidson College. It's about time this guy accomplishes something. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of blocks, Spotify, and Robin Hood, and we both own some Bitcoin. And now word about our exclusive sponsor, Robin Hood. Look, we're not tech guys. We're not engineers. Nick, I'm no product manager.

You look great, but we're not technically. When our computer's not working, Jack and I turn it off and then we turn it back on again. But when we moved to California to join Robin Hood, we were in tech's mecca. So we were soaking up as much about the tech industry as we could. One thing we saw about the tech industry at Robin Hood was insane customer focus. Every product launched, every tweak made to the app was a laser-focused move on customers. Robin Hood would be interviewing hundreds of users to figure out of one tweak of one button in the app would improve the experience. Inside of Robin Hood, we saw that everything the company did

was focused on the best outcome for you, the customer. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinode.com slash T-boy and choose a stock. That's robin hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. By the way, Robin Hood is no longer affiliated with us or the podcast.