The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Keith Lee Talks Viral Food Critiques, NY Chop Cheese, Family Values + More

Episode Date: December 16, 2023

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We got our guest co-host, Lauren LaRosa, with us. And we got a special guest in the building. Brother's name is Keith Lee. Welcome, brother. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure to be here. How you feeling? How you doing, black man? I can't complain, man.

Bless and highly favor. Yes, sir. Absolutely. For people that don't know who you are, you've been going viral the last couple of months and years because you're a food critic. Absolutely you're a food critic uh the hood way like you pull up to the spot and you eat it in the car pause i wouldn't say the hood way i just eat food i critique everything and it's not even from a critiquing standpoint it's just i experience everything so at first i will go in and i will eat food and i will experience the whole thing like sitting down

in restaurants but i i've always had social. So I've never been really big on sitting down and like sitting and talking to people really. So I'm getting a lot better being around my family and being around the situations that I'm in. But really my family goes in and they get the customer service experience for me now. Because nowadays, if I go in, I get 30 bags of food. They know who you are.

And I get an experience that's not authentic. And if I go in and I say, hey, the customer service was amazing or the food was amazing, it's only because I had 15 million followers. It's not because the food was actually amazing or the customer service, you're going to get the same

customer service experience. So I want the same customer service experience my mom's going to get if she's going in the next day. Oh, that's interesting. You said that, you know, that you being the food critic, you don't get an authentic experience.

Absolutely. They might front now. Oh, it's immediate. There ain't no might. People online be knowing where you're going to to like when they see you in a city they sent out an alert on Twitter they'll be like okay it's like okay people got a lot of people ask me why I do that so the reason I put out an alert before I go to a city I I pay for everything he doesn't go in his house okay so get a. I pay for everything. He just said that.

Okay, so get a little back story because I know a lot of people aren't familiar with what I'm blessed enough to do. So I basically, I go to restaurants and I'm a marketing platform for absolutely free to these restaurants that don't have marketing platforms, but they have great food and great customer service.

So I go in and I go to small mom and pop shops. I go to places who might've just opened or I go to places that have, like I said, great food and great custom service, but people don't know about them because they aren't either on social media or they don't do a great job of word of mouth. Because a lot of these places are either ran by older people who aren't on social media or people who've put they all into making the resources that they have work and not have time to actually go out and outsource marketing. And a lot of people who are on social media or are food influencers, they charge.

So I don't consider myself a food influencer. I don't consider myself an influencer, a celebrity, or anybody. I'm just a vessel of God, and I just do what I feel like I'm supposed to do. And that comes with eating food. You was an MMA fighter too, right? Professional, yep. Wow. What was your record?

Eight years. Nine and five as a professional, four and oh as amateur. So how did you go from MMA fighter to food critic? So I've always been really big into food. As an MMA fighter, food is one of the most important things because you got to lose a lot of weight. I fought at 135, but I always weighed around 165 to 170. So really cutting from 170 to 135 is 90% diet and 10% dedication.

So it's really, I've always had a passion for food and cooking and really being focused on the food aspect. So it just, honestly, it's really, I've always had a passion for food and cooking and really being focused on a food aspect. So it just, honestly, it's God, man. One thing led into another. I started doing TikTok just to get over my social anxiety so I can do interviews for MMA. And then by the time you know it, I'm here. How do you rate when you go to a lot of these restaurants

and spots? Because as I was saying earlier, a lot of times when you go to a restaurant, it is the experience, right? It's, you know, when you go to the South, you usually get a warming feeling from people. New York is a lot colder. Very cold. Very cold when you go to those restaurants.

So how do you rate a restaurant on experience based on that? So really it's based on, like I said, experience from traveling the world and being able to do that through fighting. I took that experience that I've had from that into the actual food world. So most of the time is either based on a custom service, the food or the overall experience itself. So if let's say I go into a restaurant again, this is why I don't go in by myself because I go into a restaurant. I walk out with, like I said, 35 bags of free food. And that's never been my MO. My MO is to help restaurants and to help people and to be a blessing that I feel like I've been called to be. But in order to rate sufficiently, I get the food in front of me.

I eat it like everybody else. I give my opinion like everybody else. And I make sure I pre-emphasize that this is my opinion and these are my taste buds. Yeah, I just taste food, bro. That's really what it boils down to be. But I'm blessed enough to where if I go in like a restaurant or if I actually am super fond of a dish, it might be a four to five hour wait time. And we've been able to do it in Houston. We've been able to do it in Detroit. We've been able to do it in Miami. We've been able to do it here. We've been able to do it in Vegas, New Orleans. So we've just been blessed enough to go to places. And once we leave,

we might leave a, like I said, a five hour wait time been blessed enough to go to places. And once we leave, we might leave a, like I said, a five hour wait time, six hour wait time to places who haven't been blessed enough to have that experience or that exposure. The location called the, I think it's the puttery, right? Is that how you say it? They had to close down and get themselves together to reopen because of all the business you brought there. Absolutely. Within a span, so all of this really started for me in January of last year. So within a span of a year, we've been able to raise over $40,000 for a restaurant owner who has cancer in less than 24 hours. We've been able to raise $50,000 for a food truck owner in less than 24 hours. We've been able to keep thousands of, well, I would say thousands, hundreds of doors open from restaurants who would email me and say,

hey, we're about to close tomorrow or we're about to close in the next few days because we don't have the marketing and nobody knows about us. And then within 24 hours span, like I said, it's a line around the corner. And I don't take anything on the back end. I don't take any money. I don't take any endorsement deals from these small companies. I don't take anything from them. What I get out of it is knowing that whatever I put in the world, I get back.

Yeah. As soon as you do that, your word is Yeah. As soon as you do that, your, your word is done. As soon as people realize like, Oh, somebody paid him or somebody gave him something, your word is done. All of this is over. What was the first one that went really, really big for you? Uh, it was a place called Frankincense Pizzeria in Las Vegas. Uh, they emailed me and they basically said, Hey, we about to close the doors because, um, we same thing. We don't have a marketing. Nobody knows about us, but the food is amazing. And my dad is the owner and his name is Frank

and he put all his money into this business, but he's afraid that his business is about to close. We just want you to come. We don't want you to do a review or anything. We just want you to come eat the food. I went, I met Frank the second I walked in. He had no idea who I was and he just was one of the nicest men I've ever met.

He gave me a free Gatorade. He tried to give me a free Gatorade. I turned it down. He tried to give me free food. I turned it down. And I just took the food. I ate it. I recorded it.

And then within less than 12 hours, they went from having two customers a day to being around a corner. And to this day, they have a section for luggage to where you come straight off the plane. You put your luggage because so many people come straight off the plane. And where are you from? I'm originally from Detroit, but I live in Vegas. You're from Detroit. So you've been in all these different places, right? So you said New York is cold.

So when you say New York is cold, explain to people when you get service in New York compared to service in Detroit, compared to service in the South. Culture is different. Culture is different. The people are different. When I walked in, you asked me,

or you said that I'm a ghetto food critic. So it's like that alone embodies what New York is. That's New York. That alone embodies what New York is. So it's like New York is cold. They play with you a lot. But I got thick skin. So it's like what you say to me don't bother me.

I just don't like when places or people go to these small restaurants and they get that energy that you gave me. I didn't say ghetto. But you're a food critic the hood way. Like you pull up to the spot and you get that energy that you gave me. I didn't say ghetto. I didn't say ghetto. But you're a food critic. The hood way. Like, you pull up to the spot and you eat it in the car. Pause. It's the same thing. That energy that you gave me, when they give it to smart restaurants, that's what I don't like.

But when you give it to me, I don't mind. It's not the same because I'm from the hood, but I'm not ghetto. I'm from Queens, but I call out the hood, but it's not ghetto. Nigga, you are so ghetto. I'm not. You think you not ghetto. I'm not. You one of the most ghettoest niggas we ever met in our lives.

I'm not. Why you on your mind? You got a t- you out of your mind You got a t-shirt on You got a t-shirt on right now He got a white beater White beater He got a white beater on But he said he not ghetto It's 20 degrees outside

And it's raining Okay I got a jacket I'm not paying him no attention I got a jacket Okay Now you also His hoodie ain't got no

No strings on it I'm not gonna hold you I didn't From TikTok I don't know if I would pick up On like your actual personality Because you so monotone But you not like that in person I'm not gonna hold you I didn't From TikTok I don't know if I would Pick up on like Your actual personality Because you're so monotone But you're not like that in person

I'm the same I feel like I feel like I am Who I say I am It's just that When I'm in front of a camera And I can just chill And it's myself

Then you just get me Eating food But that's one thing About the internet I'm always me But you don't really know me Because I don't really talk much Right

And I only did this Because I wanted to do this I don't have the traditional way of marketing or going out and pushing myself because my goal isn't to push myself my goal is to push these small restaurants and do what I feel like I'm called to do uh I only did this as a scratch off the bucket list because I've always wanted to do this what you said earlier about uh you know not going into the establishment yourself that's why you didn't go into Candy Restaurant, right? Because why? They wanted to give you preferential treatment?

So they personally invited me. So when we were at the Music Fest, the one Music Fest, one of her team members or somebody who was associated with her walked up to me and was like, hey, we've been inviting you for the last week. We've been DMing you. We've been emailing you. Can you please just come get a food to try? And I knew if i was to

walk in again the same experience that somebody with less followers than me or somebody with no followers wouldn't get the same experience uh and i'm a person at the end of the day i'm a normal person i'm not like again i'm not a celebrity and i i the way i think about it if we were to get dropped off in a foreign country or a random country and they had no idea who anybody was we would all be picking the same or doing the same things we all we we would all be the same on the same playing field so that's how i live my life so they literally uh asked me i went and i knew if i walked in it would be completely different so i sent my family in as always um and they

immediately told them like hey it's a two hour to two and a half hour wait time so I was like okay if we gonna wait we gonna just sit and wait like everybody else that's one thing I never skip lines again I'm a normal person but we I sat in the car I waited for them to go in they came back and it was like a two hour wait time I was okay let me go in and see if it's gonna be different if I go in because my experience throughout Atlanta throughout that whole time was if I go in I get literally five minute wait times two minute wait times and it's like in Atlanta I think it's different because it really takes status to be able to eat or to be able to do anything out there um so me walking in immediately she was like oh yeah you can come sit down and I was like well you just told my family it's a two-hour wait time and she was like oh well i called a bunch of people and um they didn't come and pick up the reservations so that's

why we're on a first come first serve basis now but a few minutes ago you weren't on the first first serve basis so it was just things like that that made me highlight it and made me turn around and go sit in the car how many people in your family though like how many people is it i can't tell you all of that because sometimes it's a lot of us so that's what i mean i don't want to blow the cover of nobody because it only works if nobody knows who we are because just to be fair if eight people walk in i might not be able to accommodate oh of course not no we actually we asked for a five person uh table when my family asked for a five person table i came and asked for a seven person table and they gave it to me in two minutes. Yikes. But,

but you know, when, when most restaurants have celebrities, most, they, they give them, you know, prefer treatment because of, you know,

they feel like a celebrity is going to post it. People see celebrities and they'll want to come to the restaurant even more. But that's why I only go to places that I'm invited to. Because if you invite me, you're inviting me on a pretenses that you know what it is, you know what it is that I do. So if I go into a spot and you automatically know that i don't want preferential treatment because i want to get the same experience

that everybody else gets then once you give it to me it shows that you didn't invite me for me you invited me for the opportunity you didn't look at me as a person you only looked at me as an opportunity so you only go where you're invited you only go to the restaurant absolutely so like if you're in new york and let's say lauren or myself say yo this restaurant is dope you don't go to those you only go where so new y's say Lauren or myself say, yo, this restaurant is dope. You don't go to those. You only go where there's somebody. So New York is different

because I feel like a lot of restaurant owners out here have an ego. Out here, nobody invites anybody. So it's like everything out here is word of mouth.

So the way I've been playing it out here is I only go to places that I've been recommended to over 30 times. So if... Cut your slices got recommended to you

a million times. Yeah. So it's like, if I can have a backbone to, because what I don't want is I go and get my opinion in a restaurant. And me was like, Oh, we didn't ask him to come here.

He just gave his unsolicited opinion or we didn't, nobody asked for that. Isn't that the best thing? Like, cause I think a lot of people look at you as when I come to a city, let me see what Keith Lee says is good. And I'm gonna go there. You know what I mean?

Because I can trust in his opinion. You know what I mean? But if I don't personally like it then the human reaction is to be Deflective or the human reaction is to immediately be like don't might ask him to come here But if you ask me to come here and I give you my opinion once you do something like When we was in Atlanta to real McHoney They asked me to come or I got tagged a thousand times to come. And then the second I made the video,

the owner went online and was like, who is Keith Lee? But one of their main, I don't know exactly what their role at the company was, but one of the main people in a restaurant, once I walked in and they told me it was a five minute wait, I walked back out, they chased me to my car and tried to give me service.

So it's like, hi, you don't know who I am. But either way either way your review stands harder than that deflection because people still care about what you're saying i'm a customer at the end of the day that's why when you say i get free food i made sure i made it clear i pay for everything so it's like i'm a customer at the end of the day regardless if you think that i'm somebody or if you think i have a status i'm a customer and i pay my money and i want the experience everybody else wants if you give a negative review on a restaurant do you ever go back and be like, cause you know, sometimes a chef might have a bad day or a staff might have a bad day.

People are people. And I always say that. Do you ever go back and say, you know what, we'll try this again or once it's a wrap? It depends on the circumstance. And it also depends on, now we're on tour. So we're on tour, we're going around to different cities. I'm only here for a certain amount of days.

So it's almost impossible to go and track back. But when I was back in Vegas, I would go back because I would have time to go back. And eventually I plan on going back to different cities or going back to different spots. And then some spots I won't go back to. It's cuts and slices not amazing. It is absolutely amazing.

Yeah, you had it? What? Have you had it? No, not yet. I haven't had it. No? Not yet. I've heard of it though. I've heard of it a lot. It's crazy. I've had it personally. I've had it? No, not yet. I haven't had it. No? Not yet. I've heard of it, though. I've heard of it a lot.

It's crazy. I've had it personally. I've had it catered. When I did The Daily Show, I had it catered because it was really just that good. What slices did you have? I had the curry oxtail. I had the chicken and waffles. And then I had a bunch of them.

I think I had six of them. But the curry oxtail was the one that stood out to me the most. The chili oxtail, I think it was. Now, Chad, with your single, he said that you hurt our people's business with your reviews. Have you all spoken? I made a response video, but we haven't spoke directly. I saw his response to my response, and I appreciated it.

But I also think a lot of it was based on misinformation. And a lot of it was based on, like I said, it was based on like when I walked in you had no idea what I do so I get that and people make opinions based on that and they only see like one or two headlines and say oh he gave a negative review to Candy's restaurant he must be doing bad for business but they haven't seen the amazing things we've been blessed enough to do and I think that just was the case with Chad. And once I broke it down, I think he was able to understand where I was coming from. Yeah, I mean, because the reality is, you know, the reason you have the following you do

is because you are clearly impactful for people's business, whether it's positive or negative. You know? So that's what being a critic is. Yeah, I think that gets lost. Yeah, I think that gets lost. But I think it's dope because a lot of times we go to these places

and we don't know where to go to eat, right? Because we haven't tried the food or we just heard it. You know, and reviews online or most of them are fake a lot of times

because these people do it themselves. So the fact that you got somebody that can go to the restaurant, the only thing that ever bothers me is some people don't like Caribbean food. Some people don't like spicy food.

Some people don't like this. So if you're not into that and I am that that can you know skew you a different way but i think it's dope because you get to you get an effect of people from the real right and that's that's my point you don't really have too many people that do it that you can really say now he's like me i'm gonna try that food you know see i always pre-emphasize i want everybody that wants to go try it to go try it no matter what the food is like i want everybody i don't want anybody's taste buds to be the end all be all and i think that's what we lost on social media is that when people put their opinions out it's like this is my opinion and you got to take it for the end all be all and i feel like i always try to pre-emphasize that this

is my opinion this is the way i taste and if you want to go try it or if you think differently than me absolutely go try it question you said you walked out after a five minute wait time yeah that's too much for you no no it wasn't the wait time it was the fact that my family had just got a different result he said it was a two hour wait time for his family that was the issue it wasn't the i was willing to wait in the two hours uh so that's that's one thing i want to make very clear i'm willing to wait in a three hour wait time to four hour wait times i just want the same service that everybody else gets have you ever got threatened i'm sure owner had to threaten if you put a bad review. Yeah, in Atlanta they supposedly gave us death threats

once we left Atlanta, but I'm covered by God, man. I ain't worried about nobody. Yeah, you're an MMA ex-fighter, so you could F somebody up right up. Yeah, I ain't worried about nobody. Do you post reviews, like if you hate everything about the restaurant, food, service, everything, do you post those type of reviews?

Constructively, yeah. But I've been blessed enough to where I haven't really ran into that many spots like that. But yeah, absolutely. restaurant food service everything do you post those type of reviews uh constructively yeah um but i've been blessed enough to where i haven't really ran into that many spots like that um but yeah absolutely constructively because again if i only gave positive reviews if i only gave out the good then it wouldn't hold any weight uh it only holds weight if you know i'm being honest regardless if you agree with my taste buds if you don't agree with them it only holds weight if you know i'm authentically being myself and i can only look at myself in the mirror knowing i'm authentically being me what food don't you do is there any food that you don't do i don't like charlamagne i'm only allergic to shellfish everything else i'm i'm open book yeah my wife does uh for you when i

when i can't have shellfish my wife does the reviews for me so like crab legs uh shrimp and all of that oh my god so you've never had that. You've always been on the degree of something. Since birth. That, I'm so sorry. To be honest with you, shellfish don't look that good either. No,

it is. Is it? This is my review. It's amazing. Understood. That's your review? Understood. Now let's talk about this.

You went and got some chopped cheese. Yeah, here we go. They was mad at you. They was mad at you. What made you go to Queens? One of the people

came here and was like, he went to Queens to get a chopped cheese. How do you even pick that when you go into places like new york because each borough is its own like place so i didn't pick anything i got it suggested so any any place that i go to again if it's not directly by the owner themselves it's suggested a thousand times so i always show the dms or the emails that i get directly from whoever tells me to go I get New York is a very hard market to do anything new yep the second you try to break any tradition

out here it's a wrap what you try to break I didn't try to break it this I didn't try to break they tried to break it because it's a black-owned business that just opened not too long ago and they have a salmon chopped cheese that they were trying to break into the market but instead of it being open or welcome with like oh they trying something new is immediately like we don't do that over here what are you doing and it got towards turned towards me which again i don't mind i just didn't want that restaurant to be tore down which unfortunately is being tore down because they trying to do something different was it good it was decent but again i don't really i don't really like chopped cheese like that.

It's cool, but I don't get the, I think it's based on nostalgia. I think it's wrapped in nostalgia. I think it's wrapped in the fact that you ate it growing up or you ate it in places where you had memories tied to it, like leaving a club,

leaving family functions, leaving places. All of that has to be tied to it in order to hit the way it hits. Chopped cheese is not amazing. It's when you leave the club and you're hungry and drunk when you're high and you just need something to get you over. I believe it's attached to memories.

And I feel like since I don't have those memories, I don't get the same experience, which, again, I understand. But I feel like it's just one of those things, again, it's wrapped in nostalgia and people won't get out of that nostalgia. They just immediately see an outsider. And New York is one of those places that have like real strong patriotism to their city. So it's like, if you from New York, you from New York

and you don't want nobody outside of New York coming in and giving their opinion. But again, I'm covered by God. I go everywhere I'm supposed to go. What about Detroit? What was your favorite spot in Detroit? Coney is number one, obviously, but it's a food hall that just opened.

It's a black owned food hall and they have over 20 different black owned restaurants in there and we went and it was amazing. Atlanta every spot in there? Every spot wasn't amazing but a lot of spots were. Do you actually cook yourself like just at home? So that's how I started that's how I originally started like I said to get over my social anxiety I would just turn the camera on and I would talk like it was 300 people in front of me but my wife was pregnant at the time. So at first it started with me going to get her pregnancy cravings. And then it turned into me cooking.

Because again, fighting, you would have to, fighting and cooking goals is synonymous. So I literally would cook for myself four times a day and I would cook for my wife four times a day. And that's how it started. And I did that for like a year straight. And within that year or two years, it took me to get to a million. It took me less than nine months to get to 15

million Wow you step outside the box like I know Charlamagne's talk about eating deer before or raccoon or things like that or bear do you go to that no rack you I say you like I know you from I ain't damn bear shoulder I ain't never eaten no raccoon I ain't never eaten no raccoon I ain't bear but have you stepped out the box to eat those type of things I haven't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. I ain't dead. Have you stepped out of the box to eat those type of things? I haven't. I haven't.

I would. Will you? I would. Yeah. I wouldn't eat bare shoulder. What bare shoulder taste like? Oh, that shit was great. It taste like beef.

I had it in West Virginia. Actually, when I went to West Virginia, everything I ate, they either hunted or grew they self. So we had bare shoulder, shoulder deer hash and squirrel dumplings understood yeah you ever try any of those I would would I say I would like it I don't know do you ever get sick from eating food like uh I don't get sick but so much I don't get sick but sometimes my stomach do be a little but again it come with the job it come with the job I'm blessed to be here and I'm thankful that I'm not getting punched in the face for a living and trying to make ends meet uh this time last year i was literally on food stamps trying to figure out where my next meal was gonna come from so from to be here now

again i don't do many media interviews i don't do many um like speaking engagements to to boost who i am because i truly believe whatever is meant for me is gonna be for me i just do things do things like this because again, it's a check off the bucket list. And I just want to show my kids later, like whatever you put your mind to, you can absolutely do it. So you've just been a food critic for like the past year? Nine months. Nine months. Okay. Wow. Just last year you was on food stamps. That's crazy. That's another thing you could do. Showing people who are on food stamps, you know, what meals they could be eating now. Like my homegirl, Colleen Witt, she has a podcast called Eating While Broke.

And basically she brings people on to talk about, you know, affordable meals, meals that you can create on a budget. I just do what I feel like I'm supposed to do. I didn't write this out. I didn't plan this out. I didn't write this out. If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year would I be here, I'd look at you and laugh.

So what's the future like for Keith Lee? Whatever it's supposed to be. I'm going to be everywhere I'm supposed to be. I believe I'm going to walk in every room I'm supposed to be in. And so the reason we went on tour directly is because a lot of TV companies, every TV producer you can think of reached out to us in March. And they were planning out shows and they were putting out shows. But it was very cookie cutter. It was really like we already had a show planned planned but we just want to make you the host of

it uh and they kept uh referencing diners driving a dash uh am i saying that right yeah they kept referencing that and they were basically like we just want to make you the host of this show that's already created and i don't like that my family moves with me everywhere so i want to make sure my family is involved in anything that i do so um I took it upon me and my family and we just hit the road on our own and we went out to show these TV producers and these TV companies and everybody else that we blessed enough for this to work and it can work in every market so we just going and we doing our own so by time we go back to these companies we already have concrete evidence and concrete facts of how many businesses

we've been blessed enough to help with the system that we have so by the time we get there ain't no changing up are you filming right now I would love to see that because I mean you think about it I can think of Guy Fieri if I'm pronouncing his last name right Anthony Bourdain we ain't got many that look like me not at all I got tattoos everywhere I got dread I got locks I'm a black man i got a black wife i got black children so it's like i feel like it's very important what do you think of darius cooks you know i don't think of nobody okay yeah i'm thinking about it okay we gotta run to the rumors but we appreciate you for joining us and again i don't want you to

feel like i was belittling you by saying hood. No, no. What I was saying was. He's not going to grab you after, man. Relax. I might end up in a crippled crossface or something. I don't ever want somebody to think I'm belittling him. What I was saying was. You ain't told Tyrese that. I was doing it to Tyrese. You got a restaurant coming?

No, I don't have a restaurant coming. But I was saying is I love the fact that you go to restaurants that we go to. I don't see a lot of people critiquing the restaurants that we go to. And the restaurants we go to ain't ghetto. No, I didn't say they were ghetto. You stopped saying ghetto. I said the reason I said that. You said that. I did not say ghetto. Yes, you did. Ghetto didn't come out of my word. You said hood. I love the fact that the restaurant... Ghetto didn't come out of my word.

No, I said hood. I said the restaurants that we come is in my hood. When I talk about Queens, that's my hood. When I talk about Brooklyn, those are my hoods. I don't mean ghetto, but the fact that is you see somebody do a critique of Tao. you'll see critique somebody do a critique of carbones when it comes to a taste of seafood or when it comes to cuts and slices you never see that and I love to see my own people doing it that's what I mean by that and I didn't mean to belittle you if you felt that way I

apologize but that was what's wrong with you I appreciate it I appreciate it he didn't mean to call you Charlamagne didn't mean to be on his phone it's Charlamagne for sure meant to be on his phone you might not feel it but it's love in this room I hear you you know

Charlamagne for sure meant to be on his phone I'm trying to be real with the brother and y'all making jokes cause I love I'm glad you guys got right that shit though

of course I love that for you of course and I think it's fire I appreciate you on all social media platforms keep down to Squirrelly we just dropped merch

and this is one thing that's really underscore Lee, we just dropped merch. And this is one thing that's really big for me. We just dropped merch and my family and myself created it. My cousin created it for us. And a bunch of companies, we was going back and forth because they really want us to charge the highest because it's a really high quality. They wanted me to charge $180 to $190 for our hoodies. We charged $75. They wanted us to charge $120, $130 for our t-shirts.

We charged $45 because the profit isn't the main goal for me the main goal is to have people who follow me and people who support me to be in stuff that i am proud of and stuff that i will wear and i just walk in my purpose and i'm just appreciative to be here well you can give me one for free so i can critique it and see if the fabric he don't get nothing for free so you need to buy it god bless y'all i appreciate y'all having me it's the the Breakfast Club. You're not lying. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.

Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Or maybe not. What is that?

Listen to Escape from Zakistan. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's up? This is Ramses Jha. And I go by the name Q Ward. And we'd like you to join us each week for our show, Civic Cipher. That's right. We discuss social issues, especially those that affect black and brown people, but in a way that informs and empowers all people. We discuss everything from prejudice to politics to police violence,

and we try to give you the tools to create positive change in your home, workplace, and social circle. We're going to learn how to become better allies to each other. So join us each Saturday for Civic Cipher on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners,

for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, 1974. George Foreman was champion of the world. Ali was smart and he was handsome. Story behind the Rumble in the Jungle is like a Hollywood movie. But that is only half the story. There's also James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, Miriam Akiba. All the biggest black artists on the planet. Together in Africa. It was a big deal. Listen to Rumble,

Ali, Foreman, and the Soul of 74 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.