The Breakfast Club - Janelle Monáe On Bodily Autonomy, Non-Binary Identity, The Age Of Pleasure + More

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Janelle Monáe On Bodily Autonomy, Non-Binary Identity, The Age Of Pleasure + MoreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm still on L.A. time. It's so difficult for me to get with East Coast New York. Here we go. Ready? Feel good? Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. The goddess. Janelle Monae. Hi. Welcome.

Hello. First thing you said is this is the age of pleasure. How's she doing first? That's the first thing she said. I know, but how are you? Listen, phenomenal. I'm so excited. Album comes out tomorrow.

Today. Today. Oh, wait a minute. Album comes out today. There you go. Like, this is, I have been waiting, waiting, waiting. I've been living with this record, living with this soundtrack to my lifestyle.

And to finally have it out, it just means it's like I'm excited. I'm super excited. The age of pleasure. Yes. That's what we're in, baby. So why did you call it the age of pleasure? Well, you know, I've had my age of anxiety. I've had my age of depression.

I've had my age of confusion, of imbalance. And, you know, just realizing that we'll never live in a world where something heavy won't be happening. Always problems we'll have to solve, and even in the midst of that, you have to find your joy. You have to actively find your pleasure, and in the words of Maurice White from Earth, Wind, and Fire, if there ain't no beauty, make some beauty.

First of all, I want to congratulate you on having a phenomenal body of work. And everything you just said is exactly what I felt when I was listening to the album. It's almost like the mentality is like Hakuna Matata. Like there's no need to stress over things. No need to have worries. Let's just live in an age of pleasure. How did you get there, though? Ooh, how did I get there though oh how did I get

there I mean I think life you know and I'm still you know still on a journey as we all are but I think I got locked in with me you know and and I think a lot of times we we look at especially as artists and things come to us and sometimes they don't and we look at things as though like oh we we failed or we should be working much harder we our happiness is dependent on things that come to us you know uh good things great things but internally i had to get locked in with me i had to get really locked in with me and reprogramming my mind and exercising that muscle to be yeah to get to a point where my inner voice what I was telling myself all those things affirmations all of it just rewired I'm rewired right now I feel like I'm on my third life right now wow now you mentioned you know you had the age of depression the age of anxiety the age of all those things

you know what got you out of those places was it therapy was it just taking a break was it friends was it meditating was it you know whatever it may be writing your book at the time what got you out of that anxiety and depression and some of those negative places that you said yeah having to go back to the root the root of trauma you know what what usually when you're triggered by something it's deeper you know and I I kind of feel I feel like everybody should have free therapy like it should be free for everybody we should be paying therapists more we should be paying teachers more, nurses, we can go on and on and on. But I think when it comes to mental health, being able to understand why we're sort of going through life

feeling sick mentally or feeling like we're in a loop. I just remember being in a loop a lot and making the same stories up in my mind about things. And I got an emotional support coach who is a friend and who also like does amazing work. And she said, you're dealing with some abandonment rejection issues. I want you to write down when you were little Janelle, the first time that somebody didn't show up for you, the first time you felt let down, like write all these things down. And I had to go back. And I, I think also, you know, being in the pandemic, a lot of things got canceled

for me. So I had no choice, but to sort of, you know, stay home and, um, had a unique opportunity to go inward and to heal those things and have and do all the work the dark stuff by my by myself you know so I think it's a combination of that and then friends too you know I just remember being out with friends and so much of my life I was always thinking about the future I was like what's next you know just how like when you had when you're a What would he call an entrepreneur, you know, I started out as an indie artist So I always had to sort of be the leader, you know, I'm like I Can't afford to to mess up, you know And when I would be our friends, I wouldn't be present. And so I also had an opportunity to reconnect with my friends and have them hold me accountable.

Like, yo, we here. We here. We here. Like, stay here with us. We love you. Like, everything is going to be good. You can relax. And I felt safe there.

I found a safe space. Let me ask you, Carson. I just want to ask one thing. You said abandonment issues, right? How did you feel or what made you feel that way? And the reason I ask is, right, I have six kids. I have four daughters, right? One of my biggest fears is not to show up. But something that I might think is small, that might mean the world to them.

You know, because, you know, we are in an industry where we do travel. We are travel we are on the road so you know I'm just what bothered you so much about abandonment was it something big like you know something not happening on Christmas or was it something like I have my talent show and this person didn't come and it made me feel a way so what was the abandonment issue um well I think a lot of it and I've spoken about this a lot but so if you are watching right now and you you know me but my father uh was an addict so him being sort of inconsistent uh in my life and um having to sort of navigate and if you've had family close to you or a parent and as an addict then you know what i'm talking about you know um that our relationship what a lot of times was like where i felt most abandoned and thank god like he's clean he's sober now we're best friends he's written a book he's like amazing but i think that

inconsistency uh and i didn't know that because I was like I have my mom I have all my aunties I have so much love around me but just those moments of just like you're showing you're not here right you're here now you're in prison you're not like okay all right really inconsistent and um that was like one of the first things, I think, that when I started to write down things that bothered, that affected me more than I knew. Gotcha. When you talk about the abandonment and rejection issues, that has to be an incredible obstacle

when you're an artist, right? Because you might feel like the label not supporting you the way they should, or maybe early on people not coming to your shows, or maybe people not receptive to the music? Like what kind of obstacles does that cause when you're an artist? I mean, I think this business is designed to make us feel, you know, like we have to be competitive or that we're not good enough, you know,

or if an opportunity goes to another person, that that person is better than you. But, I mean, as I've, you I've been in this industry for a little bit, and I always, I just remembered moments where I thought something was for me, and then, you know, another artist got that opportunity or didn't work out, and then fast forward, and I'm in an I'm in an even better place and even better opportunity has happened. So I've learned that the universe, you know,

me and my emotional support coach, we talk about this a lot, that the universe is not trying to do me any harm. Sometimes you got to work with the universe. You got to get out the way, like get out the way you never know, you know, what,

what is being set up for you and here you are thinking you're in control of the situation and you're actually um you're making matters worse just let it let it flow i call it divine misdirection you know because i like that because in your mind you think you should be going right this way but god is like no no this is going to happen and you're going to go this way but you're really on you really end up on the path you're supposed to be on right exactly and you just have to trust that and and move with it i think i'm definitely floating a lot more and being more like water you know just um allowing allowing myself to to have to have a moment of just drifting in the way that I think about, you know, what I can do, who I can be.

You seem like you're in a happier place. Not to say that you're in a sad place, but just watching you now, watching you perform, watching your videos, watching you around, you seem like you're in a place of happiness. Yeah, man. I am. I am I am and sometimes like I was saying we were not always there you know cuz you have life like life depending on where you are we're always gonna be trying to problem-solve and some things are great but at the same time everything's happening I say what

you say everything everywhere all at once like you guys have seen that movie and sometimes that that definitely has been where I've been. And I know people will feel me when I say that, but I'm actively here. I think one of the things that I got an opportunity to do during the pandemic was my friends on this party collective, Everyday People. I don't know if y'all heard of it.

Yeah, it started here in New York, and they've been doing it for over a decade, but they're international, global. Yeah, I saw them in Ghana over New Year. Exactly. So you know those sort of parties. It's like the most beautiful brown and black people together from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Atlanta, New York, like super pan-African, the diaspora together in a safe space, dancing free from feeling like police are going to come in and, you know, shut us down or stop all the black joy that is happening. Free from gun violence.

It's just like it's what you fight for. It's what you fight to protect. What I've always tried to fight to protect that safe space for us. And so seeing that gave me so much joy. It gave me something to write about. It gave me a soundtrack is what I like to call this album is a soundtrack to our lifestyle. Yeah. So that has been a beautiful saving grace because when you have community that also is super helpful. That keeps you happy because it's like, oh, you get me. You know, a lot of times you feel like you're living in systems that were never designed for you.

They were never built for us to actually benefit or have the American dream. Right. But when you're around your people and we are together, it was like reconnecting with like, this is what it's about. This is what it's always been about. And we have to fight to preserve it. Why did you purposely make the album so short? Is it too short? But I like it, though.

Because I was riding on the way this morning. I'm like, it's a vibe. It's a great vibe. It sounds like you're at a concert because the music never stops. It feels like you're on an island with the wind blowing. I love it, keep going. It made me feel like I was in Ghana for New Year's.

Yeah, I love hearing y'all say it. Exactly, I love hearing y'all say this because that was important. I said I want, what i did was that we would have those parties together and i would i would say if we have the party on friday or saturday we're going to the studio monday tuesday and we're going to make three songs and if these songs can't work at our party because i was very specific about this i said i want my friends to fuck with it i was like if we love it, that's it.

Like, that's all. So I made this with friends, for friends. And I would tell my DJ, DJ Nanaquab, and I was like, listen, play it. Do not say it's me. If they're not Shazamming, it's not going on the album. If they sit down, it's not going on the album. So I would literally be in the corner with a drink like, oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What are they thinking? And I tested all the songs like that and I mean it was just a beautiful thing for people to be like that's dope float I did like that champagne shit I did lipstick everything got like sort of tested with the people I intended for it to be for um and that was enough I wanted to keep it short enough where you wanted to keep playing it over and over again. If you couldn't take a vacation, I wanted you to put this on and feel like, oh, I'm there.

I'm in Jamaica. I'm in Ghana. And when you're on vacation with friends, you want to play it. That brings me, creating and giving people an experience is my purpose. I love doing that. Now, you also said on the album,

especially in Float, that you said sometimes you feel like you're your own worst enemy. Why do you feel that way? Yeah. I said I used to be my own enemy. Yeah. Because, you know, I think we we live within this matrix. Right. And even within this matrix is a matrix in our mind what we have based on our set of experiences based on our upbringing our programming um we tell ourselves stories and narratives and you know some things i i'm not proud about what i would tell myself so i was just super hard on myself for a very long time. Super perfectionist, wanted things to be, if it wasn't exactly how it was supposed to be in my mind, it was trash.

I couldn't see the beauty, even in the flaws or the misdirections, the improvisation of life. I couldn't see that. And that keeps you in sort of a prison. And even in terms of just like, yeah, that that's it. You know, it's like what I think of me will determine my quality of life. You know, it's not what you think of me or what you think of me is what the fuck I think. But you do know that the fact that you are a perfectionist makes you who you are.

Like, that's what separates you from another artist out there. Yeah, I agree. We can tell that when you put energy into something, whether it's a performance, whether it's a video, like, we're going to get Janelle Monae to the top. Like, there ain't going to be no half-ass just roll out of bed. Like, we're going to get this is something planned. This is something that you've thought of for years that that that you know you're putting

into fruition well i wonder what makes what makes you i wonder what you think makes you the best version of yourself is it perfection or happiness because i feel like you're super happy on this album it's like wow it's a vibe yeah i think i mean i think you're right i think it's balance you got to have balance i think when it I think when you start obsessing over when the process isn't fun, I don't love it. I think how you get there is also important. You know, I think sometimes, and it's not all the time, but there are moments where we get the end result. And when you guys see it, it's like it feels you know remarkable or intentional but how i how we get there too is important like i redesigned just in terms of how i even do business

now i'm like we don't just because this is the way that it's supposed to be dying we're gonna uh no we need to make it fun love your label voice yeah no no no we need how do we make this fun how do we make this fun how do we what what what is not making us want to even meet like how do we have meetings and they don't feel so heavy they don't feel so long and drawn out like we got to get to a point where we're redesigning uh how we're how we're creating it and and even with this project i was like i'm not i'm not forcing anything i'm going to feel how do i feel how is this making you feel you know yeah when

did you get to the point where and maybe you you've always been there where it seems like you're so free with your sexuality and i mean we've seen you perform you know with your point where, and maybe you've always been there, where it seems like you're so free with your sexuality. And, I mean, we've seen you perform, you know, with your top off. We've seen you swimming between legs. We've seen you coming out the water. It just seems like you're so free and happy. When did you get to that point? It's the age of pleasure, baby.

You know, it's like, it's a movement. It's not just me. Like, you feel people wanting to. And I just gave myself permission, you feel people wanting to. And I just gave myself permission. You know, I just divested in certain systems and programming and, and, you know, like, why not? Why would I waste my earth experience scared to jump, scared to exercise my freedom? You know, why? What am I concerned about? And once you deal with that and you release, you know, your concerns

and you give yourself permission, it's a different world. And you never were nervous that people were going to be too judgmental or the label was going to feel this way or how my fans might look or if there's young, like you never felt that way to church people that followed you. You never felt. Yeah, I mean, I am my label. I'm signed to my own label since the beginning, Wonderland Records.

Wonderland. Shout out. But yeah, of course, I have a partnership and all those things. But I mean, at this point, I'm very thankful for the career that I've had. I started off selling CDs out of my trunk and living in a boarding house with six other girls. I know how to hustle.

I know how to work. And I have big ideas. And I know I have a great team team I have a great creative team I have a safe space and that's important I will be lying if I told you I I always felt this free I didn't I did not feel safe to be this version of myself for a very long time and I had to sort of forgive myself for that too, because you think about so many years that you lived concerned about, Oh, well now I'm Janelle Monae.

So I have to, whatever I've information I've given them, you know, I've had success because of this, you know, this, this sort of, um, part of me that I've, I've shown them what happens if I, uh, you know, become the glitch, glitch in that, you know, glitch in my, in that matrix. And what happens, what happens if I, if I if I decide that uh I want to be all of me and I think what you're seeing now is me being all of me I think people don't realize

how much you know as as much as we love our families and and the way we grew up and we grew up in these in church and and all these like sort of systems and ways of life how much that how much we carry that with us when we're when we are evolving and there's just constant struggle of honoring that side of you that that tribe that has shown up for you and also honoring where you are now and who you've become and I think think even just in terms of, yeah, just in terms of safety, like I was always taught, cover up. You know, you don't want to draw too much attention to you. You could be raped if you're going down the street at midnight

in a short miniskirt, you know, or when you're going down the street at midnight in a short mini skirt, you know, or when you're in church. For me, it was skirt to the floor. Yeah. And then you see how they talk about other people. Oh, look at her. Oh, she fast. Oh, look at her skirt.

And don't show your cleavage. Don't show your breasts because people will not pay attention to your message these are things that I was programmed with like don't don't you're not if you show your skin or you you know show too much skin you could not be taken seriously as an artist and and and the slut shaming you know even in high school for girls who were having sex it was just like you know and i'm non-binary but growing up as a girl these things were were always implanted in me and then let's not even talk about the reverse side sorry yeah now y'all got me talking let's go when i decide you know i love wearing suits I love wearing suits. I love wearing tuxedos.

I love, yeah, I feel sexy. It's dope. I think it's fly. Love. I have my reason for it. I like it. It makes me feel good. The amount of times I couldn't tell you that people would say, why are you wearing that suit?

You know you got a nice body. Why you want to show more of your skin? Just wear a dress. Be more feminine. You know, like, take off that Monopoly man suit. Monopoly man playing his peanut man. Yeah, no, people would say that. And I laugh, you know, ha, ha, ha.

But I don't think it's funny at all. I don't think that's funny. I don't think it's funny to, again, try to police already in a patriarchal, misogynistic, conservative, the country that we live in where we already don't have freedoms to criticize anybody

or respect them or don't respect them based off how they dress. I've never loved that. I never loved the respectability politics of it. So from every angle, I never felt safe enough. And I'm just so happy. I always felt like I had to also defend why I wore a suit for 10 plus years. I always felt like I had to defend it. I always felt like, you know, in the midst of me trying to bring something, something new and saying, hey, it's not about the clothes. It's not about the lack of or whatever, whatever.

It's me. It's my soul. It's bigger than that. But yeah, just thinking back on where I was, a little bit I would be lying. I'm saying I would be lying if I didn't say that some of those things didn't get to me, but I'm so happy I'm not in that space. I always thought the suits would fly. I thought that's what made people love you because it was so different. It was not the norm. It was not what everybody else did, and the suits would fly. I thought that's what made people love you because it was so different.

It was not the norm. It was not what everybody else did. And it would still fly. Cool. Thank you. Do you feel the need to defend the turn, though? Because I saw people getting at you, saying you was being a hypocrite

or you was contradicting yourself because back then you said women shouldn't have to show so much skin or they shouldn't show so much skin. When did I say that? I just saw it on social. I don't know if you actually said that. Cite your sources.

No, I never said that. I said that if I ever said anything, I mean, we should just pull it up because I've never said anything like that. I was trying to look for it, but I tried not to pay no attention to that negativity. You will never see anything I said that showing my skin is not what makes me sexy even right now like it's in me I have the sex cells literally Like, I never, never would I ever try to tell somebody what they shouldn't wear. I'm saying for me, you know, and I think that was probably at a time where I felt like I had to defend another reporter, you know, defend myself from another reporter asking me, basically, so why do you keep wearing that suit?

You're right. That's exactly what you said. It was an essence interview. And you said people don't ask Jay-Z to take his shirt off when he rhymes. Showing my skin is not what makes me sexy. It was up to me to show people and young girls there was another way. That's not all I said. See, they omitted that.

It says, I like skirts and dresses just like everyone else. That ain't even the whole quote. Oh, that's what you're talking about. Yeah. It's so interesting. Yeah. No, I said I like skirts and dresses just like everyone else. That ain't even the whole quote. Oh, that's what you're talking about. Yeah. It's so interesting. Yeah, no, I said I like skirts and dresses just like everybody else. I wanted to show another way, another way of being sexy. That's it.

And it's not one way. It's not the way. And that's the whole point nobody should be should feel like made to feel like they are they they they they have to like it's about bodily autonomy I guess that's the thing like whether you're clothed or you're not clothed you should people should respect you period and not treat you differently based on your appearance. It's like if you're sagging your pants and he has on a suit, he shouldn't get, the guy in the suit shouldn't get the job over you.

Police shouldn't stop you because they see you with a gold chain around your neck. Like we got to get to a point where, you know, we're respecting all types. Everybody can be their authentic selves and feel safe. That's what it's about. I got to say, sagging is whack. I don't think so. I used to think so because that's how I was programmed. Sagging is bringing down the black community.

Pull your pants up, young man. I don't think that. I just think it's whack. Why? Especially when you're a certain age. You're 40-something years old with your pants. I don't sag. With your pants hanging off your ass.

My pants are fine. It's expression. If I want to express myself, I want to express my art. I've never been into respectability politics, and I think that there were people who tried to use my image. And we talked about this on the show last time when I was here. Yeah, they tried to use my image to defame denounce to talk down on on on on on the on other women who um were expressing themselves showing their skin like we all want autonomy I wanted I wanted autonomy to wear my

suit for 10 years without y'all telling me I look like the peanut man. And I did that. And I ain't putting my titties up. Because did y'all ask D'Angelo to put his titties up when he did Untitled? Nope. Did y'all? Did y'all ask Rick Ross to put his titties up? Like, come on now. I can name so many album covers and things,

like the double standards that we have. Like, let's not even get into how in some states i could go to jail and if you go in a gym with your shirt off and i go in the gym my shirt off i could go to jail and you could just keep pumping iron right you know like we have to get to we got to get to that that's the thing we need to be talking about you know like when you i feel like when you did that that was a big fuck you to everybody let me show you how much I don't give a fuck yeah yeah and I and the other thing is as much as people are getting to understand me a little more and you're saying all of me I'm understanding people more not me the misogyny

is jumping out in this country the double standards the the the, the cishet, patriarchal, conservative, conservatives, like y'all are, we got to divest from that system. It is holding us back. It's the same thing that right now, while we have bills in place, let's talk about the trans community. Let's talk about drag. Let's talk about the LGBTQIA plus communities and how many laws right now are put in place

simply saying that you could go to jail if you were dressed in drag. My suit, if I was somewhere and I was doing a drag, I could go to jail for wearing that suit. You know, like there's no protection for us. they're saying we can't even talk about being queer or being trans in school we can't even talk about being black black history critical race theory is being erased there's an erasure that is happening happening and all of this is connected the same people that criticize me for being black, queer, pansexual, you know, having bodily autonomy are the same people making these laws. It's all connected. And I think until we, again, divest from those systems and understand that the same oppressions that are trying to oppress me are also the ones that are coming from you we're not we're we're i don't i don't think we will

see the sort of liberation that we that we want does it bother you when you see things like you know like the article charlamagne read and they omitted some things for clickbait or yeah whenever you talk about something everybody's so into your relationship right like you say non-binary and people are like well what does that mean is she with this is she does that bother you does that stick in you or is it like go f yourselves you know what no and i'm gonna actually i'm gonna you like some i'm gonna yes give me some palisade yeah let's light it let's light it let's walk around. Let's walk around. Let's do this. Because I love it. All right. Come on, y'all.

Let's walk around. I'm vibing. I'm vibing. We vibing. Light it up a little more. Hold on. I started to burn my thumb a little bit. I'm sorry.

You know, I'm saying this because I just want to know. I want you guys to know this. Yeah. I want you guys to know this. I want you guys to know that freedom is waiting on you. It's right there. Don't be scared. I'm going to hold your hand. I come in love.

I come in love. I come in peace. And of course, you know, there are things, clickbaitable things and all of that. But in this age of pleasure, we don't even, we understand that not everybody is as evolved as we are and i've had to understand that don't get frustrated by it i don't know what people when i don't know what happened in everybody's lives or your life or my life you don't know what happened in my life to make me get to the point that i'm at so we just we have to just give each other grace and give ourselves grace. Absolutely. Give each other grace.

I don't get upset. Like, again, it's what I think. It's what I think about me that determines my quality of life. And I know that I want to live the best earth experience that I possibly can. And with the people I love and with the people who get that and with a safe space. And my prayer and my hope is that people have safe spaces where they can. I'll say that my level of freedom, our level of freedom will always trigger somebody who has not decided that they are ready to get free I'll always trigger that establishment I'll

always trigger prude conservatives or risk people who are respectability politicians or who are anti LGBTQIA plus communities who are anti-black I will always do that as a non-binary person I will always trigger that for them so you have to know that don't get frustrated with it hopefully they'll come around they'll come around you know you said someone now my thought was dope you said someone now you said uh I forgot what song it was you said you no longer lead with ego. And I wanted to ask you, what do you think the difference between ego and confidence is? Ooh.

What song was that, by the way? You said what? I said, what song was that? That was Eyes for Two. Eyes for Two. Okay. Okay. Ooh, this is good.

This is strong. What does this mean when it's like strong? That means like the energy. I got the vibe. You got the great energy. Honestly, I've good. This is strong. What does this mean when it's like strong? That means like the energy. I got the vibe. You got the great energy. Honestly, I've never seen a flame that big. No, come on. I've never seen a flame that big.

I told y'all. Listen, I'm from the future. I keep trying to tell you. I am from the future. I have told y'all this. I've told y'all this since I came out. You know, being an android, I'm just, I'm ahead. And I've been ahead.

And I've been trying to get, it's like I'm actually back having fun because I'm too far ahead. I'm not even playing. I'm too far ahead. So this is my little moment to have fun. We're going to go into election season next year. Everybody should be definitely focused on that. And this summer, though, we're in an age of pleasure.

We are creating safe spaces for our people. And yeah, ego versus confidence. I think, yeah, I think ego, oh, I just believe in balance in all things. And I think that there's an unhealthy version of ego that, like, it doesn't allow you to have that vulnerability. It doesn't allow you to really, really connect, like, on a vulnerable level that is powerful. Like if you're sharing your feelings and it blocks that. It blocks you from really sharing your feelings and saying, hey, I'm hurt or I need help or I was wrong.

It stops us from apologizing. It stops us from being held accountable it blocks our growth you know if it's unhealthy I think being confident I mean it's balance in all things you can be confident, overly confident about being a beginner. I always say this, like, don't be afraid to be a beginner. I think that the conflict happens when you think you know more than you do and you're, in fact, a beginner and you've sold yourself that dream that I know what I'm doing, I it together and in fact you don't when you

say beginners you meaning starting over or trying something new that you've never tried before like acting yeah yeah yeah like and not even just acting or something like that but like um what can I say like uh if you ain't studied you may not ace the test. You know what I'm saying? Like being confident without doing the work is not it. Like you can be confident though. If I know I practiced, I show, I've shown, I've,

I've done the work to get my performance together. Like I know I'm gonna go on this stage and I'm gonna kill it like that. Like that's a different level thing. you've done the work but when you actually don't even have the experience and you're confident you're cocky for no reason I mean sometimes it could work you can pull the wood so I don't know I need that you know what I think I'm prematurely answering this question this is a really good question I'll think about it I'll think a little bit more about it I don't know I can't wait to hear the answer

only have eyes for two is a very system I think destroying record like I feel like you you know it's a what

a system destroying record because you know people always say you should only have eyes for one ooh yeah you should have eyes for two

that's right yeah I love it I want people to hear it yeah I can't wait that's the Caribbean that's the Caribbean joint does Caribbean sound a joint like it's the second to last I love it it's so pretty I remember when I was recording it and just wanting wanting people to like I imagine everybody like whining whining to it and you meeting somebody that night at the party. That's the part of the party where two complete, three complete strangers are just super open.

I love the record. I don't know if I can love it so much in front of my wife. Why? I don't know. Why? I just want to see what she was going to say about it. That's all. Ooh, did she listen to it?

Not yet, because I got it copied out. I'm so happy I listened to the album.. That's all. Ooh, did she listen to it? Not yet, because I got a copy of it. I'm so happy I listened to the album. That makes me happy. Oh, no. I was wondering, because sometimes you do interviews and people just don't listen to the work. And I'm just like, oh, I want to just talk about the art, the music. I mean, can we get into these collaborations?

Absolutely. Dolce, who is just phenomenal. We have a song called Phenomenal together. I love her. Amore on The Rush, Nia Long, who has always been my crush. One of the reasons why I got confident, though, in just being like,

I'm about to free the nipples is because Nia Long told me I had pretty titties. I showed her. That's the reason why? So that's it. That's it. Like if Nia Long tell you that you have pretty titties, what are you gonna say? Like, that's the confidence

I needed. I was like, oh, that's it. That's it. She came to the house and we were recording our song, The Rush, together. And I showed her some of the press photos and she was like, oh no, together. And I showed her some of the press photos. And she was like, oh, no, you need to go with that photo. That was the one you were coming out the water?

Yeah. She was like, oh, mm-mm, that's it. You got some pretty titties. Go ahead. And that's all I needed. I'm not even watching the interview, and I want to rewind you back just saying that. I mean, I don't need any more affirmation. And then Grace Jones, who also was on the project, came over. This is who I was hanging out with when I was making the record.

I showed her stuff. She was like, go, baby. Do it. Wow. Do it. Do it. Do it. That's dope.

That is the level of just, that's the affirmation that I need. She's been a free ass motherfucker. She's done this in her own way. So she's been a free ass motherfucker, you know, like she she's done this, you know, in her own way. So she's been an inspiration for me. And so I'm so happy she's on the project. C.K., who's also like dope. His his his music is so good. He's on the project with me.

Shea on Kuti, Fela Kuti's son in Egypt 80. They open up. We have yet with flow. I also got Horns Unlimited. They did all the Outkast horns, Spodey Odie, Obelicious,

all that. They're on the project. Who am I missing? By the way, the label didn't send none of those features out. All they did was send us the album.

The only feature that's listed is Sean Cootie and Ejibade. Ejibade, yeah. I listened to that album this morning. I didn't know what was what.

No, because there was no was what Sister Nancy is on there Sister Nancy she's on there like obviously you can't go anywhere without hearing Bomb Bomb so she did some original stuff on there and yeah I'm going to do some remix stuff with some more features

people I didn't get a chance to get on this version but stay tuned this is a this is this is like this moment as you can see like i love what's going on in in hip-hop how are y'all feeling about all the girls like i love it yeah man definitely absolutely and then when i as i said when i was listening to your project this morning i thought more that i was like i don't know what's going on in the universe i don't know what the universe is trying to tell us yes but. But it's like, are you really like women are really leading in a real way right now.

Yeah. I mean, being non-binary and still being able to like see myself in everything that, that black women are doing. I mean, they are killing it. I was listening to a Spotify playlist when I was working on my album called feeling myself.

And that's all like women rapping. And I think what y'all, y'all, y'all, you guys are experiencing a revolution right now of, and, and, and also like a resistance against division. Like we are not being divided. The same people that would try to divide the janelle monae and the suit up against you know another artist um a cardi or a meg or whoever yeah and those and those are all women that i love and i respect and appreciate but you have

to understand for years like even it's the whole conversation of lauren hill versus little kim i'm sure you guys were out i love them both but and and i think they are strong they were strong in all their ways but it was there were definitely times where i felt like you know people would would not understand that they were strong and within their own rights and they would use Lauren's image to degrade Lil' Kim's image. And I never liked that. Growing up, I saw that and I was like, that's not cool.

Like, I love both of them. I think they're both strong. They're using, you know, they're using their power in different ways, but they're saying the same thing. It's just all different expressions of the divine feminine. Yeah. That's literally all it is.

And that's what we are in. And I also, it made me feel like, oh, this is my time to feel safe now. You know what I'm saying? Because I'll just say, again, there were just moments looking in the music industry. I didn't feel safe. I didn't feel safe walking in a room like this even, you know, because you just didn't feel safe. So now we are, now that everybody knows that we are not going to even play into the division.

It's not going to work. Get used to it. That's right. Well, let's, let's get into a joint off the album. What you want to hear? Ooh, what y'all want to hear? Okay. I like phenomenal. I like no better. I like only eyes for two. I like Phenomenal. I like No Better. I like Only Eyes for Two. I like Only Eyes for Two. I like Lipstick Lover, and I like Float. Ooh, seem like y'all liking the album, basically.

Okay, let's do, what's good? Ooh, it's so good. You want to do Phenomenal? We can do Phenomenal. I'll do Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Yeah. Or do you want to do a single? We can do Phenomenal. We can do Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Yeah. Or do you want to do a single?

We can do Lipstick Lover. Excuse me. We'll do both. We'll do both. We'll do both. We'll do Lipstick Lover and then we do Phenomenal. All right. Well, we appreciate you for joining us. Anytime you're in town, you know you can come on up here.

Thank y'all. And yes, this is a safe space for you. So whenever you want to come, we love you and appreciate you. I appreciate y'all. Thank you so much. And happy Pride. That's right. I must, we love you and appreciate you. I appreciate y'all. Thank you so much. And happy pride. That's right. I must say.

And let me ask you a question. How are you guys showing up for, you know, as allies for the LGBTQI plus community? If you listen to this show every day, you would know why. They call us guzbands. Guzbands?

Gay husbands. Gay husbands. I love it. Guzbands. I love to hear it. If you listen to the show every day well that's good yes you would know absolutely well that's that's good i love it guzman that's really cute i love it they tell us we're pushing an agenda all the time that's what they tell us yes yes wow okay that's what i guess that's what it's called when you just embrace yeah everything it's so interesting how people think like being gay or being trans

or being non-binary, being queer, is some new shit. We just made up. That's the thing. You just got to be patient with people. They have to educate themselves. There's so much information out here. Get educated. This is nothing new.

We have been here. We've been queer. We've been, you know, we have been living outside of the cishet, patriarchal, conservative lifestyle. And I just want to just say happy pride in whatever our allies in those communities or not in those communities can do to stay with us and be with us. It's a lot of really, really evil people trying to, on a human to human level, stop us from existing.

I want to answer your question too, because, you know, I feel like what we, what we describe to do here is create safe, safe spaces for all black voices. And what I realize is regardless of who comes up here, like it can be, you know, Jason Lee, B. Scott, Flamin' Roll, Laverne, whoever it is. If they're from the LGBTQIA community, somebody is going to have criticism, you know.

Yeah. And so that's just what it is. And I think that you have to know that yeah you know everybody everybody has to know it and and i think you know i think but on a human to human level and we're in when we're in conversations with people who hold those world views my hope is that because all those conversations lead to is okay well we don't have to care about trans people anymore we don't as, as we know, a lot of our trans siblings are being murdered every single day just for existing.

And I think the language, whether we oppose it right then and there when somebody says something transphobic or homophobic or not, that language travels and it travels on a policy level it travels on a like oh we don't need to care about them in the same way that white people would think oh we didn't need to care about black people you know and why it's up to white people to talk to their people so those of us who are more privileged in this country if you're listening right now we need you we need you to just stand up, say something, speak out, support, vote, do the right thing. Use your privilege to combat prejudice.

Absolutely. Well, it's Janelle Monáe. I'm out right now. It's the Breakfast Club. Phenomenal. And I'm not shaving my underarms. I've seen the comments. They will not be shaved.

You will get into it. Is there a reason why? I don't know. I just felt like saying that. Okay. All right. It will get into it. Is there a reason why? I don't know. I just felt like saying that. Okay. All right. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

Hold on. We just got to do a read for BET. Hold on, y'all. This is great. I love this. All right. When we come back, we got more with Janelle Monae. So don't move.

It's the Breakfast Club on BET. Keep it locked. We got more with Janelle Monae. It's the Breakfast Club on BET. We're back. Let's get into our interview with Janelle Monae. It's the Breakfast Club on BET. We're back. Let's get into our interview with Janelle Monae. It's The Breakfast Club on BET. Thank you.

Yes. Y'all better be professional. I'm just going to take a flick over to y'all. Okay, let's do it. Crestbow, you went last night? Yeah. That's why you so tired. All right, first few right here.

Here we go. One, two, three. All right, here we go one more. Two, three. You guys change your pose up. Change your pose up, man. Two, three. I love it.

One more, please. Got you. All right. This is my girl. Do your thing, yep. Cool. Okay, one, two, three. Thank you. Thank you.

Love, love, love. Peace. Press move. We got it.