The Breakfast Club - Mental Health Awareness and Victor Cruz Interview

Episode Date: May 23, 2017

Today on the show we did “Power to the People” and had Rwenshaun and Dr. Jasper come on to educate us on mental health, which is good timing because May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We also had former Giants player Victor Cruz on the show who finally speaks on the infamous boat picture. Also Charlamagne gave Donkey of the Day to David Leavitt because he tried to make the explosion in Manchester a light situation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Oh my God.

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Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Teresa, your resident ghost host. And do I have a treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on. So join me, won't you?

Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting 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. The world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club.

What the hell is this, man? Breakfast Club, bitches. I'm glad they put y'all together. Y'all are like a megaforce. Y'all just took over every... Wake your punk ass up. This is Chris Brown. I've officially joined The Breakfast Club.

Say something, mother... I'm with it. The world's most dangerous morning show, Breakfast Club, bitches! Hey, good morning, USA! Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo! Now, DJ Envy's on vacation, just so everybody knows. Oh, he took vacation already? Mm, DJ Envy's on vacation, just so everybody knows. Oh, he took vacation already? Mm-hmm, he's on vacation.

Memorial weekend is this weekend, so I guess he's getting a start on things. He's getting a little jump start. Well, good morning to you, Angelique. Good morning, Charlamagne. Listen, man, I am having a glorious morning. The reason I'm having a glorious morning is because I have caught up on American Gods on Starz. I haven't seen that yet. Oh, drop on a clue with bombs for American Gods. I read that book a long time ago

on the recommendation of a friend and I don't even read a lot of fictional books, but that TV show is amazing. What's that about? It's just all about the new gods versus the old gods. I don't know if y'all realize that yet by watching the TV show, but if you've read the book, then you'll realize that

it's like Zeus and Thor and Loki and all of the gods versus the new gods like the internet and lust and money. Oh, it's amazing. Incredible. Incredible. And you know what else is amazing? David Banner's The God Box.

Drop one of Clues Bombs for that, damn it. Everything I have enjoyed thoroughly this weekend has had God in it. All right. Well, last night was some tragic news, which we'll get into this morning in Front Page News, of course. I hate when these kind of things are attached to celebrity, by the way. Right. Ariana Grande concert will tell you about what they know about the bombing, will tell

you how it happened. The person, it was one person that was involved. Is he dead? Yes. Congratulations. I'm happy he's gone. But we'll give you all of the details on that. Really tragic.

I couldn't believe it. At an Ariana Grande concert. Yeah, and I don't like when celebrities attach to it because then people try to make stupid jokes that have nothing to do with nothing. Really? You know what I mean? Like making jokes regarding,

revolving around Ariana Grande when it's like 19 people just got killed and 50 people got injured, bro. It was 22 people. 22 people died? Yeah. Jesus Christ. And I'm sure they're going to keep on updating that.

So we'll give you all of the information, everything that we know about that. Now we have some special guests joining us this morning as well. And this is a great time to have these guests on. And I didn't even realize this month was National Mental Health Awareness Month, I believe. Yeah, the only reason I knew that is a shout out to Stacey Tisdale. She comes up here sometimes. She's our expert on finances. She actually has been doing some financial series that's for our mental health awareness.

Because a lot of times people have issues when, a lot of issues are also connected to finances for some people. And I love how this came together. This is how you know God is real. Because I talked about it on the air saying that we wanted to have somebody up here to address mental health in our community. And everybody started hitting me about Rashawn Miller. Right? So I reached out to Rashawn. And then somebody reached out to you about Dr. Jasper.

Yes. My friend Kane and his brother is Dr. Jasper. And they actually own mental health facilities in Brooklyn. And he's a clinical psychologist. And come to find out, Dr. Jasper actually treated Rashawn. Yeah, what kind of coincidence is that? Yes, so we got both of them up here this morning in the 7 o'clock hour. And Victor Cruz will be joining us this morning.

Oh, wow. Yes, so don't go anywhere. It's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Front page news is up next. Hey, it's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee, DJ Envy is on vacation. That was Kendrick Lamar, Be Humble. And I keep telling y'all, you can't be humble after you call somebody a bitch.

Okay? You can't say, bitch, sit down, and then tell me to be humble. You need to relax. Everybody relax. Now, front page news now, right? Yeah, you're going to do sports. Okay. NBA playoff recap.

Golden State Warriors beat the Spurs 129-115. They swept the Spurs. Tonight the Cavs play the Celtics. I don't know why the Cavs are prolonging this series. I don't know why they let the Celtics win the last game. But they need to just go ahead and get this over with so we can get to the finals that we all knew was going to happen since last year's finals.

Golden State Warriors versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. I saw something about LeBron confronting a fan. Oh, I didn't even see that. Did you see that? That happen? Yeah. All I know is the NBA playoffs was trash. And this is a byproduct of letting everybody click up and all the best talent being on one team.

It's just not fair and balanced across the league. And it sucked. And hopefully the finals go seven games and every game goes into overtime. That's the only thing that can make up for this whack-ass NBA playoffs, okay? All right, now let's talk about this Ariana Grande concert right now in Manchester, England. The police are treating this as a terrorist attack. They're saying so far 22 people were killed and more than 60 people were injured. And that was at the end of Ariana Grande's set.

Concert goers were starting to leave. She was performing Dangerous Woman. She had just finished performing that and that's when there was a loud blast. There were about 22,000 people at the concert and right now here is what they are saying so far. They are saying that the man who was

actually the terrorist was killed in the attack as well and that he acted by himself. He was alone. Was he inside or outside? I think it was like toward the exit. So I guess he was inside. Some people are saying

there was barely any security and people weren't being checked. All they were concerned about was do you have bottles of water when you come inside? Bottles of water? You know, bottle of water. You're not supposed to bring

your own bottle of water or anything inside the arena. I always think about that like at the airport. They'd be so focused on liquids and creams and gels that they probably just miss over the actual weapons and bombs. Yeah, so

this whole blast took place right near the box office. A lot of parents were there waiting for their kids. Another issue was that a lot of kids were there without their parents inside the concert. So it was a lot of mayhem and nobody there to kind of handle the situation and calm it down. Now here's what the chaos sounded like.

Oh, my God. What's going on? What's happening? What the f*** is going on? What's going on? Oh, my God! That's sad, man. So sad.

Now, Ariana Grande tweeted out as well after this happened. By the way, she's canceled the rest of her European tour. You think? Yeah, she tweeted out, broken from the bottom of my heart. I am so, so sorry. I don't have words. All I do is increase my paranoia and anxiety. Because the scariest thing about life is you cannot control other people's crazy.

Okay? Now, in the meantime, Donald Trump is in the Middle East, and he said, so many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers. I won't call them monsters, because they would like that term.

They would think that's a great name. I will call them from now on losers, because that's what they are. They're losers, and we'll have more of them, but they're losers. Just remember that. Was the guy connected to any terrorist organization? They're actually investigating that right now.

That's the main thing they're trying to find out. He was there alone, but they're trying to see if there was other connections. I encourage everyone whenever you feel like you want to hurt other people or kill other people, start with yourself. That's all. Start with yourself and that'll be that. Please. Alright, well that is

your front page news. Yes, that's front page news. Hold on. Let me pull my paper out so I have another direction to go. You don't know what's going on right now? Oh, it's your chance. Get it off your chest. Yes, your chance to get it off your chest.

Say it with your chest. It's happening in three minutes. You can call us right now. I don't know what you may be going through this morning. If you feel blessed, black, and highly favored like me, you can call and tell us that. If you're pissed off for whatever reason, I don't know. Maybe you got a little drip, a little syphilis or something. Call us and we can talk about that too.

Just whatever is on your chest, now is your chance to get it off. The number is 1-800-585-1051. It's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club. This is your time to get it off your chest, whether you're mad or blessed. You better have the same energy. We want to hear from you on The Breakfast Club. Hey, good morning.

Tell us, get it off your chest. Yes, I just want to say, I want to get it off my chest and say, I don't know why people want to do the cruel things in the world, but I'm blessed and I'm highly favored with a job. And I'm just very appreciative that God keeps providing me with the opportunities that he does. And that's it. And you know what that biggest opportunity is? Life. Waking

up and being able to actually breathe and be alive. Yeah. You see, 22 people got killed last night, damn it, that we know of. Alright, and you know you always got to thank God for your blessings instead of coming to him when you need something. Alright, good morning. Tell us, get it. All right. Good morning. Tell us. Get it off your chest.

Good morning. I'm feeling blessed this morning. Yes. Tell us why. 22 years old. Got a good paying job. Just got the job as a sheet metal worker. Working for Local 25.

Okay. Live in a decent town. Used to live in Newark. Live in Huntington County for a few years now. And I've been blessed for a few years now. More years of blessings coming my way. There you go. I keep telling everybody success is subjective, man. You are happy doing what you do.

Congratulations to you, my brother. Shout out, Charlamagne, for your new book. My name is Ian. Live in Huntington County. Shout out, Charlamagne, your new book. Thank you, sir. Really doing big things, my guy. I appreciate that, man. Black Privilege opportunity comes to those who create it new book. Thank you, sir. He's really doing big things, my guy. I appreciate that, man.

Black Privilege opportunity comes to those who create it. Out, available now, everywhere. Now, 1-800-585-1051. If you want to get some things off your chest, call us up. It's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club. It's your time to get it off your chest, whether you're mad or blessed. You better have the same energy.

We want to hear from you on The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Get it off your chest. How you feeling? Wow. Breakfast Club, what's happening this morning? What's happening? Who's this?

Hey, hey, Charlamagne. I can leave you out for a moment. Hey, but I want to tell the world why I'm mad this morning. Okay. When you got a good man, like a good father, all a single woman, baby mama, baby mama, baby mama, baby daddy, all a single woman got to do is go to the court and say, look, I need this, I need that. The court's going to get it to them.

Okay, so your baby mom took you to court? Hold on. No. I'm just talking about in general. Okay. I got a lot of homeboys. They take care of their kids. They in and they out.

But it make it hard for, like, a man to go and get the same life that a woman get. That's what I'm saying. I see what you're saying. Like when a guy has a deadbeat baby mama. Yeah, yeah. It ain't nothing. That's okay. It's still Happy Mother's Day and all that, and that's cool.

They get their little food stamps and all they got to shop for. EBT, they go crab balls, they get the hair weave. But when a dad doing his thing and a mom ain't doing that It's just like, whatever That's true, but you know why? Because if you're a mom and the baby lives with the dad You do have to pay child support No, but what he's saying is absolutely positively true

But that's because a father's job is to protect and provide And that's just the way they look at the structure That's all Okay, and if that's right, why wouldn't the baby Go with the day? I mean, they do in a lot of cases, but it's more of a fight. I've seen brothers fight for custody of their kids. I mean, because you really got to prove that a mom is a piece of feces in order to get

That's all I'm saying. So why is it so hard for the man? Because technically, we carry that seed our whole life until we give it to the mom. Man, if you don't shut your ass up. How about that? He carried a baby. He carried a baby. You know how many babies I've released in my lifetime?

All right. Good morning. Tell us why you are blessed or tell us why you're mad. Oh, my gosh. I'm so happy I got on. My name is Felicia and today is my 22nd birthday. Happy birthday. And I'm finally at boy free. So I'm really stressed right now. And I'm finally F-boy free, so I'm real happy right now.

You're 22? What are you going to do for your 22nd birthday, baby? I'm going to the gym, actually. I'm going on vacation in Vegas in July, so that's how I'm going to celebrate. So you're getting ready now, going to the gym, getting ready for Vegas? Yes, I'm trying to get my Amber Rose body popping. All right. How far is your Amber Rose body poppin'. Alright. Well, how far are you from Amber Rose body right now?

We ain't gonna talk about that. Tell me, who do you look like? If you had to compare yourself to a celebrity, who would it be? Um... Jason Whitlock? I couldn't. Who? Monique? No, no, no. Not Monique.

I'm like thick, but I ain't fat. Okay, you thick. Alright. Well, get it in the no, no, not by me. I'm, like, thick, but I ain't fat, so. Okay, you thick. All right. Well, get it in the gym, girl. Just give me your Instagram, boo. Give me your Instagram. It's O-M-F-E-E, but it's private, so you got to follow me there. Hold on.

O-M-F-E-E. O-M-F-E-E. What is Amphimia? Like, O-M-G, but it's O-M-G. Is that sunshine? That's you? Yeah, that's me. Okay, let me click on this and get a little lip.

This pervert. All right. Happy birthday, boo. All right, Amphi. Thank you. Thank you. All right, that was Get It Off Your Chest. You can call us every morning, whatever you're going through,

whether you're feeling blessed, whether you've got some issues, you can call us and tell us all about it. Now, you got a rumor report coming up? Yes, we'll tell you who got sentenced to three days in jail. That ain't nothing. This guy can't seem to stay out of trouble. Also, we'll talk about Bow Wow. Now something happened and it was captured on Instagram Live. I want to see what you think about this.

Why do y'all keep calling this man Bow Wow? His name is Shad Moss. He's a 30-year-old grown man. Shad Moss. Please. Okay, we got a rumor report coming up next. It's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club. It's about time. What's going on?

Rumor report. Rumor report. This is the rumor report. Talk to him. With Angela Yee on The Breakfast Club. All right, come on, Adrian Broner. We got to get it together. He was ordered to spend the next three days in jail,

and that is for an outstanding warrant for disorderly conduct. That's from an incident that happened back in 2014 in a bar in Kentucky. He pleaded guilty to the disorderly conduct charge. He got a suspended sentence, but he was charged with contempt because he did not appear in court for previous hearings in the case. And that's why he was sentenced to three days in jail. Well, as mental health awareness month, pretty sure Adrian Broner suffers from some type of mental health disorder.

It's a chemical imbalance there, clearly. All right, DJ Khaled, would you like to see him as a label executive? Isn't he already a label executive? Well, according to reports, he could soon be running Epic Records. He is petitioning to get that job. Isn't he already a label executive? Well, according to reports, he could soon be running Epic Records. He is petitioning to get that job. He said, I make more happen than anyone in the game. Why would I not be considered to run the label?

That's what an industry insider is saying. I don't think I like that idea, but I don't know if I would like to see him as an executive because he's such an active artist. You know what I mean? Right. I feel like he could manipulate a lot of budgets, you know? Would he allocate the proper resources to other artists or would he try to keep things for himself and his We The Best label? You know what I mean? Like, it's kind of hard to be fair and balanced in that position.

Yeah, it's difficult, but you know what? No matter who's an executive, I guess people always have an affinity towards certain people, like maybe somebody that you sign, somebody that you personally know. People give money and give preference to people regardless. I feel more comfortable with somebody who isn't an artist or somebody who used to be an artist

but isn't an active artist anymore. Khaled's too active, I think, to run a whole label. He's got a lot going on. Yeah. Successfully. He don't even like to get on planes. How you gonna run a label you don't even like to get on planes? Has he been getting on planes now or still?

I have no idea. All right, Bow Wow. He was in Vegas and apparently on Instagram Live, he kicked a girl out of the room in his suite during his live stream. Now, what happened was, I guess he had a bunch of girls in the room and

one girl did not want to be on camera and here's how their conversation was going. I said I can't get women who don't have more than four bodies in this industry. So you got more than four bodies and you should be close. But if you don't, then stand up. If you ain't f***ing with those poor b****es in this industry, that means you got bodies. I said I f*** with girls that have no bodies.

I don't even understand what he's talking about. So he said that he only messes with girls that have less than four bodies. How does he know? In this industry. You don't know these girls' real body count? Now, the lie detector test determined that was a lie. Absolutely. I can name three girls that I know you messed with that I know ten other dudes had sex with.

Stop it. Right. We sure all can. You better relax, Chad Moss. And you can't be mad at the girl because she doesn't want to be on camera with you. Who don't want to be on camera with Chad Moss at this moment in time? Well, his thing he said was that she was Snapchatting everybody all day. So he said, I'm being respectful.

She even Snapchat and I don't want to get on your Snapchat. And things started escalating between the two of them. And that's when he eventually made her get out. And he said, no matter where, I'm the king of this ish. She don't want to be on Shad Moss Snapchat. Your Snapchat ain't lit, bro. She don't want nobody to see her with Shad Moss. Can you be mad at her for that? That's actually a wise decision

on her part. But why was she there? Exactly. That's even more important. She probably like, let me, why am I here? She was doing the Bow Wow Challenge. Maybe she really wasn't there. Alright, well I'm Angela Yee and that is your Rumor Reports. And coming up, we are going to discuss mental health. Morning everybody, it's DJ

Envy, Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God. We are The Breakfast Club. I really, really like this because we had a conversation about a week or two ago. And I was like, we really need to start discussing mental health issues in the black community. Just the community period. Hip hop. Because I feel like it's a lot of Negroes that have mental health issues and aren't dealing with them. It's been an ongoing discussion because we keep seeing people saying that they've been suffering through depression.

Yes. They've struggled with wanting to commit suicide. They have all kinds of things that they have not been diagnosed. People have a stigma attached to going to seek help with their issues. So we sent out the bat signal. Yeah. When we said it actually on The Breakfast Club, I got a bunch of tweets. They were like, bring Rashawn Miller on.

Did he say your name right? Yeah. He's from North Carolina, right? Got you. So after they said Rashawn, then Angelina had a friend. And my boy Kanan hit me up. They have mental health facilities, right? Ten of them that they own. And he said, you know, my brother's a psychologist and we should get him up here. And now we have Dr. Jasper

here. But look how God works though. You guys don't know each other, right? Yes. Oh, we do know each other. Dr. Jasper treated Rashawn. Wow. I had no idea. Wow.

So Sean may be saying, I want to get Rashawn up here. And I said, OK, well, I want to get Dr. Jasper up here. And then it turns out with the article that you guys sent me from your blog was basically you went to go seek help from Dr. Jasper. Right, right, right, right. Why did you seek help from Dr. Jasper. Right, right, right, right. Why did you seek help from Dr.? So it started off in 2006. I actually started to withdraw from people,

and I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Went through a period where I didn't sleep for about two weeks, and I was actually in college at the time, and my friends didn't know anything that was going on, and I was hospitalized. I was actually in a straitjacket in a padded room because of the fact when my family took me to the hospital, I was hospitalized. I was actually in a straitjacket in a padded room because of the fact when my family took me to the hospital, I was fighting. I didn't want

to go because I grew up, played sports, actually graduated near the top of my class. So when I went to college, you know, I felt like I was the man. Got there, school of 30,000 students, I felt like I was nobody. Almost... What school did you go to? Carolina. Okay.

Chapel Hill. North Carolina. Yep. Okay. Oh, yeah, you to? Carolina. Okay. Uh, Chapel Hill. North Carolina. Yep. Okay. Uh, oh yeah, you from South Carolina. South Carolina. You said Carolina. I'm like,

what do you mean? A Gamecock or Tall Hill? Now I state your claim. All right. Tall Hill. Uh, so went there, um,

had a hard time just adjusting. Ended up, like I said, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic features. I was hearing voices.

The reason why I went to see Dr. Jasper, for one, he's my fraternity brother and he was referred to me, but then also, when I saw him, he looked like me. He was black.

Black. He wore regular clothes like I did. He didn't have a suit and tie on and he talked like me. So he was able to, I was able to relate that that wall was broken just off of just the appearance. It got to a point where he was like, well, I'm at a point where I can't help you anymore. He was like, you need to go see this other doctor. When he told me that, it was a white man. But I developed a trust with him that I trusted him, you know,

to actually go to the white man and actually, you know. Because he referred you and you also had broken down that barrier with that stigma of actually even going to seek professional help. Exactly. Now, you're a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist. I'm the first black guy to graduate from my program since 1988, right? So there aren't a lot of us to begin with, right? Black males are an anomaly. With a PhD, it's even more of an anomaly, right?

So there aren't a lot of us, right? So I originally grew up in Brooklyn, East New York, Brooklyn. So, you know, I've seen a lot of things, done a lot of things. I was an athlete like Sean, played college basketball, you know, flirted a little bit with pro ball and then decided, OK, I want to do something different. Right. So my view is a little bit different than most in my field. You know, I think that when people talk to me, they see me, the appearance, the dress, you know, especially for younger folks. The things that I enjoy, very similar interests, it's not a very difficult conversation to have.

I think it's like that for any field. For any field, you want to see people who look like you. Absolutely. That's why I always say we need more black people in the police force, in the medical field. We just need people that look like us. But why do you think it's such a stigma surrounding mental health in the black community? Well, I think that nobody wants to be considered crazy.

There's a distrust of the system right whether that's the medical field whether that's department of social services whether that's judicial system black folks aren't customary to going to those institutions institutions and talking to folks we may attribute the idea that we're going to see someone maybe i'm going to be labeled as crazy nobody's going to want to deal with me. I may not ever be able to get a job. They might try to take my kids away from me. Right. Right.

My kids may go in there and say something and they may come out and say, hey, we don't think that you're a good fit. Right. And then look at our communities. Typically, our leaders in our communities are not psychologists. You know, they are our ministers, our bishop. Like, so we're more celebrities now celebrities we're more inclined to seek you know their advice you know seek solace from them as opposed to going to a profession a lot of people feel like mental health is an excuse for for kids and parents these days and the reason i say that is when i was a child you didn't really

hear too much about mental issues you know if you if you had a problem, your parents beat you and you usually got straight. But now it seems like mental issues are getting a lot worse. Was it always that bad or is it the food? Is there an increase in people who are suffering from, say, depression or bipolar disorder? Are we just diagnosing it more? There's an increase to access, right? So technology has created an access to things that's vastly different than 20 years ago, 15 years ago.

A lot of bullying online. Five years ago. Bullying is a great example of that, right? So I grew up, you know, no cell phones. There was no video, no YouTube. So if there was a bully, right, he bullied you in your neighborhood. So when you left that neighborhood,

nobody knew that, you know that the gooch bullied you. Nobody knew your nickname was Boogie Nose. Exactly. Now, however, you can go across the country, and if it's gone viral, then everybody knows. That's Boogie Nose. That was me and...

I think, just to play on what you said, growing up in the older generation, they didn't talk about this stuff. They always, you know, you put it, push it to the side, you pray about it and you just move forward. Even when I was diagnosed, my grandmother, she called me and she was she was saying she listed every symptom that I had at that particular time. I didn't tell her. And I asked her, why did she know? She said she went through the same thing. She heard voices.

She went through a period of depression, but she never got help for it. So it's something that's more prevalent now because we talk about it more, but it's something that is not new. All right, this is a great conversation. I'm glad we're having it. We got more with Rashawn Miller and Dr. Jasper coming up.

And we're going to talk about chemical imbalance and can you determine it early? Don't go anywhere. It's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club. The most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Oh, that's a song I'm too old for. Migos, T-shirt.

Right now we're sitting here with Rashawn Miller and Dr. Jasper discussing mental health. Angelique? Now, how do you develop bipolar disorder? Is it something that's hereditary? Or, like, how does that even happen? So, it's a lot of different factors. You have hereditary, so your genetic makeup. Then you

also have your environmental factors. So, if you're experiencing a lot of stress and everything that's going on at a particular time, those types of things. At my particular point, when I had my psychotic break, it was a perfect storm. My biological makeup, then I was stressed out, very heavy, and then just an inability to cope. Because I didn't know. Because we don't teach our people how to cope with certain things.

We don't teach them those certain skills. We just say, just pray about it and move on. So that's what led to my psychotic break. And then a lot of times, people don't understand that it's a chemical imbalance in your body. So I had to take medication. I had to get stable. A lot of times we're afraid of these types of medications because of the side effects. Yes, there are side effects.

But then also I understood that if I didn't take my meds, I'm constantly hearing these voices. A lot of parents don't like their kids on meds. They don't put my child on Ritalin. Don't put him on Adderall. Listen, I had a friend who committed suicide because he didn't want to take his medication anymore because it made him nauseous. He stopped taking it and he ended up. And we always talk about, oh, he killed himself. That's so selfish.

You can't do that. But you don't know if people have a chemical imbalance. They're off their medication and not taking the right medication. And then something like that could potentially happen. So with me, after seeing Dr. Jasper and then actually after going to the other psychiatrist and actually getting my meds and stuff, once I got better, I stopped taking my meds. I stopped going to therapy. Which is typical.

Because of the fact I felt like I was good. How do you know when you're better, though? But still, so a mental illness is something that you could deal with for the rest of your life. So once I stopped taking my meds and everything and I went back to school, everything started back. But when everything started back, instead of me going back to therapy and getting back on meds, I turned to alcohol. I was drinking a fifth of tequila every other day.

What kind of tequila? See? All I do is make you mad and pee. That's all I did. Should have just gotten casted drug on us or something. That was your way of trying to cope. Yeah, I did that for three and a half years. Jesus Christ.

During that time period, the voices got louder. I OD'd on pills twice trying to die by suicide, not commit. Because commit is more like it's a crime. So we say die by suicide. Okay, I never knew that. Yeah, so it's about your language that we use. Just like when we use crazy. Because we use crazy too loosely when we describe people.

That's why a lot of people don't actually talk about mental health issues. What would a voice is saying to you? You know, you shouldn't be here. No one cares. Why even try? You should just kill yourself. My last suicide attempt, I put a gun in my head and pulled a trigger. What happened?

It jammed. Damn. So when it jammed, all I could do was sit there and cry. Because you felt like you wasn't even good enough to kill yourself. Right. I want to say something, right? So mental health, right? Let's talk about mental health, right?

So everybody needs to understand, right? When we go, I tell people this all the time. People have a cold, right? Have a flu. They go see the doctor, right? Right. Our mental health is no different, right? We need to practice and engage in mental health exercises,

whether we are normal, which is another word I don't use, normal or not, right, as a sort of preventative process, right? Why aren't we practicing, you know, and working on our brain as a powerful muscle, right? Because we all deal with something at some point in time. I think that the biggest thing that I passed on to Sean, or what I tried to pass on to Sean, was, number one, it's okay. You're experiencing these things.

It doesn't diminish who you are, your character. It doesn't make you any less of a man. This is what you're dealing with. So how do we manage this and move forward? Because, like he said, he's going to experience these things for the rest of his life, right? This isn't going to go away, right? He's going to get his highs. He's going to get his lows.

He's going to have those thoughts, those strong feelings of self-doubt. But we got to figure out a way to manage it. And it's okay to say, you know what? This is what I experienced, right? Right. So normal people have things weighing heavy on, right? And we all have somebody that we talk to. Right. You bounce things off of your friend, whatever.

And you start to feel tremendously better because you feel like, you know what? I just let the cat out the bag. I was holding on to this. And I really was feeling maybe ashamed or embarrassed about it because that's a strong part of it. I'm ashamed and or embarrassed to let you know that I'm experiencing these things, right, for anybody, right, even children. So I don't want people to know. Then we talk and we realize you're going through some of the same things or you know somebody that's going through the same things.

So when we feel like we're walking a similar path with somebody, we say, okay, well, I'm not that much different than the rest. Well, Sean, do you think if you would have been embraced by people in college, you would have felt the same way? Because I think about when I was younger, I used to get in a lot of trouble. And there was one point where they had me sitting down with a psychiatrist asking me the same thing. Do I have voices, stuff like that?

I would go outside and there would be bees around the floor. I'd put my hand on the bees just to get stung to get attention. So you think you just wanted attention in a sense? It's insane, though. I received attention. I was in the frat. I played sports. I played football, and I ran track at Carolina.

So it wasn't the fact that I didn't have the attention. I had a chemical imbalance going on. So it wasn't the self-esteem issue. Like I said, just coming up, growing up, I was the man. It was nothing. That wasn't the issue. It was more the fact that now my friends didn't pick up on the signs and symptoms that I was going through. Because like I said, my last two years, I was drinking alcohol every single day.

I was going to class drinking alcohol. Like I put Patrona in a bottle and go to class. Then I go to work. What made you want to self-medicate? Especially being that you already had went through therapy. Think about our society. Whenever you have a long day, a stressful day at work, what you do when you go home? Most people

go get a drink. It's okay to get a drink. It's okay to get drunk. It's a social thing, too. Right. So it's okay to do those types of things. It's not okay to get psychiatric help. Now what about financially? I know some people feel like does insurance cover me going to see a psychologist because

I'm having some issues? How expensive is it? Is it covered by insurance? Most insurances do cover it, but you still, in most situations, most counties will allow you to come if you are of an indigent population, don't have any finances, don't have any insurance, they will present to you what's called the sliding scale fee and should be able to address some of that with you in terms of a copay based on your income, if you have any income. If not, still should be able to let you come and seek service.

How do you recognize? Is there any way to, because you talk about a chemical imbalance. Is there any way to figure out a chemical imbalance early? We can see so many different things early. We can tell if a child has Down syndrome early. We can tell so much. We can't figure out somebody's chemical imbalance? It's really hard in that respect to say, you know, it looks like there's something off here.

And a lot of times, you know, we're a theory-based practice. So Sean was put on a med let's say that med didn't work right his doctor would take him off that med and put him on a different med right so it's all trial and error to be able to find what works best and then we argue based on that

what we think is the etiology or the root cause of it right so it's all theory based there's no 100% certainty. We got more with Rashawn Miller and Dr. Jasper coming up in a few minutes. And we're going to discuss mental health and hip hop. Some of these Negroes need help. Okay?

You guys stop calling them crazy. They just really need help. It's the world's most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Most dangerous morning show, The Breakfast Club. Right now we're sitting here with Rashawn Miller and Dr. Jasper discussing mental health. It's crazy to me because I think

last week maybe I heard a story of an eight-year-old committing suicide. And I'm like, at eight I was not thinking about killing myself.

Life is always a lot tougher now with social media changing. People streaming live on Facebook doing crazy things. But how do you know

the difference though? This kid's eight. At eight you're going to be going doing crazy things. But how do you know the difference? Those kids are eight. At eight, you're going to be going through some things. You're going to have some internal issues, maybe. You're just young. We don't know. That child, I think, had gotten beat up in school.

The school covered it up. The social media trajectory has vastly changed the landscape. We become desensitized to trauma, to serious events, because we see them so much every day. That's how I feel about police killings. Whenever I hear about a police officer killing an unarmed black man, I'm like, I'm numb to it now,

and I know I shouldn't feel that way. Right. You either become desensitized to it or oversensitized to it or hypersensitive to it, right? So a lot of people will become desensitized to it, which kind of takes some of your humanity away right that ability to feel you know be empathetic towards

another person as they're going through this but if you look on social media every day and you see fights and yes you know all these different things you're like you know okay cool i i just saw this yesterday some people find it amusing. Absolutely. How much of a factor is being black? Because I think we've got to be going through some type of PTSD, right? Man, there's you know, trauma is relative, right? So it's relative to the person, right? So our experience

you know, alone lends itself to, you always feel like you're in the fight, right? So we deal with things sometimes that others don't. Especially as black men, we have to wear so many different masks. You got to think about it. If you're going into a room with a bunch of

white people, you got to, you know, make sure that you're on point. You know, your vernacular and all this type of stuff. See, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm the exact opposite. I have to for my own sanity. I can't make me feel comfortable. I got to be comfortable. I'm the only person that matters in this country. Definitely. I mean, that's very important. But sanity. I can't make me feel comfortable. I got to be comfortable. I'm the only person that matters in this.

Definitely. I mean, that's very important. But a lot of people are not like that. You know, we got to wear, we got to figure out when you're with your boys, you know, you got to talk a certain way. And a lot of times when we're with our boys, we don't talk about a lot of stuff that we need to actually talk about. Me and my wife started a podcast about talking about relationships. And I got so many people calling me like, yo, it's real because nobody talks about relationships. And I got so many people calling me and be like, yo, it's real because nobody talks about

relationship. And I'm thinking about, when I'm with my boys, we never be like, yo, son, I'm going through this at home. We don't do it. I don't ever say, yeah. That's because Biggie said, problems with my wife, don't discuss them. But even if you're having mental health issues, none of my boys ever was like, yo, I felt this way. And I've

felt that way several times, and there's nobody to talk to. And I'm sure they have. So you're absolutely positively right. Like, there is nobody to talk to. Like, I'm sure you girls can say, I felt this way. But I'll never come to Charlamagne L'Oreal, Charlamagne L'Oreal. I know you. I wouldn't do that if I were you anyway.

Right. You're right. But we have to create that space to be able to do that. Right. And encourage each other. And check in on each other. Right. Because a lot of times, people don't call until they've gone totally off the rails.

Right. Right? And it's, you know, it's like, hey, K, I need you. You know, I needed you yesterday. And I'm like, well, okay, we're going to get through this. But, you know, I'm going to ask you, why didn't you call me yesterday? Because men look at it like a weakness. It does.

I mean, even when I started sharing my story, a lot of my friends, they were like, why didn't you say something years ago? I was like, for one, I didn't know how y'all would react. And I was scared. A lot of times, I didn't even know how to put it into words. And that's bulls**t to you. I just want to tell you that. They say that now because they see the ending. But if you came five years ago and be like, I'm hearing voices, they'd have looked at you crazy.

You never know, though. You never know. Some people might have. Some might have. It all depends. But it depends. I think people understand it. Right. People feel they don't understand. People have to be comfortable with being vulnerable. But it depends. I think people understand it. People feel they don't understand.

They have to be comfortable with being vulnerable. So within vulnerability is a certain amount of strength. Because I've showed you where I'm most vulnerable. And I'm not going to allow that vulnerability to stop me from moving forward.

So again, let's get to someone making fun of you. We're here, y'all, everybody's making fun of me. So I start laughing with y'all, right? It might be true. Yeah, my mom's working three jobs. I wear the same jeans to school every day, right? So I'm gonna start laughing with y'all. My reaction changes. It changes your reaction to the circumstance because you're no longer getting under my skin. I've showed you that vulnerability, but I've stopped it from allowing me to move forward and enjoy the process. It's the same thing, right? So let's talk about where I'm the most vulnerable and let's get it out. Say, aren't any secrets so we know.

I have a principle in my book called live your truth. Nobody can use your truth against you and it's the M&M and AIM out there. Say everything about yourself that somebody else could possibly say about you and you take the power away from them all day. Now question, do y'all keep up with what's going on in hip hop a lot of times? Do y'all ever see certain people and be like he's going through something? Oh yeah, definitely.

You see guys crying on Instagram live. Look at Kanye. Some people thought that he was pretending to be going through You see guys crying on Instagram, live, yelling and screaming at artists. Some people thought that he was pretending to be going through some type of depression and whatever it is that they're saying

that he was going through because he wanted to get out of doing this. People don't believe it. I'm not going to necessarily speculate on his situation, but if I just gave it the eyeball test, I would say that there's definitely something there. We have these conversations often, right? Because we

talk every day, almost every day. Who else have you seen that you think... I'll be honest with you. I had a young man, Kodak Black, on, and I watched him in the studio. I'm not going to throw that on him, but I'm just trying to figure out where some of these young dudes are going with it.

Like, he's one that I would say, okay, you know, maybe there's some concern there. Like, the Chief Keef. Yeah. It's hard to tell with the young ones because they're just young. It's hard to tell, and, you know, the way things are going, but... The older ones seem easier to, like... I think even if you listen to lyrics, though, you listen to Kendrick Lamar. You listen to his song

Feeling. You listen to I. He talks about stuff like that. He talks about the suicides and the depression and all that type of thing. It's more so just instead of just riding the beat and just vibing to it, actually listening to what they're actually saying because they're telling you something.

What about Joe Budden? Yeah. I feel like we all can benefit from counseling. Yeah. Whether we feel like we're going through it or not, it's real, right? And this is not a plug to my industry. It's just to say that, you know, we do it anyway, right? We do it anyway.

We talk to people. We seek advice. You know, we seek comfort. We do it anyway, right? We do it anyway. We talk to people. We seek advice. You know, we seek comfort. We do it anyway. So why not talk to a professional about it, you know, potentially to get, you know, better at it, to better train yourself to engage in certain ways, to be, you know, mentally tough or mentally strong.

You have to exercise those things, engage in preventative maintenance to be able to address the world because there's a lot coming at you. What do you think about when people, because I always think this is a bad idea, I just want to see what you think, when people do go on social media and say, I'm going through so much right now,

this, this, and that, I just want to kill myself. You get a hundred tweets from my like, do it. And they put it on social media. Don't you think that's a, I mean, I think it's a bad idea. I just want to get your take, Dr. Desper. Well, people are living their real lives through these outlets, right? Hold on, hold on.

First of all, not real life. They put certain perceptions on social media. Well, some do it. Their lives to be perceived. Others take it all the way there. Like, I want to let you totally into what I have going on, right? And that can be good, and it also can be dangerous, right? Because you open yourself up to opinions, right?

And sometimes you open yourself up to opinions of people who aren't qualified to give you an opinion on what you should do next. And not everything that you see or hear is going to be something that's going to stroke your ego. That's the worst part. If it's a cry for help, before you even get that help, people are going to attack you. It makes you feel worse. Somebody might say, he's whack, she's whack, she needs to kill herself

today. Right? And you're like, wow, I really wasn't doing that. This went way left. Well, I'm glad y'all came in. Let's start the conversation. We'll be getting the conversation started about mental health in our community. So what's some other ways they can reach you, you said?

Well, email is info at Rashawn.com. So Rashawn is R-W-E-N-S-H-A-U-N. My website is Rashawn.com. Also, my nonprofit, which raises mental health awareness, is Eustress, Inc. .org is E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S. So Eustress means good stress. So it's all about our perception of how we view our stresses in our life. You want to give your website is www.

I sound old saying that. A-R-J-K-I-R-S.com. Like, real, that was crazy. www. It's A-R-J-K-I-R-ids.com. Like, real, that was crazy. www. It's ARJKids.com. Pardon me, bro. Email is Kendell, K-E-N-D-E-L-L, at ARJKids.com or info at ARJKids.com. On social media, it's at Doc and the Dude, D-O-C-N-D-A-D-U-D-E.

Really thank y'all for coming, man. There you go. Dr. Jasper, Rashawn Miller. It's The Breakfast, N-D-O-C-M-D-A-D-U-D-E. Really thank y'all for coming, man. There you go. Dr. Jasper, Rashawn Miller. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. The Breakfast Club. Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee. Envy is actually on vacation.

He was just here. He was just here. Great discussion about mental health this morning. We're getting a lot of tweets, a lot of emails, a lot of texts. Good luck, PT. Hit me on Instagram. It says, great interview about mental health really needed to hear something like that.

Had a friend who really went crazy, flipped out saying his homeboys ran a train on his girl. He went to the mental hospital and some of my friends thought it was funny. So a lot in that tweet. Okay. First and foremost I need to know if people actually ran a train on his girl before I chalked that one up to mental health. I need to

know these things. Now, we got a rumor report coming up here? Yes, we are going to talk about whether or not we should allow white people to use the N-word. Come on, we still having this discussion? Listen up. It's just in. All the gossip. Gossip.

The rumor report. Gossip. Gossip. With Angela Yee. It's the rumor report. The Breakfast Club. Well, if you watch the show, Dear White People. Amazing.

Drop one of Clues' bombs for Dear White People, dammit. Amazing show. Amazing. Then you will like this interview. This was the Huffington Post. Justin Simeon, who is the creator of the show, and Logan Browning, she's the star of the show, have a discussion about several different things, including the use of the N-word. Here's what they had to say.

Is it not a double standard that black folks can say the N-word and it's in, like, black music? How many things do white people have? There's this one word that black people took and used as a form of endearment, and it's ours. Let us have this one word. Just the one word. So much hatred behind it when it comes from the mouths of others. And this is something that we've turned into a very special, casual term.

Not to be used by everyone. We made medicine out of our poison. So what you're saying is this is not a double standard. It's not a double standard. Not at all. I mean, truth of the matter is the word is still poison. I mean, I've been striving not to use it for the past few years, but I can't help it sometimes. But I mean, the word is never really

going to truly be a term of endearment. Right. It's just not. Okay, and here's what they had to say about racism and whether or not black people can be racist. Black people can't be racist. Black people can be prejudiced. They can be biased, but they

can't be racist. And why is that? Tell me. Well, what is racism? Racism is the oppression of a marginalized group in a society that's based on white supremacy. But the thing is, racism, like you said, it's systemic. It's baked into our society.

Y'all ain't oppressed. I'm sorry. When it comes to racism, there really is no double standard. There is no double standard. I agree with that because the prejudice and the bias that black people would show towards white people is usually a reaction to the racism that has been shown to us. Racism is oppression. Yes. All right, now OJ Simpson gets a shot at parole in July. I don't think that's a good idea.

I think they should keep OJ right where he's at. I don't see. So far, he's been close to nine years at this prison in Nevada and that's for his armed robbery of two memorabilia dealers in a hotel in Vegas. Now, if he does get parole,

he would be released in October. I don't think he should get another chance. If he doesn't, then he'll remain locked up until 2022. How many more chances

are they going to give O.J. Simpson? Like, I mean, he got away with killing a white woman and a white man in America as a black man and then he messed it up later and now he's serving prison time. Y'all going to give O.J. Simpson? I mean, he got away with killing a white woman and a white man in America as a black man and then he messed it up later. Now he's serving prison time. Y'all going to let him out again?

Y'all think just because he's old, he can't still make more mistakes? Right. Well, listen, I don't know what's going to end up happening, but according to Fred Goldman, Fred Goldman, who's the dad of the murder victim, also said he'll continue to pursue Simpson if he gets out of jail.

He said, we're always on the lookout for ways to nail him. That's an ongoing situation. When are they going to take him out themselves? That's what's going to happen. Let them get within 50 feet of the juice and watch what happens. All right, Katy Perry is getting $25 million for American Idol, and that is for her to be a judge. Now, sources are saying that ABC was desperate to sign a name

before the Up Friends happened last week. That's when they present all their new shows. And they said Katy Perry basically had all the leverage. If they ended up announcing the show without a judge, that would have been it for them. So, therefore, they had to give her a nice $25 million. Y'all know I love Katy Perry, but after seeing her dance on stage with Domingo, she can't judge nobody.

Not the way she danced. I saw her dancing with Domingo, she can't judge nobody. Not the way she danced. I saw her dancing with Domingo, too. It was a little shaky. I didn't know white people still danced like that. I haven't seen a white person dance that white in a long time. White people seem to have way more rhythm over the years than what Katy Perry displayed on stage with Domingo. Well, that's a lot of money. Ryan Seacrest was making $15 million a season at his highest point.

And J-Lo was also making $15 million a season. So $25 million, sheesh. All right, I'm Angela Yee, and that is your Rumor Report. Yes. It's time for Donkey of the Day. Donkeys of the Day at Jungleman. I'm a Democrat, so being Donkey of the Day is a little bit of a mixed up.

So like a donkey, he hung. Donkey of the Day. a little bit of a mixed way. So like a donkey. Keyhole. Donkey of the day. The practice club, bitches. Now, I've been called a lot in my 23 years, but donkey of the day is a new one. Now, first off, before we get into today's donkey of the day, let me make great on a promise. Now, yesterday I gave Samuel Berkowitz some of the sweet sounds in the Hamilton's because Samuel is the landlord who owns the building in Brooklyn that has the what's the word? The Biggie mural, the Biggie mural on it. And Samuel Berkowitz was going to remove it unless he got 1250 a month.

And yesterday he had a change of heart. Yes, he did. After an outburst of anger from hip hop heads and Bed-Stuy residents. OK, some cultural translator got through to him, because he said he didn't fully understand what the rapper Biggie Smalls meant to the neighborhood. But Samuel, if you don't know, now you know, okay? We the culture are glad you made the right decision.

And your Donkey of the Day record is now clean, okay? Now, Donkey of the Day for Tuesday, May 23rd, goes to David Levitt. His Twitter is at David underscore Levitt. D-A-V-I-T underscore L-E-A-V-I-T-T. All right.

His Twitter bio says he is a freelance writer who writes for CBS, AXS, Yahoo, and The Examiner. But none of that is true. Well, I can't say none of it. But CBS and AXS definitely denounced him yesterday after David decided to try to make light of the massacre in Manchester. OK, if you haven't heard, at least 19 to 22 people were killed in the UK last night at an Ariana Grande concert. Now, I hate when tragic situations like this are attached to any kind of celebrity, because truth to the matter is people are jealous and envious of celebrities. And whenever they hear about something bad happening to a celebrity or something bad happening with a celebrity's name

attached to it, they have no sympathy for it. And David Levitt is absolutely one of those idiots, okay? He tweeted out multiple confirmed fatalities at Manchester Arena.

The last time I listened to Ariana Grande, I almost died too. Wow. What a time to make a joke. Now, that tweet has been replied to 24,000 times with 100% of those replies telling David how make a joke. Now, that tweet has been replied to 24,000 times

with 100% of those replies telling David how wacky he is. Okay, let's read a few of them. Why don't we? Lee McKenzie TV told David a concert packed with kids. Who would have been excited for this night out? Some won't return. You think this is appropriate for a joke? Then she called him a penis.

Not really a penis, but a... Something. A Richard. Yes. Samar Khan told David Levitt, you vile imbecile. Kids have just died. Have some respect. Now, did David leave it?

You know, renege or take back those tweets or apologize? No, he doubled down on the BS. He said, honestly, for over a year, I thought an Ariana Grande was something you ordered at Starbucks. See, this is why I hate when celebrity is attached to a tragic issue or any serious issue for that matter, because what in the hell does Ariana Grande have to do with anything, David Levitt?

19 to 22 people were killed, over 50 injured, and all you focused on is Ariana Grande? Ariana Grande has absolutely nothing to do with this situation other than it was her concert. For whatever reason, the celebrity attached to it makes people insensitive to the actual issue. Your hate of a celebrity should not outweigh the love you have for innocent people and the innocent lives lost. OK, now, David Levitt eventually tapped out.

He posted too soon and then tweeted out. Sorry for offending. Didn't realize the magnitude of the tragedy. Wow. You didn't realize 22 magnitude of the tragedy. Really? Wow, you didn't realize 22 people getting killed? What? Was it tragedy? And then he said, I always make stupid jokes about whatever's trending.

Condolences to the families. Now. Too late. You can tell this is one of those fake, I'm under attack, and I might be messing up my money apologies. Simply because he didn't even delete the original tweets that made everybody mad. Now, another reason we shouldn't accept David's apology is because this is what he does. Last year, he tweeted out Trump died sleeping.

Hashtag calm me down in three words. Now, some of y'all wish that tweet was true. But at the time when he did this last year, he got denounced by CBS Boston because that's who he claimed to work for at the time. And after that Trump tweet, they said they were not affiliated with that guy in any way, shape or form.

But the moral of the story is this is what he does. OK, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. So I need everyone to remember his name, David Levitt. OK, D-A-V-I-D-L-E-A-V-I-T-T. His Twitter is David underscore L-E-A-V-I-T-T. Go to his page right now. Just leave a bunch of, you know of donkey emojis under his Twitter. He's a freelance writer who claims to work for a bunch of companies that he doesn't actually work for.

And I personally want to make sure he doesn't get a chance to ever work again, period. He's done. Okay, David Levitt. Put his picture up in your buildings with the caption, Don't Hire This Man. Remember his name, David Levitt. He should never be allowed to really, really work for anybody ever again. Please give David Levite the biggest hee-haw, please. Definitely go have a petty party in his comments.

All right, Charlamagne, thank you so much for that donkey of the day. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Angela Yee, Charlamagne Tha God. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building, Victor Cruz. Morning, sir. What's going on, man? I can't believe it's your first time up here. First time up here. I'm here. I'm finally here.

How do you think the respect is going to change once you sign with the Patriots? You think they're going to still respect you the same? I hope so. I hope so, man. I hope they know where my heart lies, man. But I got to go back to work at some point. Now, let's talk about that. You've been with the Giants since you started in the NFL. You're from Patterson, New Jersey, so your hometown favorite. Exactly.

You came from, I think, the dirt because nobody expected it, you know. So how does it feel when the Giants released you because you gave so much to the Giants? It hurt, to be real. You know, I gave so much to them, seven years. I mean, you know, from the great things of the Super Bowl to the, you know, two years of injuries and climbing back from that and making it back and being back on the field and things like that. So it definitely hurt.

But, you know, like every good group, like every good, you know, recording artist, everything got to come to an end at some point. Your run got to stop at some point. So I was just grateful for them for giving me an opportunity to come back off these injuries and play again and be the guy that I once was. And now it's on to the next phase. Now, was it the Odell Beckham situation? They said that you weren't a mentor to him and y'all went down to Miami.

Nah, that's my brother. The whole boot crew stuff. Yeah, that's my brother. I mean, through and through, that's my brother always will be. So it wasn't about me being a mentor. We talk more than anyone on this team. I mean, about life, about things he's going through, about things I go through.

We talk about everything. So the Miami thing, it is what it is. It was seven days before a playoff game. It had no bearings on what happened in the game. But it is what it is. I can't take it back now. People made too much of a big deal out of that situation? I think so. I mean, the biggest thing in the game. But it is what it is. I can't take it back now. People made too much of a big deal out of that situation? I think so.

I mean, the biggest thing was the picture. I mean, if the photo didn't come out, if you didn't see the photo, no one would have known that we were there, and it would have just went unscathed. Now, everybody had their shirt off, but you. I was smart. I was smart. I was a smart guy.

What made you say, I'm going to keep my shirts on? Everybody was going to be scared. I mean, I wasn't even thinking about it. It was just, you know, we were on the boat. I just, we were moving and shaking. I didn't think to take my shirt off. Was there girls on the boat? Absolutely.

Absolutely. I never questioned if it was girls on the boat. It should have been like a no picture policy. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we should have kind of, I mean, there was no pictures of Bieber. Bieber was already like,

you know, looking at everybody like, put your cameras down. Right, because usually he make you check your phone. Yeah, usually it was like, it was a big deal, but you know.

It wasn't illegal what y'all did though, right? No, not at all. Like it wasn't against the team rules or anything? Not at all. We didn't break any rules. Now you've been practicing

they say and already met with a bunch of team, the Panthers, the Bears, the Jaguars. Is there any place that you even thought maybe the Jets maybe, is there any place that you necessarily want to go? I mean, there's no place I really want to go. I mean, I played for my dream team for seven years, so now it's just a matter of finding a good fit.

I just want to go to a team that's a good fit for me, that I can come in and play and be a factor right away. What do you think people's hesitations are? Assigning you. Assigning me? I don't know. It's funny. One of the teams, I got some insider information.

They was like, is he worried about selling sneakers now? Is he worried about fashion and all that? Selling sneakers? I was like, yeah. I know you and Siraj close, but Jesus Christ. No, I mean, I got my Air Trainer Crews. He has his own sneakers. Oh.

He ain't got no sneakers still. He has his own sneakers. This guy's a jerk. He has his own sneakers. You're a Siraj franchise. Like every three months, he's a Victor Cruz. Yeah, it's called the Air Trainer Crews. Go to your select sneaker retailers and go pick that up at some point wherever you're at.

But what's the problem with selling sneakers? That's a dumbass. I mean, they think that my priorities aren't football anymore. So they're trying to say that I'm more focused on fashion and football, I mean, and sneakers and outside business than I am, you know, about football.

But I tell everybody, I'm very much a football player. Like, yeah, I like to do all those things outside the field. Yeah, I like to, you know, I have a show on MTV right now that's airing called The Challenge Chance vs. Pros every Tuesday at 9 p.m. Like, I like doing all those things off the field to set myself up long term, but I'm very much a football player right now, and that's my focus for sure. Did they want you to take a pay cut? The Giants? Yeah. Well, I took a pay cut the year before. Coming into last year, I took a pay cut.

So this year, it was just like, we're just cutting you all together. So this year, it was like, look, we took a pay cut last year, you know, we want to move in another direction with the team. That's the first thing they said to me when I walked in. And you know it. I felt it all year long. You know, halfway through the year you're like, okay, I'm balling. Then the other half I'm not getting the ball. And you're just like, well, what's going on?

I was like, okay, I see what's happening. They don't want me here anymore. Because granted, if I was, you know, and a lot of people probably don't know this. If I'm, let's say I played well and I'm a 1,000-yard receiver last year, it would have been more difficult from a fan perspective to cut me right you know if I'm a thousand yard guy they're like why you cutting crews he just had a thousand yards at five six touchdowns what that doesn't make sense but if I have 500 yards and whatever the case may be it's a little easier on the

fans go oh he didn't play well so that's why they cut him and if I play well they were due to you know they owe me a ton of money that next year, so it was like, let's get Cruz off the books. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that would explain why you were open so much and wasn't getting the ball. I'm glad you said it. So it's political like that?

Even more than you think. Wow. I've seen things where, and I'm letting out all the secrets right now, I've seen things where guys had incentives in their contract to where they had to play 16 games in order to get X amount. That 16th game came around, they would sit him. No.

If they had a little ailment, something that they could play through, they'd be like, look, we think we shouldn't play you this game. You know, you're going to have to sit. And he's looking like, well, nah, if I got to drag this leg out there for this 16th game to get this check, I'm going to drag this leg out there. And they're like, no, like, you know, they'll use the training staff to kind of ploy it and, you know, things like that.

All right, we got more with Victor Cruz when we come back. He'll tell us where he might be signing next. Don't move. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Hey, it's the world's most dangerous morning show, the Breakfast Club. That was D'Amico's Bad and Bougie. But like I always tell y'all, if you can't be bad and bougie, be fine and frugal.

That's more sexy. Now, we got Victor Cruz in the building. Angelique? I saw that open letter that Plaxico Burris wrote in the Players' Tribune where he was offering his assistance to any of these new up-and-coming NFL players, all the rookies that are coming into the league. And he talked about his own difficulties, basically how they train you. But he's like, what they really emphasize is stay away from these women,

you know, and don't spend too much. Wear a condom. Yeah, wear a condom. But he was saying there's a lot of things that he didn't learn, and he offered them to hit him up. Do a lot of young players hit you up and ask for any type of mentorship? All the time. Even current players, teammates, young teammates.

That's the thing I like about this league now. No one has an ego coming into the league now. Everyone wants information. Everyone wants to learn. Everyone wants to, especially from a guy like myself who came up as a free agent, you know, been to the pinnacle and won a Super Bowl, as well as been through the trials and tribulations of it too. So they ask me all the time, man, what did it take to get to where you are?

What did it take to get to where you are and to flourish and to make it happen? What were you thinking about when you were injured? You know, like all these different questions that they have. And I'll tell them. I'll tell them exactly how I'm feeling and tell them how those dark days were and how those great days were so they can get both sides of the coin and learn how to navigate this NFL the right way. Even somebody like Odell don't have an ego?

Because it wasn't that his thing that they said he had an ego? I didn't see one, at least not with me. You know, we talk literally, and he would always vet to me about, you know, things that people say about him or things that people, you know, think about him, you know, whether it be right, wrong, or indifferent. And I tell him, look, like, if you want to change people's perceptions, you have to go out of your way now because people have already formulated whatever they formulated. So now you have to go out of your way to let them know that you're not this way,

you're not an egotistical football player, that you're not this. You have to go out of your way to do so because once they formulate that in their brains, that's what they're going to roll with. It's probably got to be difficult for young guys like him, though, because even on the field they give him problems, but then off the field it's like, oh, is he gay? Is he straight? It's double with him.

It's something that he's, you know, and I give him a lot of credit because he could have went off the deep end a long time ago and just said screw this, cursed everybody out, and just went nuts. But he's kind of keeping a cool head about it and keeping it resolved and just ignoring it for the most part and and just going about his business and living life as a young 24 25 year old kid and in his prime um and just living his life how do you avoid uh not getting robbed going back to pattison because you know you see my street cred is good my street cred is good back there man my street cred is so good back home um you rapper life with Fetty, that's a whole different lifestyle.

But when I come home, it's always love. It's always just people greeting me, and they're always excited to see me. It's funny. People always ask me, like, yo, when did you get back? When I'm in Patterson, I'm like, yo, I live here. I've played here seven years. What do you think? I live in Cali and just come here to play.

Like, I'm from here. I live here. This is home. It'd be weird to move when you have to move somewhere else. Yeah, and, you know, fortunately I'm going to have to move somewhere else when I, you know, get picked up by another team, God willing, and I got to live in another city and adapt to that city and things like that. So we'll see.

It'll definitely be a learning curve and something different for me. But it's part of the game, man. It's part of the NFL. Now, how did all your side chicks take it when your fiancé texted all of them? Here we go. And told them the jig was up. Oh, my goodness. Out of respect of everybody in that situation, I'm going to move on.

I mean, it wasn't the easiest situation to go through, Charlamagne. I'm not going to lie to you. But, you know, we moved on. We're good. Did any of the side chicks stay down? Like, you know what? I got you regardless. I'm here for you.

You know how that go. Obviously, a few of them hit me back, but I had to, you know, they all got curved after that. Got you. I had to curve them all. Now, LeVar Ball, what do you think about LeVar Ball? In my opinion, solely my opinion, I believe he's doing more damage than good to his children.

Why do y'all say that, though? Perfect example is when you have three of the largest sneaker companies in the world not even entertain the thought of having your child on their roster simply because they don't want to put up with you. That's doing more hurt. You're misleading a little bit. Talk to me. They didn't entertain the thought of partnering with him.

Lonzo go to L.A., ball out. They're going to be begging him to sign for an endorsement deal. But Laval wants a partnership. Why do you got to have your hand in everything? Let your kid be your kid. If Kennedy becomes an amazing golf tennis star, I ain't going to be like, all right, Nike, it's a package deal. It's both of us.

Like either you got to pay us or we don't. Nah, Kennedy, go. Go do your thing.'s both of us. Like, either you got to pay us or we don't. Nah, Kennedy, go do your thing. Go sign your deal. I'm going to be here. I'm going to help you in any way possible, but this is your life. I'm going to help you make the perfect, the right decisions,

but at the end of the day, it's your life that you have to live, and you have to make these decisions on your own. Well, yeah, I guess it'd be interesting to hear what the kids want to do. Yeah, but we haven't heard Lonzo say anything. But don't you think as far as creating wealth for black and brown people,

the idea of partnering with these companies as opposed to just signing endorsement deals? I mean, because if a company can pay you $100 million, imagine what they make out of it. And you want to partner in what way? What do you want to do, LeVar? How do you want to partner with Nike? He wants to have equity in his shoe.

Why not? But why not give your son that equity? That's your money, too. Give your son that equity? That's your money too. Give your son that equity. I'm sure Alonzo's part of the big baller brand. I'm sure he's CEO or something. Of course. Of course.

Of course he is. But my thing is let your kids live. Let your kids be your kids and let them do what they want to. Not that he's declining them from doing what they want to do, but let them have their own platform. Give Alonzo his own platform to be whatever. if Lonzo wanted to sign with Nike what if what if that was his dream now for whatever reason because you wanted to partner that dream isn't his dream anymore and now he's big baller Brandon I know he loves it and I've seen the you know the commercial spot for the shoe and it looks great But when you have these big brands that don't want to partner with you

and don't want to touch you because your dad is partnering and putting himself into the endorsement deal with you, I think it's doing more hurt than good. As long as it balls out, it will change. It's all none of them. It doesn't matter. If he balls out, it'll be right there. In turn, Big Baller Brands sells millions of shoes and all is well,

and then this whole conversation is an afterthought. It's just a gamble. Exactly. Anybody that you messed with left you after the Giants dropped you? Your side chicks maybe. No, I was talking about. That sounded crazy. I don't know.

I don't know. You weren't specific. What's crazy is that before he came in here, he was like, I don't really want to talk about any of that. Oh, I didn't hear him. Obviously, Charlamagne didn't get that text. I wasn't here. And why you told me that?

He didn't get the text. No, man. Everybody stay true. Everybody stay true. I think even right now, I think people are just waiting for my next move to kind of circle the wagons back around. But, you know, no endorsement deal dropped me no I mean it's a blessing to be honest because even I mean if anybody remembers my sneakers

dropped I wasn't even playing like I was I was injured at the time and they sold out and did great and everybody loved them and you know that's a blessing to not even be playing to not even be I guess relevant at the moment from what you from what your profession is and to still have your sneakers do well and still have the things you do off the field do well. I mean, I'm extremely blessed. Well, Vic, we appreciate you for joining us. No problem. Can't wait till you sign with the Cowboys and Patriots. Definitely gonna sign with the Cowboys and Patriots.

You gonna watch how people flip on you in New York. You've never experienced disloyalty, but you'll see it soon once you sign with the Patriots in New York. Hopefully you end up in a nice, warm city. Is there anything close? Can we expect a signing soon? Because Tom Coughlin, he's your ex-coach, and he's with the Panthers now.

Are you on next week or something? Yeah, I'm actually visiting the Jaguars tomorrow. I'll be down there seeing what Coach Coughlin has to say. And I went to Chicago, also went to Carolina. I like Carolina. Carolina's a good fit. It'd be a good fit. But. It'd be a good fit. But they went and drafted that kid from Stanford,

so they got a couple guys that kind of fit my role over there now. But we'll see, man. I think the decision's coming up pretty soon here. We're already in, you know, we're talking to a couple teams. Baltimore's in the mix as well. So we'll see how it goes. Between you and Bolden. Yeah, me and Bolden.

I mean, me and Bolden are kind of the top free agent, you know, veteran receivers out there for teams to kind of pick up and things like that. So, we'll see how it goes. But, you know, I think we're getting close. So, like this week maybe we'll know. This week, next week. After Memorial Day and all of that good stuff, I think that's when. You'll definitely be on somebody's team though.

God willing. Will you be on somebody's boat this Memorial Week? Negative. Negative. I ain't on nobody's boat. It's over with. It's over with's over especially without that red scully

I'm taking the red scully oh the red scully black shirt that red scully meme that red scully black meme it was you soldier boy yeah they killed me

who else Meek Mill yeah it was over man did you burn it for real yeah I didn't burn it but I gave it away I gave it away did y'all do like

little rituals like put in a fire and do a little salsa little seance little seance. A little seance. My goodness. It's Victor Cruz at the Breakfast Club.

Good morning. This is the Rumor Report with Angela Yee. Rumor has it. On the Breakfast Club. So listen up. So here's the update on what happened

at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. Now, we already told you earlier, at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. Now, we already told you earlier, at least 22 people have been killed and 60 or more people have been injured in that attack. Right now, ISIS is claiming responsibility, but they have no evidence. They posted on their channel saying that a soldier of the caliphate was able to plant explosive devices at the Manchester Arena. Now, they did not mention a name.

They did not include a photo. But we did tell you that one man was killed at the scene that had the explosives. And now they have arrested a second suspect. We don't have any more information, but they are investigating what his connection is to the bomber. We don't know what that is at this point. What do they get for taking credit for that? ISIS, just because they hate us and they want to make it seem like they have the bomber. We don't know what that is at this point. What do they get for taking credit for that? ISIS just because they hate us and they want to make it seem like they have the power

and they have manpower all over the place. You know what else is so bad about that? If ISIS has other enemies, which I'm sure that they do, they could do things and then say it's ISIS just so people go at ISIS. Okay. Right. ISIS does always claim

a lot of responsibility for terrorist attacks. Oh, yeah, and they do most of them. Yeah, and they do do most of them, but there's no evidence yet. They've just taken

responsibility for this. So, really sad situation. A lot of the young kids had went out to go see Ariana Grande perform, and it was extreme mayhem. Here's what happened when the explosion went down.

Oh, my god. What's going on? What's happening? What's going on? Oh my god! Alright, a lot of those kids were inside without their parents. Their parents were picking them up, beating them, so it was even worse

just because of that. Now, Brandi, some people, we see that she has a new boyfriend. His name is Sir the Baptist, but she still doesn't... You talking about Ray J's sister? Yeah. Okay. She still doesn't seem to be over her ex, Ryan Press. Here is what she said while performing on stage. Go to me.

Lie to me. Cheating on me. Turn around on me. Then you rebounded. Broke bitch. I'm not even mad. I'm lost. Damn, I thought she had a new boyfriend.

She's saying that he lied to her, cheated on her, and then rebounded with a broke bitch. And I guess she's referring to Salida E. Banks. Now, Brandi, you were selling flat tummy tea last year on Instagram. Stop it. Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm just saying. I ain't calling you were selling flat tummy tea last year on Instagram. Stop it. Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm just saying. I ain't calling you broke because I don't know your financial situation. All I'm saying

is you were selling flat tummy tea last year on Instagram. That's all I'm saying. All right. And you have a new man. You shouldn't still be thinking about your ex from a couple years ago. And you shouldn't be calling nobody broke if we got screenshots of you posting flat tummy tea pictures. All right. Well, I'm Angela Yee and that is your rumor report.

We got an exclusive coming up, right? I don't believe this. And the People's Choice Mix. 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. There are 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh, my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zaka-stan.

That's Escape from Z-A-Q-a-stan. 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. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best and you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, my undeadly darlings. It's Teresa, your resident ghost host.

And do I have a treat for you. Haunting is crawling out from the shadows, and it's going to be devilishly good. We've got chills, thrills, and stories that'll make you wish the lights stayed on. So join me, won't you? Let's dive into the eerie unknown together. Sleep tight, if you can. Listen to Haunting on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearths the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state.

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