Highly Melanated Podcast

Who Decides What Black Culture Sounds Like

• Highly Melanated Podcast • Season 7 • Episode 7

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0:00 | 1:13:40

We argue about “song of the summer” rap because it can be fun and still shape how people see Black life. We want more balance so our community, especially our youth, gets room to be whole without letting the algorithm define us. 
• summer heat check-in and what it does to energy and mood 
• money talk and the Apple billing “cult” problem 
• missing Pride and showing up while sick and overheated 
• the question of where we want to go and what we want to see this summer 
• why viral “scamming” lyrics hit so hard and spread so fast 
• how social media marketing creates an echo chamber 
• three perspectives at once: lived experience, detached listeners, outside stereotypes 
• youth identity, mentorship, and why well-rounded exposure matters 
• music with depth, autonomy, and how money pressures art 
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Summer Heat And Catching Up

SPEAKER_04

I don't know what it is, but I just love being black. DJ here.

SPEAKER_01

What up, Doe? It's your girl Blair. You know, Mel Melanin was popping yesterday. It's popping today.

SPEAKER_02

And it's showing up gonna be popping tomorrow. It's your boy Red, and you're listening to the Highly Melanated Podcast.

SPEAKER_04

Hey guys, hey guys, hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of Highly Melanated Podcast. The say space where it's okay to get rid of the old and make space for the new.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Alright. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. PJ is actually ready for the second half of the year. As we are now in July. My God.

SPEAKER_03

I was about to say, you should be ready for the second half of the year. We in it. It's here. Red, I am I'm glad that summer is here. I just want the s I just want the sun to turn it down a little bit. And stop cooking everybody's skin. Red, red, air fryer red.

SPEAKER_01

Literally, everybody is literally cooked. Yo, for real. Um Blair is Buffering like PJ was. Um I'm glad I can rub off some of my. Yes, thank you. Blair is also looking forward to the second half of the year. It's it's it's uh it's kind of like uh a fresh start, if you will.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Your second wind.

SPEAKER_01

Ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_04

If we could just get some wind that's not hot, shit.

SPEAKER_01

Look.

SPEAKER_04

And the gang is back. We are back for another episode. Shout out to there is a previous episode out there that we did record at the beginning of the month

Apple Subscriptions And Money Stress

SPEAKER_04

of June, I think. And unfortunately, the way my finances have been set up, it has yet to be edited because it Adobe said, sir. But also, PJ is tired of Apple. I'm gonna say this now, before we get into it, PJ is tired of Apple. Because I put in $274 into my account, and I was like, fantastic. Let me go home and get some things. Uh let me hurry up and get home. And I was like, before Apple finds out, they found out immediately.

SPEAKER_00

They said it's a cult.

SPEAKER_04

Because you know what it is? I I made a TikTok about this. Like, it is a cult. But not even not even the cult. I'm not talking about, I'm talking about like the payment stuff. So exactly.

SPEAKER_01

You gotta pay to be a member of the cult, whether you want to or not. Once you're in it, you're in it.

SPEAKER_04

Apple was like, you know how a vendor will be like, okay, we'll try a couple of times. And then if you're you're you got no money in your account, your account is on is is on hold until you contact us and update your payment. Apple will be like, it's okay. We'll be back tomorrow. It's okay. We'll be back again. And again, and again, and every single day up until they get their money. And uh shout out to you, Apple, for just just being rude and disrespectful.

SPEAKER_03

But just making sure that they pad their pockets and at the end of the day, they know somebody gonna pay it.

SPEAKER_04

Somebody gonna have to, unless you wanna use you think you wanna upload something? Uh uh update your billing, please.

SPEAKER_03

Update your billing.

Weekend Weather And Family Grill Drama

SPEAKER_04

How was your week been, guys?

SPEAKER_01

Good. Uh it's been good. Just uh enjoying the the long weekend, so to say. Um, aside from all the rain and the terrible weather, but other than that, it's been good. But we you know we needed this weather to cool things down, so my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Bro, it was it was I mean, I think it was like this all across the country, right? Like it was Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The heat wave of sorts.

SPEAKER_03

Of sorts, like it was it was it was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. I I I'm good. Um it's funny. Talk about the heat wave. Um I went I went over my parents' place, and um it was funny because they were like they kind of got into like this argument. I put quotes on it because it wasn't a real argument, but they got into this my mom and my dad got into an argument about who was cooking over the grill because nobody wanted to be out in the heat. Jeez. So it was funny because my mother's all like, oh, I I I lit the grill for you. My dad was like, Oh, and so you want me to cook? He's like, it gotta be me. She was like, Well, I was just saying, like, I can go out there. He was like, Oh, I bet you would want me to go out there. I said, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_04

No, that was the plan.

SPEAKER_01

All alongs. All along. They had a meeting beforehand. They're like, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna get Chris to cook, but this is how we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04

Of course. And it worked.

SPEAKER_01

And it worked.

SPEAKER_03

So now I was out there. Well, to be fair, my mother was out there with me because you know, she started, it was like, oh, I'll just do it. But, you know, I was out there in the heat and the smoke was getting to my face. My I don't even know how I still have uh eyebrows. Um, because between the sun's heat and then the barbecue pit heat and then the just the heat of everything else, it was it was ridiculous. So I was out there sweating bullets. Sweating bullets. But the food was good.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's all that matters at the end of the day if y'all was eating good.

SPEAKER_03

At the end of the day, the day gotta end. As long as you was how to do it. Sure. It does correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_04

When the wife, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. When you're right, you're right. You're with your right, you're

Getting Sick And Missing Pride

SPEAKER_04

right. Let me try and let me so last week, okay. So I'm I'm, you know, I was sick for a little while. And so I missed Pride uh because I was losing it. I was in this house in this place with like 101 fever, um, and it wouldn't let up, and the sweat was not making it any better. I got sick because of the graduation, um, not Jayla's graduation, but uh one of the graduations for one of the one of my schools. I missed Pride. I missed another graduation that I was supposed to be there. My cousin texted me and she's like, You didn't reach out to me. You know, this is my season. I'm a drag queen at heart. I needed to be there. And I'm like, meanwhile, I'm in the bed fighting for my life. So I don't have any idea about what's going on. Um, and then this heat wave happened. I started feeling better, and I was like, okay, great. I don't have an I have another week, which is this week, to start teaching. Um, and so I did a service. And so this is the 5th of July, which is shout out to Des. Uh Dez just turned 50, um, my best friend, IKA, my sister. And so the plan was to go to her party.

SPEAKER_01

Did you say IKA?

SPEAKER_04

Who's IKA?

SPEAKER_01

Did you say IKA, my sister? It's not like you said IKA.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, aka. Also, aka. Also know that.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, yes. But it sounded like you said I said I cut this out. But it sounded like you said IKA. I was like, it's aka.

SPEAKER_04

If I said IKA, I didn't.

SPEAKER_01

Right. You can cut all this out. I was just kind of like, huh? She's like, but that that don't make no sense.

SPEAKER_04

Um, but it was her 50th birthday. Also, Jayla was leaving for college. Um, and so I was trying to give her her graduation gift. I worked a complete service, which was a huge service, which the church also just turned their AC on as we got there.

SPEAKER_05

Screaming.

SPEAKER_04

And there is nothing sexy about a man standing in front of the casket while you're doing your final viewing, and I am sweating bullets. And the only one sweating the way I sweat. So, like, I had my flag. I had uh my uh one of my one of my flags, so like the Haitian flag um in my pocket. It is now no longer red, white, and blue. It's red, white, and pink. So, well, it's pink, white, and blue, actually now. So, because it's faded. But it was it it I am so glad that that heat is gone because I don't think I I don't think I could have made it. I don't and I didn't go to her party either. I felt really bad, but I tried. I came home, I was exhausted, and like the heat is draining. So shout out to all the people, yeah. Shout out to all the people who out there who are who are the real ones, our real, uh what the essential workers who is out there in the day, outside, in the heat, the construction workers, the people who are on the cemeteries actually doing all the things, the people who are traffic cops, or whatever, you know, crossing guards, whoever. Well, whose crossing guard are you during the summer? But post office. Post office people, you know, everyone who's out there.

SPEAKER_01

We gotta be outside during this. Y'all is the real MVP.

SPEAKER_04

Because I can't.

SPEAKER_01

It's gonna be a no for me, though.

SPEAKER_04

It's gonna be I'm gonna get y'all stuff tomorrow. Or never. Oh never. It's gonna be I will hand it. Yeah, so sunlight. But this week I think it's going good for me so far. So yeah. I'm glad I'm just glad that we're back. I'm glad to be back. Um, this will be a double episode because I'm gonna release both at the same time.

SPEAKER_00

Not a double episode. Not a double whammy.

SPEAKER_04

I was gonna ask you, because every single time I'll be like, okay, so we'll release this one next week, and then it gets lost in the sauce.

SPEAKER_01

So they is so sick of us.

SPEAKER_04

So double whammy. Okay. Happy, happy, how many days after Juneteenth is it? At this point, because you know, I ain't do anything for the fourth.

SPEAKER_03

I guess it normally would be me, but I don't think I have a question Let me move this mic closer to my mouth.

SPEAKER_01

Well, wait a minute. Not you going against protocol.

SPEAKER_03

I know, right? I don't know. Question the week, question week, question week. Your questions as they pertain to you, perspectively and introspectively.

Summer Places Worth Seeing

SPEAKER_03

So I guess one thing that I have been thinking about is um places to go. Like, so it's the set it's the second half of the year. Um, it doesn't always have to be a trip. Sometimes it could be like, you know, to the Bahamas and to Spain, and you know, it doesn't have to be like something like that. Sometimes it could just be something relatively simple or in your neighborhood. Is there something that you wanna see this summer? I'll go first. I actually want to see the Obama presidential library. It looks it looks very um entertaining, very stunning. You know, I don't know if that's just me being old, like uh, you know, oh we're gonna I'm excited to go to a museum, but it looks like it's something that I I need to see very soon.

SPEAKER_01

Hmm. Piggybacking off of that, um while it might not be in the uh fully answer your question because it's not in my plans for the second half of this year, but similar similar sim how do you say it? Similarly, similarly, similarly.

SPEAKER_04

Jesus, I can't do it again.

SPEAKER_01

Similar to that I cannot say the correct correct pronunciation of the word. Um similar to that, I would love to see the gas station in Ireland that's dedicated to the Obamas. Have you guys seen this? I literally just saw this on TikTok yesterday. There's a whole gas station in Ireland that is like Barack Obama themed out, like the whole thing. So I would love to see that one of these days.

SPEAKER_04

Speaking of speaking of the tangerine, I want to give a special shout out to all the the MAGA people who had to take shelter with our ancestors. Don't you feel bad? Uh the irony of that. I saw that today.

SPEAKER_03

You know, I saw a video of that.

SPEAKER_04

If you guys have never taken the time to go to the uh to the Black American um history machine museum in DC, I I'm I'm I tell you, I implore you to go through all do it the way they want you to do it, which I believe is from top to bottom. But either way, it is a beautiful thing. And you know, shout out to our answers, is just like So who's here to help you now? Once again, black people to the rescue. Once again, once again.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, listen, it it was I saw that today as I was coming home. Um, I that popped up in my feed, and I just think the irony is just so hilarious because I think that the barrier to a lot of people is just the simple fact that they just don't want to learn anything new. And so here you are, you're forced inside to take a look around. Seriously, take a gas.

SPEAKER_04

You might learn a thing or two, you know? Yeah, so you know what we're talking about, right, Blair? Mm-hmm. Every black person should know. Shout out to all the black people out there who still just being just doing black as fuck shit. Like, you know, we've been we've been on it since Target, since before Target. We've been on it, okay.

SPEAKER_01

Lord have mercy. Let's let's that that's a whole can of worms there, too.

SPEAKER_02

It was like pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, with the whole Target Jay-Z 20th anniversary stuff. Pivot! I said pivot. You did, so we

Why A Scamming Song Goes Viral

SPEAKER_01

will. Um we will pivot right into today's topic, which which interestingly enough isn't too far off. Okay, now that we said it maybe not be like a full uh about face, but it's a it is a slight pivot.

SPEAKER_04

I swear to God, all I was like about sideways?

SPEAKER_01

About sideways. About 45 degrees. About your shoulder. It's it's about an acute angle, if you will. Um, okay, so uh PJ brought this discussion topic to the group, and um we all thought it was very interesting. Uh the long and short of it is is there's been a lot of discourse online recently about how okay, let me start here. I think most people would agree with the statement or find some type of validity in the state validity. Wow. Find some type of validity in the statement that the uh song by Carisha uh Spendet is the quote unquote song of the summer. You cannot get too far, whether it's outside, whether you're on social media, whether you're flipping through channels on TV, whatever it is, without hearing where all my scamming ass niggas at spending that money fast, 20s, 50s, hundreds cash. Boy, go on that go yard bag. Why are y'all looking at me like that?

SPEAKER_04

First of all, I'm looking at you because there's the smile that you have on your face as you do it. I don't listen.

SPEAKER_00

Like you don't know songs.

SPEAKER_04

Secondly, I actually have never heard this song. Heard the lyrics? I have never heard I know it exists. I know there's a song about scammers out there. I have never, but also I haven't heard the song. But you do know that I don't I stay in my own radios.

SPEAKER_01

So let me finish it for you then.

SPEAKER_00

I heard it once PJ said bitches, wear y'all lag, stuffing that shit in y'all bags, just to flip it, pop some tags.

SPEAKER_01

Girl, go in there, go your bag. Spin that shit, spin that shit, spin that shit.

SPEAKER_04

She is body rolling, y'all. She is body rolling.

SPEAKER_03

As I'm sitting here and I'm just staring in the middle of the screen, I've realized that I perfectly aged out.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. Okay, so you know what?

SPEAKER_01

That low-key kind of changes the just the discussion, the trajectory of this discussion. So originally it was gonna start off as, and I guess it still can, but I'm just it's very interesting to me that both of you guys are a bit detached or removed from the the um the pull that this song kind of has on the culture right now. Um just as every summer goes by, there's some mega hit that everybody's into, that everybody loves, and for the most part, it's it's pretty ratchet. You know, me, myself personally, I love a good ratchet song, I love a good ratchet beat, and I love some good ratchet lyrics. I do. However, the discourse that I've been seeing online recently is why are we putting so much what's the word I'm looking for? Um energy, emphasis, energy, energy. Energy. But like, but like we're uh idolizing kind of these lyrics and kind of like this this persona or this perception of like who this person is and what this person does, and we're idealizing, you know, being a scamming ass nigga and a boosting ass bitch. You know, the song says.

SPEAKER_04

I still don't even know what Kareisha looked like.

SPEAKER_01

Let's not get into all that because I'm really terrible about that kind of stuff too. People would be like, oh, that's that person from New Edition. I'm like, I I I can't like more than that. I cannot point nobody out of a lineup. Don't ask me to, I I will be just like Kiki Palmer. I'm so sorry to this man. I don't know who this man is. This man could be walking up to me in the middle of the street. I do not know who this is, sorry to this man. I can't tell you what anybody looks like, but I can tell you whether or not I've heard their song. Now that I can't tell you. But so just to start it off there, just like this is not anything new. We've seen this before. We've seen that like, you know, songs with like what a lot of people would consider like derogatory beat or language or derogatory ideas get really popular in the black community. So just initially, what do you guys think about that?

Perception Politics And Online Stereotypes

SPEAKER_03

That's loaded. Um I feel I feel like every generation has it. But I think the the key difference that's here now is that everything is so is so marketed because uh social media and the visibility that we have because of social primarily social media, but just media in general. And so, like, I don't know if you've ever heard like some of these people, you know, so sometimes you hear like um old school songs, you hear songs that are just as ratchet, but not realize that they were made like way back when, you know, it it those are the same things in a way, but they didn't have the same level of visibility. So I think that's part of the problem. But then also I think it's a matter of are we questioning like what is the purpose of some of some of this stuff? Like it'd be one, it'll be different if it's like one thing, one off. But some people they just that's all they make. Like everything is about stuff that doesn't necessarily help you out as a whole or as a community. So some people who don't necessarily have the same moral compass, you know, like you, like I I you you're a prime example, Blair. You have a strong moral compass. You can go around and love all of the rapture music or uh all you want, and then still be able to come back to work and do what you gotta do. There's a lot of people that don't have that. And so that's what I worry about. They think that that's life, they think that that's it.

SPEAKER_04

You know, and so I I'll say this, right? And I'm gonna add to this because especially when I thought about this as a conversation piece, um, it's like the the next generation that's coming up that's looking at this, that's like, oh my god, this. This is the best thing since, and we can't say sliced bread anymore. But it's it's just the best thing. It's avocado toast.

SPEAKER_02

It's avocado toast.

SPEAKER_04

That's crazy. So, but like it's like that's life. And no, it's not life because you say you every it's it's like it's like cookie cutter. So like it's crazy to me, like how every what are you dumb? Like everybody has to sound like a certain specific way, and that's what's being promoted. I think that's the main issue. Is like, what is who is who are running these these television stations, these radio stations, or whatever have you, and how are they saying, well, let's market and let's put this out there so much? Because let me tell you, I am tired of like you know, when you go on TikTok and you see people battling, um, which I just I'm not doing that. Um, even though I live stream on there now, but I'm uh it's mostly gaming and music, but I'm not doing that. But I was watching this one and there was this black girl, and she was going against this girl who was in Korea. And the girl in Korea was like, What is you, dumb? Let's say you ain't got no friends, you ain't got no follow-up. She was I'm not gonna do the Korean accent because I I felt it coming. But try to hear this city girl mentality coming and how it's like globally changed the trajectory on how black people are seen, and then we start glorifying this music like this, it makes it worse, in my opinion. Yeah, you know, because a few summers ago we were like, you know, this wet ass pussy, and not too long before that, we were like, little bitch, you can't fuck with me. I got bloody shoes, you know, whatever. Is that how it goes? But you know, you know, but before, way before then, we were talking about before how it was about Queen Bitch and you got it going on. What, what? I used to be scared of the now. I thought, you know, so it's it changes, but it's just I feel like it's just getting, it's going down, down, down, down, down, downhill.

SPEAKER_01

So I think so. You both are kind of the same, same similar things where this isn't a new concept, like every generation has had it, but it might be getting a little more, especially with this current stream of things, it's definitely more direct, more in your face, more abrasive, extremely unapologetic for how it's presented and how it's perceived. I personally think that it really is all on the perception, and I can only speak from my perception, um, because that's the only one that I have direct in, you know, uh that's all I can speak from. But like, so for me, like songs like this and the songs that like you mentioned, PJ, are very much like they're fun for me. They're fun songs that I can sing along to, enjoy the beat, you know, and kind of put on a bit of a costume, if you will. Because, and this is really getting back to like the roots of like um highly melanated and just us coming from different um backgrounds and different upbringings, and and all of us having our unique perspectives. Like I've said it, you know, on the show from the beginning. Like, I grew up kind of like um black, upper middle class. Um so I I I personally I didn't grow up, you know, knowing like what a scammer was or what a booster was because that wasn't in my peripheral. You know, I didn't I didn't have any direct experiences with that. So for me, like putting like hearing these lyrics and like um hearing the beats that that go with it, like I can kind of I I very much am detached from it, I think. And that's why I can have fun with it because I know that like that's not my lived experience. What I'm very interested in hearing is for people who is the like she's singing about their lived experiences. I would love to know what their perception of the song is, and like what their perception of the impact that this song is having one on our community, and then just kind of like what both of you guys are saying, because it is you know so popular, and because it is, you know, kind of mainstream, like hip-hop and rap, and this is what the world is seeing, so this is the perception that the world is getting, how that impacts how other people see black people, you know, because like because now it it like I could like you said, like I could go to Korea and someone's gonna look at me and be like, oh, that's a scamming ass bitch. And I'm be like, what what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04

Oh, you want to fight.

SPEAKER_01

I've never boosted anything in my life. Oh, you want to fight. That's what you heard about me. So that's that's what your takeaway is without even knowing me, which is all very interesting. So I can see, I can I guess I can kind of see like both sides of the coin. Like I can see like how this is just like a fun, like poppy like kind of song that you can just, you know, bounce your head along to and not take it too seriously. But then on the flip side of it, like it is that serious. You know, there is a lot of implications that come with it that are important to discuss, especially in the black community.

SPEAKER_04

And so, like while while we're while we're you took it there, right? So I come from, you know, there are boosters in my family. Um, and so like, you know, y'all have experienced I steal candy bars. So, but that's just you know, just a little bit. Allegedly. Don't come for SFEI. Allegedly, allegedly. Okay. Okay. I don't steal them, I just borrow them, digest them, and then give them back to the universe.

SPEAKER_00

I'm screaming.

SPEAKER_04

But um, I it is it's not lost on me that this is people's lived experience. You know, because there are portions of it that it's my lived experience. Um, there are portions of it where like I can get it and I see it, and doesn't I always try to I always feel like it's like walking a thin line of um projection of I'm better than you or an elitist attitude saying like uh this this music is horrible, like you're you're I'm better than you because I don't listen to this. No, it just doesn't interest me. But I also like don't for me, I get bothered by seeing us fighting on on social media. I get bothered by all the wild and weird things that they like, you know, all the world star things, all the things that we get presented, and then that's how people see us. And I don't know this song, I don't know this girl, I don't know this lady. I know I saw parts of like I still I'm still figuring out who Drewski is. And you know, I am aging myself, and I understand like he's a comedian, he's funny, this now, whatever, you know. But it's just like corny. But you know, but I just I'm like, there, there, I don't, I don't know, because I I hear it as it comes out of my mouth, and it's like you do sound a little elitist. Just a little bit. You sound like you like saying it in a way that you're you're better than me because I listen to this and this is what I like. And you can like it, but just know that what happens when you when you promote this, especially on social media, that this stuff is everywhere, and how you're now seen in a corporate environment, any type of social environment or whatever have you. Like, I I think that there are things that should be just just good for us and not for public consumption.

SPEAKER_01

But how but that but the go ahead, Chris.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say, like, but that's part of the issue, isn't it? Like, I feel like it's one of those things where I feel like for the most part, people would be able to listen to this song at a party, have fun in that moment, dance, right, bop along to the beat, and and leave it there.

SPEAKER_03

But yeah, but go go ahead, go ahead. No, I started to to jump on that because that was what I was gonna say. I think the problem that I have with this is that the way that the media pumps everything out, I won't even leave it up all into the artists, but the way that the media pumps everything out because they know what sells, and then they kind of like jump on that and then they suck the life out of that until they move on to the next big thing, whatever that is. Um it kind of creates an echo chamber to all of those groups that we're talking about. Both the people who it's their lived experience, both the people who have never experienced before, experienced before, and they just like the music, and then the people who are on the outside looking at us saying like this is only them, right? You hear or you're blasting that type of music all the time because it sells, and so now you have white people, you have people of other races thinking, oh, that's all they're about. They all they're all they're about is stealing and boosting and doing all this stuff, other stuff. Then you have the people who have who have never lived it, but they feel like that's the life that they're supposed to have. And so they so you have essentially three groups of people stuck in where they're at that cannot communicate. That's the problem that I have. I don't have a problem with someone like Blair or anybody else who wants to listen to their ratchet music, but is that everything? Is that all that we are? And you, Blair, because you're of sound mind and sound heart, you're able to say, nah, I'm I'm more than this. But I constantly see people like PJ was saying earlier, who that's their life, that's who they they have, they they've made their life into a caricature, and that's who they are, and you can't tell them otherwise because they need to be like, and I'm not I'm just naming names, but they need to be like the Cardi B. They need to be like the little Kim. They need to be like whatever. That's the problem that I have.

SPEAKER_04

And so, so I I'm gonna just up this and up this and auntie just a little bit more. Just put a little, just here's a little seasoning for this. Um on the back end, as a person who goes into high schools, and these are the kids now who are affected by listening to this drill music, listening to this, I'm not gonna sit here and say you can't listen to this kind of music. Because do what you do, because back in the day, shit, you know, a girl of Freica the week, you know. I mean, we were listening to all the different kinds of things. However, I do know that, or I maybe I feel in my my shoulder that if this music and how it's evolved and the music that's being pushed out versus the music that's actually real music that's being made that has some kind of depth to it, um, or not even the AI music, because that's another conversation for another day. But it is it is poisoning the minds of these children, in my opinion, to now they think that this is who they have to be, like what you were saying, Chris. This is who they have to be. When in reality, no no.

Youth Influence And The Need For Balance

SPEAKER_01

But I think we're getting into uh where we're where we think that there's a universal definition as to what is uh music with depth versus music without depth. And I I challenge that because like who I the song is ratchet by the by the you know the colloquial definition of the word. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have depth. Like I think that maybe it's not the type of depth that like we would like for people to idolize, but I feel like there still is like a message behind the song, and I do feel like there there is like a lot of relatability to people who can relate to it. The the issue that I think that most people, and that you guys both had brought up separately with this kind of music is how other people who are not black perceive it, and how that um kind of skews what their perception of black people is. And the thing that I hate about that so much is again, it censors us in a way where we can't just enjoy the music without feeling like we got to, you know, put on for our people or like make sure that like we there's so much micromanaging that we as black people have to do about how other people see us. And music is supposed to be kind of an area where we can just express yourself, have fun. There's no boundaries, there's no limits. You don't have to feel, you know, like you're um like you have to manage what other people think, and here we are doing exactly that.

SPEAKER_03

No, okay, so I'm not doing that. I'll I'll I'll just reiterate again. I don't mind you listening to whatever you want to listen to. Uh I don't even think it's necessarily just the outside looking at us and judging us for what we like and then not they're not being understanding. I think the thing that if I had to come up with a solution that's not really an exact one, but I think that the thing that I think that we're getting away from these days is a certain level of balance for everyone. Uh recently, I'll tell you a brief story. Recently, I went um every once in a while annually, I kind of like get together with some of my high school friends. Uh there's a biology teacher who, you know, she just likes seeing us, and then we, you know, hang out, have some food or whatever. Um, I went recently, maybe a couple weeks ago, and we were just talking about different things. I was in a I was in a like an honors program. The school already had an honors program, but I was in an honors program that basically was not really any different than a lot of what the school already had, except the experiences were different. So they would take us to go to see this play, do this, be in a genetics lab, all this other stuff like that. That was the only thing that was different. And we collectively talked about our talked amongst ourselves, and we said the people who just did this, you know, even though the school already had that, it's a little bit different in terms of what the experience that you have. There's different things you wanna you wanna explore more things. I hear parents talk about it all the time. I didn't just allow my kid to do this, you know, they just wanted to play basketball, but I'm I I encourage them to play baseball and do this and do that. I think there's something to be said about making sure that someone is well-rounded because then you don't have somebody, whether they be on the outside or the inside, that's saying, nah, this is just what it is, or this is what they are. And I and I and I'm that's what I'm concerned about. Listen to all the ratchet music all you want. Did but did you listen to Beethoven? Did you listen to this? Do you look like Spanish music? Do you like whatever? And I don't think that's happening.

SPEAKER_04

And so, like, what it reminds me of is that episode of the Boondocks. The episode where M OK came back alive and he walked in, and he was like, You niggas make me sick, or whatever the actual words that he said, but it was just because they were just like this is not what we fought for. And it's a double ass word because it kind of is, because it is kind of like.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say, but is it not? Maybe it didn't go quite in the direction that our forefathers might have, you know, anticipated. But the fact is, is that we can express any type of ourselves that we want to express. We have the freedom to be able to do that. And so sometimes, you know, uh this side wins out a little bit more. But I hear what you're saying, Chris. And sometimes like the other side needs to be exposed too or needs to have opportunity for exposure. But whose responsibility is that at the end of the day?

SPEAKER_03

Well, you know, it really is. Um I I mean, I think that's really, you know, up to parents and guardians where she wait, side note everybody. Comet jumped up on me, and then so PJ decided to hold his dog, and then now I don't know what Blair is about to bring back. Okay, she brought back a plant.

SPEAKER_04

Come on, white, black, and green. Our children are in the camera.

SPEAKER_01

I had to go get my baby, one of my babies.

SPEAKER_03

No, but I just I just think um that that's really up to mentoring and fostering, and and that's guardians, that's teachers, that's the community. Like it's not just one person, but I just I that's what I think bothers me. Yeah, you can listen to all to all the music that you want.

SPEAKER_01

But is that more so for our youth who are at the most influential periods of their life? Is that who you're speaking about? Or are you speaking to, you know, a 41-year-old woman who enjoys, you know, the wretched beats?

SPEAKER_03

I'm gonna say, I'm going to say the the the youth, but you have to also realize the 41-year-old woman at one point was the youth.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So that's the thing. I think like it's it's one of those things where, and again, I think we're talking about like a couple of different topics all kind of woven into it. One being what our perception is and how we feel about, you know, this kind of music, and then what it does to the community is another, you know, topic. And then thirdly, um, like you said before, I think Chris, the third is get broken down into the three levels. There's like our our perception, the community's perception, and then the perception of the others who are not in the community of us. So it's it's so multi-layered. And I think that like, I guess I just kind of feel very much like it was uh, I really resonated with this when it came out. So Chris Rock had done, I forget which stand-up it was, but in one of his stand-ups, he was basically like more or less like defending like rap music. And he was saying that like, you know, women specifically, especially black women, you know, like will be like popping along to like, you know, whatever song, like, you know, shake that ass, bitch, do the doo the doo the bounce, you know, just like just a lot of like, you know, in any other context, it would be offensive because like why are you talking to me like that? But in rap music, it's accepted because it's you know fun and there's a hot beat behind it and you can dance to it kind of thing. And so in the standup, he was kind of like breaking it down in those kind of like terms, and basically, and then he ended it with like you know, somebody like confronting this, you know, persona of this black woman saying, like, you know, like why are you why are you allowing this? And the response was he ain't talk about me, and then you just continued to just go about it. So I think that like that kind of really summed it up pretty well for me because like when I listen to this kind of music, or when I listen to music that is is ratchet, and you know, there's what can be considered derogatory, you know, language towards me specifically as a black woman, I don't take it personally because like I like he said, like he he ain't talking about me, like not me specifically, because I can detach from it. But just like what you're saying, Chris, like when when it is a young, like a like some a younger person who is the most, you know, influential, impressionable time of their life, this really is kind of helping to form what their identity is or who they choose to identify as. So everything that they're taking in, you know, on social media, through music, through, through regular television, uh, and journalistic media, all of this is playing a part. So it is important that they do get uh everything. So that everything kind of has an impact on them and they are able to choose which path they kind of want to dig deeper into.

SPEAKER_04

And so this is my issue with it. Okay. So like I I'm here for it. Like I like ratchet music too. I don't like it as much as the next person, because it goes in and in one ear and out the other. I I literally don't remember a lot of these lyrics to a lot of these songs. That if it's playing on the radio or if it's playing I'm out and about, you know, that I'll know it. But I you're not gonna see me sitting walking down the street talking about, you know, little bitch, you can't fuck with me if you I still don't even know the I I don't even know. But my my problem is is just the way that it's promoted, the way that it's pushed through, the way that and it's pushed through in specific rural, I mean not in urban areas, and how it creates in a way coming from the mouth of PJ, it creates if you do not have the strongest uh support system, the strongest whatever you got going on as far as who's raising you or who's there to show you right from wrong or instill in you integrity and all these other things, it it is pushing this agenda that you are nothing more than what this is. You are nothing more and you will not be nothing more. So just embrace it and just say fuck it. Like, like the like shout out to shout out to Kerry when he was creating rap shit, right? And so rap shit was on HBO. And I actually did enjoy the show. I know it wasn't for me because I'm not really into all of that, right? Um, but those are people's lived experiences. Same thing with P Valley, like you know, a lot of that, a lot of these shows that are put in that's gonna they know the black people are gonna eat this up. So yeah, let's go ahead and put this out, let's do this because you know, but mind you, there's a handful of us, not just a handful of us, but there's a plethora of us who are hungry, and not for like conscious music, but just hungry for music that or television or anything in media that has purpose that's not about making us look or sound or act like fools, like showing the intelligence that we have. And this is again, this is this is probably PJ being an elitist about this, and I don't want to be, but I just don't like it. No, I don't I don't like it. I don't I don't like it for me. For me, I hear you. So, and so it's just for me, you Blair. I love that, and that's why you are our ratchet spiritual advisor. So, like, that's why like I really wanted to have this conversation, especially to hear your viewpoint, to maybe like, okay, PJ, I think I you have some good points, but hear about it like this, and like, okay, so you know, and you have so far, right? So, I you know, I this is why it's important for us to always have friends who are not of the same walk as we are, because they teach us different experiences and different ways to live our life.

SPEAKER_01

And I'm not saying that I disagree with either of you. I do think that like there there definitely is a lens that we need to look through and see like how this is affecting the community. And just to your point, PJ, about like you you don't like that you feel like you know our community is specifically being like targeted and marketed to. But on the other side of that, and again, I don't disagree with you. I think that just like that's how I feel like um like with McDonald's, like how the McDonald's ads are just they are four, they are targeted two and four black people, you know, like you don't really see McDonald's ads that are very diverse anymore. It's all very, you know, Afrocentric. Um, but on the other side of that, I think that like the people who are creating this music, you know, um black artists, Afro-Latina artists, um, artists who are, you know, part of the community, they're not making this music with white people in mind. They're not making this music with, you know, uh uh uh Korean people in mind. Whatever it is, like the music they're making is part of whatever their experience is or whatever they feel like they have some type of authority to speak on. Um so that's I I guess that also kind of like I feel like that kind of ties into why it is marketed towards black people so heavily.

SPEAKER_04

So, and why I feel it that way also is because we are not just the builders of this country, but we are the financial backbone of this country, you know. So we spend money. And so, like the cater to this, because look, this is what they're into. So if you do, if we change this up and this and that, whatever, they're gonna buy into it because they buy everything. You know, this put put it out without even thinking of the consequences. And I don't know if you sit on the.

SPEAKER_01

And that's with with anything, correct, right, right.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, going back to PJ's point, I just want us to be able to, I want there to be enough room to allow for there to be pockets so that you can explore yourself and then develop yourself into your full self. Like, if you are gonna be just that ratchet bitch and then you know, that's who you are.

SPEAKER_04

That's the way he said it. That that ratchet bitch.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, like, you know, if that's who you're gonna be, then like okay, so be it. But I know like some of the some of the most profound moments for me was when I would, you know, I'm listening, listening, listening to the same thing over and over again, and I stumble on upon a new piece of music.

Art Versus Money And Finding Depth

SPEAKER_03

Like for me, now the thing that I love to throw on is jazz because I didn't realize that jazz was that branch for me and that unlocked something in me, you know, going back a few years ago when I started to like really get into it. And I just want people to be able to experience that because I think you learn different things about yourself. You might learn that you want to play an instrument, you might learn that you, you know, this is what allows me to focus, and this is how I complete my content or complete my work or whatever it is. I just want us to be round enough, forget fuck what the people say on the outside, right? Because that's always gonna be a stereotype. I want us to be whole and as comp as whole as possible.

SPEAKER_04

I would love for us to be whole, but shame on B E T, in my opinion. In just it in the words of PJ, um, shame on BT. But it's B E T. But it's I just I'm bringing it back to how many years ago was this? Was this like two years ago with the low vibrational plates? Like, like this, it's it's it's giving very like low vibrational plates. Like it's giving very let's keep let's keep us here. Let's promote it, let's do this, let's celebrate it because this is what the kids and the people love, but also like let's add some other stuff in there that like it would it would be awesome. It would be awesome if like I love it when I I'm loving it now. I didn't love it at first, and this stuff takes time, right? So, like I have now been getting a little bit more into Glorilla's music, right? And it's mostly because when I listen to her.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, you couldn't have picked the worst time.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, Jesus Christ. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01

I'll tell you about it later.

SPEAKER_04

Oh God. But and so here's the reason why I even brought her up into this conversation. Listening to her speak, you realize that this some of the things that she's saying is her lived experience and how how she was raised and how she brought up, brought up, and how she speaks and how she talks. That is who she is, or who she's promoting to be, or who the label says that you have to be in order for people to get this money, um and get make you this money, whatever. It's just like the idea of all these lace fronts and all these baby hairs. That's not how your hair grows, boo. But like black men stay out of women's business. Shut up, Phillip. So, but I just the way she just looked at the camera, like, yeah, nigga. But it's true, it is true, it is true.

SPEAKER_01

We need to do that. But but but that's that's part of what we're talking about. It's like people should have the freedom to be able to express themselves however they want to. Yeah, you know, regardless. I'm not saying that's a good thing. No, no, no, but that's but that's what you're saying. I that's exactly what you're saying. It's like people should be able to just express themselves however they want to, whether that's through lace fronts and baby hair, or whether it's through, you know, ratchet music, or whether it's through jazz music, like Chris is saying.

SPEAKER_03

But like I think like the drawing on the baby hairs go ahead.

SPEAKER_04

I'm sorry with a sharpie.

SPEAKER_01

All right, Charlie Brown. The just uh what we're definitely all in agreement on is that there needs to be a more balanced exposure for our youth. Yes, absolutely, because this is not the only way that black people get down, right essentially. Right. Like, let's let's let's be so for real about it. Um I was I was what are you doing?

SPEAKER_04

My love. Sorry, she did it. She did it. Now when when we get so we're at the age, right? So when they're when they get older and their and their grand their grandchildren and say, what my grand grand uh grandpa, what did y'all listen to when y'all were kids?

SPEAKER_00

Where um my scamming ass niggas at lending that money fast. Right. Like 20s, 50s, hundreds, cash, boy, go on that go, y'all.

SPEAKER_04

And I and and I love how like I like I love the fact that looking at you, you would never know that this is the kind of music you like, right? I I you know, and that's that's and just like I love the fact about looking at me, like you know those those reels that when they say when they're just walking and you think the music that they're you think they're listening to, and then it plays the actual music they're listening to. Like for me, most of the time it's like Broadway shit. Like it's like fucking uh show tunes and shit, and nobody would think that. You would think I'm listening to something else, but it's literally oh and all the other craziness, you know.

SPEAKER_01

So that also is I think that videos like that are helping with dispelling these these myths and these stereotypes. It's like you can't look at you cannot judge a book by its cover. You can't look at somebody and assume that you know who they're who they're all about because you know of what you you've seen in the media. So I appreciate videos like that because it really is helping dispelling that myth.

SPEAKER_03

That's very true.

SPEAKER_01

I think for the most part, overall, I I don't know what I I mean, I guess I do kind of know. Like I said before, like it it it makes me, I can, it's really at the end of the day, it's the beat that really gets you. Cause like, at least for me, because like I hear the beat and I be in it. The only, the only, I won't say the only, but when it comes to like Megan the Stallion, for example, like I feel a type of like a level of empowerment with her lyrics, um, which for all intents and purposes might seem, you know, might be considered on somebody's scale, might be ratchet, you know. But a lot of like what she says and the way she says it is just so very strong that I that's what I am connecting with. So I might not, you know, have like the same like experience or like um can specifically relate to like what it is that she's saying, but I can identify and relate to the strength that she's saying it with. And I think that's why for me, I so enjoy her music because she she's very bold, she has a very solid opinion, and she has a very, you know, direct way of delivering whatever it is that she's saying, and that's what makes me really connect with her. So it's not really so much about like what it is that she's saying, but her delivery.

SPEAKER_04

I agree. I mean, I agree. I mean, I you know, I I'm I'm probably not the target audience, also, because I stay listening to what I listen to. And so like I get it. I I I if I'm at a party or a club or whatever, and any of that comes on, nine times out of ten, I'm gonna go back to either where I was sitting, standing, or I'm gonna go outside. Um, because it's just that does it not for me, nor is it made for me because I'm not into that, right? I'm not gonna judge, I'm trying my best not to judge anybody because you know we all judge, right? Even though you know we listen and we don't judge. I'm gonna try my best not to judge anybody for you liking this music. Um, but my problem is not about the music itself, it's just how it's promoted and how it's pushed and how it's pushed ahead of things that are actually helpful, like things that are actually like that that young woman, Aniko.

SPEAKER_03

Aniko.

SPEAKER_04

Um let me let me where is it? She's a singer, yeah. So like Taraji had to Taraji had said um one of her one of her lyrics um Yes during during the award show, which we know that Blair, you don't watch. But Blair doesn't watch award shows. But the one um where is it? The is it Jericho? Is it that the one?

SPEAKER_03

Jericho. Yep.

SPEAKER_04

We're fast forwarding. Um and so like there are artists like that, and not just like that, but I mean obviously that that's the kind of stuff that I'm into. So like there are artists who are putting more thought and care into their lyrics versus something that's just catchy and poppy, and so it can be it can sell more and then reach more people by saying less, just how they're dumbing down television, just how they're dumbing down movies, just how they're dumbing down everything. And what ends up happening is that society gets dumber and dumber and dumber. And no one wants to try to do anything, no one wants to listen to jazz, lo-fi beats, no one wants to open their minds and become something greater than what society is saying you already are, based on what we push out there for you. That's the point I think.

SPEAKER_03

I'm glad that you said the money part, because I think that's part of the barrier on both sides. You want to, yeah, this is your lived experience, and so you can put it out there, but you also know that it's catchy. So maybe you overembellish and you do more things and say more things than that maybe not didn't really happen, or maybe we could have done having to know certain things. And then on the other side, it's like I play jazz. The only way for me to get into something more or bigger is I have to change my art or change my craft because of the fact that you know I I I need to make money. Like certain people that fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what you like or love or your perspective, but some people they have made it so far that they can start really enjoying the journey for themselves and really start pushing their craft because now they don't need the money, they don't need the platform. The best example of that is um Andre 3000 when he came, he you know, everybody knows Andre 3000, but his latest album was just a bunch of flutes. And people were like, What the fuck is this shit? You know, I why would I even you know purchase this album? But that's what he loved. And quite frankly, and quite frankly, sorry, I liked it too because it was just really chill, and you know, I can you know clean up the house or I could do whatever, and but he's at that point where it does not matter to him, and I just want people to be able to once again strike up that balance that it doesn't matter so much because they are doing something that is meaningful.

SPEAKER_04

If it's there, if it's your art, it's your art, and you want to make your art, but let your art have meaning, and if that has purpose and meaning for only you and those that you are in your community, then sell it to those, make it make it just for those, and that's it. But then when it becomes worldwide, and granted, we can't control what the world is like, what they see, and what other countries start thinking, especially like we just had Pride Month. Let's some let some person from from whatever country, I was about to say the wrong country, but let somebody else come from some other country and just start talking to me like I'm like I'm I am in ballroom, but talk talking to me like I'm about to sit here and do death drops and all these things. And I'm like, I don't do that. You know, I understand that I'm I'm of that community and I'm of the subcommunity in it, but I don't, I don't, I'm not, I'm that's not me. I'm not that, I'm not that air quotations. I'm not that gay, meaning that air quotations gay, not you know, quantifying, just not that individual of gay, brand of gay, if that makes sense. So people could say, oh, but you not that gay? No, I'm not that one. When I am, I'm not, I'm I like rap music, I like hip-hop music, I like old school hip-hop music, and we're talking about old school like MC Light and stuff like this, and even like Megan The Stallion is probably probably probably the last of the Mohicans of the new artists that have come out with in the last generation that I can say, you know what, I can fuck with. Anyone else? I'm like, uh, unless I'm starting to hear your words, and your words really start to get to me. But that's just based on what I like. And I can't control what other people like. What I can suggest is that we just open our minds up. And I can suggest that the record executives and other people who are in charge of the radio stations and things like that put a limit on okay, this is really helpful.

SPEAKER_01

But now you're asking people who are in the world of business to have a moral compass. Yeah, yeah. While we while we would love in an ideal world for that to be the case, it's really hard in a world where business corrupts so much, and you know, the almighty dollar corrupts so much. But that just leads back to, I think what we're all kind of saying is that like people as individuals across the board need to have some kind of autonomy over who you are, and that means like what you choose to listen to, what you choose to expose yourself to, what you choose to educate yourself in. That's a you responsibility kind of thing. Separately, when it comes to our youth, who are so impressionable, there does have to be more of a community effort to expose them to a whole spectrum of opportunity. So, yes, there's the ratchet music is out there, but just like Chris, you were saying, there is the jazz that's out there too. You know, like let them see like the full scale of what is being created in the world, and then teach that that that child or that youth to have enough personal, personal. I can't talk today, to have enough personal autonomy to be able to make educated decisions for themselves.

SPEAKER_03

Correct.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, agreed. Hold on. Well, y'all, it's up to y'all. It's up to y'all how do y'all feel about this? Y'all don't be talking to us, but there's no place for really for y'all to talk to us on anyway. But but for those of you who are listening to this, and you know, like, if if if if if if if what we said vibes with you in any kind of way, you know, feel free to reach out to somewhere in the universe. We'll find it.

SPEAKER_01

We'll find it. Send us, send us individual DMs.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Send send send the highly melanated group a DM. We'll check it.

SPEAKER_04

Maybe always. Email us. If y'all remember if y'all remember what it was, it's still.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, let's not do any of that. Because when's the last time any of us had checked that email box?

SPEAKER_04

Actually, I have to, because it's, I mean, well, it's in my Oh, you have to.

SPEAKER_01

That's right. Never mind.

SPEAKER_03

Ladies and gentlemen, you see how easily she gave that responsibility up there. Oh, you?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's you. Go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04

Don't your bad stuff. Do check it. Um, but I really I'm glad that we actually had this conversation. We can see y'all, we can have serious conversations, be s and be silly at the same time. You know, we can do it because we're black people. Black people are not a monolith. Back to that saying, like, and music is not a monolith, it's supposed to do all the things, it just doesn't have to do all the things, I guess, for everybody.

SPEAKER_01

It does different things for different people.

SPEAKER_04

But just don't come up in my motherfucking house thinking you're gonna be a scamming ass bitch and you're gonna be allowed to be up in my motherfucking house, okay? You scamming ass hoes, get the fuck out of here.

SPEAKER_03

Put it down.

SPEAKER_00

Put it back. Boosting bitches ain't allowed.

SPEAKER_04

No boosting bitches.

SPEAKER_00

Poppin' them tags. Just to flip it, pop them tags. I was having this conversation.

SPEAKER_01

They're gonna go on that goyard bag. First of all, can we talk about when, how, and why go yard bags are so coveted? I don't, I don't get it.

SPEAKER_04

As a as uh hey, hey, what what's what what kind of bag is that?

SPEAKER_01

Uh it's it's it's a luxury bag that everybody's like a Teflar bag? Um, no, but yes.

SPEAKER_03

Why don't it look like a like a Chinese food bag?

SPEAKER_04

We might as well just go around wearing the Chinese slippers again. Hey, look, that was a vibe. It was a vibe. Chinese slippers. Oh. That looks like something that looks like a bag that you pick up at Kmart to put stuff in.

SPEAKER_03

Thousands of dollars! Oh, I need to go make a bag. Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. Okay, listen, just just put some socks together and make a bag.

SPEAKER_01

Slap slap a label on it. You good to go. Yeah, I don't I but that's another conversation for another day. I'm I I I I I'm not a I yeah. You don't leave it there.

Closing Words Plus Bags Laundry Beyonce

SPEAKER_01

Don't leave it there.

SPEAKER_04

Well, guys, thank you for taking the time to listen to another episode of Highly Motherfucking Melanated. The safe space where it's okay to be rash if you want to be rash. In a safe space, it's okay to not judge those that do.

SPEAKER_03

Or carry a goyard bag, or listen to jazz, or rock, or beyonce, flutes, or goes, instrumentals, yeah. Anybody, anything.

SPEAKER_01

Lo-fi, Korean pop.

SPEAKER_04

Lo-fi beats do it for me. That's it. That does it for me. So like when I know that I need to get work done, I'm not listening to words because I get distracted. So I need to hear like just the instrumentals, or I need to hear like jazz music. I need to hear those kind of things. When I'm doing things, I still have these seven bags of laundry that needs to get done, y'all. I still I still haven't done anything.

SPEAKER_03

Why do you have seven bags?

SPEAKER_04

I feel so much judgment. I mean I just it was a question. Answer it. Because it was high. I was going, I tried carrying them things down, I carried them down four flights of stairs and I walked the block, and I say, I'm going back upstairs. I'm not doing this.

SPEAKER_01

I do not have seven bags of laundry, but I also have a uh studio apartment without a closet, so you also have don't you have a laundry thing in your building?

SPEAKER_04

I do. Yeah. The both of you. I don't have no I don't I wish. Oh, you don't? Hell no. I thought you did. Nope. Alright, I apologize. You lived in the Bronx. Yeah, that's true. Shout out to the Bronx, y'all. Don't come for me. Don't come for me.

SPEAKER_03

Right. I was about to say they will travel down into Brooklyn and find you.

SPEAKER_04

I'm I'm I'm in Texas.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Go to Texas. This ain't Texas.

SPEAKER_01

Woo! And oh ho Oh my god, when is the album coming out? Do you guys see she dropped uh morning dew online? So I don't like it. You don't like dunk. I don't.

SPEAKER_04

I didn't even hear. I don't think it's a good one. So here's what here's okay, so here's my original. I can't say one of those lyric of PJ. But it's good, it's good background music.

SPEAKER_03

I don't, I don't but you said that before as well, and then you were just like, I love this entire album and her feet and her toes. I have, I have, I have.

SPEAKER_01

And the crest in between her feet and her toes. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04

Did I tell y'all about the dream that I had that I was married to Beyonce?

SPEAKER_01

Have you seen this? There's some person some African warlord somewhere issued a challenge to Jay-Z talking about come fight me for Beyonce, talking about Listen. I'm gonna send it to you all, but basically, like he put out like this public statement saying like he can't afford, like, he doesn't deserve her. He doesn't, I mean he but um my I'm a my my black ass business. I'm over here. I judge not let she be judged, okay? But I'm just gonna drink my water. So he basically like said like um he issued like a challenge to him, talking about if he doesn't come like fight me for her, then like he he anyway. It was hilarious. And here's a lot of people out here issue uh what is it? Um what back in the day, like like a duel, a duel to death kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04

Basically. I only don't like it just I mean, it's not that I don't like it, it's just not memorable to me. So I don't I don't know. I don't I've listened to it over and over again. I still can't remember the words. Like I there's what?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, morning dew. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04

Morning dew donk.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Did you record this? Okay. Okay, right. So I love it. No, mind you, I did not see it.

SPEAKER_00

That is my gym. I did see that.

SPEAKER_03

I loved it from day one.

SPEAKER_04

Y'all, y'all like go do this to me, okay?

SPEAKER_01

No, it's the time.

SPEAKER_04

Timestamp July 7th.

SPEAKER_01

9 01 p.m.

SPEAKER_04

I do like the song. Just not. It's already, it's already happening.

SPEAKER_01

You have to backtrack so hard. You are gonna be so full from eating your words.

SPEAKER_03

On that note, peace, love, and eating your words later.

SPEAKER_01

Just watch. It's not even gonna be, it's gonna be this time next week. Okay, guys. I have a confession. I actually love it. I took some time to really listen to it.

SPEAKER_04

Y'all think y'all know me so fucking well.

SPEAKER_01

Y'all because you act like you haven't said the exact words before.

SPEAKER_03

Down to the T, baby.

SPEAKER_01

Know you better than you know your damn self.

SPEAKER_03

It's okay. It's okay. We we forgive you in advance.

SPEAKER_01

We listen and we don't judge. You see, we're not paying you any mind?

SPEAKER_04

All right. And on that note, don't you donkey don't. Is that how it goes?

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Donkey don't.

SPEAKER_04

Don't. Uh uh, I don't want to like it.

SPEAKER_01

It's too late. But you do. I do, I don't want to. But you it wasn't, it hasn't even been a full 60 seconds. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_04

Good night, people.

SPEAKER_00

Backtrack so quick with that one, didn't ya? Didn't ya?