Speaker 1: You are listening to Waiting on Reparations, the production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Ay, what is happening? It's Dope Knife
Speaker 1: and we are waiting give me My Money money Yes,
Speaker 1: also known as also known as Waiting on Reparation of
Speaker 1: the show. The name of the game is getting that Bag.
Speaker 1: And this week we are very excited to be joined
Speaker 1: by our guest Christen K Chris, one half of the
Speaker 1: dynamic duo that is Moody Black, who you guys will
Speaker 1: be seeing touring the country with Pussyfer so be on
Speaker 1: the lookout for that. But K, how are you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm all right, yeah, I'm thanks for the intro, so
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be here. Got the message a couple
Speaker 1: of days ago from you, Dope Knife, and I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'll do it. I haven't really been feeling
Speaker 1: like talking a lot we on podcasts and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but I guess I'll do it for you. Thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. I feel like the world of
Speaker 1: like indie wrap that is good is very small, and
Speaker 1: so I've like I been aware of you for a
Speaker 1: long time, so it's like very like exciting too. What
Speaker 1: do you do? You do? You consider what you do?
Speaker 1: To be indie wrap these days. I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: the people if people, uh if people think that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I feel like we were. I was doing indie
Speaker 1: wrap a very very long time ago, and I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm still part of your standing. No it's not,
Speaker 1: It's still it's still relevant because it's you know, we
Speaker 1: we built a following, you like in those indie rap circles,
Speaker 1: but I think it was only like two percent of
Speaker 1: what we do. Uh So it was kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: in retrospect, you know, maybe not the greatest audience for
Speaker 1: us to just be stuck in for so long, even
Speaker 1: though we love I wouldn't be here today without indie rap,
Speaker 1: not that I'm anywhere, but so so Okay, So before
Speaker 1: we get into a broader conversation, why don't you, you know,
Speaker 1: why don't you give a little uh overview to our
Speaker 1: listeners just who you are and what you do? Uh Well,
Speaker 1: my name again, my name is, It's I have all
Speaker 1: sorts of names. It's k Death, Chris Kristen. I'm a.
Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a I consider myself first and foremost
Speaker 1: a rapper, as weird as that is. I'm a rapper, artist, musician,
Speaker 1: and then everything else people can classify me as. I
Speaker 1: don't like calling myself an activist, but I get caught up, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, being a voice, I guess, or giving my
Speaker 1: perspective that tends to be a voice for a lot
Speaker 1: of people. Um, according to them. I don't like. I hate.
Speaker 1: I hate when people call themselves activists necessarily because I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's just a weird thing to say that
Speaker 1: about yourself. I feel that, I feel that yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's call me all the time. I'm just like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna argue with you. I don't have time
Speaker 1: to like mince words, but like, okay, call you that. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's well. I think it's one
Speaker 1: those things that other people should maybe like, like calling
Speaker 1: you if they feel like um. But anyway, I've been
Speaker 1: doing that, and I guess I'm also um. This is
Speaker 1: an odd left turn. But I'm also a cook. I cook,
Speaker 1: and I own a We own a taco shop now,
Speaker 1: which is just another thing, another idea that we started
Speaker 1: with Moody Black when the pandemic hit and we couldn't
Speaker 1: tour anymore, and we decided to make tacos to sustain ourselves.
Speaker 1: Man which so I mean, is there like a theme
Speaker 1: to the the tacos or it's not like any type
Speaker 1: of taco. Well they're all moody, black themed. But no,
Speaker 1: the the the basis of the food that we have
Speaker 1: is is we call it New Era text mex and
Speaker 1: it's just taking all the stuff that I grew up
Speaker 1: with in O Passo, a lot of the Southwest flavors,
Speaker 1: mixing my Mexican and my black side because I'm Mexican
Speaker 1: and black, and we put them together and we we
Speaker 1: kind of bridge those gaps in the food world. And
Speaker 1: we've been doing oddly enough, really really well. I have
Speaker 1: no idea why I'm not. I've never I was a
Speaker 1: prep shot for a little bit and we worked on
Speaker 1: taco truck in l A for a little bit, and
Speaker 1: then I've been cooking at home forever and we opened
Speaker 1: a place and it's just been it's uh, it's saved
Speaker 1: our our lives in a lot of way. That was.
Speaker 1: That was so, I mean, like I heard that you're
Speaker 1: you know, and I know there's a hip hop show,
Speaker 1: but you are going on tour with Postopher, which is
Speaker 1: like kind of a big fucking deal for us in
Speaker 1: the indie music scene, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: whenever some of something like this comes along. So how
Speaker 1: did that come along for you? It had everything to
Speaker 1: do really well, had a lot to do with movie Black,
Speaker 1: but everything to do with the Tacos as weird as
Speaker 1: that is. Um, We've been working for a long time.
Speaker 1: I've been doing music for or like actively doing shows
Speaker 1: and rapping and doing music for sixteen years. And UM,
Speaker 1: we've been Every step of the way has been a
Speaker 1: battle because we've done really weird quote unquote what other
Speaker 1: people consider to be weird rap music. UM. And it's
Speaker 1: never been easy for us. We've never fit in hip hop,
Speaker 1: never wanted anything to do with us. UM. Yet we still,
Speaker 1: you know, we we still participated in at the best
Speaker 1: we could. UM. And so sixteen years later, one of
Speaker 1: the biggest opportunities we ever had kind of happened when
Speaker 1: I decided to stop caring so much about trying to
Speaker 1: make it in music. Uh. That didn't mean that I
Speaker 1: really like I gave it up. It just meant that mentally,
Speaker 1: as you know, dope Knife, we can get so focused
Speaker 1: on what we want in this business, UM that I
Speaker 1: think you start pushing it pushing it away. UM. And
Speaker 1: when I switched that focus too, I'm gonna work on tacos.
Speaker 1: But in the back of my mind, I was like,
Speaker 1: this is gonna help Moody Black. It's a weird thought, um,
Speaker 1: But as you know, I also do my own podcast,
Speaker 1: and for years I was interviewing people and one of
Speaker 1: the things I found out was that the people that
Speaker 1: were successful in the music industry were like, did it
Speaker 1: on accident. They weren't usually people that were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I really want to make it and and grinding and
Speaker 1: trying to network and figure out all this stuff. It
Speaker 1: was more like, oh, I you know, somebody saw me
Speaker 1: and then I got a break, or you know, I
Speaker 1: got lucky with the YouTube. It was It's usually like that,
Speaker 1: and so I kind of just I thought that putting
Speaker 1: my energy somewhere else would attract uh, better opportunities for
Speaker 1: Moody Black. And I really didn't think it was gonna happen,
Speaker 1: and it really happened. It shocked It shocked me. I
Speaker 1: was like blown away because people talk about manifesting and
Speaker 1: all that. You know, you Anthony Robbins, I did all
Speaker 1: that stuff. I went to see a sports psychologist when
Speaker 1: I was in college. I got I knew all about
Speaker 1: all that, like positive thinking, and I tried to institute that,
Speaker 1: but it's so vague and it's so ridiculous. Um, but
Speaker 1: it worked as odd oddly enough. But that was also
Speaker 1: because we worked really hard for sixteen years. And so
Speaker 1: anyway we was because of the top of the spot
Speaker 1: or in part Uh Maynard Keenan from Tool the lead
Speaker 1: sing or a Tool Pousifer Perfect Circle. Um. His wife
Speaker 1: and him run uh a winery in Jerome, Arizona, in
Speaker 1: the middle of the desert. Weird again because tour We're
Speaker 1: from a Z A lot of the foundation Moody Black
Speaker 1: was about the desert. Um. There's a lot of backstory. Again,
Speaker 1: I don't want to go too far away from what
Speaker 1: we're talking about, but it all went back to the
Speaker 1: desert and his wife was playing our music while they
Speaker 1: were making wine. Uh. We're we're part of like a
Speaker 1: lot of playlists that Maynard would put together. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: make wine and then they play like people's bands and
Speaker 1: music that they like to the wine to like help
Speaker 1: it mature. Maynards nuts. Yeah they're crazy, um, but it
Speaker 1: could makes sense, right, you know, talk to plants and
Speaker 1: but they so they that's how his wife was like
Speaker 1: a big fan. I didn't know that because she was
Speaker 1: on Instagram and I didn't know who she was. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, it's so cool, just another supporter. And
Speaker 1: then um, I just I didn't even know about that.
Speaker 1: And that's going on, and one day I get a message,
Speaker 1: I think she messaged me on Instagram like oh, we
Speaker 1: got somebody coming out from our winery to talk to you.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, okay, whatever, didn't think about it.
Speaker 1: And then we're doing a Saturday morning brunt service at
Speaker 1: our at our spot here in Minneapolis, just serving breakfast tacos,
Speaker 1: and this agent from the winery slash Maynards team comes
Speaker 1: in and he's like, oh yeah, like I'm from like
Speaker 1: Pussifer and Tooling all these people, and we just wanted
Speaker 1: to come try a spot. They bought like a bunch
Speaker 1: of tacos and bought our merch and he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it was so weird. Um, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: we just had a good conversation. And then he's like,
Speaker 1: if you get an email, it was so weird. It's
Speaker 1: like a movie, like it's like stuff that it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: And especially again because dope, you know, like in the
Speaker 1: indie world, like it's not you hear stories and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's just so lucky. But like it was happening, and
Speaker 1: he was like, if you get an email, like that's
Speaker 1: really Maynard, And I was like what And the next thing,
Speaker 1: I know, it wasn't even it wasn't an email, but
Speaker 1: like then Maynard just started direct messaging me and then
Speaker 1: we just started talking and we hit it off because
Speaker 1: he loved he likes to talk I don't know how
Speaker 1: much he wants to me to tell about he he
Speaker 1: obsesses about food and like cooking, and so that's what
Speaker 1: we like peeked out on. And then next thing you know,
Speaker 1: that management is calling me and then that's who are
Speaker 1: set up? That's crazy, man, Well well hold on, do
Speaker 1: you have any stories like that. I'm just like random
Speaker 1: coincidences that led you into like insane musical adventures nack. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so shit. Kind of the way that the podcast came together,
Speaker 1: it would probably be one of those stories. True, we
Speaker 1: don't even really know each other that well yeah, well
Speaker 1: know we we we knew each other, but I just
Speaker 1: knee like we it was it was we were doing
Speaker 1: like a random show you know what I mean. When
Speaker 1: we got approached about doing it, that easily could have
Speaker 1: been I can't make it up to Athens this weekend,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It was one of those
Speaker 1: things where it was like the circumstances for you had
Speaker 1: to be right for you to even ask me to
Speaker 1: be there, and then us doing the show together and
Speaker 1: have you know that dying amic and the chemistry and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But I guess for me it would
Speaker 1: probably be the whole um Sage Francis thing. St. Francis
Speaker 1: is a you know, a I guess for for our St.
Speaker 1: Francis is like a big indie rapper, right, definitely might.
Speaker 1: But you know I had done that show to open
Speaker 1: up for him, and uh, I think I want to say,
Speaker 1: you know, I had made an impression. It was good.
Speaker 1: That also was the first night that I met Mariah,
Speaker 1: and we had talked in the in the crowd that night,
Speaker 1: and then I want to say, like, yeah, no, we
Speaker 1: didn't know each other that night like at all, Like
Speaker 1: it was just it was that was cold. That was
Speaker 1: the cold open. But but I mean afterwards, like maybe
Speaker 1: three four months later, he hit me up at like
Speaker 1: three in the morning and yeah, I just happened to
Speaker 1: be up and he was. He hit me up on
Speaker 1: like all of my stuff, like Facebook, email, like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Twitter, like all the ships. So
Speaker 1: I was like, oh damn, I guess it's like real
Speaker 1: serious and from them is how I ended up getting
Speaker 1: down with this label Strange Famous and dropping my record.
Speaker 1: Then I was able to you know, I've been sustaining
Speaker 1: my little indie rap career since, so you know that.
Speaker 1: That's kind of my my one story there is the
Speaker 1: time when young Buck from g Unit came to a
Speaker 1: show I did in Tennessee and bought everything at the
Speaker 1: merge table with like a huge iraq. It was pretty dope.
Speaker 1: It was pretty flat. We took pictures and stuff, but um, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what you were talking earlier about how hip
Speaker 1: hop never really accepted y'all or accepted you and what
Speaker 1: you guys were doing and everything like that, and you
Speaker 1: being a trans artist. In the news lately, there have
Speaker 1: been a lot a lot of stories where it kind
Speaker 1: of seems like a lot of the anti g B
Speaker 1: t Q or anti transsentiment that's out there is kind
Speaker 1: of it feels like it's culminating to some sort of
Speaker 1: peak of some sort that I mean obviously is not good,
Speaker 1: but I just we wanted to talk about that and
Speaker 1: touch some of these stories and then also get some
Speaker 1: of your thoughts on it, and you know, just some
Speaker 1: of your general you know, your your origin story in
Speaker 1: and how you feel in this climate, living as a
Speaker 1: trans woman in this climate. So we will be right
Speaker 1: back with all of that after the jump. All right,
Speaker 1: and we're back. And I felt like opening with this
Speaker 1: Huey Newton quote from nineteen seventy because you know, I'm
Speaker 1: all about her sex nality and recognizing the ways our
Speaker 1: stuck struggles are similar, also acknowledging our unique struggles and
Speaker 1: you know, find us Alida area of people. And it
Speaker 1: takes me back to this quote. Um. He says friends
Speaker 1: are allowed to make mistakes. The enemy is not allowed
Speaker 1: to make mistakes because his whole existence is a mistake
Speaker 1: and we suffer from it. But the Women's Liberation Front
Speaker 1: and the Gay of Liberation Front are friends. There are
Speaker 1: potential allies, and we need as many allies as possible.
Speaker 1: And so as we make the segue from Black History
Speaker 1: Month and the Women's Month and talking about m issues
Speaker 1: that impact all of this, ultimately, UM, though it impact
Speaker 1: some folks more than others. Um to start of highlighting
Speaker 1: the way that in liberation struggles historically, folks have um
Speaker 1: you know, found those found those moments of solidarity like
Speaker 1: you know what, I might not be going through this,
Speaker 1: but uh, I see you, and I appreciate that as
Speaker 1: somebody that you know lives in those intersections as like
Speaker 1: weer person, woman, ish, uh, black person, et c. But
Speaker 1: uh yeah, so should cry out here. I think that
Speaker 1: I need it, damn sure. Is as we like, as
Speaker 1: people become more open and out and we are evolving
Speaker 1: in terms of our understanding of all the things that
Speaker 1: you can be and accepting all the all the things
Speaker 1: you can be, it makes sense that like the system
Speaker 1: ramps up to like evolve, it's as well into new
Speaker 1: forms of like trying to suppress folks because they don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, they're scared. They're scared. They're like scared,
Speaker 1: they might like sucking some dick or something like, I
Speaker 1: don't know what I think. I mean, that looks kind
Speaker 1: of tasty. I don't know, like I'm scared. I don't
Speaker 1: I'm scared scared already know how I feel about that.
Speaker 1: I feel like all of all of the conservative ship.
Speaker 1: Of that ship is projection. Yo. When they say they
Speaker 1: don't like gay people, it's because they want to be
Speaker 1: in the bathroom stall anonymously with strangers. When they say
Speaker 1: they don't like trans people, because they really think trans
Speaker 1: women are attractive and they're scared, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like like, I mean, I mean that was no. I
Speaker 1: mean people try to leverage that like homophobically when it's
Speaker 1: like it's really okay, but like, I mean, so okay.
Speaker 1: So let's let's let's recap the situation. I'm sure people
Speaker 1: are well aware, but let's just recap. So one, the
Speaker 1: year that just passed US was the deadliest year for
Speaker 1: transgender and gender non conforming people in the US on record.
Speaker 1: At least fifty transgender nonconforming people were killed this year alone,
Speaker 1: per report by the lgbt Q advocacy organization, the Human
Speaker 1: Rights Campaign. The report also makes it clear that the
Speaker 1: full number of fatalities is likely higher still, as deaths
Speaker 1: by trans people are usually under reported. Uh The Trevor Project,
Speaker 1: which is the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention
Speaker 1: organization for young LGBTQ people, has published the results of
Speaker 1: their annual survey on Mental Health of lgbt Q youth
Speaker 1: in it found that fort had seriously considered attempting suicide
Speaker 1: last year. This included more than half the transgender and
Speaker 1: on buyer MARY respondents. As many of thirty one percent
Speaker 1: Native and Indigenous UH surveyed participants reported having attempted suicide
Speaker 1: in the last year. Finally, eight percent of Latin youth
Speaker 1: and twenty and twelve percent of Asian and Pacific Islander
Speaker 1: youth reported having attempted suicide as well. Um, that's cheerious. Fuck,
Speaker 1: thank you, Mac. I want to I app man just
Speaker 1: reading the words. Well, I mean, like we have to
Speaker 1: really think about these things because like one of the
Speaker 1: attacks that folks are in the leverage is that like,
Speaker 1: well this is not the QUOTEO, this is not that
Speaker 1: many people. But we have to really think in terms
Speaker 1: of disproportionality that like, um, first of all, there's probably
Speaker 1: a whole whole lot more people than you would realize
Speaker 1: because folks, because of the cycle of suppression, et cetera,
Speaker 1: at least raconian laws. Of course, people ain't gonna tell you, like,
Speaker 1: you know, what they really got going on with them,
Speaker 1: what they really are um, and so there's a lot
Speaker 1: more people that we think then as well, Like if
Speaker 1: you have such high margins of people feeling this way,
Speaker 1: experiencing these things in a group, that's not that's it's horrifying.
Speaker 1: That's bad, and that's bad. And I think, like, you know,
Speaker 1: recognizing intersections of struggles like UM, the ways that other
Speaker 1: groups are also like disproportionately impacted by things like police violence,
Speaker 1: et cetera. The way that these systems all work together
Speaker 1: to hold people down, perhaps in different ways, but like
Speaker 1: you know, the I guess I say all this to
Speaker 1: say that I find hope when addressing like glaring statistics
Speaker 1: like these that when we kind of see what our
Speaker 1: commonalities are and like also see perspectives that are different,
Speaker 1: but like the ways that kind of cross paths, the
Speaker 1: points it's like all right, like I can relate to
Speaker 1: like I don't know, I wanted to kill myself or whatever.
Speaker 1: I mean, I joke about it, but that's been a
Speaker 1: real reality in my history. And so like, all right,
Speaker 1: I see y'all, like let's like unite, let's like um
Speaker 1: fight together. So I just want to uplift that because
Speaker 1: some of this top it's really hard to talk about.
Speaker 1: It's as really hard to talk about, but I do
Speaker 1: feel very hopeful at this moment as well as like
Speaker 1: more light is being shed on these issues that like
Speaker 1: we have this, we can fight. I'm ready to fight, Chris, Chris.
Speaker 1: Like earlier, we're talking about how things are, you know,
Speaker 1: seems like they're on the up for you. But is
Speaker 1: this anything that you kind of struggled with in your youth? Uh? Well,
Speaker 1: at first, the first thing about that is we are
Speaker 1: talking about disproportion or the proportion of those numbers. Is
Speaker 1: a large amount of those numbers that you're seeing are
Speaker 1: actually mostly largely black trans women. Uh, I mean, and
Speaker 1: that that's even more alarming. Um, I mean, it's all alarming,
Speaker 1: but that and that's been a trend for a long
Speaker 1: long time. And talking about intersectionality even more in depth
Speaker 1: you're looking at Uh that's it's it's so hard to
Speaker 1: have this conversation because I'm always caught in all these
Speaker 1: weird intersection alities Mexican black trand whatever it is. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm everywhere, I mean all these things. And so what
Speaker 1: I say is the critics what could sound like a criticism, Uh,
Speaker 1: if I'm not black enough of a black community could
Speaker 1: come across a certain way or so you have to
Speaker 1: be a little bit. I don't really care, but like
Speaker 1: to be mindful of others because I care, Like I
Speaker 1: don't want to be I don't want to come across anyway.
Speaker 1: But uh, bringing that tie into hip hop, where hip
Speaker 1: hop is a largely black centered culture. I mean it,
Speaker 1: it came from black culture, um. And then being a
Speaker 1: trans uh woman inside of that that doesn't it's so
Speaker 1: weird because this is where I get so caught up
Speaker 1: because I can go like a thousand different avenues. Um.
Speaker 1: It being uh like being a trans woman's one thing
Speaker 1: in hip in hip hop or rap or whatever it
Speaker 1: is music industry period um. But when uh, when you
Speaker 1: The other problem that I get a lot is like
Speaker 1: I don't look black. People don't think I'm black, so
Speaker 1: like they treat black people will treat you a certain
Speaker 1: different way they realize you're black, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden it's totally different than it's a different way.
Speaker 1: It's all good. Uh, I've had that my whole life. Um,
Speaker 1: But now being oh no, yeah no, saying that's like
Speaker 1: a light skinned person, They're like, well, which one of
Speaker 1: your parents is why I actually neither of them, and
Speaker 1: like why the fund are you asking like trying to challenge,
Speaker 1: Like your experience is based on how you see em
Speaker 1: and now where you've been. So yeah, so it's like
Speaker 1: I've got I've gotten that static my whole life whatever. Um,
Speaker 1: but nothing is is terrifying or dangerous or whatever. I've
Speaker 1: never felt like uncomfortable until I came out as a
Speaker 1: trans person and lived out as a trans person. That
Speaker 1: was true. That's true, fear um every day of my life.
Speaker 1: It doesn't go away because when I go out there,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I live in North Minneapolis, which is
Speaker 1: uh like a largely black Mexican neighborhood, and in those
Speaker 1: neighborhoods on fortunately, I feel the least safe because I
Speaker 1: get followed sometimes because people giving you looks. So whatever
Speaker 1: it is or you know kind of you you've seen,
Speaker 1: I mean, were witness. Yeah, we've yeah, we've when we
Speaker 1: we went on tour before it was and like one
Speaker 1: of the stops, I'm pretty sure it was like maybe
Speaker 1: twelve miles outside of Chicago on like some ship like that,
Speaker 1: and straight up like eight Nazis walked into the bar
Speaker 1: and it was like a standoff and I mean when
Speaker 1: I say eight Nazis, I don't mean like motherfucker's with
Speaker 1: like haircuts I didn't like or so like I'm talking
Speaker 1: like literal you know what I mean, like insignias and
Speaker 1: shipped on their shirt Leo. It was like a real
Speaker 1: tense situation and that was probably like my first time
Speaker 1: really like you know, personally like being there, like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: like I think we're gonna I think there's about to
Speaker 1: be some violence going down because Christmas is that you're
Speaker 1: a black dude that just said you said black, you're
Speaker 1: black came in, but they're coming from me, like the
Speaker 1: hierarchy exactly. I meant Christian no, no, no, but no,
Speaker 1: neither of us were safe. But and I could totally
Speaker 1: have been reading the whole situation wrong, but I really
Speaker 1: do feel like if Chris wasn't there, if it was
Speaker 1: just like me and Chesky and some of the other
Speaker 1: cats who are on tour, that it would have just
Speaker 1: been a night of dirty looks. Yeah you get in
Speaker 1: that right. Chris being there felt like, oh, like we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to you know what I mean, Like we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to throw a boat, Like somebody's going to
Speaker 1: try to start some ship that's gonna like cause there
Speaker 1: to be a physical altercation. And that's an important that's
Speaker 1: it's it's great you bring that up, because that's an
Speaker 1: important difference that I think people need to hear more
Speaker 1: about when we talk about those numbers that don't seem
Speaker 1: big when they're like they're fifty, because people are missing
Speaker 1: like how visceral the hate and and and biggot tree
Speaker 1: is right now with trans people specifically, Like it's different,
Speaker 1: it's not. And that's like with the Chappelle stuff, with
Speaker 1: the jokes, Um, I get jokes, but right now is
Speaker 1: not the time, Like it's not for trans people. This
Speaker 1: is a legitimately dangerous situation and which Black culture looks
Speaker 1: at Dave Chappelle like he's some sort of prophet um
Speaker 1: and they're so influenced by that, and even joking about
Speaker 1: trans people's invalidating the experience, and it just helps to
Speaker 1: uh like to to fuel them, uh to make it
Speaker 1: feel like it's okay to bully, to make it feel
Speaker 1: like it's okay to kill, hurt, whatever it is. But
Speaker 1: there's also and they're also like a tract if they're
Speaker 1: also confused and conflicted because they're attracted and you know,
Speaker 1: like a lot of trends women black trans women are
Speaker 1: sex workers, which is awesome and I fully support get
Speaker 1: your get your make your living. Yeah, like it's and
Speaker 1: plus there's an audience for it. And that's what's so
Speaker 1: frustrating too, is like you know that I mean a
Speaker 1: lot of quote unquotes as people which are people that
Speaker 1: are identified as the gender they were at birth and
Speaker 1: are usually straight, said, dudes honestly are really into trans women.
Speaker 1: Is just a fact. Well let me, um, let me
Speaker 1: read some things that have been going on to kind
Speaker 1: of relate to what you just said in terms of
Speaker 1: how the atmosphere is right now. So, um, Marjorie Taylor Green,
Speaker 1: who is the representative of this great state of Georgia.
Speaker 1: So she was recently on the Alex Jones show or podcast.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that nigga is relegated to right now,
Speaker 1: but she was on the Alex Jones Ship and she
Speaker 1: was talking about a counselor who identifies as they them
Speaker 1: at like summer camp or something, and she was saying, well,
Speaker 1: first off, my husband would have beat him into the
Speaker 1: ground and then he'd be in jail. But that's exactly
Speaker 1: what we need to do to stand up against this stuff.
Speaker 1: And then elsewhere in the count we got Shelley Luther,
Speaker 1: who is a former school teacher who's celebrated by in
Speaker 1: conservative circles because she got arrested challenging like mask mandates
Speaker 1: or so. She was on one of those viral videos
Speaker 1: going crazy in a Walmart or Chipotle or some ship.
Speaker 1: And um, she she was, you know, recently at a
Speaker 1: in a debate, a primary debate, and she said, what
Speaker 1: we have done is become comfortable pretty much, she's advocating
Speaker 1: for kids being able to bully trans kids in schools.
Speaker 1: Just she was like, what we have done has become
Speaker 1: comfortable with what is okay in our society. I'm not
Speaker 1: comfortable with transgenders. Uh, the kids that they brought in
Speaker 1: my classroom when they said that this kid's transgender and
Speaker 1: into a different sex, that I couldn't have kids laugh
Speaker 1: at though. And then she gave a really long pause,
Speaker 1: realizing what she had just said, before she continued, Um, elsewhere,
Speaker 1: you've got uh, the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who
Speaker 1: offered a legal opinion that providing medical care and treatment
Speaker 1: to adolescents with genderness for it could be child abuse,
Speaker 1: so that caused Governor Abbott to order that it be
Speaker 1: immediately investigated as to whether or not kids are getting
Speaker 1: sex change procedures. Florida past that Don't Say Gay Bill,
Speaker 1: which amongst a bunch of crazy shit at one point
Speaker 1: and an incarnation of it, had it that teachers would
Speaker 1: be outing kids forcibly like the ship is it's it's
Speaker 1: getting nuts out there. So I'm just gonna pause real
Speaker 1: quick and do a check in because this is all
Speaker 1: super fucking heavy, Like, um, I just want to make
Speaker 1: sure this is like okay to be talking about because
Speaker 1: like I know, I mean for me personally as well,
Speaker 1: Like this can be just like very just fucking like
Speaker 1: traumatiz I thing to like read about and hear about
Speaker 1: all the time. So I just wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: we're like we're good, like it's like everything everybody's like
Speaker 1: okay with this, just because like I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to yeah, like I don't know you for
Speaker 1: as thought of I don't like talking about this kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. No, We're totally good with it. I like
Speaker 1: to talk about it, uh, and I read about it
Speaker 1: every morning the first thing I do in the mornings.
Speaker 1: That sounds really messed up. The first things I usually
Speaker 1: do in the morning is I just type transgender news
Speaker 1: and Google just to see what other rights they you know,
Speaker 1: are at risk for me, or if I got to
Speaker 1: change my passport real quick before they change it back. Um.
Speaker 1: But it's so with with this, with this, with this
Speaker 1: out like mask off, open out showing of like transphobian
Speaker 1: bigotry by elected officials, even you know, like it being
Speaker 1: Republicans in the sort of like low expectations that usually
Speaker 1: have for Republicans is one thing, But this seems like
Speaker 1: something new, Like this seems like a new flavor to
Speaker 1: it or like a more bolder, emboldened sort of expression
Speaker 1: of it. Do you sense that too is being somebody
Speaker 1: who you said you read the news, you know you
Speaker 1: see it. You see it also because all the stuff
Speaker 1: that they're saying is untrue, Like it's not it's just
Speaker 1: not true. Like there's no kids getting uh, sex change operations.
Speaker 1: They don't operate on kids, period, it doesn't happen. When
Speaker 1: it does happen, is more like with the CIS, people
Speaker 1: that have kids that are intersex or what are blah
Speaker 1: blah without the kids consent than they do whatever. Then
Speaker 1: the kid comes out later it's like, hey, why did
Speaker 1: you cut my ship off? Like I didn't done it. No,
Speaker 1: they give like quote unquote cist children, like puberty blockers
Speaker 1: that they have like precocious puberty well like which is fine,
Speaker 1: which is fine, like more than you more than you
Speaker 1: could realize. But because they're like gender normative quote unquote,
Speaker 1: that's not a problem. It's not really about like doing
Speaker 1: like certain medical procedures on people. Generally, it's only like
Speaker 1: certain people that they don't want because they're fucking racist,
Speaker 1: asshole like misogynists, like homophobic dickheads. And it's always it's
Speaker 1: almost always all of all of it together and it
Speaker 1: doesn't make it's just not yeah, and it's and they
Speaker 1: twist all the narratives to fit what they're saying. And
Speaker 1: because people don't know any better and aren't going to
Speaker 1: go look at credible sources to to suss that out, uh,
Speaker 1: they just go with it. And then that's compounded by
Speaker 1: the jokes and stuff going on in media. That's compounded
Speaker 1: by now it's it's multi tiered. So that's just those things.
Speaker 1: But now they're attacking, uh, you know, the the athletes um.
Speaker 1: So they're taking very small instances like Leiah Thomas from
Speaker 1: Pen the swimmer that's been winning, which is an anomaly
Speaker 1: because not it's not true that all trans women are
Speaker 1: just dominating in sports, and go look at it, go
Speaker 1: look at their placement. Even lead had not. I think
Speaker 1: I was saying her name right, was not um necessarily
Speaker 1: as dominant. Um So it's just like they're taking all
Speaker 1: these names of conflating and then making us look really
Speaker 1: really bad. It just sucks for me because it's like
Speaker 1: when I first came out in two thousand and sixteen,
Speaker 1: it was totally different. Um Um. I was like this
Speaker 1: my whole I have an interview like it's it's it's
Speaker 1: frustrating because I was like this my whole life. I
Speaker 1: can't it's hard for me to convince people that that
Speaker 1: think that that's not a thing. And so it's frustrating
Speaker 1: because I know in my my brain and my heart
Speaker 1: that it's like a legitimate thing, and that's something I've
Speaker 1: dealt with. So I know this isn't a fad. I
Speaker 1: know this isn't uh people just getting into this like
Speaker 1: people think or another narrative of like oh they're just
Speaker 1: this is just cool to do in school. I don't
Speaker 1: know why anybody would want to go through all that
Speaker 1: bigger trees. It just again, it doesn't add up when
Speaker 1: you start looking at uh all that. But that's what's frustrating,
Speaker 1: is it sucks that to be like, like I can't
Speaker 1: just go out and do things because like I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm a statement when I'm just trying to like
Speaker 1: do my thing, and every day I go out there,
Speaker 1: I know that people I don't know what they're thinking,
Speaker 1: but I know it's out there, so I can feel
Speaker 1: like the narrative of the world is projected on me
Speaker 1: when I'm out about doing things. It's really that part sucks.
Speaker 1: And then being a musician and stuff on top of
Speaker 1: that kind of it's good and bad. It's like one
Speaker 1: thing to like break barriers and be like, yes, this
Speaker 1: is a trans woman, sounds like this looks like this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a badass like this and fuck you,
Speaker 1: but it's a whole another thing, like when they're hitting
Speaker 1: me up on like social media and stuff like this
Speaker 1: possifer thing is gonna be funny because it's already a
Speaker 1: whole different level of getting weird weird comments and stuff
Speaker 1: like that we were was very insulated in the indie
Speaker 1: rap world. Oh yeah, I know. It's it's it's definitely
Speaker 1: going to be an experience for you. Lets it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not again, it's so weird because it's not about me. Like,
Speaker 1: and that's the other thing with music right now that
Speaker 1: I've been like, I all this cool stuff is happening,
Speaker 1: but if you notice, like I'm I'm not, I'm trying
Speaker 1: not to put too much out there. I feel weird
Speaker 1: like promoting right now because like there's so much horrible
Speaker 1: like yeah, these all these horrible things, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: what does music have to do with this right now?
Speaker 1: Like I'm like sitting here talking about like touring and
Speaker 1: like like you know, like there's all this heavy stuff
Speaker 1: going on. So it's weird. Like I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's just me personally or if other people feel like
Speaker 1: that now, or if it's just me getting old and
Speaker 1: like feeling that way. I don't know. It happens in
Speaker 1: waves for me, Like there's there's certain things that come up,
Speaker 1: like certain I don't know whether I want to say stories,
Speaker 1: but certain like events like world events that kind of
Speaker 1: kill my motivation for things like that. Like music or
Speaker 1: talking to people about my music or by album coming
Speaker 1: out and stuff like that. For example, the biggest, you know,
Speaker 1: elephant in the room was COVID. Like when COVID hit,
Speaker 1: it just killed all creative drive I had for like
Speaker 1: six months and I didn't do ship. Or when I
Speaker 1: was in like high school in nine eleven happened. It
Speaker 1: was like, you know, it's like it just just put
Speaker 1: you know, like the political implications of it, you know,
Speaker 1: you know aside. I wasn't even thinking like that back then.
Speaker 1: It just put a damper over me expressing like joy
Speaker 1: or happiness and like any other thing. It was like,
Speaker 1: oh well, it's it's relatively a small thing compared to
Speaker 1: this other ship that's going on, you know, yeah, Like
Speaker 1: do you funny you say that? I was sorry, No,
Speaker 1: I was just gonna ask if you felt Mariah felt
Speaker 1: like that. I felt like particularly were talking about the pandemic,
Speaker 1: or even just like the way the marshalization within hip hop,
Speaker 1: like being like with everything going on right now, feeling
Speaker 1: like you want to you know, promote things that you've
Speaker 1: got going on, whatever whatever it may be, Like, do
Speaker 1: you feel that way where it's like there's and you're
Speaker 1: doing a lot of like important work. It's like it's
Speaker 1: you know, I know you've got a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: going on to like well, I mean even this podcast
Speaker 1: I was able to follow. Um, so I was happy
Speaker 1: when you first got it. By the way, I'm just
Speaker 1: I never get a chance to talk to you all
Speaker 1: too much, but um, I just, I mean even doing
Speaker 1: this kind of thing is like to me, i'd be
Speaker 1: I could be more invested in that because I like,
Speaker 1: at least we're talking about relevant things as opposed to
Speaker 1: like music music It's like I think I'm a god
Speaker 1: in the songs, Like that's so dumb. Well okay, so
Speaker 1: here's how I look at it. So, I mean I
Speaker 1: did my my my work is like my music is
Speaker 1: becoming increasingly political because of the pandemic. Because I had
Speaker 1: the opposite experience of Mac, like sitting alone in my
Speaker 1: house like no longer drinking myself to death on the weekends,
Speaker 1: like because there's no bars open, I started like writing right,
Speaker 1: and then for the show We're right, we are wraps
Speaker 1: every you know, um every week. It so like you know,
Speaker 1: building that fitness, and so I started writing a lot
Speaker 1: more political stuff not and it's been like it's been
Speaker 1: like weird to promote like because yeah, we're like oh yeah,
Speaker 1: like you know, bumped the single or whatever, but like, um,
Speaker 1: like everybody's dying and like, you know, it feels bad.
Speaker 1: But in this instance at least, it's like it enables
Speaker 1: us to have interesting conversations like with like with this
Speaker 1: like new music I've been making, Like you know, I've
Speaker 1: been talking to people about labor organized and talking to
Speaker 1: people about cycles of tra the drive the fact and
Speaker 1: hip hop that folks are like, yeah, I'm smoking blunts
Speaker 1: and I'm driving my car down the street with the
Speaker 1: ball honey and the hand Like where did that come from?
Speaker 1: Like in some of the songs. But even in the
Speaker 1: instances of like yo, I'm the ship and you're not,
Speaker 1: and like I am drinking Henny and driving around and
Speaker 1: like whatever, sort of like torque in celebrations of self
Speaker 1: in these various ways, like is an active resistance to
Speaker 1: like all of the hitty ship that we are like
Speaker 1: living through. It's like you have to find some joy
Speaker 1: otherwise how are you going to keep fighting for freedom?
Speaker 1: How are you gonna keep just living? Just living? And
Speaker 1: it's and not in itself being an active resistance if
Speaker 1: you're living on the margin. So like like if you
Speaker 1: got to like write, like you know, drop singles every
Speaker 1: other week about like how much puss do you get
Speaker 1: or whatever? Great that makes you feel better. Great because
Speaker 1: everything's everything is kind of bad, so like do what
Speaker 1: you gotta do, Like, I won't judge in the in
Speaker 1: the least lightness, I agree. Usually that's the sort of
Speaker 1: thought process that gets me out of that funk whenever
Speaker 1: I'm in it is that I start start thinking about
Speaker 1: it that way. I mean, that's what got me out
Speaker 1: of the ship during the pandemic. You know, I admit
Speaker 1: I definitely, I definitely was thought it was gonna be
Speaker 1: worse than than the ended up being. And it was bad,
Speaker 1: but I thought, like you know, civilization was about to collapse.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh man, yeah, there really is no
Speaker 1: point to any of this. But then once I once
Speaker 1: I got past that point, I felt by creative drive
Speaker 1: start coming back a lot quicker than that. So sorry
Speaker 1: to get back to the show. You know what, We're
Speaker 1: gonna take a little break for a second, then we're
Speaker 1: gonna come back. But when we come back, you know,
Speaker 1: I hate to just make it doom and gloom and
Speaker 1: talk about what's wrong, what's wrong, what's wrong? What's wrong?
Speaker 1: Because everything's wrong, Trust me, everything's wrong. But I'd hate
Speaker 1: to just talk about it without at least brainstorming and
Speaker 1: throwing out some possible solutions for some of these things
Speaker 1: out there. So when we come back, we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about what can we do to change this
Speaker 1: climate that we're in? Um and we'll be back with
Speaker 1: that after the jump. All right, we are back and
Speaker 1: we're talking with k Death. So, like I said before
Speaker 1: we took the break, what what do you think people
Speaker 1: can do on an individual level first, to to make
Speaker 1: even an incremental smidgeon of a change in this climate
Speaker 1: of like intolerance and hate that we got going on
Speaker 1: right now. I guess I mean increased intolerance ahead. It's
Speaker 1: it's tough to say because it's like it it's like
Speaker 1: it just depends on it. People are going to be
Speaker 1: ready to change in that that then that's it's just
Speaker 1: hard to change people. It's hard to get people to change. Uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know if if individuals, I don't, I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't answer the question because it's like I know
Speaker 1: what I can do to help like influence people. Uh,
Speaker 1: and hopefully we get enough allies to make to make
Speaker 1: more visibility, to make it more normalized and to get
Speaker 1: through to people. I know I've done that on a
Speaker 1: personal level for people that I know and men friends
Speaker 1: are I mean sure, I've even done it for maybe
Speaker 1: even you don't know if I've done it for for
Speaker 1: people that that haven't worked with trans people or trans
Speaker 1: women that it's also I'm also a good bridge. I
Speaker 1: think we need more people that like I used to
Speaker 1: play college basketball with these knuckleheads that were just horrible. Like,
Speaker 1: I know these people, I know how they work, I
Speaker 1: know they operate. But and so I also know that
Speaker 1: if they know me, like, they would be a lot
Speaker 1: more willing, and they would a lot of people that
Speaker 1: do know me except me. I mean I've lost a
Speaker 1: lot of really close friends too. Um. That's what I mean.
Speaker 1: There are some people that are just not going to change. Um,
Speaker 1: but there's also a lot of people that have changed
Speaker 1: just because they know trans people, because they know their
Speaker 1: friend is trans, and then you know, they find it
Speaker 1: with them themselves to like it's just so ridiculous they
Speaker 1: need to do that. Um. Oh, so okay, I have
Speaker 1: a question, and this Mariah, this is for you too.
Speaker 1: So Okay, do you think do you think that um,
Speaker 1: do you think it's more to focus on making the
Speaker 1: change at a legislative level, whatever legislation needs to be
Speaker 1: changed to sway the public and that, or do you
Speaker 1: think that it's more important to focus on making that
Speaker 1: change in people from a cultural level music, movies, television,
Speaker 1: in the arts, things like that. I think all terrains
Speaker 1: of struggle are equally valid and necessary. So like mutual aid.
Speaker 1: If you see some somebody who you know, they got
Speaker 1: kicked out of their house because their parents found out
Speaker 1: they were you know, queer, or if someone got fired,
Speaker 1: or just a lot of the ways that materially people
Speaker 1: are oppressed, like if you've got if you've got money
Speaker 1: to give somebody hub out they're in, or their car payment,
Speaker 1: or their gender firm and surgery. That matters because if
Speaker 1: people have the basic the people are more likely to
Speaker 1: fight for freedom they have their basic needs. That's why
Speaker 1: you see UM like more like middle class ass like
Speaker 1: white ass since hetero people like or more comfort doable
Speaker 1: out there, like you know, like advocating for what they
Speaker 1: want because they're comfortable and they're fucking fine and everything's
Speaker 1: cheery for them or not. They're you know, sitting home
Speaker 1: because they have everything they need. They don't even care.
Speaker 1: It's folks at the margins that like struggle to like
Speaker 1: make it to city hall to advocate for legislative change
Speaker 1: or like whatever, um because of the way its materially
Speaker 1: like they like they have this insecurity that holds folks
Speaker 1: back from um from engaging and so like, I think
Speaker 1: that at all levels that's important because it helps. If
Speaker 1: you want legislative change, you need a mass movement of
Speaker 1: people that feel empowered enough to fight for it. And
Speaker 1: if you aren't, like if you aren't eating, if you
Speaker 1: can't get food or whatever, whoever you are, whatever your circumstances,
Speaker 1: you know, that's not being unique to our community here,
Speaker 1: um like like it's it's gonna be hard for you
Speaker 1: if you don't have a physical mailing address to like
Speaker 1: get your voter registration car, it's gonna be pretty hard
Speaker 1: to make legislative change. And then on the on the
Speaker 1: roll of art okay um, on the role of art um,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's also part of building a
Speaker 1: mass movement, right, so, like, you know, you you like
Speaker 1: meet you to tour the country and you meet all
Speaker 1: kinds of people and talk to them and then inspire
Speaker 1: them with your ideas and they inspire you with theirs,
Speaker 1: and like you know, that's helping build up a mute movement,
Speaker 1: like showing people the different ways to be an artist,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, like you can you like you can. You
Speaker 1: don't have to be like a straight black male in
Speaker 1: wrap um and fucking kill it and just be the
Speaker 1: illist with the bars ever um as a way to
Speaker 1: like model for folks, like the different kind of world
Speaker 1: we can live in. I think like art plays that
Speaker 1: role also, and like helping build that mass movement and
Speaker 1: change people's minds um so, Like it's like two sides
Speaker 1: to it, all of which can lead the legislative change.
Speaker 1: But it's not like just go vote, Oh, just go
Speaker 1: vote every four years. I'm like vote for about what?
Speaker 1: Like what are we trying? Like what are y'all trying
Speaker 1: to achieve? Also, I don't have a fucking Maily address
Speaker 1: because I got evicted, so like I don't know what
Speaker 1: y'all want me to do to an about somewhere. I
Speaker 1: don't have a place. All these things work together well,
Speaker 1: and there there's been that mass movement, uh, in in
Speaker 1: in in art, in music, and in movies and film.
Speaker 1: I mean, and you're and you see, we're not talking
Speaker 1: about the good. We talked about all the bad stuff.
Speaker 1: But there's been a lot of progress for trans people.
Speaker 1: I mean I've been able, Yeah, like I've been able
Speaker 1: to do a bunch of stuff that I wouldn't otherwise
Speaker 1: have been able to do a few years ago. Um
Speaker 1: and even just yeah from the people that everybody knows,
Speaker 1: like your Laverne Cox and all that and all those
Speaker 1: awesome people. But like there's also you know, like the
Speaker 1: Pose uh TV show that came out, which it's hard
Speaker 1: for me to I love that show, but it's so
Speaker 1: hard to watch because it's so um visceral. Like I
Speaker 1: just relate too much to the situations where it was
Speaker 1: like I don't want to be depressed anymore today. But like,
Speaker 1: so you see all those movements happening, and you see
Speaker 1: it happening with the current The people that are politics
Speaker 1: are weird, but the people that are are are in
Speaker 1: charge right now have made some changes that uh that
Speaker 1: corrected some stuff that was there from the previous administration.
Speaker 1: So that's why I was like, I'll take advantage of
Speaker 1: this time, be like, you know, take take what I
Speaker 1: can from what a little bit we're given. Um, but
Speaker 1: that does help a lot. I think ultimately biggots won't
Speaker 1: care just the same way that I mean, cops don't
Speaker 1: care that. I mean, it's its likeable I would random
Speaker 1: citizens care about what they do to people. UM. Right now,
Speaker 1: I think we could eventually get there. And I think
Speaker 1: what you said is like, yeah, you have to have
Speaker 1: a balance of people getting that visibility. And it's cool
Speaker 1: that I mean to bring it back like that's what
Speaker 1: we're doing. Even with to have a trans like fronted band,
Speaker 1: trans women fronted band on a on a posta for
Speaker 1: tours is pretty it just doesn't hasn't happened. Maybe you
Speaker 1: have this taco shop that we own. I think it's
Speaker 1: probably the first trans woman owned taco shop, So I
Speaker 1: think I don't in Minneapolis. I don't know any others.
Speaker 1: So maybe there is at at least, but I mean
Speaker 1: it's rare. But that's the thing because again, like we
Speaker 1: were talking about earlier, marginalized people just don't have access
Speaker 1: to that. And I had a lot of privilege, um,
Speaker 1: based on having a career a little bit of career music,
Speaker 1: but also because my parents, like I wasn't rich or anything.
Speaker 1: We were like a middle class when my dad had
Speaker 1: his green card forever was straight from the Mexican border,
Speaker 1: and my mom was from El Paso too, So it
Speaker 1: was it was weird because they never taught me. They
Speaker 1: never I never felt like all the stuff they're talking
Speaker 1: about now about being marginalized, and I never had that language,
Speaker 1: and I was never brought up like my parents didn't
Speaker 1: talk about that. It was weird. They didn't talk about that.
Speaker 1: I wasn't raised necessarily like that, so I didn't think
Speaker 1: in terms of like, oh, I'm a marginalized person when
Speaker 1: I was younger. Looking back in retrospect, I see all
Speaker 1: these instances where those things happened where I wasn't aware
Speaker 1: of them. Um, but they insulated me in a way
Speaker 1: from a lot of that. And even now they don't
Speaker 1: think like it's really weird. I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's a good thing or a bad thing,
Speaker 1: because even now like a generational divide. I think I
Speaker 1: think it is a generational divide. And they were lucky
Speaker 1: enough to do really well, like my dad just I
Speaker 1: it's just amazing what he did coming from from there
Speaker 1: and just be able to just chill and Phoenix with
Speaker 1: the nice house like it's like it's and again, they
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of money, they're still working, they're
Speaker 1: about to retire. But that gave me the privilege. Are
Speaker 1: a lot of marginalized people that don't have those supports
Speaker 1: um and so like that. That's and I'm ignorant and
Speaker 1: probably have a lot of stuff to work on too
Speaker 1: because of the fact that maybe I'm not as compassionate
Speaker 1: maybe to like other trans people or people of colors.
Speaker 1: So I think it's important to have that awareness too,
Speaker 1: especially if you're gonna be called an activist, Like just
Speaker 1: the thing. It's like it's easy to say something when
Speaker 1: you have this privilege, even as a marginalized person, but
Speaker 1: it's different. I try to hold space for people that
Speaker 1: have different cognitive things going on whatever. It is, like
Speaker 1: we're not all equal, Like some people can't handle things
Speaker 1: and it's not their fault. It's just they've been through trauma,
Speaker 1: they got different mental capacities, and I don't think we should.
Speaker 1: Like That's why it gets hard for me to talk
Speaker 1: about you, because it's like I try to like be
Speaker 1: aware of all these things, and it's it's everyone's different.
Speaker 1: It's there's no blanket answer for how to fix things
Speaker 1: in that way because it's it's all just so complex. Well,
Speaker 1: all we can do is our best at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. Right to the two more things that
Speaker 1: I would say, Um, First of all, what you brought
Speaker 1: up about, like you know, being becoming more compassionate, etcetera.
Speaker 1: And returning to this idea of UH intersectionality and solidarity. Um,
Speaker 1: because like you know, like Mac might understand the experience
Speaker 1: of seeing some Nazis in a bar that you know,
Speaker 1: even though he may have a very different experience than you, Chris,
Speaker 1: in that moment, like yo, like I recko, I recognize
Speaker 1: what that fear might feel like for someone who is
Speaker 1: different than me. Or like because I've been through X
Speaker 1: y Z trauma that is different than someone else's. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: I've never like I don't know, like been in a
Speaker 1: horrific house fire, but like I have like lost loved
Speaker 1: ones and been then other things. So I can see you.
Speaker 1: I can see the kind of struggle that you have,
Speaker 1: even though the things we've been through are different. So like,
Speaker 1: even if I don't know I don't understand a lot
Speaker 1: about someone's experience, I can understand the emotions underneath of
Speaker 1: like how much it hurts when we when we get
Speaker 1: these anti trans bills and like we have all this
Speaker 1: crazy stuff happening. Like I'm like man, as someone that
Speaker 1: has experienced marginalization of different kinds. I see, I see, y'all.
Speaker 1: I know a little bit of how that feels. And
Speaker 1: so I feel like that's a powerful root of solidarity,
Speaker 1: even if in a way to expand our compassion, even
Speaker 1: if we don't all the time understand everything about somebody
Speaker 1: else is going through. And then a last word on
Speaker 1: like what can we do? Um? I do think that,
Speaker 1: you know, folks who are safe or comfortable enough in
Speaker 1: their lives where they can do so need to like
Speaker 1: this this might sound we have like people everybody needs
Speaker 1: to come out like because that is like a powerful
Speaker 1: form of resistance of saying like, oh, y'all gonna say
Speaker 1: like my identity is like pretty much illegalble fuck you
Speaker 1: my pronouncer, they them and suck my dick good night, um,
Speaker 1: and like really still like, you know, because this societal
Speaker 1: pressure is even for like folks that are otherwise comfortable
Speaker 1: to like fit in or that. I was like, No,
Speaker 1: now is the time to like really lean into who
Speaker 1: you are to like, show folks you're not afraid to
Speaker 1: model for younger people who are especially getting marginalized with
Speaker 1: these like bills against you know, young folks getting people. Yeah,
Speaker 1: targeting like gender firming care for like young folks, Like
Speaker 1: I hate that, like oh that whole like oh it
Speaker 1: gets better campaign bullshit, But like really like show folks
Speaker 1: like yo, you can thrive, like you can throve out here,
Speaker 1: like there is hope and there is a future by
Speaker 1: like modeling that for people. So I just want to
Speaker 1: give props to you, Chris for being out here, being
Speaker 1: a fucking role model for the people just living. Just
Speaker 1: be in dope as hell. So key to our listeners
Speaker 1: where they can find you. Oh, noise wrap dot com
Speaker 1: because we own noise wrap dot com. And that's not
Speaker 1: the impressive part that God can started. Yeah, see that's
Speaker 1: to us another two hours of trying to tell people
Speaker 1: I don't know again just to set the record straight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's this dialect. Of course, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know dialect. Dialect is this hip hop and so they're
Speaker 1: what I consider the first real people to put noise
Speaker 1: and wrapped together. So that's cool. We already we've we
Speaker 1: tour with them. It's cool, um, but uh we we
Speaker 1: were the ones doing the new era noise wrap stuff,
Speaker 1: which was and it's totally different. Go listen to Dialect
Speaker 1: and then go listen to Death Grips and go listen
Speaker 1: when you black and then tell me that it's the same.
Speaker 1: Please tell me it'sn't the same to my face when
Speaker 1: I'm you know. But anyway, Yeah, so they could find
Speaker 1: us a noise Wrap dot com. You can find us
Speaker 1: m O O D I E. Black. Oh. And speaking
Speaker 1: of those pronouns, pronouns are she That's the other reason
Speaker 1: why podcast tripped me out dout too, because it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, like when I'm wrapping, let's go on with
Speaker 1: the let's go on with the rap voice, let's do
Speaker 1: this and let's wrap. But after that, it's like, God,
Speaker 1: damn it, why is my voice so damn deep? It's
Speaker 1: the most conflicting thing in the world. Well, speaking of rap,
Speaker 1: we are going to close this show up the way
Speaker 1: that we do every week, Mara, are you ready to
Speaker 1: spit some bars? Let's go a Joe drop a beat.
Speaker 1: I know bigotry, like it's part of my hand. They
Speaker 1: wanted you to think trans with the silence and lambs.
Speaker 1: My niggas called that a scam. It was part of
Speaker 1: their plan. They want to force you out the closet
Speaker 1: because they close the clan. Now we call that projection
Speaker 1: all that ness. So just to compensate for what they
Speaker 1: call that erection, conservative GOP nationalist Nazis say the same ship,
Speaker 1: like the pamphlet is copied and blaming the senders, your
Speaker 1: fake and pretenders. I'm cool with no one who use
Speaker 1: the phrase gay agenda that goes for the hotels. I'm
Speaker 1: doping a flow. Best shout out to the Ukraine. Our
Speaker 1: open ain't hopeless. I'm sorry and who are you? I
Speaker 1: don't know, but we're gone and we're done. We're done.
Speaker 1: We'll see you all next week. Listen to Waiting on
Speaker 1: Reparations on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts