Speaker 1: La laughing with If you watch Coffee Time to Baby,
Speaker 1: you know the name Flame, my role also known as
Speaker 1: my role Flame. Come in with last and come in
Speaker 1: with JN love lounds. Baby. You better catch it when
Speaker 1: you can't drop a knowledge from fatherhood to politics, shouting
Speaker 1: now comics, just paying homics. What's up? Tip? Yeah? You know?
Speaker 1: She ray shot towns on seeking to the grown. A second.
Speaker 1: We're gonna last cut of the kicking and at the
Speaker 1: end we leave it, which is a lift disperence. You
Speaker 1: think you want to revisit, So your first take a
Speaker 1: list of your folks, say it slip old folks that
Speaker 1: we take it. Hey, no kiss, do what you do,
Speaker 1: nokish do what you do, can't no fish do what
Speaker 1: I do? No. Good afternoon, Lord Hogan, good morning, good afternoon,
Speaker 1: good evening. Wherever you at, come on, come on, come on,
Speaker 1: come on and come on. We're ready for y'all right
Speaker 1: here on the show. Welcome to laugh and learning. Yes,
Speaker 1: and today, thank you. I only get pretty for you.
Speaker 1: It's a pandemic. So you know, no makeup has been
Speaker 1: a thing. Oh well, makeup, no draws, no brawlies, all
Speaker 1: that exactly exactly. We were welcome you guys to laugh
Speaker 1: and learn today. We have a very special guest coming
Speaker 1: in later, but I want to talk to you. How
Speaker 1: was your week? My week was good, actually, and I
Speaker 1: ended it with you, or I began my week rather
Speaker 1: with you, because we were together for what fourteen hours yesterday?
Speaker 1: My god, we had a beautiful video shoot yesterday for
Speaker 1: the h h F, which is a Health Care Foundation
Speaker 1: parody video for condoms. It was raining condoms on my head. Literally,
Speaker 1: I was in I was in high heels. It was
Speaker 1: a twelve hour day. I was in high heels for
Speaker 1: ten hours with six hour legs. Let me just tell
Speaker 1: y'all that the bitches in pain right now. I told
Speaker 1: you not to wear them shoes the whole day. It
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna work out. You won't listen to me. I've
Speaker 1: never been on stage in flat so I'm a real girl.
Speaker 1: Well I know you said that, but still I knew.
Speaker 1: I knew it was gonna be a problem. Well that's
Speaker 1: not why I failed. I failed because I was so
Speaker 1: into my committed trying to remember the words, and I
Speaker 1: didn't count the steps. And once they I say, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I'm still here. You're playing bad Trady down old
Speaker 1: trading down down and you said, where's my life alert
Speaker 1: when I needed that was a highlight for sure. It
Speaker 1: was a great time we had. I had a great time.
Speaker 1: We gotta finish it today. So immediately following this show,
Speaker 1: we're going to another set to but look who's look
Speaker 1: who's joining us right now? We got to bring this
Speaker 1: player in. Yes, indeed he is a part of this
Speaker 1: laugh and learned trio. He she we all three, y'all
Speaker 1: full fail y'all twelve, y'all you look fabulous. Yes, you
Speaker 1: have the right. It's a one. It is fabulous. I
Speaker 1: can see your short though, we see your draws both. Yes, God,
Speaker 1: we got it quick, We got it quick. Yes, now
Speaker 1: now we're good. Your son is on here with no
Speaker 1: no pants on. I'm just telling you. I know You're
Speaker 1: raised him better than that too. I know, Hugh, I
Speaker 1: know him. I'm trying to wasn't because I was afraid.
Speaker 1: Flame was like, get up off me, you know, So
Speaker 1: I was trying to make sure I had that right.
Speaker 1: This is a perfect This person is a shout out
Speaker 1: to our photographer Kendall, who was on the camera for
Speaker 1: those people at home here and I worked through this
Speaker 1: last week He's like, uh, Nick, you know you're right
Speaker 1: up on me right. I'm like, I'm trying to figure
Speaker 1: this out. So we've been working on it. So yeah, hello,
Speaker 1: Mr Smith. That ladies young welcome Nick Smith, who was
Speaker 1: a part of this Laugh and Learned production. He's the
Speaker 1: heat and the he she weed and here's the she
Speaker 1: and you know, of course I'm the weed. But we
Speaker 1: are so glad that you joined us this morning. Nick.
Speaker 1: How was your week? My week was good until events.
Speaker 1: You know, honestly, Uh, last week they kind of had
Speaker 1: me a little bit shook, like everybody else. Hold on,
Speaker 1: so let me put on Matt, because we've seen very
Speaker 1: Let me tell something. As much as happened in this
Speaker 1: country last week, I saw things. I saw the glass
Speaker 1: half full because we won in Georgia. Let me put
Speaker 1: my blue glasses on. I don't know what was happening
Speaker 1: nowhere else. But while they was losing, we were winning,
Speaker 1: and we won both seats. Enjoy as up and wore
Speaker 1: hats out, weig off all that, panties off the tape,
Speaker 1: all that. But we want so what what was happening
Speaker 1: on your side of the world? You know what? I
Speaker 1: just feel like, I feel like Georgia and the work
Speaker 1: of Stacy Abrams and all the other groups on the
Speaker 1: ground and Georgia Less. Let's not forget about Fair Fight
Speaker 1: and how they really just mobilized voters, because one of
Speaker 1: the studies I read Flame talking specifically about the Georgia
Speaker 1: runoff election Senate runoff election is that as many as
Speaker 1: ninety thousand new voters came out who did not participate
Speaker 1: in November. So Flame, Lauren, when I look at that,
Speaker 1: that lets us know that there is still a need
Speaker 1: to get people engaged in the civic process. For some reason,
Speaker 1: people chose to not vote in November, but said, you
Speaker 1: know what, Wow, it really matters now for me to
Speaker 1: vote in this runoff election. Yeah. And I want to
Speaker 1: say shout out to Hannah Invesper specifically, because they really
Speaker 1: also helped us understand what was going on in the
Speaker 1: ground on the ground. I'm sorry, excuse me, and Hannah
Speaker 1: specifically said there's a lot of people, you know, black
Speaker 1: folks that didn't want to come out and vote. So
Speaker 1: thanks Hannah, thanks Vesper for helping us understand that more
Speaker 1: and bring you know, some more ears to the conversation.
Speaker 1: We greatly appreciate that and you remember, they also let
Speaker 1: us know about different ways to get people to the
Speaker 1: polls who might need a ride, and things like that.
Speaker 1: All these things help to get people who might be
Speaker 1: in rural communities or have mobility issues to the polls.
Speaker 1: Whatever it took, it seemed to work because Georgia elected
Speaker 1: both Democrats to to the Senate. More importantly, it's first
Speaker 1: black senator. Its first black senator, okay, in the history
Speaker 1: of this country. And and he's single, and he's a preacher,
Speaker 1: and you know those preachers be a little kinky. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, ladies, if you're up for the challenge. He
Speaker 1: got some big old hands too, and a great, big
Speaker 1: old nose, I'm just saying, and single, you know, playing
Speaker 1: he did the work too, and he kept it elevated. Um.
Speaker 1: And again we can refer to Vesper and Hannah on this,
Speaker 1: who were just two of the people in Georgia. I
Speaker 1: actually see it in real time. But you understand, I'm
Speaker 1: since reading so many things after the fact where Leffler
Speaker 1: uh purposely ran ads where he was a little bit
Speaker 1: darker than he actually is. Uh Uh, not saying it overtly,
Speaker 1: but you know what that's supposed to suggest. Uh that
Speaker 1: he was a little bit darker. She ran ads where
Speaker 1: they purposely took pieces of his sermon out of context,
Speaker 1: piecing it together to purposely try to divide that it
Speaker 1: was a super negative campaign ran by miss Leffler in
Speaker 1: this race against Mr Warnock. And I want to add
Speaker 1: to that too. She even took it a step further
Speaker 1: to attack her team that she is a co owner
Speaker 1: for for the NBA. I'm sorry the w n B
Speaker 1: A and I watched that last night and they the
Speaker 1: players were so offended that they said, you know it, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're going to specifically endorse Warnock. So they've wore those
Speaker 1: T shirts that said vote Warnock on them and um
Speaker 1: one of I don't remember the exact team, but they're
Speaker 1: in Seattle, and uh so shout out to the w
Speaker 1: n b A two for being at the forefront of
Speaker 1: this entire movement. Really, when it came to the Black
Speaker 1: Lives Matters protest, they were always at the forefront before
Speaker 1: the NBA even came on board. And then I watched
Speaker 1: with team war knocked right, Oh that was gangster. I
Speaker 1: didn't because I was not listening, but the TV was on,
Speaker 1: so I saw them was and that. When you said that,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, that was I need that team. I know,
Speaker 1: I got me one stood on their haboo. But you
Speaker 1: know what, this goes back to what you and I
Speaker 1: have talked about so many times. What do we do
Speaker 1: to get more people engaged in the process, you know,
Speaker 1: because clearly that's the secret. Well, I guess today is
Speaker 1: definitely gonna answer some answers with us on that question,
Speaker 1: because also he was on the ground down there. Common
Speaker 1: was down there doing concerts, They were doing door to
Speaker 1: door knocks. They were having not telethons, but they were
Speaker 1: really getting the message out because when you're familiar with
Speaker 1: something and it looks like you, it makes it easier
Speaker 1: for you to intake. So Common looked like a lot
Speaker 1: of them young brothers down there. He could speak to
Speaker 1: them on their level as the way if it was
Speaker 1: me down there, you know, they might not look at
Speaker 1: me the same because I don't look like them, even
Speaker 1: though the message is pretty much the same. So he's
Speaker 1: gonna come on and tell us that because I was
Speaker 1: telling Lauren Lawan is HBCU law and graduating from Spellman,
Speaker 1: we need more black and brown people not running to
Speaker 1: the post to vote, but we need us to be
Speaker 1: in the in the positions to be voted for. We
Speaker 1: need more statesmen, more government, and they have to get
Speaker 1: these kids young. They gotta get these kids in college
Speaker 1: before they get their records blemish, because I little Jack
Speaker 1: Jack can make a mistake at the age of nineteen,
Speaker 1: but his family is so politically connected or connected to
Speaker 1: the laws and the government that they can expunge his
Speaker 1: record and it disappears. As to where a little tron
Speaker 1: gets into the exact same situation, but his record haunts
Speaker 1: him for the rest of his life where he can't
Speaker 1: run for government. We need to make those changes. That's
Speaker 1: where we gotta start at. But they got to get
Speaker 1: these kids in college. They gotta get these kids young.
Speaker 1: And I think that goes to us talking about reform
Speaker 1: in general. You know, it just can't be. It has
Speaker 1: to start at the local level, because we can't start
Speaker 1: from the top and then expect things to trickle down.
Speaker 1: We see in so many instances where that ideology just
Speaker 1: doesn't work. So two flames point and to even some
Speaker 1: things that you have said as well. Nick. You know,
Speaker 1: we need to get you know, police reform. You know,
Speaker 1: we need to elect the appropriate officials so that way
Speaker 1: they can in essence pave the way for the younger
Speaker 1: generation to have opportunities to be in these spaces to
Speaker 1: create the much needed change that we need in America.
Speaker 1: You know, we've talked about that, even in the areas
Speaker 1: of defund you know, and I know that defunds for
Speaker 1: so many people can have this negative connotation, but you know,
Speaker 1: we've talked about this, and we have no problem when
Speaker 1: we talk about defunding education. We have no problem when
Speaker 1: we talked about defunding health care UM, and we know
Speaker 1: what those things mean, but we never get the pushback
Speaker 1: on that, and we saw what lack of defunding can do.
Speaker 1: An example, on Wednesday, I called you flame because I
Speaker 1: was just visibly upset. I was I was bothered by
Speaker 1: what I was saying as a veteran UM, as a
Speaker 1: black man, as someone who really does know no other
Speaker 1: place but this country as my home. I was offended
Speaker 1: because that's not part of the deals that I hold true. UM,
Speaker 1: that is not how I want to see things resolved
Speaker 1: when you disagree with the outcome of an election. I
Speaker 1: don't know anyone who was not disappointed in my circle
Speaker 1: in when Hillary Clinton was not elected President, I don't
Speaker 1: remember anyone in my circle taking to the nation's capital
Speaker 1: to demonstrate that way. I don't remember anyone in my
Speaker 1: circle after Charlottesville doing that, after we watched our President
Speaker 1: of the United States stand back and say they were
Speaker 1: good people on both sides, when we watched them carry
Speaker 1: pitchforks screaming Jews will not replace us walking with nooses,
Speaker 1: which only have one connotation, as far as I know
Speaker 1: in my limited view of things, and I'll admit that.
Speaker 1: So when they show up the nation's capital this past
Speaker 1: Wednesday with a news hang Mike Pence, you may have
Speaker 1: been screaming Mike Pence, but if you don't know what
Speaker 1: that imagery relates and says to people who look like
Speaker 1: me and who know the history of my community, I
Speaker 1: can't help but be offended and feel neglected and dejected.
Speaker 1: I political officials and those who are elected who will
Speaker 1: not step in and say this is unacceptable. Well, I
Speaker 1: think that's the main thing. They knew what it meant.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a matter of ignorance. That was intentional. You know.
Speaker 1: That's what when people say, oh my god, this is
Speaker 1: not America in flame, you know you've said this too.
Speaker 1: And I completely agree with you when people say things
Speaker 1: like this is not America, This is exactly what America is.
Speaker 1: This is how this country was built in essence, you know,
Speaker 1: we had these Europeans come over here that we had
Speaker 1: indigenous folks already here. Not only did they, you know,
Speaker 1: indigenous folks, they taught these Europeans how to cultivate, how
Speaker 1: to survive, how to be in this space. And what
Speaker 1: did you do? You raped, your murdered and you killed them.
Speaker 1: And you know, you guys were escaping you know, religious
Speaker 1: you know, persecution, but you did the same thing when
Speaker 1: you got here. And then when you realize it on
Speaker 1: your own accord, you could maintain what you stole. You
Speaker 1: went back and got black folks from Africa to be slaves.
Speaker 1: That's how you built this country. You know, this country
Speaker 1: was built on you know, revolutions, insurrections, That's how this
Speaker 1: was built. So that's all that these people know to do.
Speaker 1: And now we're seeing it in a broader space nets
Speaker 1: on social media, and we have, you know, these platforms
Speaker 1: where we can actually visually see what's going on. They
Speaker 1: can't hide anymore, and people are like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm outraged, this is what's been happening. This is nothing
Speaker 1: new at all. And Lauren just to piggyback on that.
Speaker 1: And I guess the thing that bothered me probably more
Speaker 1: than anything, out of just an array of images that
Speaker 1: were disturbing. I'm watching the men and women in blue
Speaker 1: whom we're told, you know, listen, all lives matter, Blue
Speaker 1: lives matter, Black lives matter. Okay. I watched many of
Speaker 1: these men in blue stand back and literally pull barricades back,
Speaker 1: open doors, let these marauders, these rioters, these insurrectionists into
Speaker 1: the building, like, uh, well, look Pelosi's office down that way,
Speaker 1: like you know what I'm saying that they're like, uh, this,
Speaker 1: this was antithetical to everything that we were supposed to believe.
Speaker 1: That if the ideas that we're all one, I did
Speaker 1: not see that demonstrated. Lesson changed the name. Boo changed
Speaker 1: the name. Why are they marauders and insurgeons? And you
Speaker 1: know they were thugs and gangsters and ghetto just like
Speaker 1: they would have called us. We're gonna flip the coin,
Speaker 1: flip the gap, damn coin flame. The difference in this situation,
Speaker 1: the reason why they need to be called marauders and insurrectionists,
Speaker 1: is because this particular act moved against. There is a
Speaker 1: term for those who do this against the state and
Speaker 1: the nation and laws, and that's insurrections, and that is
Speaker 1: a federal offense. Let me say, well, use that for
Speaker 1: use that for the crime. But let me tell y'all something.
Speaker 1: Why everybody else is watching that? Like you said, you
Speaker 1: were offended, and I was. I was not offended. I
Speaker 1: didn't give a fuck. Let me tell you the truth.
Speaker 1: I didn't give a fuck. Not that that somebody got hurt,
Speaker 1: but if that would have been Black Lives Matter moving
Speaker 1: in like that to not even get to the stairs,
Speaker 1: they would have murdered and slow everybody out there. It
Speaker 1: would have been dead bodies everywhere. It looked like when
Speaker 1: you take this vaccine, because after they take it back
Speaker 1: and give it about a year, all y'all gonna be
Speaker 1: laid out. I see what the funk I said. I said,
Speaker 1: if you don't like it, I don't give hell dr
Speaker 1: fault you called me nick, I'm bigger, you come on,
Speaker 1: bring it any who. I it was so and I'm
Speaker 1: telling you I didn't celebrate it because the loss of
Speaker 1: life is a loss of life. That was somebody's mother
Speaker 1: brother's son, uncle, what have you? But the police for
Speaker 1: them in real time to take photographs with these people,
Speaker 1: for them too. They always said that they feel threatened
Speaker 1: by a black man walking to the car shooting him
Speaker 1: in the back seven times with no weapon. And y'all
Speaker 1: had on riot gear, bulletproof vest, you had guns. But
Speaker 1: I watched the police physically run up the stairs from
Speaker 1: the mob. You had a gun, you could have shot
Speaker 1: everything down, but they didn't because if that hadn't been uncing,
Speaker 1: they had to pulled me over at a stoplight to
Speaker 1: say that I didn't make an illegal signal. They would
Speaker 1: they would have shot me down and it would have
Speaker 1: been on videotape and they would have gat away with it. Oh.
Speaker 1: I'm not speaking personal about Jake Obama. Oh, I'm just saying, uh,
Speaker 1: I didn't care. And I don't mean that in a
Speaker 1: negative way, because I love when people always holler that's
Speaker 1: not what America is, that's not we that we've been
Speaker 1: screaming that, and they say black people we overly sensitive.
Speaker 1: We crab, baby, it's always about black people. You all
Speaker 1: feel entitled because you were slaves. We've been telling y'all
Speaker 1: for four hundred plus years that that who that's who
Speaker 1: America was. God damage and the whole world has seen
Speaker 1: who America was, and we had shipped to do with that.
Speaker 1: Not we wasn't even we was in Georgia voting celebrating
Speaker 1: what I blew on looking book. Yes, even in that
Speaker 1: there were those who had their lives threatened on Wednesday
Speaker 1: and still voted to question the legitimacy of the election.
Speaker 1: And this is where you just have to say, Ted Crews,
Speaker 1: what are you thinking? You know who, hollywool you know?
Speaker 1: Uh flame, I'm going to throw out there. One of
Speaker 1: our favorite quotes Jay is Baldwin Um, When a white
Speaker 1: man in the world says, give me liberty or give
Speaker 1: me death, the white world applause. When a black man
Speaker 1: says the same thing, he's judged a criminal, and everything
Speaker 1: possible is done to make an example of him, and
Speaker 1: this bad so there won't be anymore like him, say Lord,
Speaker 1: saying because I can't say it, say it Lord, because
Speaker 1: of what if I said, black man as a black
Speaker 1: man Andre but tittis, give me liberty and give me
Speaker 1: death or what color you want your casket? Yeah. I
Speaker 1: just think the level of hypocrisy here overall is just
Speaker 1: something that one is an embarrassment for them, but it's
Speaker 1: also it's laughable because you these the same group, these
Speaker 1: Trump supporters, were the same ones to say, how dare
Speaker 1: you say defund the police? That's disrespectful in Blue Lives Matter,
Speaker 1: But y'all are the same one that we're beating up officers,
Speaker 1: stomping them to death on the steps of the Capitol.
Speaker 1: It's and to your point, the sayings they're not universal.
Speaker 1: They conveniently fit narratives. You know, they give me liberty,
Speaker 1: give me death. You know, I had a friend I
Speaker 1: sent you guys a video. She made a statement that
Speaker 1: in the Bible it says, you know, the first shall
Speaker 1: be last and the last I'll be first. These sayings
Speaker 1: are conveniently, you know, spoken, but they they're not accurate
Speaker 1: because as soon as these things start to happen, everybody's
Speaker 1: in the uproar. You know, we like you guys have said,
Speaker 1: there was four hundred years of you know, us being suppressed,
Speaker 1: and now that we are actually learning the system and
Speaker 1: using the same system that was built to oppress us,
Speaker 1: but we're using it to our advantage. Oh, people are
Speaker 1: upset and they're going to continue to be upset because
Speaker 1: guess what, we understand the game now. We're playing it accordingly,
Speaker 1: and you may have built it, but we're playing it
Speaker 1: better than you. And this is exactly why I want
Speaker 1: to continue, because I know we've got common coming up
Speaker 1: today and I'm super excited about that. To talk to
Speaker 1: him about Georgia, because in all of this, Georgia was
Speaker 1: a success for those who are on the ground, and
Speaker 1: I don't want that lost in this process. There's a
Speaker 1: lot to be said for Raphael Warnock and John Assoff
Speaker 1: and all that was accomplished with that. So I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that those who are on the ground
Speaker 1: get their due diligence. All right, let's give this conversation
Speaker 1: a break and listen to a few quick ads. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back. Is my boy don't here yet? That is,
Speaker 1: Lady and gentlemen, please welcome to this show. I show
Speaker 1: laugh and learn the Emmy Award winning, Grammy Award winning,
Speaker 1: Oscar Award winning. But then they didn't called me from
Speaker 1: the job yet, Producer director all that Hi comment, Hey, Laura,
Speaker 1: what's up? Hi? How are you you gott You gotta
Speaker 1: speak to Nick too, even though he's not right here,
Speaker 1: He's still Nick. I just heard Nick talking. Man, I mean,
Speaker 1: you'll have some real strong conversations. Sorry, don't be trying
Speaker 1: to give us no flash. I was dating work, trying
Speaker 1: to get you'all a little quick little flash. Tell her.
Speaker 1: I don't want me looking at that. I don't want
Speaker 1: my boss to find me typically my boss. Don't be
Speaker 1: funking with my change coming. Let me STI the first
Speaker 1: stop by saying thank you, I appreciate you doing this player,
Speaker 1: and then you know me and you go, wait, look,
Speaker 1: we go way back for at least about a year
Speaker 1: and a half. Uh, let me tell you what happened
Speaker 1: when I met coming through Tiffy of course, and uh,
Speaker 1: we were just playing cards. Now the nigga came playing
Speaker 1: on space. He from Chicago anyhood. But but you know
Speaker 1: what I respected about common common accepting me for just
Speaker 1: how I was this mouth. Sometimes I'm in drag, sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm still what's up? He she we whatever,
Speaker 1: and never look look past whatever I was to have
Speaker 1: just a regular conversation. Mean, you're a good dude for
Speaker 1: that one, but you still ain't put me on the shot.
Speaker 1: But we're talking about that as the show Shameless Plugs
Speaker 1: shameless plugs, flame, I got, I got love for your heartest,
Speaker 1: your hardest, white count and we connect like we just
Speaker 1: connected automatically. I don't you know, that's Chicago, Chicago. It's Chicago.
Speaker 1: We you know, we're welcoming. Like and even when my
Speaker 1: when my homies met you, I felt it was an
Speaker 1: advancement for them, like because you know, we grew up
Speaker 1: on the South Side, you know in certain ways. And
Speaker 1: when my friends met you, they was like flame, cool
Speaker 1: as hell, You're flame, went to CBS like I did,
Speaker 1: like and it just was like a breakthrough, you know,
Speaker 1: and I for some of my friends and I felt
Speaker 1: good about that. But anyway, it was it was natural
Speaker 1: for me to love you, your your actions towards me
Speaker 1: and that statement that you just made somebody out there
Speaker 1: who's unshow up how they feel about somebody because they
Speaker 1: look you just changed their man and their heart because
Speaker 1: you're a real nigger. I appreciate you coming. I do,
Speaker 1: and they and he gave me a birthday party for
Speaker 1: my birthday last year and the food was so good.
Speaker 1: I was introduced to jack fruit at you, but I
Speaker 1: had never had that before. I know that jack fruit.
Speaker 1: She hooked it up we gotta shout out Chef of Mirror.
Speaker 1: She did a great job with the jack fruit and
Speaker 1: your whole birthday that was fun. Like the kids was here,
Speaker 1: my daughter was here, Tiffany, all of us. Man, we
Speaker 1: celebrated you, and I felt I felt good. Man. It's
Speaker 1: like all that was going on in the year, we
Speaker 1: just was able to share love and just be able
Speaker 1: to celebrate you. So I'm happy we had that time.
Speaker 1: Thank you coming and my son. Your whatever conversation you
Speaker 1: had with my son on the side on the load,
Speaker 1: you changed my son. Stop process. My son is gonna
Speaker 1: be a great man. Possibly in spite of the words,
Speaker 1: because of the words that you see now, because I
Speaker 1: say some of that stuff too, But I guess coming
Speaker 1: from me, it don't mean the same thing. It's different.
Speaker 1: I don't want no awards or nothing, you know. Let
Speaker 1: me tell you this. My daughter don't be actually listening
Speaker 1: to everything I saved, you know something, She's like, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1: But when she get in trouble, like she just had
Speaker 1: an incident with a Karen Um yesterday and she was
Speaker 1: like going through it, she hit me up on because
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a real niggative. You know, I'm a
Speaker 1: real cat for so I'm gonna give her a real
Speaker 1: and she you know, she was able to take that.
Speaker 1: So you know how it is. Parents ain't always listen
Speaker 1: to us. But I'm glad we got the village. That's
Speaker 1: why we got the village. I appreciate you, but we
Speaker 1: were we were gonna go to Georgia right now. So
Speaker 1: you've been there, You was in it common, you was
Speaker 1: in the battlefield. We want to know what it was
Speaker 1: like because some of your stories might not have made
Speaker 1: CNN or TMZ, some of the things that you experienced
Speaker 1: down there on the ground that we want to know
Speaker 1: what that was like to tell us, well, I thought,
Speaker 1: I mean when I first got to Georgia, it was
Speaker 1: it was powerful because we went to the to this
Speaker 1: restaurant um called Slutty Vegan, and uh and John Alstoff
Speaker 1: and Reverend Warnock was there and we were I sat
Speaker 1: down and met with them and and the and the
Speaker 1: owner of Slutty Vegan, a black woman, and we all
Speaker 1: had a talk and then we went out and talked
Speaker 1: about people. And then I mean we went talked to
Speaker 1: the to the press and stuff, and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: this is America. This is what America's post like look
Speaker 1: like this black woman on this spot we're here, Like
Speaker 1: John also was cool. He understands apply to black people.
Speaker 1: You know, a white kid it Reverend war knock Is
Speaker 1: is an old Southern, young Southern brother that got Southern traditions,
Speaker 1: and they all looking for positions and in government and
Speaker 1: looking to do things in the community. I was moved
Speaker 1: by Georgia. And then I met people who who, like
Speaker 1: what was so educated on what voting was like in
Speaker 1: the hoods of Georgia. And we you know, we went
Speaker 1: eventually to Augusta. We went to to who's their mayor
Speaker 1: was super cool. We went to Savannah men with black
Speaker 1: business people. Georgia, Man, it moved me. And I was
Speaker 1: actually in Georgia feeling a movie the night that the
Speaker 1: day that Biden and Kamala Harris won and man, it
Speaker 1: was like man, Georgia was celebrating man and it was
Speaker 1: it felt so good. I felt like the world was
Speaker 1: changing that day, Like that night, I felt the change
Speaker 1: in the ship and to be in Georgia at that time,
Speaker 1: and I want to shout out, you know, I was
Speaker 1: a part of this this thing. But you know, obviously
Speaker 1: the stacy Abrams and and people like Killer Mike and
Speaker 1: Ts and people on the ground of the Keisha Lands
Speaker 1: Bottoms and the people on the ground Black Pack. They've
Speaker 1: been doing that work in Georgia for a long time,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to, you know, kind of perceive
Speaker 1: that like we know they they've been doing the work.
Speaker 1: I just kind of came in and did my part
Speaker 1: where I could. Well. I think first and foremost we
Speaker 1: should say thank you for doing your part, because you
Speaker 1: don't have to do it. It's not an obligation, it's
Speaker 1: something that you decided to do. But I'm also want
Speaker 1: to know how did Vote Georgia really come into play,
Speaker 1: Like what was the thought? Well, how did it? What
Speaker 1: was the inception of it? Just so our viewers know, Well,
Speaker 1: it started with this this like earlier last year, me
Speaker 1: and my team Tama Brown, couple of my team that
Speaker 1: we do social justice work, We were like, we gotta
Speaker 1: do something for this election. So we created something called
Speaker 1: Urgency and it was me and Alicia Keys and and
Speaker 1: offset from from from me goes. We all like we're
Speaker 1: doing certain things and around the election. But even everything
Speaker 1: went out there in the public, it was like some
Speaker 1: things just behind the scenes. So we eventually teamed up
Speaker 1: with this group, this group called P sixty eight, and
Speaker 1: we started and we went on a camp. We went campaign,
Speaker 1: and not only in Georgia. We went through Canvason and
Speaker 1: and and meeting candidates and encouraging people to vote. Through Florida,
Speaker 1: we went through North Carolina. We went to South Carolina,
Speaker 1: um and so that was part of We went to
Speaker 1: Georgia too. Now, eventually, once we won with UH and
Speaker 1: I say we because I never subscribed to a to
Speaker 1: an actual political party. I've never been like yo, I'm
Speaker 1: a Democrat. I'm a I just try to support good people.
Speaker 1: I support people I think are gonna do right by
Speaker 1: our people and do right by the people. So and
Speaker 1: I and I do my research, and my research is
Speaker 1: usually in the face, sitting there talking and before our
Speaker 1: preface and get all the information about somebody I like
Speaker 1: being in the presidence if I can. So I did
Speaker 1: my research, and I went out and supported the candidates
Speaker 1: I supported. Once I said we won, that means the
Speaker 1: people who I felt like had our vision in mind,
Speaker 1: the Joe Biden's, Kamala Harris's, the Rapier WARNOCKX and and
Speaker 1: and those of such. We we ended up doing more.
Speaker 1: We we said, Georgia still has Georgia was still up
Speaker 1: for the Senate thing for the you know, for the
Speaker 1: Senate race. It was a Senate battle. It was a runoff.
Speaker 1: And what I didn't know back when Obama was in office,
Speaker 1: but you all probably knew, was flame. You are very
Speaker 1: intelligent when it comes to this stuff. And Lauren, I
Speaker 1: would assume you might have known too, But I didn't
Speaker 1: know that was that Obama couldn't get a lot of
Speaker 1: things done because the Senate was blocking, because the House
Speaker 1: is blocking. I wasn't even not educated when Obama was
Speaker 1: in office. But let side noticed, we gotta acknowledge. The
Speaker 1: fact that this this guy was in office really catapulted
Speaker 1: a lot of us to educate ourselves even more politically
Speaker 1: the fact that Donald Trump was in office, I have
Speaker 1: to say that. But anyway, that being said, I realized
Speaker 1: that we had to have the Senate. We had to
Speaker 1: have the Senate. So the the things that that Joe
Speaker 1: Biden is talking about and Kamala Harris when they say
Speaker 1: they want to want criminal justice reform, when they say
Speaker 1: they want to like take care of student loans, where
Speaker 1: they say they want to get health care for them
Speaker 1: to get some of those things done in us to
Speaker 1: see the system at work, you gotta have the Senate
Speaker 1: in the in the House in place, so now they
Speaker 1: can do it, and now we can hold them accountable
Speaker 1: for real. And you will know I just noted. I
Speaker 1: wasn't just out there canvas and campaign and speaking up.
Speaker 1: I will be at their deaths when I can, and
Speaker 1: and all of these politicians deaths on their phone saying hey,
Speaker 1: what are we doing bringing the people and the community
Speaker 1: workers to them? And what that what's gonna happen is
Speaker 1: we're gonna be able to see some real change. Y'all
Speaker 1: know it. I think more people are starting to be
Speaker 1: aware of it, and I feel inspired by it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: come and let me ask you a questions. So what
Speaker 1: do you think because you were there and you resonate
Speaker 1: with the young and the old, because of through your
Speaker 1: music and through your acting and the way you talk.
Speaker 1: I've seen you talked to young men on different platforms.
Speaker 1: You talked to them very real. That's Chicago for real.
Speaker 1: If y'all know about Chicago, we were people from Chicago.
Speaker 1: We talked plenty ship but we get the job done.
Speaker 1: But what do you think can we can do to
Speaker 1: get more young people, not just to the post, but
Speaker 1: involved in government whether they're young, Because I made a
Speaker 1: point earlier about if you're from a prestigious family, white
Speaker 1: and you in nineteen years old and you get in
Speaker 1: some trouble, they can make your ship disappear, they can
Speaker 1: explode your record. But if you're a black kid and
Speaker 1: you're in the same situation, it haunts you for the
Speaker 1: rest of your life. What can you do or we
Speaker 1: do as a as a community to get more young
Speaker 1: people before they get blemishes on their record involved in government.
Speaker 1: So not only are we at the post voting in droves,
Speaker 1: but we're voting for us in droves. Well, that's a
Speaker 1: great question. I think that Um, a lot of that
Speaker 1: flame is us educating nine young people and saying having
Speaker 1: those talks like let's take off set for example, off
Speaker 1: set from Meg He didn't know he could vote because
Speaker 1: he had been he got it, he got put in
Speaker 1: jail for a second. Is that Cordie's more for her
Speaker 1: husband yesterday? Oh? Well, he know he could vote us.
Speaker 1: He was caught up in that walk. Anybody, come on,
Speaker 1: you know something about that player, you know something about
Speaker 1: that Hey, hey, hey, I'll definitely be caught up in
Speaker 1: land Land. It is a beautiful place. But let me say,
Speaker 1: you know, I was like he was young. He is young,
Speaker 1: and and he was like, man, he didn't know he
Speaker 1: could vote, so like his mother told him. His mother
Speaker 1: is very intelligent woman who was really telling him, like,
Speaker 1: you could vote, man, even though you know in certain
Speaker 1: states you can have a felony and vote. And when
Speaker 1: he found that out, he said, man, this is exactly
Speaker 1: what he said. He said, Man, I won awards, I've
Speaker 1: been I've had these achievements. But he said that voting
Speaker 1: sticker on his jacket was one of the greatest things
Speaker 1: he ever felt. And it's like just having that votestick
Speaker 1: and having people walk out and say, man, thank you.
Speaker 1: Now thank you because you offset for me goes, but
Speaker 1: thank you for voting. And and I think more young
Speaker 1: people need to feel their power in that, and we
Speaker 1: have to educate them on that power and let them
Speaker 1: know what they can do and break break down some
Speaker 1: of the like yo, you got homies that's been locked
Speaker 1: up for for marijuana. These are the people that can
Speaker 1: change those laws. And here are some of the people
Speaker 1: that are changing the lass and show them, the show
Speaker 1: them the iohan Omar's like the Congress women like that,
Speaker 1: and and Ayana Pressley's and show them, you know, the
Speaker 1: Kim Foxes and states attorneys in Chicago who are from
Speaker 1: where we're from and are who we are, and I'm
Speaker 1: working to do the things we need. And then let
Speaker 1: them know it ain't that difficult to to run, like
Speaker 1: to run, educate yourself and and man, we need people
Speaker 1: like you. If you see something going wrong, why not
Speaker 1: step in and be the be the change, be the
Speaker 1: person who does it, because I mean, we all human beings.
Speaker 1: One thing I learned as much as I look up
Speaker 1: to Dr King and Malcolm X and and Frederick Douglas
Speaker 1: and and Harriet Tubman, they still like they are a
Speaker 1: great state. Mhad alieds my inspiration, but they're still a
Speaker 1: human beings. And I can aspire to be great in myself.
Speaker 1: So I think we got this inspire young people to
Speaker 1: feel that. Yeah, I want to touch on a couple
Speaker 1: of things. I would wholeheartedly agree with you on the
Speaker 1: fact that if it wasn't for Trump, this is the
Speaker 1: one thing he can get credit for. I felt safe
Speaker 1: when Barack Obama was president. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't. I wasn't watching the news like I am now.
Speaker 1: But because of all of the craziness that's happened in
Speaker 1: these four years, I have better educated myself. I'm learning
Speaker 1: so many new things about government for sure, and also
Speaker 1: too in terms of getting more black and brown youth involved.
Speaker 1: You know, it takes a village. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: what you and Flame are talking about in terms of parenting.
Speaker 1: It takes a village. You never know where that you know,
Speaker 1: lightbulb may go off when you're talking with folks. But
Speaker 1: I have a separate question that I kind of want
Speaker 1: to take it to the side here. You were a
Speaker 1: part of creating music for a very I would say, Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, It's just it was. It was such
Speaker 1: an amazing film. What was it like working with Ava
Speaker 1: Duvernet on such a special project. What was that experience? Like? Well,
Speaker 1: I love Avis, one of the the most intelligent and
Speaker 1: like most thoughtful and just dope people that I've ever
Speaker 1: been able to work with and been around. Um to
Speaker 1: see this black woman as a leader on the on
Speaker 1: the movie set really changed my life Because I had
Speaker 1: been on movie sets where I've been playing action and
Speaker 1: playing you know, and most of it were led by
Speaker 1: white men, you know, like that's just what it was.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've been on any other sets where,
Speaker 1: you know. So my first movie with a black woman
Speaker 1: and as the head of things was was um Selma
Speaker 1: and that is how I got really connected with Abra
Speaker 1: and got to work with I met her before Sundance
Speaker 1: and you know, from there it was just like seeing
Speaker 1: her put she had the makeup department was was was
Speaker 1: a black person. I sent a photographer, Bradford Young Black
Speaker 1: like it was beautiful, like the costume designed Ruth called it.
Speaker 1: Who just went on the one oscar for black for
Speaker 1: black panther is? I mean, all these people were working.
Speaker 1: So I saw ava creative world and allows you to
Speaker 1: see possibilities and gives a lot of people opportunities. So
Speaker 1: when she was doing The Thirteen, we had already worked together.
Speaker 1: She didn't necessarily say, man, do a song for this film,
Speaker 1: but I was like, you're doing a movie on what
Speaker 1: And it was kind of like close to being done
Speaker 1: and she's like, yeah, just keep it quiet. And I
Speaker 1: was like, I called Robert Glassman Karne Riggings and said, man,
Speaker 1: let's go on the studio and make a song for this,
Speaker 1: and we made it. We started making the pieces of
Speaker 1: it and I was like, sent it to A and
Speaker 1: she said, give me a call. She texts me like come.
Speaker 1: I was, I hope this is good. And then she
Speaker 1: she got me on the phone and was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: I like this song. This song is it? She's I
Speaker 1: want you to change your second verse. So I ended
Speaker 1: up flipping my second verse and flipping it. We were
Speaker 1: going back and forth because it was really astute musically.
Speaker 1: Some people know, some people don't know. She used to rhyme.
Speaker 1: She used to be in a hip hop group. Like
Speaker 1: it was dope, like a dope voice and everything like.
Speaker 1: So anyway, I didn't either to Rob's my uncle. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember meeting me a couple years ago,
Speaker 1: robbed my uncle. Yeah, no, no, no no, I'm understand. We were.
Speaker 1: We met in l A. You guys were in the
Speaker 1: studio recording your first album for August Green. Yo. I
Speaker 1: really looked at you. I was like, I know her. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's because she was sitting next to all this beauty
Speaker 1: small world. Yeah. Yo, but Rob, Yo, we did and
Speaker 1: we you know, man, I go front. We did that
Speaker 1: from the heart. We was like I was. I felt
Speaker 1: like I've been speaking on a lot of different things,
Speaker 1: but I never addressed the prison system so specifically, like
Speaker 1: the way Thirteen told it. I wanted I'm music to
Speaker 1: be a reflection of that because you all know, we
Speaker 1: grow up, we think jail is normal. You know, our
Speaker 1: cousin Ralph went to jail while hold me John John
Speaker 1: John went to jail like yo, so it's like normal.
Speaker 1: We didn't really think of it as a systemic thing,
Speaker 1: and definitely I didn't. But until I read The New
Speaker 1: Gym Crow and read you know like and saw not
Speaker 1: just saw the Thirteen, but read New Gym Crow, that
Speaker 1: I really started thinking of it from slavery. It was
Speaker 1: a form of slavery, and it was explained to me
Speaker 1: where I could articulate, hey, you know this is slavery
Speaker 1: right here. This is basically another form of slavery is
Speaker 1: the mass incarceration. So doing that song was very inspine.
Speaker 1: As you know, we ended up right been caareem and
Speaker 1: I we want emmies for that song. It's that's that's
Speaker 1: my That's a great same way to my question. Because
Speaker 1: you got the oscar, you gotta grand meet you gotta
Speaker 1: e me what we're gonna do to complete the set,
Speaker 1: to get that Tony, what you're working on. I want
Speaker 1: to know because I know you want it. Don't tell
Speaker 1: me you're down because you told me my birthday. Man.
Speaker 1: Of course, of course I wanted. I mean not like
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a person that I love. I do art
Speaker 1: because I love all art. I want to change people's lives.
Speaker 1: I don't want to inspire people, but I do appreciate
Speaker 1: the awards that come with that when it when it does,
Speaker 1: because it's like you're being celebrated for your art and
Speaker 1: it's touch enough people that they like, look, we're gonna
Speaker 1: award you. We're gonna give you this award. So my
Speaker 1: plight is to do theater, like for sure, it's one
Speaker 1: of the things that I was actually planning on doing
Speaker 1: last year, doing some theater piece I was acting in.
Speaker 1: But I also want to get to writing theater. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it with the passion and love that
Speaker 1: I do all mare and you know, God willing the
Speaker 1: Tonio come, what bo What kind of character you want
Speaker 1: to play on that? You want? Serious? You want comedy?
Speaker 1: What you want your singing? Your singing voice is only okay,
Speaker 1: you're you're you're like a B list rapper, so you're singing.
Speaker 1: But that's my boy, y'all. First of all, I never
Speaker 1: claimed to be a singing that's that west Side. Listen, listen.
Speaker 1: I want to do drama. The play that I was
Speaker 1: set to do it was a drama that it was
Speaker 1: really dope. And then you know, I actually wrote a
Speaker 1: piece that I did with that I did for Audible
Speaker 1: that y'all got to check out. It's called Bluebird Memories.
Speaker 1: It's like a play mixed with the music. It's a
Speaker 1: play and we did it a year ago. Exactly a
Speaker 1: year ago. We did a theater in New York called
Speaker 1: him Another Lane Theater and it's on Audible for audios style.
Speaker 1: But it was a step into me creating my own play.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna do theater just I wanted to do
Speaker 1: theater before any award. I wanted to do theaters. I'm
Speaker 1: an actor. I love Oh you're gonna get it. I
Speaker 1: don't even know how long it will be before Broadway
Speaker 1: comes back with all of the the Yeah, right now they're
Speaker 1: sut down until June, but who knows what's gonna happ
Speaker 1: come and let me ask you a personal way. Let
Speaker 1: me ask you quit any person with ship. We don't
Speaker 1: here talking to all the folks, so you know they
Speaker 1: got the vaccine. Now I'm completely against it. Baby. Let
Speaker 1: me tell I got enough for and ship going on
Speaker 1: in my body. I ain't been putting nothing extra in there.
Speaker 1: Let's a potato ship with the ritos and chicken or something.
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you? Are you planning on getting the
Speaker 1: vaccine or why or why not? Um? No, I don't
Speaker 1: plan on getting the vaccine. Uh. You know, I've been
Speaker 1: at a certain point in my life. I started like
Speaker 1: focusing on health and wellness. And that doesn't mean you
Speaker 1: you know, you immune from any disease. But I've been
Speaker 1: working to build myself and my immune system up um
Speaker 1: and and just take care of myself. And I just
Speaker 1: don't believe that. I'm not into like taking a bunch
Speaker 1: of drugs and pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I think the body has so much power in itself
Speaker 1: that they could heal itself in different ways if we
Speaker 1: eat the right foods and have the right natural things.
Speaker 1: I mean, our ancestors was doing it. I believe we
Speaker 1: could do it. We just have. We have more things
Speaker 1: about them because we got foods is being ejected with
Speaker 1: all type of stuff, you know, and and we got
Speaker 1: electricity going all around me, you know, technology all around it.
Speaker 1: So some things messing with our body. But I still know,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta understand. I've been around Dr Saby,
Speaker 1: who you know has healed people with cancer and and
Speaker 1: help people with lupus. I've been with doctors and have
Speaker 1: friends who were dealing with lupus and their doctor said
Speaker 1: you need to eat raw and they healed. They were
Speaker 1: healed of loopus. So I've really seen the power in
Speaker 1: and foods is medicine and seen the power and eating naturally,
Speaker 1: you know, and taking natural things. So I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: on that route for for a while. And you know,
Speaker 1: that's just where I am with it. I don't knock
Speaker 1: anybody for what they need to do for that body,
Speaker 1: but I'm telling my family and my loved ones to
Speaker 1: not take a vaccine to take care of themselves. Well
Speaker 1: that's kind of seguys, because actually Flame brought up something
Speaker 1: regarding e D or rectile dysfunction, and it's like we
Speaker 1: see more and more now that there's more you know,
Speaker 1: debilitating diseases that are affecting people at you know, a
Speaker 1: younger age more and more. So, what do you think
Speaker 1: is really happening that, you know, we even talked about
Speaker 1: last week Chrad with Boseman just recently, you know, passed
Speaker 1: away from you know, colon cancer. It's just at forty
Speaker 1: three years old. We're just seeing more and more issues
Speaker 1: at younger age and folks, especially folks of color, Like,
Speaker 1: what do you think has happening in Wait a minute
Speaker 1: before you answer that question, because how old are these
Speaker 1: these something that's haven't eated in the twenties. Yeah, let
Speaker 1: me tell you we question the answer to that because
Speaker 1: the girl and me was like, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1: But the player and me was like, when I was
Speaker 1: in my twenties, keeping them up wasn't the problem. Keeping
Speaker 1: it down was the issue. I was getting hard in church.
Speaker 1: God damn, I'm telling you right, Oh, I ain't the
Speaker 1: only one. Baby, don't let these cities fool you. I'm
Speaker 1: not understanding how you can't get erect in your twenties. Baby,
Speaker 1: The owse are like golden years. Let me let me
Speaker 1: take this wig off for real. Okay, alright, comm I
Speaker 1: went to the twenties boys back, take me back ship boy.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard to just try to get yourself focused
Speaker 1: though when you're that being said, though, Lord, I'll say,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think it has been the
Speaker 1: foods um that's there's been some of the things that
Speaker 1: we're dealing with this affecting our bodies. While you see
Speaker 1: younger people, you know, attracting diseases and dealing with what
Speaker 1: you just said, the rectile this function and some of
Speaker 1: the things that we heard, we didn't see young people
Speaker 1: getting those things, like we weren't here a boy. Our
Speaker 1: families and and and and as our families would safe
Speaker 1: man ate pork and I hate all this, but they
Speaker 1: but they were eating it, and it wasn't treated the
Speaker 1: way it's treated. It wasn't shot with it. It must
Speaker 1: bus that they're shooting into it now. So so that
Speaker 1: is one of the key things. I also think mental
Speaker 1: health and wellness is important. Um, I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that can affect you all because I know,
Speaker 1: when my mind is like going through a lot, I
Speaker 1: ain't got as much sexual job just point blank you know.
Speaker 1: So like I think even mental health and wellness is
Speaker 1: a part of of getting what you talked specifically when
Speaker 1: it comes to that, but I think in general, In fact,
Speaker 1: I think in general we gotta we gotta keep because
Speaker 1: one of the things that I did understand too, and
Speaker 1: my mother used to say this to me, but I
Speaker 1: believe it even more now is man stress causes diseases
Speaker 1: to Stress causes like like your body to to weaken up,
Speaker 1: and it just breaks things down in different ways. It
Speaker 1: breaks you your body down. So stress is one of
Speaker 1: the greatest causes of it. So I think the combination
Speaker 1: of us being aware and taking a health making healthier choices,
Speaker 1: and also you know, having like mental health support, were better,
Speaker 1: you'll see more twenty year olds rolling around hard, hard,
Speaker 1: they'd be they'd be ready to get Yeah, y'all work
Speaker 1: for me. I'm trying to be good. So you're American.
Speaker 1: You here, we enjoyed the celebrating, but they in d
Speaker 1: C doing something else. I know you saw it. You know,
Speaker 1: you know I'm as a comedian. I'm not talking ship.
Speaker 1: It was very it was a very sad part of
Speaker 1: the world to me. But what you feel about and
Speaker 1: you just give us the sugarcoat and answer, we don't
Speaker 1: know who I was. I'm I'm gonna give you a wrong.
Speaker 1: I'll get to Chicago's I'm gonna give you to Chicago.
Speaker 1: You know, I like it. I go front. I really
Speaker 1: didn't care about it. I didn't even care what they do.
Speaker 1: Like like I was sitting there like, thank you man,
Speaker 1: do y'all understand what we it's accomplishing this country? I
Speaker 1: was like, man, they're distracting this this real celebration that's happening,
Speaker 1: like this real like change, Like a black woman is
Speaker 1: the deciding factor on laws and and and bills being
Speaker 1: passed federate like Kamala Harris will decide if it's if
Speaker 1: it's a tie between between you know, like the votes,
Speaker 1: Kamala Harris makes the decision of black woman vice president.
Speaker 1: Y'all understand where we are in history, and and the
Speaker 1: to be able to celebrate that was when my energy
Speaker 1: was and and and I always believe I don't know
Speaker 1: what the how the Bible verse exactly says it, but
Speaker 1: if a fool, if you start arguing with a food,
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard for people to determine who the
Speaker 1: fool is. And I kind of was like taking in
Speaker 1: all the energy of like hearing Tamika Mallory talk about that.
Speaker 1: Ain't not fight hearing people saying man, you know me,
Speaker 1: my my instinct was like, this is not this. Ain't
Speaker 1: us Let them be who they are. Let them they
Speaker 1: gotta show who they are. That's who they are, and
Speaker 1: the world does need to see it. Unfortunately, as you
Speaker 1: I heard you say, Flame, and I agree. I never
Speaker 1: want to see anybody lose their life or you know,
Speaker 1: be damaged. You know that's not where my heart is.
Speaker 1: So I'm never like happy about that. Adult say, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't care. I do care that people lost
Speaker 1: their life and lost their lives, but I don't care
Speaker 1: about all the commotion going on in all the hyper Man,
Speaker 1: this is even for us to be like, even for
Speaker 1: us to be like, man, if this happened to us,
Speaker 1: we know that, Flame, You know that. We know that.
Speaker 1: We already knew that. We we passed that. We know
Speaker 1: if if a lot of ship happened to us, it's
Speaker 1: gonna it's gonna be different. We already know that. So
Speaker 1: what where are we now? Right now? We all right,
Speaker 1: we got people in office that we gotta hold accountable
Speaker 1: to say that if this does happen to us, what
Speaker 1: it's gonna be changed? And that's where my mind is
Speaker 1: is focused, eyes on the price. So I let the
Speaker 1: fools be fools. Well, let's quickly shout out HBCUs too,
Speaker 1: because we got a Howard alum who's aficial, who's officially
Speaker 1: a vice president of a country on January twenty, we
Speaker 1: have a more houseman who was the first black senator
Speaker 1: in our country, and all at the same time, a
Speaker 1: Spellman alum helped get them all elected. So shout out
Speaker 1: to hbc US and what we're affording black folks in
Speaker 1: this country. Comment and you know, I know you love
Speaker 1: women period, all cross the flavor. But let me ask you,
Speaker 1: as a Black man in this country right now, how
Speaker 1: proud of you are the black women's accomplishment Because you know,
Speaker 1: I love women period. I'm not one of them, I
Speaker 1: love baby. You know I'm real nasty, I like you know.
Speaker 1: But as a Black man in this country right now,
Speaker 1: how proud of you about sisters for just being bosses? Man?
Speaker 1: I love it. I mean as you went from as
Speaker 1: you said, from your boss Tiffany to to Michelle Obama
Speaker 1: home Girl, to to Kamala Harris, you know, to man
Speaker 1: so many other incredible from the Beyonces to just don't
Speaker 1: be putting all the skinny bitches up there. What about yeah, baby,
Speaker 1: she says, simple. You know, I wanna get your eximpically
Speaker 1: just working. She worked out to get more skinny or whatever.
Speaker 1: I don't know. You know, she could work keeping me
Speaker 1: over there looking good. But let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: She'd be telling something. She'd be up at five and
Speaker 1: six oclock and moret to run toome some flames. You
Speaker 1: should go jogging me, I told her, bitch, if you
Speaker 1: want your man, exercise is good for you. I got
Speaker 1: some exercise. So like, like Stacy Abrooms is somebody that
Speaker 1: has changed the world, Like she is a figure that
Speaker 1: has changed the world literally and it ain't she ain't
Speaker 1: doing for no hype. She showed, like I just thought
Speaker 1: about hustra today, like to lose in the race the
Speaker 1: way she did and for governor, for joy you and
Speaker 1: to take that loss and turn it into something that
Speaker 1: changes the world, that engage voters, to get more people educated,
Speaker 1: to be able to do that. That just showed you
Speaker 1: the strength of a black woman and a woman. And
Speaker 1: I'm celebrating what where are black women are? Because at
Speaker 1: the same token, too, it's like the black women have
Speaker 1: had it the most difficult challenges in this in this country,
Speaker 1: probably maybe in the world, because being a woman has
Speaker 1: already been challenged, but then being a black person is
Speaker 1: a challenge because I mean, and not naturally, but just
Speaker 1: the way the world Jesus so to see the victory
Speaker 1: and the sea of a woman from Howard, to see
Speaker 1: where the way Michelle Obama is the one of the
Speaker 1: most loved people to see Stacy Abrams make the changes
Speaker 1: she may. And you know, even let's give it the
Speaker 1: old phision. Could they continue to do stuff? And and
Speaker 1: it's young black women that you know, just doing things also,
Speaker 1: And you see the black man and the black woman
Speaker 1: handed that same situation very differently because Stay Abrams lost
Speaker 1: the government and took over the state, Andrew Gilliam lost
Speaker 1: Florida and went to the hotel with them boys. Yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I still like his politics. Coming I'm talking ship,
Speaker 1: but I still like his politics. I hate that he
Speaker 1: had to live in shame because of the world won't
Speaker 1: allow people to be who they are openly without being jealous,
Speaker 1: so he had to sneak around. But I was making
Speaker 1: a point to say that the black man went one
Speaker 1: way and the black woman went another way, but I
Speaker 1: go both ways. I'm just saying, hey, let me say,
Speaker 1: you know, Andrew Gillam went, I went to Florida, and
Speaker 1: then he's a family you graduate. I always got respect
Speaker 1: for my love. But he was driving and working to
Speaker 1: do down there in Florida, his personal choices, like, you know,
Speaker 1: I have nothing to do with that. I just support
Speaker 1: him as what he was doing politically, and I still
Speaker 1: got love and respect for him. So that's what it is.
Speaker 1: But you know, you know, he did what he needed
Speaker 1: to do. He got he got caught with his pants
Speaker 1: poor your payings up? Playing poor your payings up. See,
Speaker 1: that's what your guys get for walking around here sainging.
Speaker 1: Y'all need to stop all that sagon ship. Y'all know
Speaker 1: where that sag and stuff. So it came from I'm
Speaker 1: just saying what I heard on the screets. Poor your
Speaker 1: god damn pants up. But I do want to kind
Speaker 1: of switch back to the music though, because you talked
Speaker 1: earlier about arts, and I think in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: you know, arts education is just not something that's being
Speaker 1: afforded in like schools anymore. It's kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not as important and with this pandemic hitting, you know,
Speaker 1: we really saw in a lot of ways music was
Speaker 1: at the forefront of keeping people's spirits up and just
Speaker 1: keeping them happy about life. Has your appreciation or perspective
Speaker 1: rather on music changed it all since the pandemic hit
Speaker 1: and just seeing all of the positivity it's really brought
Speaker 1: into the world. Lord, My, my appreciation and and gratitude
Speaker 1: for music is strongly like it's been reminded. I've been reminded,
Speaker 1: I've been re birthed in it in a way. And
Speaker 1: that's that's a great question, because I didn't know I
Speaker 1: would because we were, you know, doing this pandemic, because
Speaker 1: we were all at home and I was doing my
Speaker 1: workouts and stuff. I found myself listening to only the
Speaker 1: music I really wanted to listen to. So I was
Speaker 1: putting on nineties hip hop and nineties soul music, you know,
Speaker 1: R and B, nineties, R and B, seventies soul, jazz music.
Speaker 1: But I really found myself like people enjoying and sharing
Speaker 1: music and and and I started sitting with music more
Speaker 1: in my home, which I don't do a lot because
Speaker 1: I make music and I'm always around music. So but
Speaker 1: I was like man, this music has really touched me.
Speaker 1: Oh and I forgot one other gospel. I love gospel
Speaker 1: music too, so like in that I love gospel music
Speaker 1: and I was playing that and it just was really
Speaker 1: inspiring my day and giving me a piece, you know,
Speaker 1: the word piece beyond understanding is what I got through
Speaker 1: the music a lot, and and really feeling connected. And
Speaker 1: you know, you saw people, whether it was D nice
Speaker 1: DJ and or of versus where well, I would see
Speaker 1: people online and I see people musicians that I love,
Speaker 1: you know, making comments oh listen, you know, and it
Speaker 1: was just the music that was uniting us. So and
Speaker 1: I realized too that as much as I love I
Speaker 1: love acting a lot, like I love acting a whole lot,
Speaker 1: like just you know, I would say, with as much
Speaker 1: passion as I have for music, but you can't, I can't,
Speaker 1: you know, like you can't just go make a film
Speaker 1: by yourself. You still need somebody to hold the camera
Speaker 1: out of the music. If you can play the time,
Speaker 1: you can play, you can play piano, or even if
Speaker 1: you could just sing without you can still do it.
Speaker 1: You can care, I can rhyme and and I don't
Speaker 1: need anything. And it's just like music is such a
Speaker 1: true gift from God. I just I definitely gained a
Speaker 1: great value for it. What y'all need to know is
Speaker 1: Comming is a very spiritual man. He'd be burning his
Speaker 1: little whatever stuff when we were playing Cars because he
Speaker 1: was like Paula White calling on those African angels. Ain't
Speaker 1: none of them? Bit you showed up. I understand. I
Speaker 1: don't play no games, comment on no pace spage table
Speaker 1: when he be burning off. Yeah, baby, he burns all
Speaker 1: his earth spices, salery, bell Pepper, all that know that
Speaker 1: ship where when we're playing Cars, because I'd been telling
Speaker 1: you that be the west side on the south side.
Speaker 1: You really act like you're a great space man. Really,
Speaker 1: you on the one game that you want? Is it
Speaker 1: because of jail. Let's be honest player, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about it. We don't talk about Come on, that's
Speaker 1: your that is your strategy. Said The reason I was
Speaker 1: because you tell the truth telling Thank you him, Jill.
Speaker 1: I'm not as gorgeous as you. I'm trying to look
Speaker 1: like your girl, look all young and stuff. Her birthday.
Speaker 1: Your birthday is on Friday. Happy early birthdays, Capricorn. Oh girl,
Speaker 1: you always got some money because y'all cheap a ship? Hey,
Speaker 1: happy comment? What's yours? All? The X same? Hi? What's
Speaker 1: your zodiac sign? I'm a pissons h February March. You
Speaker 1: good and crazy? My mom's a Pisces, so I could
Speaker 1: say that It's okay, y'all are special people. We'll go crazy.
Speaker 1: I know what I said, good and crazy. We're good people,
Speaker 1: were good hearted people, but we're crazy because we want
Speaker 1: One day, I want to do this, the next day,
Speaker 1: I want to do that, feel like that in the
Speaker 1: same hour. You know, their fish shows opposite directions, so
Speaker 1: you know that makes sense coming. You know, I want
Speaker 1: to not want to know because your daughter is your
Speaker 1: daughter ever gonna get into acting or modeling because she's
Speaker 1: very lovely. She had big old lashes on at the party.
Speaker 1: I said, say, girl, when you doing a dragon show,
Speaker 1: check them big bad wings off in your face. But
Speaker 1: she was so pretty. I think it was it was
Speaker 1: just it was just her birthday around the same time
Speaker 1: as man right, Yeah, birthday birthday August. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: coming out. Yeah, so no, she she's a Lloyd. She's
Speaker 1: um on the law school. So I mean she said
Speaker 1: something about acting just to me the other day. But
Speaker 1: I don't think she really with want to act. I
Speaker 1: told her she should take acting class being a lawyer
Speaker 1: because it takes like acting class is something to me,
Speaker 1: even if you don't want to be an actor. It
Speaker 1: gives you confidence to be in front of people and
Speaker 1: try different things. And and you know, like to be
Speaker 1: a lawyer, you gotta be able to communicate and talking
Speaker 1: like have that confidence. And that's half the battle. Where
Speaker 1: thank you for sending her law school. We need more
Speaker 1: lawyers that look like us to represent us when we
Speaker 1: get in trouble, even when we didn't do ship. Because
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, when the police put me up, I'm
Speaker 1: putting my wig on because it's safe for me to
Speaker 1: be a training than a black man. And that's the
Speaker 1: real talk. Baby. I'm gonna let you feel these titties
Speaker 1: if it's gonna scare the ship out you and you're
Speaker 1: gonna run away from me whatever it takes, baby. And
Speaker 1: that's what Malcolm X said about any means necessary. And
Speaker 1: the mess up part about that was Donald Trump took
Speaker 1: those words and took it to heart because this thing
Speaker 1: is trying to cheat and win and get back in
Speaker 1: here about any means necessary. We love to say the
Speaker 1: words as black folks. But we got to we got
Speaker 1: to walk it. We gotta walk. Georgia walked in last week.
Speaker 1: We have really showed up this year and common We
Speaker 1: had a conversation about what Actually we had a comment
Speaker 1: today we're having a common conversation. We have that comments.
Speaker 1: Don't We're stealing my ship. I want to hear that
Speaker 1: in your next check. Girl called me. What was I saying?
Speaker 1: I was telling no. We were having a conversation a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago comment about um. They were saying
Speaker 1: they were equating racism with mental illness. That that's that
Speaker 1: new thing on the other side. Because on our side,
Speaker 1: we when John John was crazy, we sent that nigga
Speaker 1: down south for the well when he went down south
Speaker 1: with the rest of the family. But so seventy four
Speaker 1: million or seventy five million people that voted for Trump
Speaker 1: because they are good Republicans. Understand that there are good Republicans,
Speaker 1: but voting for Trump this go around and being a
Speaker 1: Republican with two different things, seventy they want to equate
Speaker 1: that it was seventy four mental ill people in this country.
Speaker 1: They voted for Trump cause mental illness and racism ain't
Speaker 1: the same thing. Race is is a learning behavior. To me,
Speaker 1: racism definitely is a learned behavior, but it may take
Speaker 1: some some mental help to get you out of that
Speaker 1: learned behavior and and some work on self or to
Speaker 1: know or to know pookin them on the south Side.
Speaker 1: I know that is. I know, pooky Them's gonna be
Speaker 1: a good a good ask weapon. And even that ain't
Speaker 1: going eventually because even like one thing I was thinking
Speaker 1: about when somebody brought up to the people went to
Speaker 1: the capital, I was like, what did they accomplished? Really?
Speaker 1: What did they accomplished? Like what did they leave with?
Speaker 1: Like when you're gonna do something, like if you're in
Speaker 1: a movement, you want to leave with some something that
Speaker 1: feels like it's changing, Like they with pictures with the police,
Speaker 1: and they left with some paperwork out of the out
Speaker 1: of the Nancy Pelosi's stand, ridiculous ship. Ridiculous ship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I mean, listen, Racism is a sickness that has
Speaker 1: existed for a long time and it got it and
Speaker 1: it got and it has to deal with with a
Speaker 1: fear of another person, you know, taking your position their greatness,
Speaker 1: like you're not having enough love for yourself to be
Speaker 1: able to see somebody else shine. And I mean I
Speaker 1: think throughout history because we as as original people, as
Speaker 1: original man and woman, have been shining and having these
Speaker 1: natural things that just beautiful. Like some people just haven't
Speaker 1: been able to deal with that. And we nothing type
Speaker 1: of people to be like, yo, get out of here though,
Speaker 1: Like black people ain't go just like ostracize you just
Speaker 1: because you're not on you know, a certain level. But
Speaker 1: for whatever reason that fears and that and that and
Speaker 1: some of the things that have they have developed in
Speaker 1: their nature, they go try to conquer every place that
Speaker 1: they they are on this planet. And they know I'm
Speaker 1: talking you know, And and that racism has been passed on,
Speaker 1: that mentality has been passed on to a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I say it's gonna take some
Speaker 1: type of mental um wellness to help is because how
Speaker 1: do you heal disease? How do you heal mental like issues?
Speaker 1: Like issues issues? It ain't even just let's let's say
Speaker 1: we get regardless of mental let's say it's emotional issue.
Speaker 1: How do you hear that? That's the question for both
Speaker 1: of y'all. What what what would you say? Um? You
Speaker 1: want you don't want. I've had to heal emotions, uh comming.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been through a little bit of everything. Baby,
Speaker 1: I've been a prison, I've been a prostitute. I have survived, baby,
Speaker 1: a man trying to kill me, two white boys threw
Speaker 1: me out of a car. Uh. My mental healingness to
Speaker 1: me was I never not saw what I wanted. I've
Speaker 1: always saw what I wanted, and I knew I looked differently,
Speaker 1: and people tried to change me if I wanted to
Speaker 1: be famous just for being famous, they offered me reality shows.
Speaker 1: Now ten years ago, when they found that I was
Speaker 1: a transgender person who had children, I didn't ever want
Speaker 1: to sell my kids. And you've been with me and
Speaker 1: the company of me and my son. Whatever I lose
Speaker 1: in this life, I will never lose my son respect
Speaker 1: for me as his father, because no matter what y'all
Speaker 1: think or what y'all see, my son respects me as
Speaker 1: his dad. And I asked that Nigga for his birthday
Speaker 1: on Sunday the ninth or Saturday, what you want for
Speaker 1: your birthday? You know what he told me. I got
Speaker 1: the greatest dad in the world. I don't need nothing.
Speaker 1: I was shook don't know Nigga shake me that nigga
Speaker 1: had me shook. I mean that's been the a but
Speaker 1: that's the truth, and he spoke as truth. And I
Speaker 1: mean I've seen the reflection of it in your and
Speaker 1: your kids on yourself and just both girls and everybody.
Speaker 1: They were just like you're a great parent. And I
Speaker 1: just go to show you, man how respect and love
Speaker 1: and that. And that's to ask your question. That's some
Speaker 1: of them things that that one passed down in some
Speaker 1: of them communities and now they got to be checked.
Speaker 1: Sometimes to check is gonna be uh, you're gonna nothing
Speaker 1: deal with the ride. And sometimes it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: little you know, we're gonna we're gonna work through it emotionally.
Speaker 1: But but whatever way, it's got to happen sometimes, you know, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: some just think some for some of this change that happened.
Speaker 1: We we lost some of my brothers and sisters lives.
Speaker 1: Just what it is. So some of the some of
Speaker 1: that racism going to be be down through physical things
Speaker 1: that I mean, it's gonna take some dramatic things like that,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be years and years of healing. They've
Speaker 1: got to take place and you know, I believe we
Speaker 1: have to set the examples and not in a way
Speaker 1: it's like we're gonna just forgive and forget all the things.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we can live in forgiveness, but were also
Speaker 1: living and teaching, and forgiveness also has it does have accountability,
Speaker 1: and it does have like it holds people responsible and
Speaker 1: you put people in check. So I feel like we
Speaker 1: we gotta be the examples of what we want to
Speaker 1: see too. That's a good set up for me because
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, as an artist, what do
Speaker 1: you feel like it is the responsibility level of an artist?
Speaker 1: And Vesper asked me to ask you this question. I
Speaker 1: thought this was a great question. Myself included any and
Speaker 1: whatever form of entertaining you are, if your influencer, what
Speaker 1: do you feel it's the responsibility of the artist to
Speaker 1: speak about the social climate or the political times that's
Speaker 1: happening in their lifetime in real time. Well, artists are
Speaker 1: human beings, and if you care for your family, you
Speaker 1: care for your community, you care for your people, you care,
Speaker 1: then you should use your microphone for something that is
Speaker 1: gonna uplifting and show that you can't all of it is,
Speaker 1: don't have to be consciousness. All of it doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: But you gotta say something you know or or and
Speaker 1: do something when you've been given the opportunity to have
Speaker 1: a microphone, the opportunity to have a gift of talent
Speaker 1: that you can use. Like I said, no one is
Speaker 1: asking any artists to to be like yo. Every song
Speaker 1: needs to be about the community and need to be
Speaker 1: about love and respect for one another. But man, what
Speaker 1: can you do? Like look at yourself and say, what
Speaker 1: can I do that will benefit people more than me?
Speaker 1: Benefit benefit people that are that are in my community,
Speaker 1: people that I know are hurting and dealing with different things.
Speaker 1: What can I do? And if you just do that,
Speaker 1: and that's that's enough for me as as an artist.
Speaker 1: Like and they don't even have to be done all
Speaker 1: like where everybody has to see it, but sometimes it
Speaker 1: needs to be seen just so other people can know
Speaker 1: that it is being done and you can inspire others,
Speaker 1: like some of the things we were doing on the
Speaker 1: campaign when we went out. I don't promote everything I do,
Speaker 1: but this time I was like, I need people to vote.
Speaker 1: I need people to know it's it's voting is important.
Speaker 1: So I'm putting up I'm putting that thing up like
Speaker 1: we're putting it up, and that's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I did that. So so my thing is like, just
Speaker 1: do something that you know is benefiting something more than
Speaker 1: just yourself and use that microphone wisely, like need us to,
Speaker 1: most said artists to reflect the times. It's the duty
Speaker 1: of arts. That's our duty. I feel it's our duty
Speaker 1: as artists. And its unity. I think we got too
Speaker 1: many cowardly artists. Let me say what I see it.
Speaker 1: Hold on because y'all know, y'all gonna come after me.
Speaker 1: But I fight back, and I come in back and
Speaker 1: be scared of this class back because it's dangerous. Um,
Speaker 1: how did there were so many people who were not
Speaker 1: politically savvy or who did not come out long before
Speaker 1: when we had twenty three candidates running for president let's
Speaker 1: just go back to that, and then they came out
Speaker 1: with all this hold the vote to vote no matter
Speaker 1: for the black agenda. Every time I ask somebody black,
Speaker 1: what is the black agenda? Has it changed in four
Speaker 1: hundred years? Because you know, coming, I thought the irresponsibility
Speaker 1: of some of these people who had shine and power
Speaker 1: and on the microphone, like you said, use it wisely
Speaker 1: would telling black people to hold their vote in the
Speaker 1: in the state of the world that we were in,
Speaker 1: and our end was the most ridiculous Irrisbleu bill shit
Speaker 1: I ever heard. And if I never worked for you,
Speaker 1: It's okay, I'm cute anyway, I'm still now. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the time and of it was was was
Speaker 1: was really tough to me, Like I was like, the
Speaker 1: time and of this is is not a good because
Speaker 1: if we do have those things, we need to go
Speaker 1: at a time where it ain't about voting right now,
Speaker 1: Like if you're saying, like, man, this is this is
Speaker 1: the black agenda too, it can't be just we go
Speaker 1: to them with that when it's trying to vote. And
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that I've been like really
Speaker 1: want to be keen on for us. Now it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: we we showed up. You just said if we showed up.
Speaker 1: Black people showed up during this election more than more
Speaker 1: than we had before, and we would have we were
Speaker 1: the people to change it. We were the people to
Speaker 1: change the point blank and like we were we were
Speaker 1: have decided factor. Now, how in between that can we
Speaker 1: continue to educate ourselves and keep people engaged so that
Speaker 1: they can locally know who's running who and who's who's
Speaker 1: good for them and and and know like on the
Speaker 1: state side, and know eventually continue to go through the
Speaker 1: federal so we can stay engaged. And this is not
Speaker 1: just a time where things is going crazy that we
Speaker 1: go to um these elected officials of candidates and asked
Speaker 1: for things. We need to be doing this all throughout
Speaker 1: throughout the process and not just asking, demanding, commanding things.
Speaker 1: So I do believe you know. I respect you know.
Speaker 1: I got respect for for Q. I got respect for
Speaker 1: for Wayne too, So I respect that they can speak
Speaker 1: their minds and say what they need to say. Um,
Speaker 1: I just need it for me. That meant that we
Speaker 1: had to go even harder to get people out. I
Speaker 1: ain't saying no names, but since you mentioned dough Boy
Speaker 1: and the neggative drink call served to get hat nigga
Speaker 1: stay away from that night, Quire, you need some day
Speaker 1: Quire to wake your ways. God damn it. Look he's
Speaker 1: gonna get woke up. And unless he get this pardon
Speaker 1: from your president because they talk about he did time
Speaker 1: part little way on those gun charges that he's facing
Speaker 1: ten years on. I'm just saying this niggad and committed
Speaker 1: all kind of cramps and y'all let him part. I
Speaker 1: want to ask you that one more question comment. I
Speaker 1: want to know this question about do you think that
Speaker 1: they should impeach him or you think that they should
Speaker 1: just invoke the twenty five Amendment which was which was
Speaker 1: stripped this fool of his rights. I'm with that one,
Speaker 1: But what do you think should they impeach him a
Speaker 1: strip him of his rights? Sound good? Members? Sound good?
Speaker 1: I would hour to be honest, I kind of like, man,
Speaker 1: let's like, let's just get rid this is this is
Speaker 1: done like a peachment is like we only down it
Speaker 1: like nine more days before the inauguration, right, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: And just to intro ject really quick, my opinion is
Speaker 1: I don't think we should impeach him because what I
Speaker 1: foresee happening is Mike Penn's taking over for even if
Speaker 1: it's five days, he's gonna give him a pardon. That's
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. And seven years. Let me tell you
Speaker 1: something common because you know my old conspiracy theory, this bitch,
Speaker 1: you know conspiracy theory, you know that that word. I
Speaker 1: believe that the way they have put out that Mike
Speaker 1: Pence and Trump is into it. I think that's the
Speaker 1: overplay for the underplay. That's the Chicago term. That's the
Speaker 1: overplay for the underplay because I think publicly they want
Speaker 1: us to look like they're feuding and battling. But the
Speaker 1: plan is for Pence, they become president and then pardon
Speaker 1: Donald Trump. Oh, it's all a scam to me, I'm
Speaker 1: saying when i'm I'm a fake bach. So you know
Speaker 1: I can say it because I see fake ship, you
Speaker 1: know all that. But I'm telling y'all, I think it's
Speaker 1: a ploy, and we keep taking the attention off what's
Speaker 1: really happening on that side because they keep trying to
Speaker 1: showing something on this side. So if you throw everything
Speaker 1: to the left, naturally everybody's gonna look to the left.
Speaker 1: Some of us got to look to the right because
Speaker 1: they're on some bullshit. I'm just telling you'all pay attention. Comming.
Speaker 1: You think you'll ever get involved in politics later in life?
Speaker 1: Um sometimes always said no, And I don't think I
Speaker 1: will because I really love like being an artist, and
Speaker 1: you know, and I love acting, I love like creating,
Speaker 1: but and I feel like I can do for people
Speaker 1: without having to be actually a politician, but who knows. Man.
Speaker 1: As we just said, like as we encourage other people
Speaker 1: to to step up and young people to step into
Speaker 1: their position and and and actually be the senators and
Speaker 1: be the district attorneys. I mean, I'm may, I'm may.
Speaker 1: It might be a position in politics that that would
Speaker 1: serve me where I can certain people better. I'm all
Speaker 1: about being able to serve the people and being my purpose.
Speaker 1: So if my purpose leads me to politics, I will
Speaker 1: do it. But right now, I'm just doing what I
Speaker 1: can do to support those who I believe in that
Speaker 1: in politics, and we appreciate all that you're doing too.
Speaker 1: We just want to engage some of the flame maks
Speaker 1: because they are sending questions in and both my names
Speaker 1: because yeah man, he wee, wait a minute, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you how I vote for you more tell lay wait
Speaker 1: that said, Hey dude, Hey, that's my type leading my type.
Speaker 1: But tell, I don't know why I'm not the candy
Speaker 1: lady on the chat. Let me just talk about cause
Speaker 1: you prod the shot you I used to run the
Speaker 1: city of Chicago is what you don't know? Player, I
Speaker 1: ran that city later? What up? You know? Lean out?
Speaker 1: You need I need to be the kid that ain't
Speaker 1: the round guns, say a hole, say oh candy cook,
Speaker 1: chling plates all that. It's always a candy lady in
Speaker 1: the city of Chicago. They always and the candy lady
Speaker 1: had always kept young man, kept a pistol, and kept
Speaker 1: plenty of money in her pocket. Now I got I
Speaker 1: ain't got no young man, but I got plenty money
Speaker 1: and I got a pistol. So really quickly we want
Speaker 1: to get some people. They're asking us questions for you
Speaker 1: so specifically that the number one question is what are
Speaker 1: your beer tips? What's going on with the beer? People
Speaker 1: want to know? Just just let them know. What do
Speaker 1: you do to keep it so well groomed and so
Speaker 1: amazing looking? Well, listen, I'm not to be honest, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not the barber. My tips is to to get
Speaker 1: a great barber who really knows what they're doing. And
Speaker 1: I like my beard, like I really loved during this
Speaker 1: time of like when we were down, I just was
Speaker 1: letting it go and remember how much I like it
Speaker 1: to be to be raw like wolfing, like Gil Scott
Speaker 1: Hearing or somebody Marvin Game like. So my my tips
Speaker 1: is to to to keep it health. You know, eat
Speaker 1: healthy so that that's gonna get your beard she you want.
Speaker 1: But I always have a good barber or whoever do
Speaker 1: your hair around because I get my my beard done.
Speaker 1: Like if I got stuff to do, I get it
Speaker 1: done every like three fold eights. Um yeah, if Tiffy
Speaker 1: was my boss, nigger I had about Phoe jokes up
Speaker 1: and what you can see. But I love you tell him.
Speaker 1: I ain't saying ship. I want my job. I like
Speaker 1: my job. What's y'all don't think it's common? Has the
Speaker 1: most beautiful ball here that ever that nigger ain't got
Speaker 1: no flavish is in it. It's the same color. Ain't
Speaker 1: no nix and cuts or nothing. Common the best ball
Speaker 1: here ever, and it's the same. It ain't like you
Speaker 1: know how some people have to light around and it's
Speaker 1: the same color. The whole heat is the same color.
Speaker 1: But that they're real like that. It looks like a
Speaker 1: living head in person, like like I think a real
Speaker 1: like a light boat. What other thing people are asking
Speaker 1: is you talked about music earlier in your appreciation for
Speaker 1: it now throughout the pandemic, So who are your favorite?
Speaker 1: Who's your favorite? I would say a jazz artist and
Speaker 1: hip hop artist. My favorite jazz artist is John Coltrane.
Speaker 1: My favorite hip hop artists would probably be the group
Speaker 1: Tribe called Quest, the Groupselves. Yeah, I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 1: in the nineties with it with the hip hop a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, I still I listened to some of the
Speaker 1: new artists and appreciate respect what they're doing. But me
Speaker 1: growing up, I was listening to to Trial and to
Speaker 1: Gangstar in the Black Moon, which you know some of
Speaker 1: them with my peers, nas is one of my favorites.
Speaker 1: So yeah, go ahead, go ahead, come let me ask
Speaker 1: you this with all this downtown and all these kids
Speaker 1: going to the internet, because you really are seeing a
Speaker 1: lot of talent because talked talked about that earlier. Do
Speaker 1: you get the inboxes that these people send you up
Speaker 1: their beach and that's wrapping and and do you actually
Speaker 1: go through yourself because I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: have other people go through their social media, because I
Speaker 1: know a lot of these young kids want to know
Speaker 1: do you actually see them? Well, you know, I created
Speaker 1: this this platform, it's called Start Us Kids, And what
Speaker 1: we do is it's a collective of different artists from
Speaker 1: musicians to direct us to like visual artists, Um you
Speaker 1: can sing rap what up and and like honestly as
Speaker 1: my team between on and the co like just younger
Speaker 1: people who like check out all the stuff and then
Speaker 1: they tell me what's good and we put it on
Speaker 1: the platform and just give people a test to connect
Speaker 1: with other artists and also try to be a bridge
Speaker 1: to be able to get artists signed. So start us
Speaker 1: kids is what I created to be that because I
Speaker 1: honestly wouldn't when listen to every DM there somebody you know,
Speaker 1: when listening to something everything that someone sends me, because
Speaker 1: I'll be sometimes working on my own stuff slash just
Speaker 1: getting my own piece of one. So I made sure
Speaker 1: that I got a team that does check it out
Speaker 1: and I hear the stuff that makes it to the
Speaker 1: next level builty and start searching built American idol. I'm sorry, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I just uh. The one thing I do want to do,
Speaker 1: want to know too is what message do you think
Speaker 1: is one that would be inspiring to the youth? Now, Like,
Speaker 1: what would you say to the youth that are coming up?
Speaker 1: You know in these we can call them to multuous
Speaker 1: times for all intents and purposes. What's a message of
Speaker 1: inspiration you would give to them. Right now, I think, Um,
Speaker 1: it's been no better, no greater time than this time
Speaker 1: for you to really know what you care about and
Speaker 1: know what you value and know to discover what your
Speaker 1: purpose is. Because the world did stop and everything wasn't moving,
Speaker 1: you don't have to do so much. You actually have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to listen to yourself and figure out, like
Speaker 1: what is important to me in this world and what
Speaker 1: can I contribute to this world? Like a lot of
Speaker 1: the things that seemed important pre pandemic, a lot of
Speaker 1: that got removed. So now it's up to you to
Speaker 1: say what's important to me? Like is it followers? Is it?
Speaker 1: You know? How much does that really mean to your life?
Speaker 1: For real? Like unless you translate that into something that
Speaker 1: becomes business or becomes powerful, how are you used? Like
Speaker 1: to me? For me, it's been if I don't do
Speaker 1: something with with uh uh an oscar, if I don't
Speaker 1: like change somebody's life or use that platform that access
Speaker 1: to do greater things than what did I really get
Speaker 1: it for? So my thing is to is what I
Speaker 1: say to younger younger people, is to find what you
Speaker 1: purpose for and when you do it, pursue that with
Speaker 1: all your heart and soul and use it to better
Speaker 1: other people when you can't, like, just use it to
Speaker 1: better other people. Flame doesn't through comedy. Flame is like yo,
Speaker 1: like and and we're learning, but we all don't laughing.
Speaker 1: So you know, Flame found web, you know, like, well,
Speaker 1: this is where I'm gonna do it. This is one
Speaker 1: of them. This is one of the ways. Like and
Speaker 1: I think it's important you find a way to to
Speaker 1: to to you know, to do something you love and
Speaker 1: contribute to the world. I love that com you know
Speaker 1: you're the man. You know, are you let me? Are
Speaker 1: you gonna marry? Let me ask you? Are you gonna marry?
Speaker 1: Tiffany had it? Look at me, look at me? That
Speaker 1: would be a beautiful day. I would say, that would
Speaker 1: be amazing. Have a batter question. Am I gonna get
Speaker 1: invited to your wedding? Well, of course you would if
Speaker 1: you got your wedding level. You know, we would have to.
Speaker 1: It's a must, you know. I like check that. Come
Speaker 1: on the real West Side exactly exactly what high school
Speaker 1: did you go to in Chicago? I went to Lutha South.
Speaker 1: It was over on eighty seven to Kenzie unfortunately closed down,
Speaker 1: but shout out to all my my luth of South people.
Speaker 1: I know you went to the b I stayed right
Speaker 1: by CBS. I stayed like about five blocks from CBS.
Speaker 1: You're a little older than me, though, so you had
Speaker 1: graduated LAM before I came out telling about the space.
Speaker 1: Now you're coming with us, calling on the whole armor. God,
Speaker 1: they didn't show up that they weren't. They weren't work
Speaker 1: with this last every all the time. Come. The only
Speaker 1: reason I did because God don't want me up there
Speaker 1: because I talked too much. Ship He'd be like, dude,
Speaker 1: you gotta explain them to the first, get that story
Speaker 1: together if I even bring you this way, because God
Speaker 1: ain't ready for me. I'm coming. One other thing, can
Speaker 1: you tell us about your website and where people can
Speaker 1: go and visit you to get some more information about
Speaker 1: all of the activism and things that you're doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well you know for sure. Um here I t at
Speaker 1: common um. Like my website is think common dot com.
Speaker 1: We actually have a lot of new um like gear,
Speaker 1: new clothes and stuff like this. Dope like it's common
Speaker 1: well line and we've been doing I should have had
Speaker 1: on this west shot now. But it's like from from
Speaker 1: this workout series and and and this health and wellness
Speaker 1: series I did called Common. Well we have some of
Speaker 1: the give for that. Um, but yeah, you can check
Speaker 1: me out at Common all platforms comming. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: I thank you for joining doing this for me because
Speaker 1: I know you're a busy man and you found other
Speaker 1: things to do. Plus you know I had to push
Speaker 1: Tiffany and she didn't even had to twist you. Um,
Speaker 1: you agreed to it right off. I appreciate you. You
Speaker 1: are you are the man coming. I'm telling you something
Speaker 1: as a friend. I appreciate you as a man. I
Speaker 1: respect you as a training I respect you for the
Speaker 1: EXPERI respecting me, and as a professional nigger. Brainer. We
Speaker 1: should have a comedy, a comedy rap concert. I can
Speaker 1: open for you. Baby, I have on fire you know,
Speaker 1: he she will. I've asked you to write me a
Speaker 1: rap call he when on that bullsh on that bullshit
Speaker 1: a love love and Lord, it's gonna see. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell Rob I build with you on it. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna call it. I'm gonna call it a little later
Speaker 1: and tell them we talked today. For sure. It's good
Speaker 1: to see you too. Hey, thank you, Colm, and thank
Speaker 1: you for what you're doing and life changing the things
Speaker 1: that you're doing, changing people's lives. Because some of these
Speaker 1: young brothers and sisters are seeing you and watching you.
Speaker 1: Tell that killer Mike, I want to pick his brain
Speaker 1: because that's that nigga. Brilliant to me, Good God is
Speaker 1: brilliant to me. He's a He's a real dude, real
Speaker 1: and intelligent one so powerful and some respect to killing Mike.
Speaker 1: You will, you will. You will open up a door
Speaker 1: for other men that are straight and heterosexual that just
Speaker 1: in the world to allow them to speak to me
Speaker 1: or somebody that looks like me now just because you
Speaker 1: did this, So hats off to you. I wouldn't say hal,
Speaker 1: but you ain't gonna help. It looks good though. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Love you, dude. Thank you. Piece. Ladies
Speaker 1: and gentlemen. That was Oscar Warwinn and Grammy ward Win,
Speaker 1: Tony what he wanted to speaking into existence. Bring it,
Speaker 1: Bring it. Thank you guys for loring you. I think
Speaker 1: you're sure one for politics. I vote for you. You
Speaker 1: know what. I feel like what Barack said about show.
Speaker 1: I think my mouth might be a little too reckless
Speaker 1: for it. Well, actually, after what Trump has done, is
Speaker 1: anything off? Now, well, there's a double standard. You gotta
Speaker 1: remember the double standards. So well at the last Wednesday,
Speaker 1: I think that might be good, slowly moving out the way.
Speaker 1: I think they were more embarrassed than anything else. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't act like that. They don't do that. We
Speaker 1: don't act like that. Yes, true, But anyway, I think
Speaker 1: this is an amazing conversation. Anytime you're involved in the conversation, law,
Speaker 1: you know, it was great comment. It was dope for
Speaker 1: doing that. You guys can follow Lauren Hogan where at
Speaker 1: Lauren Armani h on Instagram and due to my instructions
Speaker 1: from this beautiful individual right here, I'm also on YouTube
Speaker 1: now at Lauren Hogan you can subscribe and see amazing
Speaker 1: episodes of Laugh and Learn. And you can follow Nick
Speaker 1: Smith at Nick Smith News when we're on all social
Speaker 1: media platforms including YouTube. You can also follow me on
Speaker 1: YouTube with just Flaming Row. You can follow me on
Speaker 1: Instagram as Monroe Flame. I do do a of lolenge.
Speaker 1: You're doing the evenings at six thirty West Coast time
Speaker 1: when I'm feeling it. We have a great time. We
Speaker 1: play music, we break stories. It's only for a grown
Speaker 1: It's the escape hour. Don't come with politics. It's only
Speaker 1: for grown people. And I'm not talking about growing in age.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about growing in mentality because some of you
Speaker 1: might fucking semni egg like toy. We're not talking about Trump, Okay,
Speaker 1: I just had to get that. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 1: To my executive producer Tiffany had It. You made the
Speaker 1: magic happen. We appreciate you over here at Laugh and Learn.
Speaker 1: To our fabulous cameraman Kendall, thank you so much. Sure
Speaker 1: I produced a triple We appreciate you. To all the
Speaker 1: flame mats. This show could not be possible without you.
Speaker 1: We thank you. I thank you Nick Smith, my partner.
Speaker 1: I think my new baby right here, Lauren Hogan. We
Speaker 1: got another job to do. Yeah, we got to go
Speaker 1: to a set in about an hour. So thank you
Speaker 1: guys for watching and subscribing. Please like, share and subscribe,
Speaker 1: Like share and subscribe. We will see you all next week.
Speaker 1: We got Ellen coming real soon, y'all. Bet we got
Speaker 1: Joe Boyd coming, We got deal Hugh. Oh yeah, come
Speaker 1: on with it. This is laughing learning. Thank you for
Speaker 1: remember I can't no bitch do what you do because
Speaker 1: we are not trying to get you to change your mind.
Speaker 1: We are trying to get you to use your mind,
Speaker 1: and then there you go Peace two