WEBVTT - Chef Tiffani Faison 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.200 Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.600 to it. Good do it, Good do it. They's getting 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:19.919 down to do it. Good do it. We asked the 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.880 questions you always want to know, but no one ever asked, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.600 let's cut to it. You ain't heard am about it, 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:39.279 then we're about to let you know. It's all. You're 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.199 just getting back in the swing of things. Took a 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.879 little break. Um, took a little break, and we'll get 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:49.400 into that. Um can't. Nobody saidhi to me. I'm just 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.279 sitting here, Oh Joe, Hey, fellas, what's going on? Stage Joe? 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:58.920 Stage Joe, Joe, every guy? I mean my own Mike 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:00.480 Hot because I want to be cart it since I 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.520 missed y'all, Mike hutting backdoor, Joe. I'm already ready to 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:07.360 be done with stage. That's not my stage name, Mike Hot. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:12.800 That's that's a that's a different ballgame, son, all right. So, um, 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.320 so I had to I with the pandemic. I really 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:18.559 kind of Me and my wife had a great understanding 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.000 conversation was like, look when the pandemic is over everything 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:28.679 we want to do traveling wise, let's do it. Because 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.119 one of the things I feel like the pandemic did 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:37.920 do it exposed blind spots and myself. I can't really 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.039 say about my wife or buddies. I just say for me, 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.680 and in that blind spot, I'm not really a camper. 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:51.160 So I did some camping, camping, camping, yes, camping, like 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:56.120 like backpacking and like r V camping, like a smart s'more, 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:02.680 like a pull up to an RV camp and clean 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.000 out the toilet and grind up the items in the toilet. 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.520 It's like some MTV road Rules type stuff. No, not 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:17.720 no role rules the Smiths. No, I didn't see that show. Yeah, 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:30.840 it's new w brocome back. So so one of so 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:32.919 one of the things I did was I went back on. 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.560 I went back home and I saw some things. Um, 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.520 and it was good for man. And every time I 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:40.959 go back home. I used to go back home a 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:42.320 lot when I was in the league. But when I 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.440 go back home now, um, it's a different resett and 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.440 in it, uh it energizes me, It resetsed me, gets 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.880 me back on my focus to where Uh I come 0:02:54.919 --> 0:03:02.400 back hot, I come back focused and so, um, one 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.359 of the things it did is it triggered and reminded 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.919 me something that I experienced when I was young, when 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:11.800 I was probably in the seventh eighth grade. And so 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.400 it leads me to, um, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:21.160 always big on words and definitions, and um, so I'm 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.760 gonna ask ask both of you, two gentlemen that I 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:33.040 called friends and brothers, what's your family heirlooms? And so 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.160 I'll read up and give you the definition of where 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.880 the heirloom is. So it says the first one a 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.000 a piece of property such as a deed or or 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:51.680 a chapter that descends to the air as an inseparable 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:57.720 part of inheritance of real property. Two which I feel 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:02.480 like this applies to something of special value handed down 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.920 from run generation to another. And for me, one of 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.880 the things that I realized what was handed down to 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:18.040 me was I was handed down whether my family knows 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:23.880 it or not. And something that I noticed is to 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:30.360 take away that part of day dreaming, taking away of 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.839 short change in yourself. When I was when we were 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:39.240 I believe either eight or my freshman year, sophomore year. 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.680 I can't remember exactly what great I was in And 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.839 the reason I started my foundation is my mom was 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.599 fleeing a domestic domestic violence situation. And when my mom 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:55.000 was fleeing that domestic violence situation, um um, some folks 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.320 came on some church, a church that you know, we 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:01.279 kind of went through here and there, um came home. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.640 So when she came home, she was told we told 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:05.120 my mom came home and say, hey, we gotta go 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.000 pack up all your stuff. Uh. And so when she 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.359 packed up all her stuff, we had to leave. And 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.120 we lived in a motel for about a week and 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.520 I had to catch the bus and and then after 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.760 that I went with an aunt. And I'm not gonna 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.720 say that this is his name because a little my family, 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.120 uh so of my family listens to the podcast. But 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.279 this aunt made me and my mom and my brother 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:34.120 when we came there to kind of stay until he 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:36.720 until my mom's husband, who was not my father's name 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:43.200 was Sylvester Morris. Sylvester was very abusive. Sylvester was he 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.120 was at the actually at that time he was before 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.680 they you went through t s A became TS. He 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.279 actually used to smuggle, he used to clean the money 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:54.800 and basically he had going on a trip and be 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.919 strapped with ten thirty thousand dollars worth of cash and 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.560 then taking on site and so we used to get 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:06.039 that money. Um. But he was also he smoked crack. 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.200 He smoked weed to keep during the week. But he's 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.360 smoke cracking. Every time he would go do one of 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:16.000 those money cleaning deals on the airplane, he get missing 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.920 for a couple of days. And so when he got 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.960 missing this last time, my mom we was like, we're 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:27.040 out of here. And so when we left, Um stayed 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:28.839 in the motel and then we went with my aunt 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:33.320 and my aunt made us clean her her duplex or 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.599 her apartment in our house whatever it was. And they 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.640 had three bear rooms and she made us basically to 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.840 pay the rent. That was our way of pain. And 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.080 why do I say that is more if I didn't 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:49.760 realize that in a desperate time with family, my aunt 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.719 made us clean her house so we can stay there. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.360 And then my mom was like, you know, Steven, if 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.120 you want to make it to the league, because I 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:04.040 was doing bad, and obviously school was a little bit 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:08.120 of the last thing was on my mind at that time. Uh, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.400 and none of my boys back home. I was going 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:12.720 to school with new they just thought I still lived 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:18.040 on was half Cambridgeway, and none of them knew that 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:20.800 we were where we were living, and so I got 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.800 on a different bus stop and all that stuff. So 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:27.960 I wasn't doing good at school. My mom said, you know, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:29.960 if you if you want to do what you wanna do, 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:31.880 go to school, you know, go to you want to 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.920 play ball, like you said playing college. You gotta pay attention. Man, 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.480 you need steve an. You need to tighten up. And 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.600 Mom asked me, what do you want to do? So 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:46.960 I want to go to the league. And I never 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:52.160 really put it in this perspective, but I remember she saying, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:56.320 she told me, you need to have a more realistic dream. 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:00.080 And bro, that crushed me. If I'm being honest to 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.400 pissed me off. It pissed me off to the point 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:08.640 of this aren't now at forty two years old. When 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:10.680 I was in the league, she would ask me for stuff, 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.080 asked me for this, asked me for that. I ain't 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.760 never sign a ship for her and still having our 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:21.560 want because I only can speak for what I know 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:29.160 and what I've experienced, and only things that's tough is 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:34.000 I hate the fact that we in a time where 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.480 I needed someone to encourage me more. She should own 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.719 my dream. And then when I made it, now she 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:46.480 want to partake in it. And I realized, and I 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.560 go back in it. And I didn't realize I even 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.880 had that wound. And you know, and God has helped 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.880 me deal with it. Is I realized and she showed me. 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.640 She sold me short. She told me to stop daydreaming 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.040 when at the time you're supposed to day dream, when 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.040 you're a little kid, when your boy freshman, you get 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:11.000 you you fleeing from your hut, your mom's husband, bad habits. 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:16.199 That's that's all I got. And she took that away 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.680 from me, hm m hm. And I hate the fact 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:29.000 that too many adults we poop on young men and women, 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.000 especially people of color, amongst our own selves, that we 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.120 don't we we sure change ourselves to day dream. And 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:41.079 so I'm telling I'm telling you, you know, till the 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.440 day I died, Man, I ain't gonna shut change myself 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:48.680 no more. I'm not gonna tell myself stop dreaming. Well, 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:53.160 and I think that's the family heirloom and some of 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.840 my family members, because of our circumstances, we may have 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:03.520 done to each other m hm, unconsciously that what we've 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.840 handed down generation and generation has said, oh you want 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.719 to be this. Uh, that's too big of a that's 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.120 too big of a ask. We don't do that. I 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.640 mean you asked about the heirlooms. I can't really tell 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.000 you an heirloom. I know, physical, physical wise, we don't 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.760 have some Some families have Bible, some families have things 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.080 they've passed down. I don't have none of that. For me, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.600 UM and my wife, what's big for us is breaking 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:34.920 generational curses. And that ain't answering your questions, but for but, 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.080 but but for me, it is UM being able to 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.920 pass my pass on to my kids, financial literacy, giving 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:46.360 them UM a nest egg, being able to the generational 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.400 trauma and the hurt and all these things that I 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.560 hear you talking about that you experienced and and now 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:56.959 you're able to UM almost look back and deconstruct what 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:59.280 it is and where it came from. That kind of 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:03.400 stuff that is very president of my family. And now, UM, 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:06.280 you know you you've shared some stuff. I haven't sewn 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.360 this podcast before, but I lost my dad a few 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.400 weeks back, and even in that, what's happened is I'm 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.240 able to look back the same way I'm talking in 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:14.800 with that is be able to look back and be 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.600 able to deconstruct not only his life and his impact 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.200 on my life, but how it's affected my life. And 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:24.920 all that does is really reinforced what I believe. Um 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:26.439 I'm called to do, and I know I speak for 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.079 my wife when she says the same thing is is 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.080 breaking curses. So that's what I can because that's literally 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.120 what this time in life is, is that generation after 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.960 generation after generation of hurt, generation after generation after generation 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.280 of pain, generation after generation after generation of let down, 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.079 a poverty, or any of these other things that do 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.920 tend to play not just not just families of color, 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.000 but a lot of families. So that so that tells 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:55.880 me my fair layerylan, my family heirloom. Until mine was 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.160 a little bit of the negative thinking I was gonna say, 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:03.240 mine's peace. That's what your family I want to know. 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.000 That's what I'm not want to that's I'm going to 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:13.559 pass along people that beats my coin collection. So no, 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.120 just sit you know, Gerard and I had the luxury 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.040 of you know, knowing you pretty well and knowing where 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.800 you came from and knowing about your life and every 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:26.839 once in a while I get a little nugget or 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.680 a little kernel of something like, ah, I didn't know that, 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.920 but now it makes sense because when I see you 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.160 interact with the public and even in private, the way 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.240 you treat people, and even you know, I go back to, 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.320 you know, a banner that we may have talked about 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:46.640 about some of these rising upcoming athletes. You were still 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.440 positive to them, even though you did it in your 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:51.280 own way. You didn't poop on their dream that they 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:52.880 were going to be an athlete or they were gonna 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.320 play for University of wherever. So you've taken what you 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.360 said and you continue to live and it's not just 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.600 a piece of verbiage from your history. And then folks 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.120 that know you know what drives you like you know 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.120 you were that dude. You know, look at all the 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.080 athletes we've had. You know, Steve's a dog. Well, there's 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:15.120 things in your upbringing that made you that person today. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.200 So I know it sucks, and I know it it 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:22.200 stung you in a little bit. But the the glad, 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.280 the glass half full, pieces um that drive and could 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:28.439 partially could have been. Man, I'm gonna prove you wrong. 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:30.640 Whether it was a coach, whether it was your aunt 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:35.040 whomever it was. Um. So, yeah, that's horrible and that sucks, 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.200 but what it's done for you that like, man, I 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:39.959 don't want to do that, Like I don't want to 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.960 hurt these people or hurt these youngsters. So, UM, I 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.720 appreciate that story. And then you know, g looking at you. 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.880 You know from the story you want to do is 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.959 maybe you didn't have any family heirlooms, but you want 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:55.200 to create them with your family growing up. Um. Mine 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.480 is a material item. There's a couple of material items. 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.560 Is a to this day, I still have this call 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.800 it's like a Rambo knife. It's not a coin collection. 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:05.280 I was trying to lighten the move a little bit, 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.680 but yeah, thank you. Uh, it's this Rambo knife that 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.439 my dad had. My dad was in the Marine Corps 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.000 for many, many years, um, and he had this knife 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:14.800 that when he was a young adult and he went 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.679 in at sixteen years old. His mom actually signed him 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.000 over and said, here you go, he's yours now. So 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:22.040 my dad was in the military for many, many years 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.080 and and for whatever reason, he kept this knife. So 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.800 you know, I'm I'll be fifty years old next month, 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.200 so I've had that knife as long as I can remember, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.160 and we take it camp in and we you know, 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.720 I do tasks with it. But even when I just 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.520 go cut a string, like I envisioned in my mind, Like, man, 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.640 you know, Papa Joe was what we call my dad, 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.960 Like what did he do with this? Some things we 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.480 might not want to know, but I think, you know, 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.600 the things that he did allows us and others to 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:50.800 do what we do today, you know. So I'm very 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.760 loyal to military. Even my wife. You know, we have 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.320 her father who's passed away. You know, we have his hat. 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.960 So you know, our family's very military driven. And you know, 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.240 it's funny my daughter's sitting in the studio right now, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.440 Eva and like we want to pass it on to 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.720 her because she knows the type of individuals they are. 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.880 But like, any time I get that knife in my hand, 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.200 it's a piece of my father. Any Time we look 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.080 at that hat that that my wife Kim has, it's 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.440 like that's a piece of her father. So those are 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.800 heirlooms that aren't monetary value things, um, but they symbolize 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.640 something to us. So that's kind of when you set heirlooms. 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.400 That's the first thing that I thought about, like, man, 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.760 I got that knife, and you know Kim has that hat. 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:32.880 So it's it's just really cool to think what each 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.560 heirloom means to each family and what they want to 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.120 do with it. So you know, it's that's really neat. 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:39.720 So you know both of you all, Like I said, 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.160 I learned something every every time we talk something new 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:46.880 about you guys, So it brings to me. Usually we 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.720 do it at then, but it's the beginning when a 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:55.240 man's willing and eager God will join in. H Yeah. 0:15:56.080 --> 0:16:00.280 So I've been willing to eager to reshape chain age 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:06.000 my perspective and thinking, and then doing that, God joined 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.200 in and showed me I gotta let some things go. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.560 So today letting go. What my aunt said, I let 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.520 it go. I'm exposed myself, but you're still inside in 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:40.440 that jersey, are you? Nope? Who? We got first segment 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:44.040 it's called get ice Stuck. It's our version of icebreakers. 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:51.680 All right? Are you ready? Maybe? Okay, buckle, it's on you. 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.960 So if you fail, it's your faults nutshell? All right? 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.640 What type of sugar do you prefer? Brown sugar? Oh? 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:09.720 White sugar? Brown sugar always brown, always? But you know 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.399 you can turn white sugar into brown sugar sort of 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:18.840 camel that. I know some dudes and their name is 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.320 Pooky Richard and a whole bunch of the names that 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.560 have turned some white sugar some brown sugar. Well, I 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.960 think white sugars want to be brown sugar. The truth 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.080 is like, brown sugar can't be turned into white sugar. 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:42.359 So there's the authenticity. Our talent acquisition manager is not 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.000 liking this conversation. You're trying to wrap us up. Nope, 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:56.119 no can do brown sugar baby, right, all right? So one, 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:02.160 you being a bona fide cook, one thing your family 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.639 loves for you to make, but realistically you're like, do 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:10.840 I really have to do that again? Oh m? She said, like, oh, 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:14.119 that's several things. It's a couple of things. I mean, truthfully, 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:16.600 I see my mom so rarely that I'm always very 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.360 happy to do whatever she wants me to do. Normally, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.080 it's like a giant pile of like celery and onions 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.760 and carrots for Thanksgiving, Like she has given up doing 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.000 the prep. She doesn't let me cook anything. It's all 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.480 like Linda's Thanksgiving. But I am the hands that do 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.199 all the chopping She's like, you can just get it 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:34.480 done a whole lot faster. So I just I come 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.480 into my mother's house seeing like mounds of produce that 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:39.560 she needs me to break down for her, which I 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.760 truly do not mind doing. Flex. That's all you're doing 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.280 is prepping exactly. She wants me nowhere near the actual 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.720 preparation of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving us like mother specific. Right, it's regional, 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.200 it's mother's specific. I don't want my Thanksgiving when I 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.160 go to her house. I want her Thanksgiving's like taking 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.640 him a quarterback and putting them in right tackle kind 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.480 of Yeah, team sucks. Dan, you know what I mean. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:10.080 I've heard and read you're spice junkie. I am what 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:14.639 should go to spice? I have a jar of Vietnamese 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.640 chili in my fridge at all times. It changes because 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.800 I get I'm also I get very bored very quickly. 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:23.320 But right now it's um. This jar of Vietnamese it's 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.600 literally just red Ti chili that's been chopped up with 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.680 a little bit of vinegar, salt, and sugar. What kind 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:34.520 of sugar? Steve is furiously taking palm sugar? Actually, so 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.680 it's not it's um. It's from it's from palm trees, 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.359 so sugar from palm trees. We have a beat sugar 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.439 at the house. Look at that. When I tell you 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.199 I like to cook, girl, you beat sugar. What do 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:50.439 you use it for you? It's like you on an 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:54.159 episode of Chopped right now? Yeah, well we use it. 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.800 I use it as a sugar suct to when I 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:02.360 do the homemade pizza you pass? Does it turn your 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:08.040 dough color like your dough? It's actually the bet sugar white. 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.960 What does the chef think about infotshers like cookwear and knives. 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:14.639 First of all, I don't like my counters in my 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.280 kitchen jumped up with a lot of stuff. I like 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.800 them clean. I always feel like in cooking, whether it's 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.560 professionally or at home, I feel like your head feels 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.439 like your workstation looks like if stuff is just like 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.080 everywhere and there's no room to work and it doesn't 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.000 feel clean, you just feel really, you know, disorganized and 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:34.760 not focus in your head. So I don't like a 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.119 lot of stuff on my counters. I disagree with that. 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.520 You don't like the I like the engages. Sometimes I disagree. 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.320 I disagree with the splattering of papers because that's my 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:49.000 office at my office home and get done. If I'm cooking, 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.080 then it's a mess all over the place. I think 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:53.880 it's just I didn't used to be that way before 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:58.240 I started cooking professionally, and now cooking professionally becomes and look, 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.879 I'm literally sitting at a desk with my assistant and 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.760 I am, there's ship everywhere. She's looking at me like 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.200 I'm the second coming of the devil. But there's stuff 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.800 everywhere right now. So I am. You know, I'm not 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:10.840 dying on the hill of being the most organized person, 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.040 but when I cook, I do need things organized. So 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:15.600 back to the gadgets. Um, you guys are dudes, and 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.199 dudes love gadgets like it's proven, it's science. It's just 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:20.399 in you, guys, it's in your d n A. Um, 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:27.800 I have been so I am. I'm totally they're profiled 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:36.280 right there, Absolutely no gadget guy. Yeah, yeah, it was 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:40.200 correct with it. I just delayed reaction like I was 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:46.200 a baby hand on the stove. It's hot. I appreciate 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:48.320 you standing up for your gender not being profiled. I 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:53.200 will say there are obvious exceptions, but more than generally, 0:21:53.560 --> 0:22:00.600 you guys really like gadgets, So anyway, you're not disproving 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:06.679 my point. Um there. I'm so I've been so anti 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:09.480 gadget for so long that really coming around to them 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:14.160 has been uh Like my first rice cooker I bought 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.480 a couple of years ago, and I was like, wow, 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:18.840 this we can like cook perfect rice and not just 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:20.760 said it and walk away like that was my Like 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.320 my head exploded. I've been cooking for twenty years, so 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.440 I'm not generally a big gadget person. I will say 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:28.399 I got my butt caught in a competition, and I 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:31.000 can't go super far into this because it's about to air. 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:36.199 Um where there was a very common gadget that I 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:41.080 had to use, and I really was lost, Like everyone 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:44.880 has one right now? Can we like say it? Because 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.080 I'm picking up what you're putting down. It's you know, 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:54.800 my favorite chicken is made this way? M Yeah, yeah, 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:58.639 ye lost. I did not use it. I had to 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:02.280 be I it was to listen. I'll put everything in 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.600 the air for her. I've heard. I'm very close to 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:07.480 get anyone. Does your does your house smell like fried food? 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:10.760 That's what I want to Nope, No, we're black, and 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:12.960 if it did, I wouldn't know. We may tell you 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:15.960 I worked as a private chef once and for a 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:18.680 very well known black family, and I'm made the stake 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:22.800 of frying chicken inside and oh I it was. I 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:26.560 nearly lost my job. You can let me tell you something. 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:31.000 What you can do for black folks. You cannot mess 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:34.080 up no chicken. I didn't screw up the chicken. And 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:36.800 the house smelled like chicken. They were like outside, get 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:41.199 that outside. Yeah, we have to take a break and 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:49.400 the morning thing, we gotta pay some bails checks. I 0:23:49.520 --> 0:23:52.440 love cut to It and I love it even more 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:56.880 when you download us and subscribe, and you can follow 0:23:56.960 --> 0:24:00.359 us on social media too, Smithie where where at cut 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:05.560 to It? On Instagram? What about Twitter? At cut to It? Facebook? 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:09.640 Cut to It feature in Steve Smith Sr? What about online? 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:12.560 And you can follow Louis at cut to It podcast 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:15.800 dot com where you can buy merch and you can 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:19.280 subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts. I got 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:22.840 all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.400 questions answered. That's what I'm here for. A brother, cut 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:31.000 to a podcast dot com? Where are you from and 0:24:31.080 --> 0:24:35.280 the place you call your hometown? Um, it's one of 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:38.040 the hardest questions, we're gonn answer. Hometown is Boston. I've 0:24:38.080 --> 0:24:40.160 been here on and off for the last twenty years. 0:24:40.280 --> 0:24:44.040 It's where It's what I absolutely considers home. Um, where 0:24:44.040 --> 0:24:46.520