WEBVTT - Issue #0 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.520 You're listening to waiting on reparations of production of I 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.079 Heart Radio. Uh, I'm said he wishing there with six 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:18.760 of me want to find a husband. I could try 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.320 to feed me breakfast in a lunch and keep his 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.400 dick card mouth shutting the kitchen clee. I want to 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.000 sit between Dickinson and Linquin. Commission meets one for giving 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:27.360 hikis and swilling whiskey like let's dring, chasing it down 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:29.200 with dark and stormy, still the bars closing up at 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:30.920 little Kings. I wanted to fill my st before me 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:32.879 go depressive. Man it for me, standing for me out 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:34.720 and knock a soft for me. Maybe then I get 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.040 some sleep, which you probably need. The fifth to live 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:39.160 in infamy, so I can live in peace. But I'm 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.000 splitting six which disease at the centerpiece. Who the fund is? Mariah? 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:43.960 What the fun is that? I said? Welcome to the 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.560 bottom of the barrel, cops j walking put the clock 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.559 to your perrel. Lock you in the box for all 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.720 the posits in your bar row, and even taking washingt 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:52.479 bike and talking for in there row. I dare you 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:54.360 to come let these crackers put you want to curf you? 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.680 You could keep it reel and let the silly niggas Murphy. 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:58.560 I'll tell you what the deals he really ain't got 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.400 no virtues of viboral quiets were Nobody really deserves you 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.600 when life is giving them. Couragey strike probably solve it all. 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:05.720 The follow worlds unite people worth the sight think guy 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:07.759 ship nigga my persons tight heard it right and post 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:09.600 a picture here to frame of perfect life of the 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.640 worse and height nick and conserved the worst of slight. 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:13.960 Financial rigor mortis got you throwing fish and all you're 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:15.520 ship the story that you was talking to sick. Now 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.760 you're just sipping porch penny pitch, of course, which it 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:19.960 makes you sick of porsh it instead of sitting gorgeous 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:26.200 predators got picks and torches. Welcome to Waiting on Reparation. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.440 Hurry up. My name's Dope Knife and I'm lingal Franca 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.240 reporting to you live from not live, reporting to you hot, 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.840 coming in hot, coming in hot from Athens, Georgia and 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.840 an undisclosed time on disclosed place. This is actually episode 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:47.960 zero of the Waiting on Reparations podcast, and then the 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.840 tradition of all episode zero is like like I don't 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.120 know do do you know what episode with with this 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.400 episode or issue zero is it's like the epicenter. It's 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.960 like the ground zero. It's like the dead nation point 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.800 for the whole thing. It's like the start of the 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.560 show before the start of the show. Right, It's like 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.799 it's like the Garden of Eden, you know, back in 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.480 the day, like in in comic books, they would always 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.000 have an issue zero, but it would come out long 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.560 after the comic book has been around, but it would 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:18.600 just be kind of like, what are you some kind 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.520 of nerd or something? Yeah, I mean you would think so, right, 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.320 but like if you know the standards story like Spider Man, 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.359 right then like there would be an issue zero and 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.359 it's like what did he do in school that day 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.920 before he got bitten by the radio actors? So it 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:35.919 is that yeah, yeah, I mean so this is kind 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.040 of like that. It's like you know who, So who 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:42.400 are we? Who are you? Who are you? Who am I? Yeah? 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.640 So I'm going to answer a question with a question. 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:50.280 So yeah, I'm lingal franco Um hip hop artist, kind 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.320 of commissioner here in Athens, Georgia. Show me don't come 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.560 out to we we both have probably think some robber 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.120 reason know that from we were keeping a stickle sharp, 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.200 So pry you better riot if I don't pray you 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:08.519 better right, if I'm don't pray you better riot? For 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.799 about a year and a half now, also getting my 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:15.160 PhD at the University of Georgia go doggs UM in 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.000 Language and Literacy education. So I study hip hop language 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:20.920 and culture and how it can be used in the 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:23.160 classroom and stuff like that. And also I'm very involved 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.680 in politics, and so I'm interested in the overlaps between 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.519 the dimensions of the political realm and the realm of 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.040 hip hop. When did you get into hip hop? So 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:33.920 it's a funny story because it's also the story of 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.200 how I met you in the first place, the story 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.040 of how you got into hip hop, well, got into 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.800 hip hop in terms of being a performer, take it 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.760 all the way back, because we'll get to that. But yeah, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:47.840 like so, like how did you get into hip hop? 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.640 Just in general, because I mean that matters, because that 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.000 has to happen first before you get into the performance. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:54.920 That's true. I mean I was a passive hip hop 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.440 listener throughout my childhood and like early adolescence, I was 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.240 around a lot of like ciphers and people who thought 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.320 they could wrap good and most of whom were like dudes, 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:05.640 And so I kind of stayed out of it, just 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.600 like had my little pen and add on the sidelines, 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:13.120 like writing rhymes until um frankly, like I wasn't I 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.600 got into UM. I was in graduate school and I 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:17.799 had been in the spoken word, I've been in freestyle 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.159 and stuff like that, but like I started to really 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.040 find a sense of identity and hip hop listening to 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.000 hip hop that um, I felt like challenged the stereotype 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.240 of what hip hop could be folks like a sad 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.039 rock for example, and like Skeleton came out. I was like, oh, man, 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.040 hip hop can be this too, Like this can also 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.919 embrace like the nerdy sides of me, the dark sides 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.440 of me in terms of like being a crazy person, 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.800 um and so and still be cool and still yeah 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:46.920 and be fantastical and be all these things and so 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:51.080 like my inner like you know, book reading, literary as 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.799 like nerdy black girl like finally found like a space 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:59.040 within the genre and uh decided to like start making 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.520 my own music and know three years later, four years later, 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:07.719 traveling around the country and stuff, playing shows you know, 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.960 do them with a thing. So who are you? Um, 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:18.960 I am dope knife. I'm a rapper, producer, illustrator, sometimes 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.760 filmmaker from US Havannah, Georgia. I'd rather slabor way to 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.040 thank of something to say, so when it comes to point, 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.000 it works to get the dog. I'm a lap rant 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.600 with that. I still love my son if he's gay, 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:31.760 but I kicked him out the motherfucking house if he 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:38.480 wraps whacked one. Mike Mike Dree said everybody down. Kind 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.560 of found a little audience for myself. So I've been 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.599 making music independently for about a decade now. I didn't 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.239 grow up in the States. You know. My my father 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:49.599 works in the State Department. When I was a kid, 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.960 so we used to travel from country to country, you know, 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.120 growing up, and we'd always you know, I was always 0:05:56.160 --> 0:06:01.440 in American schools abroad or international schools abroad. There wasn't 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.160 that sort of you know, hey, hip hop is like 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.800 this new fresh thing. It just wasn't there and it 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:09.960 wasn't present for me like that. So when I did 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.480 get into high school, and I think I was in 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:16.200 Singapore at the time, um, and I did start meeting 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.279 people who were like DJ's and break the answers and 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:22.320 stuff like that, who are who are in school with me? 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:24.840 And it was like, oh man, so like there's like 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:28.080 this whole other world that seems like dangerous and not 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.680 a lot of people do it, you know what I mean. 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.120 It It just had had this like countercultural vibe to 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.480 it that was cool from the surface level. So then 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.200 when I started becoming a participant and it started researching 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:42.680 it more and learning more about it, and then you 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:45.760 learn more about like why hip hop was started in 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:48.760 the first place, going to hip hop events and be 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:53.400 boy jams and battles and graffiti contests and stuff like that, 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.480 and just getting immersed in the culture. Do you feel 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.240 like you use hip hop in your everyday life today? Um? 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.640 I mean yeah, but in subtle ways stuff that's kind 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.279 of hard to articulate. Like I think so the way 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:08.320 that I think of hip hop, it's in the way 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.520 that I speak, It's in how I dress. Not to 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.840 sound corny, but like I look at hip hop as 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:19.200 kind of like a spiritual experience for me. Yeah, I 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.800 really want to talk about how we met because I 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.320 think it's really funny. Okay, Yeah, the story of how 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.160 Lingua Franca and Dope Nick and that I was on 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.520 this little string where one thing was leading to another, 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:32.200 and I was opening up for this cat, and I 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.440 was opening up for that cat. I was like, oh ship, 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:35.920 you know. And then it got to the point where 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:37.880 it's like, oh, you know, do you wanna open up 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.880 for St. Francis in Atlanta? I was like, yeah, you know, 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.040 that sounds like a planet, you know. So I go 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.160 down there and I opened up and it was like 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.240 one of the illest shows that I've done, felt like 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.680 I rocked. It, got off stage like people bought a 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:54.200 bunch of merch and the I came up to you 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:55.880 and I was like, oh my god, you were so great. 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.160 You should come play in Athens, Georgia. I'm not gonna imitate. 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.520 And and uh my friend who also has made fun 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:04.160 of me and like play wear and Atham started and 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.520 like Athens is like the whitest town in America, which 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:09.480 is not true, but like as a white kid, he 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:15.720 you know, um, et cetera. And you you were still like, yeah, 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.760 sure is you know, come up sometime, we'll play a show. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.760 It'll be I was also like just got off stage 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.040 mode too, so it was like yeah, yeah, somebody's like 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:32.080 talking anyone anything. Yeah, yeah, stuck with me. I was like, 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.160 I'm going to put on a hip hop show in Athens. 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:35.920 So I'm gonna bring this cat out. He's gonna do 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.880 that who's got the props thing? It's gonna be awesome. Um. 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.720 And so I had never performed before ever, like it 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:46.640 didn't you know, and Athens and only have a five 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:48.560 hip hop scene at the time. But I went to 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:50.880 the bar where I was working at and like, you know, 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:52.839 asked him, like a hip hop show, there's this really 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:54.840 dope cat from Savannah who I'm gonna have come up. 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.840 It can be great, and they, you know, they grudgingly obliged. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:01.040 Was that the hot corner? That was the hot first off? 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.200 When I hip hop I had and I, uh, that 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.199 was like two yeah. So I was like, yeah, I'm 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.080 gonna open for him. It's gonna be great. But then 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.080 I had to write all the songs like I had 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:14.120 like I didn't have any material. I was like, oh, 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.240 it's gonna be fine. I'm gonna you know, write all 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.720 this material and then you couldn't come. So I was like, well, 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.679 I guess I'm gonna headline my own first show. And 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.040 like put this whole bill together, even though like the 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:28.560 whole premise initially it's fallen through now um and uh 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.080 eventually did come play an appen? Yeah, no I did, 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.840 I did. Um. I think it was the next year 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.079 I came and played. Yeah it was at the Caledonia, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.720 I think. Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, then we started, i know, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.240 times live, We started playing music a lot together. We 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.839 went on tour through the southeast south to Texas and 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:53.640 South seventeen. Now we are roommates. That was the model 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.480 to model minority tour back into that seen and now 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:59.600 we are. We lived together as of like yesterday two 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:13.920 days making music and podcasts. Yeah, well you know what 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.360 I mean. Even this, the whole conversation we've been having 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.720 so far is all kind of surface levels far as 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:29.199 episode zeros. Yeah, anyway, let's yeah, okay, so Athens, Georgia. 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.679 Let's talk a little bit about Athens, Georgia, because you know, 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.160 we might have big ideas, but we live in a 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.880 small town is and I think a lot of you know, 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.079 people can relate as be consume media that I was, 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.160 you know, produced oftentimes like on the coast, Like now 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.040 we we regular people. We live in a regular town, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.360 but it's a sound the vibrant, I guess you could say, 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.400 like music history, and so it's an interesting place to 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.520 be if you are in hip hop, you know, because 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.920 folks oftentimes know Abouthens for people like you know, R A. 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.560 M and Bet two and then eight is or like 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.000 if you're into like I don't know, can you call 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:04.680 it indie rock? I don't even know that. I don't 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.360 genres outside of hip hop. Um, it's like, you know, 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.680 like Neutral medic Hotel by the nineties or like upon 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.280 Montreal of Montreal in the two thousands. I mean, shout 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.240 out to Kichi Bashi is like killing him right now, 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:19.480 is homie. It's definitely one of those towns that's like 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:25.360 has has like a musical pedigree, but it does. Yeah, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.680 that's a good way to say it. Yeah, yeah, yeah 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.960 sont Notably, we do claim Bubba Sparks is Bubba Sparks 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.760 Sparks is from Athens. Yeah, you getg Twins with the 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:40.360 high school here. That sounds like, y'all not it made. 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.000 I mean just just serves claim and famous motherfucker sounds 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:48.120 like not known for his musical talents as much. But 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.880 Titus Burgess is also from Athens. Yeah, I went to 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.040 Clark uh Clark County High schools now uh cedar shows 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:58.760 high school co jacks. Um. But it's an interesting Yeah, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.280 it's got this like this music called pedigree as he said, 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.720 but like not a lot of offerings for hip hop 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:05.760 artists up until the current moment. I mean there's been 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.199 waves of it over the decades. My friend Tommy and 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.479 I was talking about earlier it was like really instrumental 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.040 and being like the trojan horse of hip hop because, 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.520 like I said, it's like this shiny, bald headed white 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:19.960 guy who like looks good and like a cardigan and 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:22.520 like coach shoes, and so they'd like send them in 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.520 to the hip to the venues that we're booking rock music, 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:27.560 like hey, you guys, can we like have a show 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:31.120 here to like ease them into having like black people 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.839 in their spaces because they were a little how did 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:39.680 you get into politics? Uh? So also through hip hop, 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:41.959 And that's kind of why I'm so obsessed with that intersection. 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.559 You know. I met through one of the hip hop shows, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.679 either I was putting on or someone's putting on. I 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.880 met this cat named Tommy Valentine and two thousand, I 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.120 guess twousnant seventeen, also right before we went on tour 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.040 together um who was a former hip hop artist who 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.600 was running for office. And uh, eventually, like when you 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.920 talked to about the public policy issues that affect people 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.160 a hip hop community, you know, stuff like affordable and 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:10.959 reliable access transportation, childcare, educational opportunities, you know, wages, criminal 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.280 justice system, all these things that like people talk about 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:16.960 in their songs and like, well even impede them from 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.400 like having the opportunity to perform their songs so people 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.400 can hear that story. And so I started to see 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.760 all these connections, and you know, eventually started working on 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:28.680 this campaign field director, campaign manager. And then through some 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:30.640 weird circumstances, I was like, you know what, fuck it, 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.760 he's running. I can run. I could just do this. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.520 I have nothing to lose. Became his running mate, and 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.960 uh later you know, two thousand eighteen and then one 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.559 and here I am a year and half later, having 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.840 previously never thought it was gonna be a politician. Like man, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.559 I've I've just done too much in this life. They 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.920 find me out on dead Man. But here we are 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.840 doing the thing. And so in this in this podcast. 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.520 We're going to talk a lot about like that general 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.680 idea of like the ways that politics both like you know, 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.040 public policy and then like revolutionary you know, leftist kind 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.920 of politics. Can you know what the bearing they have 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.679 on the hip hop community, the ways in vice versa 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.200 and vice versa as well. Yeah, Um, the ways that 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.240 public policy of shaped hip hop and the ways that 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.360 hip hop shaped public policy and public discourse, and so um, 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.440 that's that's what we're gonna be talking about a lot. 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.720 You have been in office for a little over a 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:33.680 year year and a half, now, okay, so how's that going. Um, 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:37.480 it's a struggle. I mean, when you're only outside, it's 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.760 so easy to just be mad at the folks with power, 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:41.840 like why is everything kicking so long? But now that 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:44.920 I am actually engaging with like the gears of power, 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.680 like the interlocking pieces within the local government, I have 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.320 seen how long things take and kind of appreciate how 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:53.960 long things take because like these are millions and millions 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:56.520 of dollars were allocating and they're kind of affects the 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.280 lives of tens of lessens of people. So um, I've 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.840 definitely had to cultivate some patients with the process um 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:08.480 and learned the art and slowly learning and still frustrated 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.800 with but like and learning the art of compromise because 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.840 so many good ideas, really great ideas, get watered down 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:19.000 based on you know, just preemptitions by state law, a 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.480 lack of like federal funding for programming, you know, and 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.239 then just like the will of my other commissioners who 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.240 don't see the urgency of like improving the conditions And 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.040 do you mean any like mine, do you think it 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.720 affective your platform at all? Like just the realities of 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:37.600 how long things sake um somewhat, I mean, like I 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.320 still aspire to, like, you know, do things I can 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.920 increase the stock of affordable housing in my neighborhood. And like, 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.200 I think there's a lot of criminal justice reform yet 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.120 to be done, but just like I think it's expanded 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.680 the scope and timeline of like what those things are 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.640 going to happen on and uh and seeing that like 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.280 piecemeal processes, sometimes what you what you have to sometimes 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.640 just sometimes what you get and remember remembering to like 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.680 celebrate when you get little things done as a part 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.320 of that larger picture, because you know, it is a 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:15.440 very large puzzle, very um complicated image in the background. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:17.760 What is nerds to you? Like, what does that mean? 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.840 We're talking about like this this podcast is somewhat about 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.920 nerd life. I don't know what anybody else's definition of 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:30.120 nerd ship is. To me, nerds ship is anything that 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:35.760 completely has captured your imagination and your interests, and something 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:40.400 that is captured it so thoroughly that you do not 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:45.320 care what anybody's opinion is of it, you know what 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.080 I mean. To give an example, like I was dating 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.200 a girl who was like much younger than me, not 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.160 too long ago, and it's like we would be having 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:58.720 conversations and I would be like talking about like you know, 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.440 like movies or something like that, and I would be 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.160 like getting really intricate into it. I'd like find myself 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.560 being like to ship, you're nerding out like, and I'd 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:10.439 like feel bad about it, like damn, I really kind 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.520 of just talked her ear off like nerding out right. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.919 But then you know, in reverse, like something would come 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.679 up that she was interested in that like you totally 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.199 wouldn't think was like nerdy at all, like some I 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:26.080 don't even know something something mainstreaming, right, and she would 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.879 talk something yeah, like like okay, that that's totally not it. 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:31.719 But I don't know. I don't know who that is. 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.879 But let's just say for the same example that like 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.800 she was talking about Salena Gomez, she would start really 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.920 talking about Salena Gomes like yeah, all the minution detail 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.679 and internet stuff and ship like nobody. It's like, word, 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:53.760 you are just as passionate about Selena Gomez as any 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.240 fucking Star Wars fanboy I've ever met in my life 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:03.480 that I appreciate that have. Definitely you are nerd nerdity. 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.280 Some people are like that about sneakers. Yeah, I know, 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:10.040 motherfucker's who could tell you like what color the Jordans 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:11.960 that came out in ninety two are? You know what 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:16.400 I mean? That's nerds ship to me like that, there's 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.920 no difference between that and some kids playing magic who 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.040 can like Chris Wite to you, you know, like like 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:25.199 all the details of some power Card or some shows. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.920 So to me, that's nerds ship. And and I'm nerdy 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:32.680 about hip hop and I'm nerdy about politics. I want 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:34.120 to talk to you because like now that I live 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.960 with this man, he has the news on like every 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.120 from what I can tell every waking moment of every 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:44.680 day it's good background. But like, so why politics though? 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:46.840 Why do you give a ship about politics? Well, I 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.639 mean it's kind of like the intersection of all the 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.919 things that I'm interested in. It's like show business but 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:01.520 for ugly people, and it's serious but sometimes times it's funny. 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:06.480 But that's like a bad things, you know what I'm saying. 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.160 It's just like like I'm as far as that aspect 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.760 of it goes, like like if you just see me 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.600 and I'm like drawing, or if I'm like working on 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:17.800 beats and I have the news on the background, take 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:20.720 it no different than you would if like I had 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:31.240 like some Netflix series on the background. All right, so 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:35.200 what's the what's it? What's your favorite rap song? My favorite? 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.200 Don't I don't want to answer that. Come on, no, okay, fine, 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.760 what are like? Okay, I won't even put the pressure 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:43.720 a favorite? No, No, it's fine. I have a favorite 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:46.920 rap song. Say it, I'll say it, Okay. So it's 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.040 probably a Tassa. I'm gonna talk about Asap Rock a 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:50.960 lot on this podcast because I'm really obsessed with them. 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:55.680 Then it's you know, it's what it is. Second, but 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.359 shut to the gun. I love to have you on 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.639 the show sometimes, Um, so I like identify as like 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.560 somewhat like a little bit crazy and off kilter and 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.880 so and some I am someone that goes to therapy 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:11.280 a lot, and I'd love it and it's a lot 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:18.000 better for it. So when I'll be speaking, I'll be speaking. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.240 Uh No, I was like anyway I was doing today, 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.240 it was great. Um. But his song about going to therapy, 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.440 Shrunk is my favorite hip hop song. Really got a 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:34.200 great narrative. I mean it's like very it's it's fantastical. Also, 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.760 it's like very it's like wild. It's like the portraits 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:39.760 he paints of sitting in the waiting room and like 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.000 his interactions it's like going to battle with this like 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.960 shrink or whatever. I just find it really entertaining. I 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.200 like that. That's cool and that's cool. That's I think 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:52.119 that's a good um you know, like eclectic pick. You 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.600 know what I'm saying, Like, like, not too many people 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:59.760 are going to say shrunk. Yeah you can know. It 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.719 kind of a really contemporary song to to be like 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:06.119 it is somewhat yeah. Yeah, So that's that's that. That 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.760 that's you know, well, right back at you. What about 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:14.080 your favorite song My favorite rap song. Um see now 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:16.959 this one, I legitimately have a hard time. Oh Like 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.639 I didn't, like, I wasn't forts into a corner. Okay, 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.040 if it's not as easy when the tables turn on, 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.160 there could be five, it could be like five of them. 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.360 But if I got to pick one d twelves, I'll 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:33.680