WEBVTT - Civic Cipher 040222 How Viral Fight Videos Reflect on Us (Part 2) 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:05.040 And now go my mic back. 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:06.080 You're like that. 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.799 Strike waters from headquarters behind him. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.840 And if you're just tuning into civics, ie aro, I'm 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.040 your host, Ramsay's joh I go by the name q Ward. Yes, indeed, 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.200 and be sure to stick around because we are knee 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:26.040 deep in our entertainment episode. We still got a lot 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.000 more to talk about, not the least of which is 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:34.839 rap beef m I come from hip hop radio, so 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.320 I got some thoughts on that. Also, we're going to 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.040 be talking about Hattie McDaniel far away, Black history fact. 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.559 She's the first African American to win an Oscar. She 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:46.880 has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.920 she was her only Her dying wish was to be 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.199 buried in the Hollywood Cemetery and it was denied to 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.800 her because she was not a white woman, and a 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.320 lot more cool things about her. Obviously, she's long, so 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:05.000 hence our way black history fact. But yeah, our entertainment 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.040 episode is in full swing. First and foremost, let's talk 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.199 about the NFL. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:16.080 In a good way finally, right, that's surprising, but go 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:19.839 for it, all right, So for our Baba segment, becoming 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.920 a better ally, I pulled this from ESPN. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.120 All Right, so it says, first off, let me just 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.039 preface this, I don't know anything about sports. Q always 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.080 laughs at me. I'm a music guy. I always been, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:34.840 never been a sports guy. Actually I played football in 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.280 high school, but I forgot it all. Yeah, anyway tells 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.560 me that too. So it is the one thing I did. 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.160 I used to play basketball a little bit, but I'm 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.680 it's long on. Anyways, I'm gonna read this if I don't 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.520 sound like the most articulate sports person. That's why. All 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.840 thirty two NFL teams will hire a minority offensive assistant 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:52.800 coach for the twenty twenty two season, part of a 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:55.640 series of policy enhancements announced Monday to address the league's 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.840 ongoing diversity efforts. The coach can be quote a female 0:01:59.920 --> 0:02:02.320 or member of an ethnic or racial minority and quote 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.960 according to the policy adopted by NFL owners during their 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.519 annual meeting, and will be paid from a league wide fund. 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:10.800 The coach must work closely with the head coach and 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:15.200 the offensive staff with the goal of increasing minority participation 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.520 in the pool of offensive coaches that eventually produces the 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.880 most sought after candidates for head coaching positions. Quote. It's 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.320 a recognition that at the moment when you look at 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.440 stepping stones for a head coach, they are the coordinator positions. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.400 End quote. Said Pittsburgh Steelers' owner Art Rooney the second, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.880 the chairman of the NFL Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Quote. 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.440 We clearly have a trend where coaches are coming from 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.520 the offensive side of the ball in recent years, and 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.760 we clearly do not have as many minorities in the 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:54.560 offensive coordinator position. Now, the NFL wasn't hiring some guy 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.880 because they were just pretending to interview him. I forget 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.040 the guy's name, but he was special, Brian Florence. That's 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.079 why we keep you around. And then the NFL came 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.320 back and did this, so we know our beef is 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:08.920 not eternal. 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:09.160 Here. 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:11.680 We all got to learn, even black folks, we got 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:13.600 to learn to We're just trying to be better brothers 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.520 and sisters to each other. So shout out the NFL 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:23.880 for becoming a better ally. Now, I feel like we 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:30.519 still have a couple more levels, a couple more things 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.840 to address with this Will Smith and Chris Rock situation. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:39.760 I agree wholeheartedly, but. 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.240 I think I can make a point that further illustrates 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:49.200 my issue with it and why there's a weight of 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.600 gravity to it that other people may not experience. And 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.160 the reason we're telling the reason I'm telling you this 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:06.040 is because that weight comes from you, not you the individual, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.520 but you, society, you as a group in mass, right, 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:16.880 because those prejudices, those stereotypes, those are the things that 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:22.800 crush me under their weight. Those are the things that say, Okay, 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:24.839 I have to be perfect to be good enough. I 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:26.839 have to be twice as good to be good enough, right, 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:31.120 And that's not fair, right, because there's a lot of 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.440 people who are good enough that will never be considered 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.880 because they're not twice as good, you understand. And that's 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:41.200 not the same when you cross over into a different race, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.120 because you can just be good enough. If you're a 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:49.280 different race, it's a different reality. I want to further 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.640 illustrate how this weight feels right now. This is not 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:59.200 your fault, society, but it is. We'll call it our problem. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.839 And if it's our collective problem, then we have to 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:08.480 challenge our prejudices and stereotypes with respect to these things. 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.479 We have to do it together. I'm not putting it 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:16.120 on you, it's us Okay. The first thing I want 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:22.160 to talk about is those videos that go viral about 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:28.159 people fighting. When the people are black and they are 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.800 fighting after school, after a club, whatever the video is. 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:40.159 I cringe because to me, I'm like, h white folks 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.960 could see this video. They will see this video and 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.800 they will think, look, I knew it. That's exactly how 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.520 they behave and they paint with broad strokes. It's not 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.640 if you're white. I'm not picking on you. It's not 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:56.680 your fault. It's human nature to categorize things. This is 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.600 how we make sense of the world. Right. We categorize 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:01.640 lots of things. Right. It's not your fault. But again, 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:05.120 it is our problem to fix right. So we have 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.159 to challenge ourselves not to say that's how they act. 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.640 We have to challenge ourselves to say that's how these 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:18.080 specific individuals are acting. Right, and not all people are 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.800 prone to this type of behavior. Similar to with to 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.679 Will Smith and to Chris Rock, right, those two individuals 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.000 are having this moment. This is not all black folks, right, 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.560 because there's tons of black people in the audience got 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:33.960 the whole night went off without a hitch quest Love 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.760 God as Award, and Zelle was sitting there giving great advice. 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:38.880 Lupito was you know what I mean, nobody, no one 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:43.160 has any issues, right, But when you see those videos 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.120 to know that, Okay, this is an individual group of 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:54.039 people that are behaving in this way and it's not 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.640 fair to paint with broad strokes. And you listening to 0:06:56.680 --> 0:07:00.080 this show, you might actually do that. But when I 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.400 when I'm talking, I'm saying society. Society doesn't often do that, right. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.400 These things tend to subtly reinforce stereotypes, right that black 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.200 people are violent or we like to fight or something 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:18.080 like that. But there's just as many videos of non 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:19.520 black people get invites. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.040 I'm sure there's more, you know what. I just based 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:23.680 on the top, based on the populators. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:31.760 Absolutely, and again, white folks don't wear those videos the 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:33.720 same way I do. White folks don't look at those 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.360 videos and cringe, be like, oh man, they see Black 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:37.960 people are going to look at this and think white 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:40.760 people all, you know, do this thing, you know what 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.040 I mean. Part of the reason that they don't cringe, however, 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:50.800 is that the lack of societal power to create a 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.680 society's outlook on them by black people, even if all 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.440 black people felt that way, society at large would just 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.800 as we pointed out about by the disparity in numbers 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.720 and the lack of an infrastructure in place to flex 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:06.680 any type of. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.200 Deprivation based on those ideas. Even if all black people 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.640 saw those videos and said, look, that's how white people act, 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.280 it would not affect white people's lives at all. 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.320 Sure ever, yeah, it would just be an opinion based 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.080 that a group of people have. You're absolutely right, right, 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:30.760 There is something else to be said there though, as 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.400 I mentioned in my in the in the first half 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.400 of the show, I mentioned, you know, a monologue that 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:41.800 I had on my other program, White people or other 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.280 people don't tend to be defined by their outliers, their 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.400 cultural or behavioral outliers to the degree that black people are. Right, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.600 So if you see, you know, some white folks in 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.240 a viral video fighting at a trailer park or something 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:59.320 like that, right, there's just some individuals in your mind 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.320 and in our minds, some individuals fighting at a trailer park. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.079 Those are the cultural outliers. You yourself may not live 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.360 in a trailer park. You yourself may have all your teeth, 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.160 You yourself may not drink during the day, you yourself, may 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.320 not have a cousin who's also your sister or whatever, 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.360 some weird you know whatever, whatever's going on in this 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:21.400 imaginary viral video. Right, And we would not look at that, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:25.000 nor would you look at this video and say, see 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.880 this is how they act. We would look at the 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.320 video as would you, and say, look at these individuals 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:36.400 acting crazy. Right, But again go back to remember Sharkisha. 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:39.960 Remember that video. Qu You might not remember Sharkisha, but 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:44.959 that Sharkisha video came out, don't google this, but it 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:47.719 was basically a fight, you know, some black girls fighting. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.120 Children, by the way, Yeah, and. 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.320 That went like ultra like super viral, you know, some 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:59.959 years back. And perhaps because of the name Sharkisha, that's 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:00.880 that's a heavy name. 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:01.719 That'll do it. 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.640 That'll definitely, that'll definitely flow down, that'll float down the 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.440 river a little bit. But also it. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:09.400 Just was uh. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.520 And and again I'm talking about the weight that we carry, like, 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.439 oh god, okay, we're trying to get forward. The last 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.760 thing we need is these people looking at videos like 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.120 this saying, see they don't even know how to act. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:25.559 Who is they? Are you saying they those two individuals 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.080 in the video, Are you saying they in general, and 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.920 this is the weight that we carry because oftentimes we 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.760 realize that that is largely true. It was taking the 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.839 bus one time. This was in high school. This was 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:40.080 in the nineties, right, the culture was a little different, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:41.200 but it was changing. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:41.640 Right. 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.880 I had, I think a soda or something, or a 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:46.920 bag of chips or some sort of snack. 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:47.360 Right. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.199 I don't drink soda, so and I didn't drink soda 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:51.679 in high school, laiter. But you know what I'm saying. 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.400 And I'm getting off of the city bus Valley Metro 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:05.079 and Phoenix, Arizona man. And I was with my brother, 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:10.000 the og O, Kevin Rivers, you know, my guy, and 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.600 I left my whatever it was. It was like garbage, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.800 left it there on the bus. You know my mind, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:17.400 someone's going to clean They clean the bus, you know 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:18.600 what I mean. So I just leave it right here. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:23.560 I'm not throwing it outside. It's fine. And he pulls 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:25.560 me aside and he says something that I knew to 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:27.520 be true, because I was conflicted when I left it. 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:29.199 But I just I think I had my hands full 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:30.880 backpack and I was carrying something else or whatever, and 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.120 we had to go somewhere whatever. He pulled me aside. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.520 He's like, hey, man, you know you can't. You can't 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.920 leave that there. It's white people on this bus looking 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:45.480 at you. And he was right. And I had to 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.440 pick that up, and I had to stuff it in 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:48.240 my pocket or whatever. 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:48.360 I do. 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:50.160 You know, it was many years ago. I was a child. 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:55.119 But this is the reality for us. We cannot embarrass 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.160 our people in front of the people with the power, 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.800 because the people with the power will keep us subjugated 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.720 because they have a cognitive bias. They see things that 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:11.400 help confirm their reality. You were perhaps taught to fear 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:16.079 black people. You were perhaps taught to think that black 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.560 people are whatever. I knew a lady one time. She 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.320 loved me so older white lady. Name was Betty Van Winkles. 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.640 She's passed away long long ago. She'll take care of me. 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:26.880 When I was little, she said that when she was 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.280 growing up, she said that she was taught that black 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:34.160 people had a natural odor to them, that we naturally smelled, 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.040 and no matter how much we bathed, we could not 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:38.120 get rid of that smell. 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:39.120 She said. 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.560 She grew up, she probably learned that that wasn't true. 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:48.160 When she was in her mid thirties, right, this really happened. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.480 I knew this lady. I knew she used to take 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:51.920 care of me and my sisters and my brother when 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:53.959 we were little. She told me that when I was little. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:55.800 I might have been twelve or thirteen when I heard that. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.480 So these are the sorts of things that make these 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.960 incidents feel heavy. Now. I do want to take a 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:11.520 moment here to shout out Hip Hop Weekly Magazine. These 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:17.240 videos that we're talking about, I believe to a large extent, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.480 were popularized by a site called world Star hip Hop. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.640 Not mad at world Star, but I do recognize that 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:31.120 though sharing those fight videos and having them go viral 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:36.319 before you know, the infrastructure was in place for things 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.920 to go viral almost and on every social media site. 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.840 World Star was the first, and one of the things 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.000 that really got them there was these fight videos, and 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.200 they unfortunately became synonymous with fight videos that people would 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.960 get into fits and yell out world Star and anticipation 0:13:54.120 --> 0:14:00.200 for making it on the site exactly. So, I'm not 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.320 mad at world Star, but I really wish that that 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.240 didn't happen in that way. I wish there was another 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.120 way that we didn't have to be like Mandingo Warriors 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.000 in order to make money or to get the sort 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.440 of social media or viral cloud or whatever it was. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:16.680 You know. 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.839 I mean, there were more options available to us that 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:22.360 we had a little bit more dignity in them. But 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.280 I do want to shout out Hip Hop Weekly Magazine 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:30.320 because my understanding is that they have a philosophy about 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:39.760 them that is decidedly more dignified and does not rely 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:44.240 on the lowest common denominator. Plus, they sponsored the show, 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:45.600 so big shout. 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.280 Out to HIPPI for Hip Hop Weekly Magazine. 0:14:48.600 --> 0:15:00.920 Now rap beef. You and I both come from hip 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:05.280 hop radio. There's a good chance if you're listening to 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.680 us that you're listening to a hip hop radio station. 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:11.720 And we didn't always do this show. Now this is 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.240 primarily what we do, but we're both DJs. We both 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:19.520 grew up loving hip hop. Is a part of our lives, 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:28.160 part of our everything, you know, and beef in hip 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:35.640 hop has been sort of a part of what comes 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:36.200 with hip hop. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:36.400 You know. 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:39.840 It started up more as like battling who can rap better, 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.480 who can insult the other person better? You know, on 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:48.840 and on, and then you know, as drugs and gang 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.960 culture kind of took center stage and there's reasons for that. 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:57.440 We've talked about it at length on the show The CIA. 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.160 That's all I'm gonna say. But I don't have time 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:06.760 to tell that story. But through hip hop music, drugs 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.440 and gangs and that sort of stuff, or at least 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:13.080 that culture kind of permeated hip hop culture, and the 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:19.480 machismo that came along with this gang mentality also took 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:20.520 center stage. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:25.760 And then adding excessive popularity and wealth and ego and testosterone, 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.800 and you get a very very toxic cocktail. 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:36.200 Right now, all the stories about rat beef and the 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.520 stories about who got in what fight, and what a 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.400 word show or what nightclub and who threw a bottle 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.320 and all this and whatever videos and that sort of stuff, 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.480 all that stuff kind of is what it is, right 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:59.760 But I want to make sure that I say that 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.240 it's no different from the other things that we're talking 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:09.880 about here insofar as I'm concerned. You know, I if 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:20.639 people can see you and they are not culturally competent, 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:25.280 they don't understand the culture right to them, it looks 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.480 like chaos, It looks like insanity, It looks like violence, 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:32.840 and it is in some cases, but it looks way 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:37.480 more sinister and because they don't have a cultural context, 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.560 it's more difficult to process. It has a lingering effect, 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:45.160 and they have a tendency to paint with broader strokes 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:50.560 right In other words, paint all of these people, all 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.480 of this music, all of this culture. If you dress 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:55.680 like this, then you are this type of person. If 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.639 you sound like this, then you are this type of person. 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:00.320 You know what I mean, You're going to break into 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.320 my home and do awful things with my daughter, that 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.919 sort of thing, you know what I mean. And so 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:12.479 over the years, rap beef and you know, what is 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.560 born out of it in some instances has been another 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:20.879 thing where that's a weight that at least me, I 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.000 carry it a bit differently, you know what I mean. 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.000 I'm not talking about machine gun Kelly beefing with eminem, 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:28.400 you know what I mean, because that's not the same 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:38.360 I'm talking about, you know, doctor dre and Easy when 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.280 Easy was alive. You know, that was something that happened 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:44.879 when I was like, you know, I'm from Compton, California, 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.080 so that gang environment is something that I was born into. 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:50.800 You know, my family was born into that, you know 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.440 what I mean. So I knew that that was real. 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:56.680 You know, Tupac getting shot, Biggie getting shot, you know, 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.359 all that sort of stuff, and other people on the 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.439 outside look in and saying, oh my god. Now I 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.480 will say this after thirty years, however long. It's been 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:10.200 almost thirty years, give or take. You know, these stories 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.000 are a part of our society. So the biggies in 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:15.000 the Tupax and I stuff, it's not as scary anymore. 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.800 It's you know, there's a million years ago right. In fact, 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.600 I was taking a walk today and I saw a 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:25.359 woman wealthy, woman clearly wealthy, with her husband. And you know, 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.600 with the neighborhood where we take walks, they're all mansions. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:33.000 Everyone there is wealthy. She was wearing a Biggie shirt 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.760 and ready to Die, you know, the first album cover, 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:37.560 and then on the top of the shirt it said Notorious. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:38.360 You know what I mean. Wow. 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:40.760 So I get that we've come a long way. But 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.320 the point I'm trying to impress upon you is that again, 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:50.280 we carry that differently, and carrying it differently is not fair. 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.679 And and if there's anything that we can do to 0:19:52.720 --> 0:20:00.879 fix that, it's collectively us here and us black people 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.720 and you listening, who may or may not be black, 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:09.119 we all need to make sure that we are checking 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.560 our stereotypes and not painting with broad strokes. And if 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.880 people have an issue, it's those people, it's not everyone. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.040 And it's okay to make patterns and make connections. That's 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.040 human nature. I'm not mad at you for that, but 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.600 we can't let it go too far and define a 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:26.919 reality for us that doesn't really exist right now. I 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.200 know I've been talking a lot, so I do want 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.000 to hear your thoughts on, of course, the Brat beef, 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.960 the viral videos. I know we talked about, you know, 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.320 hip Hop Weekly versus World Star hip Hop, all that 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:37.959 sort of stuff. 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:41.560 So I think we have to be careful not to 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.760 confuse causality and correlation. Okay, I think in general we 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.080 do that a lot. Because this happened, and this happened, 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.320 then this must have happened because this happened. And when 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.080 it comes to painting with broad strokes and the conclusions 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.840 that we reach with regards to black people, our culture, 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.479 our hair, our way of dress, our music, the cities 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:08.160 that we come from, the fear that is caused by 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.000 the perpetuation of those stereotypes, we have to be careful 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:16.520 with the dots that we connect, because sometimes those connections 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:22.560 don't exist, we just put them there. Sure, coming from Detroit, 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:28.840 Michigan and Compton, California, respectively, you know, you've seen our 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:32.080 cities on the news for reasons that are not things 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:36.960 that we're proud of. To be our age, to be 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:38.880 in the space that we're in and coming from where 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:40.920 we came from, it's something that we're both very, very 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.000 proud of. So you know that there's another side to it. 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.359 Of course, those things exist, the games, the drug that 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:52.000 we're not blameless, violence, all that stuff actually happened. It's 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.439 just not the only thing that happened singular or a 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:59.240 monolith with regards to that. So it's very very complex 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:02.479 to be from where we're from and be intellectual and 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:06.280 be kind and be and not be tough guys, and 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.480 to not have chosen the other path that people that 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.080 we grew up with did. It wasn't easy to take 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:14.240 the path that we took, but that other path isn't 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:18.240 easy either, and sometimes it's circumstantial. 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:21.520 And almost almost of the time it's born into those 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:24.320 decisions you don't really have a choice sometimes, so you know, 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:27.240 let's just have a bit more grace with each other. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:33.760 Final thoughts. Shout out to Hip Hop Weekly Magazine, You 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:35.199 shout out to the culture in general. 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:39.840 Hip hop, we love you. I want to say this too, 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:47.160 Chris Rock, we love you. And Will Smith, we love 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.040 you too. It doesn't mean that doesn't mean. 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:53.800 You shouldn't do better. 0:22:56.240 --> 0:23:01.520 But I moved this way. You know this about me, 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:03.800 Q and you're about to learn this if you're listening. 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:09.040 Nobody is simply the worst thing they've ever done. That's 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.959 not fair for anyone. Once upon a time, when I 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:18.399 was five years old, I remember this. I stole, for 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:22.600 all intents and purposes, a Ninja Turtles coloring book out 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.400 of Toys r Us. This is in California. I had 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:26.879 a nickel. That's how much it costs. 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:27.359 Dang. 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:32.080 I had a nickel, But I had two coloring books. 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:35.440 One was inside of the other one, and I paid 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:37.680 for the one and I had two of them. And 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:39.360 then when I got outside, I was like, oh my god, 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.400 there's two and I just didn't take the other one back. 0:23:42.480 --> 0:23:44.159 I was like, let me hurry up and go home 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:47.560 because I got two coloring books. That was me stealing, right, 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:51.199 I guess I kind of knew that was wrong. But 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.959 I didn't know who I was yet I didn't I 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:57.479 wasn't old enough to make a conscious choice of the 0:23:57.520 --> 0:23:59.840 type of person I wanted to be. Sounds like a 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:01.639