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Speaker 1: I'm a homegrow that knows a little bit about everything

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Speaker 1: and everybody.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you don't lie about that, right,

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Speaker 2: Lauren came in.

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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, it's Laura l. Rosa and this is the

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Speaker 1: Latest with Laura L. Rosa, your daily digests and breakdown

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Speaker 1: of all things pop culture, entertainment, news, trending topics, and

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Speaker 1: the conversations that shake the room. Baby Now today, briand

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Speaker 1: the scenes of the Grind checking in. If y'all can't

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Speaker 1: feel my energy through the podcast, through the audio, through

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Speaker 1: the visual, however you're seeing me, however you're hearing me.

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Speaker 2: It's very refreshed.

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Speaker 1: I told you guys in my last episode, a weekend

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Speaker 1: at home with the family does the body to mind

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Speaker 1: the spirit good. So excited to be back at work.

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Speaker 1: We are back at the breakfast club today. I did

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Speaker 1: not show up here and was here by myself because

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Speaker 1: no one else was at work, which is what happened

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Speaker 1: to me on the episode previous to this one. Go

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Speaker 1: back and take a listen to that if you want

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Speaker 1: to laugh at me. But I came back to work

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Speaker 1: off of the vacation too early, and then boom, I

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Speaker 1: was here by myself, so.

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Speaker 2: I'm feeling good, and I've been.

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Speaker 1: You know, just digesting a lot of There was so

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Speaker 1: much that happened over the weekend, like I've been, you know,

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Speaker 1: just digesting and kind of you know, catching up. This

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Speaker 1: was probably one of the first weekends where I told

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Speaker 1: myself that I was going to intentionally just disconnect because

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Speaker 1: I've been working so much prior to that, And baby.

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Speaker 2: Did I do it. But one of the things that

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Speaker 2: I was.

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Speaker 1: Seeing a lot of and you know, we normally get

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Speaker 1: into the latest here. This is the latest though, because

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Speaker 1: this is news. It made headlines all over from CNN

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Speaker 1: to Essence themselves to you know, everywhere you can think of.

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Speaker 1: But it's also been a big conversation just across social

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Speaker 1: media and everywhere I've went following the Essence Festival that

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Speaker 1: happened over the July fourth weekend. The conversation that people

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Speaker 1: are having right now is about everything that went wrong

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Speaker 1: at Essence Festival. People are pointing out the time that

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Speaker 1: Laurence Hill went on stage, which Essence Festival has come

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Speaker 1: out in our but he said, hey, that was not

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Speaker 1: her fault, that was our fault. People were talking about

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Speaker 1: there were you know, suites set up that the year

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Speaker 1: prior to this were not just VIP suites for people

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Speaker 1: to attend, but this year they were kept as VIP suites,

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Speaker 1: and Essence Festival came out and said, hey, look we

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Speaker 1: had some last minute changes.

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Speaker 2: Was that our fault.

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Speaker 1: Yes, Essence has come out and took accountability for a

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Speaker 1: lot of you know what it seems like to be

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Speaker 1: logistical mishaps that took place. I've also been seeing people

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Speaker 1: have conversations about the fact that there just weren't a

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Speaker 1: lot of people at Essence Festival this year. I went

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Speaker 1: to Essence Festival probably about like five years ago now,

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Speaker 1: and you could barely walk through the Convention Center, which

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Speaker 1: is where like a lot of the it's like the

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Speaker 1: Dome area, which is where a lot of the events

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Speaker 1: and the concerts and stuff were taking place that year.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how they had it set up this year,

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Speaker 1: but it was so many people there that, you know,

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Speaker 1: luckily we stayed in a hotel close to where all

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Speaker 1: the main events were because you couldn't even get in

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Speaker 1: an uber to go around corner. You'll be waiting in

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Speaker 1: an uber, like literally in your uber, sitting still for

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Speaker 1: like an hour, just trying to make it a block

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Speaker 1: or two, because that's how many people Essence Festival brings

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Speaker 1: to New Orleans every year, and people were talking about

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Speaker 1: the fact that was different this year. And again, we

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Speaker 1: know times are hard right now. Financials are hard on

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Speaker 1: people right now. Things are expensive right now. So there's

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Speaker 1: a lot that I want to get into because I ran,

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Speaker 1: I came across this clip, and I thought that this

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Speaker 1: clip was very powerful because the clip talked a lot

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Speaker 1: about just where we should be at mind state wise

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Speaker 1: when we talk about things that belong to us, especially

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Speaker 1: when we talk about it publicly.

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Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.

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Speaker 3: I just got back from Essence Fest, and I've seen

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Speaker 3: a lot of the online commentary, and I think that

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Speaker 3: there's one important distinction that we need to make early

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Speaker 3: and often. That is the distinction between feedback and fellowship.

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Speaker 3: Some of you just seem to be in love with

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Speaker 3: the idea of providing negative feedback. I've even seen feedback

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Speaker 3: from people who weren't actually at the event. I will

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Speaker 3: remind us it is important for us to protect our stuff. Now. Look,

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Speaker 3: nothing is perfect and there are always opportunities to improve,

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Speaker 3: but the spirit in which we do that is super important.

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Speaker 3: Feedback often is about just critiquing the product. Fellowship protects

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Speaker 3: the product. Feedback is transactional where fellowship is transformational. These

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Speaker 3: sort of distinctions are the things that I deeply encourage

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Speaker 3: us to be thinking about as we're talking about one

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Speaker 3: of the very important institutions that we have in our community.

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Speaker 1: Now, that clip was actually a gentleman by the name

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Speaker 1: of Ryan Wilson.

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Speaker 2: Shout out to Ryan Wilson.

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Speaker 1: He is the CEO and co founder of a space

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Speaker 1: called The Gathering Spot. Now, the Gathering Spot is you know,

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Speaker 1: for us, by us, you know, they've been through their

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Speaker 1: own things. We won't get into that, we can only

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Speaker 1: focus on one conversation at the time. But the Gathering

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Speaker 1: Spot is people will equate it to that of a

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Speaker 1: SOHO house, which is, you know, you pay to be

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Speaker 1: a member of a community. You're able to come, eat, drink, fellowship,

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Speaker 1: do events, work, throw events yourself. It's all about community,

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Speaker 1: but it's very focused on black people, people of color,

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Speaker 1: but black people. So he attended Essence Festival, and you know,

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Speaker 1: he had also saw some of the fallout following the

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Speaker 1: weekend and he made those comments. Now, I've been seeing

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Speaker 1: the fallout and I didn't really know how to feel

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Speaker 1: about it. I normally don't like to talk about things

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Speaker 1: if I didn't experience it or go there myself. But

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Speaker 1: when I saw Ryan's video, I was like, you know what,

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Speaker 1: I do want to talk about it because I appreciated

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Speaker 1: the angle that Ryan took on this.

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Speaker 2: I want to give you guys some history.

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Speaker 1: So for anyone who is not familiar with Essence Festival,

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Speaker 1: Essence Festival is an extension of Essence Magazine. Essence Magazine,

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Speaker 1: I'm hoping you guys would know, but if you do not,

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Speaker 1: Essence Magazine is a cultural staple for a black narrative,

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Speaker 1: black conversation, black women, black fashion, just black black, black

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Speaker 1: black things us. When Essence Magazine was created, it was

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Speaker 1: actually created with the vision to solely focus on Black

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Speaker 1: women and our stories, our narratives, again, our fashion, and

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Speaker 1: just give us a place that was ours and an

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Speaker 1: ally in the media space because there was nothing like that,

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Speaker 1: and it was actually, you know, from very on site,

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Speaker 1: it was deemed, you know, by onlookers to you know,

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Speaker 1: as something that wouldn't be successful because at the time,

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Speaker 1: black women were you know, censored, Like people love to

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Speaker 1: talk about Black women and what we've accomplished now and

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Speaker 1: you know how much of the buyer and consumer market

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Speaker 1: we take up, and you know how educated we are,

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Speaker 1: and all those things are great, but that has not

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Speaker 1: always been the focus of media and of you know,

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Speaker 1: these entities in the media. And even now people will

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Speaker 1: argue that the focus is there for us, but people

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Speaker 1: don't always enjoy it what the angle is on the focus. Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, they don't like the fact that you talk

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Speaker 1: about trauma. When we talk about black women and all

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Speaker 1: these things. It's not always just positive. But Essence Magazine

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Speaker 1: set out very early on to reshape that and to

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Speaker 1: gain control of that, and they did. They've dominated for

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Speaker 1: over fifty years. And in nineteen ninety six they decided

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Speaker 1: to create the Essence Festival, which was an in person

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Speaker 1: experience that was an arm of the magazine. So all

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Speaker 1: things black very central and focused on Black women and

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Speaker 1: what feels our mind, body and spirit. And you know,

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Speaker 1: black men and everybody else are They're able to come.

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Speaker 2: But if you ever gone.

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Speaker 1: I went to Essence Festival some years ago, it feels

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Speaker 1: like a family reunion.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I've never seen so many black people, not

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Speaker 1: even just women. Because it's grown bigger than just black women.

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Speaker 1: Everybody comes to Essence Festival, even though we are the focus.

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Speaker 1: I've never seen so many black people in T shirts

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Speaker 1: and you know, like they're at their family reunions and

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Speaker 1: dressed toke and you know, generations of families. They're experiencing

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Speaker 1: all of the concerts and you know, all of the

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Speaker 1: learning and the live conversations and the food and just

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Speaker 1: all the things. It's a very beautiful experience if you've

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Speaker 1: never been. So when I saw all the breakdowns this

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Speaker 1: year online on TikTok and all these places and all.

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Speaker 2: The articles written, it kind of broke my heart.

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Speaker 1: But you know again, I wanted to be neutral and

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Speaker 1: just kind of see, you do people have a point.

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Speaker 1: And what I think right when I'm talking about Essence

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Speaker 1: Festival and the reason I'm talking about the history it

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Speaker 1: is that I agree with Ryan wholeheartedly. I feel like

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Speaker 1: we have to really there's nothing wrong with criticism and critique.

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Speaker 1: I think that we should be able to criticize and critique.

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Speaker 1: I think that brands and businesses alike, whether you're black, white,

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Speaker 1: or yellow, should hear that from people that are spending

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Speaker 1: their money, especially during a time where they don't have

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Speaker 1: the money to spend. But I do think that, you know,

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Speaker 1: some of the commentary that I've been seeing has been

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Speaker 1: unfairly placed, unfairly targeted, and it seems very like I'm

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Speaker 1: throwing this away, like I'm done with Essence. I'm done

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Speaker 1: with Essence Festival. So that's breakdown number one. Some of

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Speaker 1: the critiques, so you know, logistics seemed like it was

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Speaker 1: an issue this year at Essence Festival. Fans were pissed

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Speaker 1: off because Lauren Hill was a part of the live

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Speaker 1: performances along with Lucky Day, Coco Jones, Glorilla nas or

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Speaker 1: A Lennox, Tamar Braxton, the Isisley Brothers. There was a

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Speaker 1: Waiting to Hell tribute because Adam Blackstone and Keep Sweat

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Speaker 1: or celebrating you know, so many years of the soundtrack.

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Speaker 1: But Lauren Hill got on stage and baby, they it

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Speaker 1: was late, okay. And when I say late, I don't

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Speaker 1: mean her performance was late, like it wasn't a good performance.

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Speaker 1: I mean the time that she got on stage was late.

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Speaker 1: She did not finish her performance until three forty a m.

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Speaker 1: She got on stage after midnight and she performed you

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Speaker 1: know a few songs. Once this happened, fans got online

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Speaker 1: and they even in the Essence comments. You know, when

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Speaker 1: Essence posted Lauren Hill's performance video and some of her

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Speaker 1: photos online, you know, the fans were quick to get

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Speaker 1: in the comments and say, you know, I enjoyed everything

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Speaker 1: up until this point because we waited hours and you

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Speaker 1: know it was too late. I left, and you know,

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Speaker 1: things of that nature. And the headline that quickly spread

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Speaker 1: because of our reaction just from misunderstanding. Right, it's not

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Speaker 1: our fault if we don't know. But I'm saying this

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Speaker 1: to make a point. So when you google Essence Festival,

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Speaker 1: the first few headlines you see people dot com Lauryn

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Speaker 1: Hill played to a nearly empty super Dome until three

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Speaker 1: thirty seven am in New Orleans CNN. Lauren Hill took

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Speaker 1: the Essence Festial stage super late, and organizers want you

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Speaker 1: to know it wasn't her fault. That's a very fair

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Speaker 1: headline a variety. Essence Festival defends Lauren Hill's delayed two

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Speaker 1: am performance. Essence Festival actually came out and posted a

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Speaker 1: statement because of all the coverage that picked up because

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Speaker 1: of people's reactions to the time that Lauryn Hill got

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Speaker 1: on stage.

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Speaker 2: And they said in the caption.

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Speaker 1: Family is family, and around here we protect our own

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Speaker 1: no matter what the people will have to say. Let's

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Speaker 1: be clear, we don't play about Miss Lauren Hill, not

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Speaker 1: for clicks, not for headlines. She arrived on schedule, stepped

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Speaker 1: on that stage and delivered the kind of performance only

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Speaker 1: a legend can the delay dot not hers, and we'll

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Speaker 1: take that the moment one for the books, the legacy

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Speaker 1: still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes,

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Speaker 1: but keep her out of them. They also ended up

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Speaker 1: responding to the notion that no one showed up to

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Speaker 1: Essence Festival this year. They posted a video of what

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Speaker 1: the super don't look like when NAS performed, and they

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Speaker 1: said basically like now, who said, what excuse us?

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Speaker 2: Was the caption that they get that? That's what the

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Speaker 2: caption gave.

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Speaker 1: I know there were people upset that Essence decided to

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Speaker 1: work with Target because of all the Target rollbacks and

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Speaker 1: you know, the DEI things that have been a conversation.

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Speaker 1: I saw Timmy Ka Mallory and she talked about her

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Speaker 1: decision to skip Essence Festival. You know, with TIMMYK and Mallory,

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Speaker 1: when we talk about like having critique and criticism but

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Speaker 1: making it something that like a brand or a business,

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Speaker 1: like an Essence magazine. In Essence, the company can hear

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Speaker 1: and take from. You know, I think I like the

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Speaker 1: that She responded, So she talked about, you know, she's

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Speaker 1: been going to Essence Festival for over twenty years. She

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Speaker 1: talked about it's more than an event. I told y'all,

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Speaker 1: it's a spiritual recharge, the celebration of everything that makes

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Speaker 1: being a black on powerful, complex and so beautiful. So

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Speaker 1: not being this year it's heavy. I miss my friends

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Speaker 1: in that good food. But stepping away from something I

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Speaker 1: love is never easy. But as leaders, we are often

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Speaker 1: called to dude what's uncomfortable in service of what is necessary.

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Speaker 1: They joined the boycott against Target, and it wasn't just

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Speaker 1: about boycott and the one corporation, but she said that

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Speaker 1: there have been a rollback of respect for black people,

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Speaker 1: our progress and our black political power and economic power.

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Speaker 1: And she says that, you know, it hasn't gotten enough

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Speaker 1: coverage about you know, what they're doing and why they're

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Speaker 1: doing it. But she says, you know, go ahead, family,

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Speaker 1: enjoy Essen's festival. Dance connects, celebrate the fullness of black experience.

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Speaker 1: But when you see that red bullseye, keep walking, don't

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Speaker 1: take or post any of the swag. Don't let the

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Speaker 1: brand co opt our culture while betraying our people. The

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Speaker 1: fight is bigger than one brand or one booth. It's

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Speaker 1: about standing on business. Standing for justice is standing to

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Speaker 1: the right side of history. We can love Essence and

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Speaker 1: still take the stand. So remember when you see the

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Speaker 1: red bulls eye walk by, with the spirit of our

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Speaker 1: ancestors or powers to the people. So her whole point

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Speaker 1: was I'm not gonna tear Essence down because this is

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Speaker 1: the festival in a concert in an institution that I love.

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Speaker 1: But I'm gonna tell y'all what y'all should do in

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Speaker 1: spite of that right. And whether that actually was successful

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Speaker 1: or not, I thought that it was constructive because she

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Speaker 1: didn't tear us down like one of the things I

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Speaker 1: watched this docu series about Essence magazine in the Essence

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Speaker 1: brand in general and its inception and why it was

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Speaker 1: created and what it stood for. At some of the

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Speaker 1: times that Essence has had to stand next to us

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Speaker 1: and really take a stand, and I think that's why,

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Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people are outraged at the

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Speaker 1: way that people's responses have been to the Essence Festival experience,

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Speaker 1: although you know some of them may be warranted.

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Speaker 2: I can't imagine.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're waiting for hours and you know all

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Speaker 1: these things and things are not being explained to you.

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Speaker 2: But I think it's a do we throw.

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Speaker 1: Away Essence Festival conversation that a lot of people are

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Speaker 1: upset about, because, you know, Essence at one point in

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Speaker 1: time was it was what we had and all we had.

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Speaker 1: I learned about when Vanessa Williams, you know, was the

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Speaker 1: first black Miss America and there were some new photos

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Speaker 1: of her that made it onto a magazine that she

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Speaker 1: did not approve of, and because of that, she had

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Speaker 1: to resign her title. And Essence was the magazine that

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Speaker 1: she used to help to reclaim her narrative and recharge

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Speaker 1: her brand and her career, and they stood beside her

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Speaker 1: regardless of how other people were reviewing her because of

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Speaker 1: those photos and the fact that she had to step

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Speaker 1: away from Miss America. Being able to have a home

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Speaker 1: in the media like that is so important, and for

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Speaker 1: this media brand to be able to do something like

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Speaker 1: an Essence Festival, where you know, they're employing all of

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Speaker 1: these people, they're bringing together all this money in the sake.

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Speaker 2: Of black people and black things.

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Speaker 1: We can argue all day long about what you think

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Speaker 1: they could do better and not do better, but I

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Speaker 1: think it's important that when you do argue, you understand

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Speaker 1: that like people hear us, and I'm speaking to us

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Speaker 1: because I'm speaking to the black people listening. I know

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Speaker 1: it's a million of y'all low writers out there, so

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Speaker 1: it may not just be black people, but I'm speaking

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Speaker 1: to us when I say I've had to learn a

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Speaker 1: lot about when you get on the microphone, when you

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Speaker 1: get on a social media platform. You know, wherever you

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Speaker 1: have a voice, making that something that like when you

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Speaker 1: say these things and when you put these things out there,

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Speaker 1: there is a there's always a responsibility for us. We

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Speaker 1: don't have a choice, there's always a responsibility for us.

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Speaker 2: So making is something that you know makes sense.

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Speaker 1: If essence is an active, real time owning up and

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Speaker 1: being accountable for where they messed up and wanted to

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Speaker 1: fix and rectify, I think we begin to have conversations

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Speaker 1: about that. Okay, here's where you correctify, Here's what I

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Speaker 1: didn't appreciate, and here's what I think you could do better,

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Speaker 1: versus just saying this, why I can't support nothing black.

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Speaker 2: There was a superdome mix not super Dome.

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Speaker 1: But there was a sweet experience that people complained a

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Speaker 1: lot about too, and I begin to see that on

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Speaker 1: TikTok and since addressed it, they use their social media

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Speaker 1: to address it and they say, look, this experience used

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Speaker 1: to be this way, it is now this other way.

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Speaker 1: Did we get it correct?

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Speaker 2: No, we did not. Are we open to being accountable

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Speaker 2: and changing? Yes we are.

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Speaker 1: We need more brands like that, because who else y'all

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Speaker 1: know hearing y'all hearing us and caring about us enough

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Speaker 1: to want to make sure the catered experience is that

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Speaker 1: which it has always been, where it feels like a

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Speaker 1: family reunion, it feels like home. The whole point in

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Speaker 1: all of is is to encourage you, guys to you know,

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Speaker 1: if you are one of the people that attend the

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Speaker 1: Essence Festival this past weekend, did not enjoy your experience

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Speaker 1: and your online talking.

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Speaker 2: About it, I don't think you got to go out

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Speaker 2: to your experience.

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Speaker 1: I think your experience is yours, and I think it's

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Speaker 1: important if you feel like it's important for the right

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Speaker 1: reasons to get.

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Speaker 2: Online and express it.

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Speaker 1: But I think we also have to really ask ourselves

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Speaker 1: a question when you decide to And this is something

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Speaker 1: I had to learn in this and I'm still learning.

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Speaker 1: When you decide to get on the mic and you

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Speaker 1: decide to use your voice, is it to help or

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Speaker 1: is it to hurt? And if it is to hurt,

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Speaker 1: why do you want to do that to someone that

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Speaker 1: looks like you, that is building, you know, a company

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Speaker 1: that stands for you, and regardless who the partners are,

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Speaker 1: right like, we don't always have to agree with those things,

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Speaker 1: but it takes.

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Speaker 2: Money to make money.

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Speaker 1: So if we can cater how the money's been given,

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Speaker 1: who it's from, who we're involved with, what the experience

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Speaker 1: is like, if we can open our mouths to adjust

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Speaker 1: that and polish that, I would take that over us

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Speaker 1: just having nothing. We need Essence Magazine, we need Essence Festival.

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Speaker 1: These are places for us, These are experiences for us.

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Speaker 1: I know I've been going for a minute, y'all, but

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. I guess it could qualify

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Speaker 1: as in the streets, in the tweets, outside we outside,

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Speaker 1: we outside.

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Speaker 2: Outside of tweet every other page.

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Speaker 1: When I say it was so loud over the weekend,

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Speaker 1: I was like, man, they ain't come in Essence no breaks.

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Speaker 1: I would love to hear from some of you guys,

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Speaker 1: some of the low Riders who may have been at

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Speaker 1: Essence Festival.

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Speaker 2: I did not attend this year.

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Speaker 1: I chose to be with family, but shout out to

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Speaker 1: Essence though the team there, they did reach out for

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Speaker 1: me to attend. And that's not why I did this

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Speaker 1: whole spiel. I did it because I truly felt this way.

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Speaker 1: Let me know how did you guys feel? What did

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Speaker 1: you experience? I know I saw nads perform myself. It's

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Speaker 1: just so many different people performing, so y'all had to

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Speaker 1: have fun somewhere. Let me know how y'all felt about it.

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Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you, guys. This has been

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Speaker 1: the latest with Laura lu Roza, a dedicated episode to

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Speaker 1: Essence Magazine because without them, you wouldn't have me, Lord Riders.

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Speaker 1: I tell y'all at the end of every episode, at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, there's always allowed to talk

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Speaker 1: about and y'all can talk about that anywhere with anybody,

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Speaker 1: but y'all are right here with me every single episode,

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Speaker 1: and I appreciate you guys for that. I will see

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Speaker 1: you guys, and my next one