Speaker 1: Y'all are listening to Waiting on Reparations the production of
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio. Yeah, yeah, Yo, I'm waiting a reparations record,
Speaker 1: as we said it straight to did I say we
Speaker 1: was waiting funk that we never patient. Knife has been
Speaker 1: in the fight since the days of the segregation, Roller
Speaker 1: Blunt and I lighted im blazing. I'm meditating, well, ling
Speaker 1: were faking demonstrate and we're just taking names, y'all. Just
Speaker 1: stay in lane. We're just taking aim. Weren't playing games.
Speaker 1: We just take the system and we shake the frame,
Speaker 1: trying to bend that ship and maybe make a change.
Speaker 1: And I don't even know when it will be fall.
Speaker 1: I'm not gathering new somebod. I don't need a total
Speaker 1: recall from right wingers whoill be on the mic singing yeeha,
Speaker 1: the COVID cases going up and down like se sauce.
Speaker 1: All I got is me, y'all, let me get it started.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and just speak. I'm gonna get my co
Speaker 1: host back next week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yet yeah, alright, Okay,
Speaker 1: my name is Dope Knife, and y'all are listening to
Speaker 1: Waiting on Reparations. Hurry up. I am so glad that
Speaker 1: this is about to be the last time that I
Speaker 1: have to do that by myself, because next week, y'all,
Speaker 1: the homegirl Lingua Franca is coming off of her much
Speaker 1: needed and deserved maternity leave and she's going to be
Speaker 1: rejoining me for some all new episodes and all that jazz.
Speaker 1: But we got one more day of it just being
Speaker 1: the Dope Knife Show. I do have somewhat of a
Speaker 1: little announcement to make. I have fallen in love with
Speaker 1: a new album. What would'all think, get your get your
Speaker 1: mind out the gutter? No, I have been listening to
Speaker 1: that new West Side Gun album, Hitler Wears Hermes eight.
Speaker 1: I guess that's because it's the eighth one, and all honesty,
Speaker 1: out of all the Griselda guys, west Side Gun is
Speaker 1: probably my least favorite. But um, I just I haven't
Speaker 1: stopped listening to the joints since I got that ship.
Speaker 1: It is super dope. I mean, obviously you have all
Speaker 1: of the usual features from the Griselda Cats, but the
Speaker 1: beats on this ship, I mean, it's nuts. It's nuts.
Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say West Side Gun is
Speaker 1: kind of an acquired taste, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But if you have the ear for it, then that
Speaker 1: is going to get awaiting on reparations, dope knife stamp
Speaker 1: of approval. You need to check that ship out. So
Speaker 1: what do we have in the news today? Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: an airhead. So as I'm recording this, the results are
Speaker 1: kind of coming in for that California recall election, and
Speaker 1: it appears that Gavin Newsome is going to survive and
Speaker 1: he's going to serve out the rest of his two
Speaker 1: years as the governor of California. Um. Yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: even make the actual recall stage. Is you know everybody
Speaker 1: voted no or enough people voted no. I think if
Speaker 1: it had gone through, then his main runner up was
Speaker 1: gonna be Larry Elder. Now, for those of you who
Speaker 1: don't know who Larry Elder is, he is, Um, how
Speaker 1: do you best describe Larry Elder? He is a one
Speaker 1: of those right wing black token Republican hacks, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. He's been around for like decades, but
Speaker 1: you know he's now he's part of that whole Trump
Speaker 1: He ship. So they were they were making a planet.
Speaker 1: Luckily they lost, but he's already him and Trump are
Speaker 1: already claiming Electron fraud and it was rigged or whatever.
Speaker 1: They were doing that before a vote even came in.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, a couple of days before,
Speaker 1: they were on news Max and ship and and talking
Speaker 1: that up. I think that's about to be the new normal,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, everybody listening right now. I
Speaker 1: think from now until the day that we all die,
Speaker 1: there's not gonna be an election that Republicans lose and
Speaker 1: they don't say we were they were cheated, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I think that's just the that's just
Speaker 1: the new standard operating procedure with those cats. I don't
Speaker 1: think that is going anywhere anytime soon. But good for Kellie,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, way way to uh delay
Speaker 1: the apocalypse. What else is going on? Oh, A couple
Speaker 1: of days ago, Joe Biden issued out a federal mandate
Speaker 1: on vaccines for federal workers. I think all in all,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, it's supposed to affect
Speaker 1: a hundred million Americans. The anti factors and you know,
Speaker 1: the usual coons and goblins are losing their mind about
Speaker 1: the same people who what just like six months ago,
Speaker 1: were watching Donald Trump order unmarked troops to snatch people
Speaker 1: off the streets. They were looking at it and they
Speaker 1: were like, oh no, that's dope. And then to take
Speaker 1: a vaccine for a deadly disease, let's killed millions of
Speaker 1: people around the world. Just nah, this is the authoritarianism.
Speaker 1: For a hot second. On the day that Biden gave
Speaker 1: that speech, do not comply or don't comply, some ship
Speaker 1: like that was trending on Twitter and it was I
Speaker 1: checked it out. It was a bunch of right wingers
Speaker 1: talking about don't comply's elected officials saying it. It was
Speaker 1: talk radio hosts, bloggers, like they were all kind of
Speaker 1: in lockstep. Do not comply, don't comply with the tyranny.
Speaker 1: In all honesty, it's kind of a soft mandate. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you don't want to get the vaccine, then you
Speaker 1: can still just choose to like get tested like all
Speaker 1: the time or more frequently or something like that. So
Speaker 1: it's not even like a strong arm, Hey, we're gonna
Speaker 1: hold you down and jab this in your butt type
Speaker 1: of thing. But being in Georgia and as well as
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure people can relate who are in
Speaker 1: other Southern states. You know, we've got these governors and
Speaker 1: senators and stuff who are pretty much at this point
Speaker 1: pro COVID, I guess is the best way to describe
Speaker 1: their ideology on the topic. So they're gonna be fighting
Speaker 1: against all of that tooth and nail as much as
Speaker 1: they can. So I don't, you know, I'm not smart
Speaker 1: enough to know how they're gonna enforce that ship realistically.
Speaker 1: But the whole thing got me thinking, like, obviously this
Speaker 1: is going to affect business, and it's just got me
Speaker 1: wondering how are business is going to adapt and how
Speaker 1: are they adapting? Like well, like, really, what's it like
Speaker 1: to open up to start a new business at this
Speaker 1: point in the game and have to abide by the
Speaker 1: changing in COVID policy. You know, sometimes it's ratcheted up
Speaker 1: like it was a few months ago with Delta, then
Speaker 1: it kind of dies down. Then we're not sure if
Speaker 1: it's going to come back, and then people aren't getting vaccined,
Speaker 1: and then they're gonna do a mandate. So how is
Speaker 1: it that business owners, particularly black business owners, are dealing
Speaker 1: with us? You know, that's a question in and of itself.
Speaker 1: But then if you take it down to the South
Speaker 1: where we have local governments that are you know, vehemently
Speaker 1: opposed to any sort of regulation or anything that's gonna
Speaker 1: help with the whole COVID situation to begin with, How
Speaker 1: are black business owners and entrepreneurs navigating this new landscape
Speaker 1: that we find in the South. So that's what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about today. I'm also gonna be having
Speaker 1: a little chat with a new black business owner and
Speaker 1: creative down here in Savannah by the name of lb
Speaker 1: Elms mean her. Are going to have a conversation about
Speaker 1: that topic, and I will be back after we go
Speaker 1: pay some bills. So, for a lot of people, the
Speaker 1: idea of owning your own business and working for yourself,
Speaker 1: it's still very much like the epitome of the American dream,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's like it's kind of
Speaker 1: what everybody's low key working towards. I'm an independent musician.
Speaker 1: It's been my hustle since i was eighteen, you know,
Speaker 1: So it's I've always looked at that kind of with
Speaker 1: that small business mindset. But I've had tons of friends,
Speaker 1: especially being in this town like Savannah, where there's a
Speaker 1: lot of creatives, a lot of artists, a lot of
Speaker 1: people who are trying to get something started. I've seen
Speaker 1: how difficult it can be to, you know, to make
Speaker 1: that decision and take that leap, and you know, for
Speaker 1: for go those safety nets and conveniences to be like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm going to start my own business. To go out
Speaker 1: and say that I'm gonna build something from the ground up,
Speaker 1: with all of the hurdles and obstacles that are going
Speaker 1: to be in the way, it can be a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, and it definitely doesn't have a guarantee of
Speaker 1: any kind whatsoever. There's over thirty million small businesses in
Speaker 1: this country, and the number of those that survive is
Speaker 1: just a fraction. So like of small businesses failed after
Speaker 1: the first year, thirty percent of small businesses fail after
Speaker 1: the second year. Then you get fifty percent of them
Speaker 1: fail after five years, and by the time you get
Speaker 1: to year ten, seventy percent of them are called the quits.
Speaker 1: All that ship is just generally though, and you know,
Speaker 1: anything that affects the country is gonna affect black people
Speaker 1: double fold. So for minorities, it's even more of a
Speaker 1: daunting task to start a small business. Eight percent of
Speaker 1: black owned businesses fail within the first two years eighty percent,
Speaker 1: and COVID's only exacerbated all that. Now, according to CNBC,
Speaker 1: African American entrepreneurs have had to close their doors at
Speaker 1: more than twice the rate of their white counterparts. Black
Speaker 1: owned businesses declined by forty one percent between February and April,
Speaker 1: and that's compared to a seventeen percent decline amongst white
Speaker 1: owned businesses. There was a little boom in terms of
Speaker 1: the revenue earned by black owned businesses after the Jeor
Speaker 1: Floyd protests, just in the midst of all of the
Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter stuff. You know, a lot of people
Speaker 1: were donating, a lot of people were reaching out, and
Speaker 1: I guess there was little boom, but that did not
Speaker 1: last for long at all. Now, there's a number of
Speaker 1: factors as to why this happens, and you know, there's
Speaker 1: people way smarter than me that I'm sure have already
Speaker 1: broken it down. But pretty much the key key amongst
Speaker 1: all of the different reasons for why African American businesses
Speaker 1: struggle is the access to finances. Many startups rely on
Speaker 1: support financially from friends and family. So it's just like
Speaker 1: a matter of simple math. If your social network doesn't
Speaker 1: have that much money, then that will translate into how
Speaker 1: they're able to help you, if they're able to help you,
Speaker 1: and with that all of the basic trial and error
Speaker 1: that usually goes in with starting a small business, especially
Speaker 1: in the early days, it ends up being something that's
Speaker 1: fatally costly and you when you don't have access to
Speaker 1: the capital like that. In real talk, if we live
Speaker 1: in a country where a black sounding name on a
Speaker 1: job application is going to stop a motherfucker from hiring you,
Speaker 1: then I'm pretty sure the same thing goes along with
Speaker 1: whether they'll shop with you or not. Uh, just a
Speaker 1: drive that home before COVID, Black owned businesses nationally average
Speaker 1: fifty eight thousand dollars annually, and that's compared to over
Speaker 1: half a million dollars for white owned businesses. In a
Speaker 1: report conducted in three Southern states by Prosperity Now that
Speaker 1: was Mississippi, Georgia, and I believe North Carolina, UM. The
Speaker 1: report was titled Stuck from the Start the Financial Challenges
Speaker 1: of Low and moderate income African American Entrepreneurs in the South.
Speaker 1: So for this they interviewed thirty African American business owners
Speaker 1: in eastern North Carolina, South Eastern Georgia, and Jackson and
Speaker 1: Delta regions of Mississippi. Many stated limited managerial and industry
Speaker 1: experience and launching businesses and lower revenue service industries and
Speaker 1: black communities. Also noted was the lack of a robust
Speaker 1: network of supportive institutions, including ones that could provide managerial training,
Speaker 1: technical assistance, and strategic advice, and an inability to establish
Speaker 1: lines of credit that could support expansion plans or covering
Speaker 1: operating expresses. Many of the major obstacles facing African American
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs flows from the challenge of starting a business with
Speaker 1: little to no savings or family wealth. The researchers found
Speaker 1: the black entrepreneurs simply don't have the savings or the
Speaker 1: wealth that white families do to leverage either on their
Speaker 1: own or through their family networks. As one North Carolina
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs stated, we didn't inherit. Nothing, nothing was passed down.
Speaker 1: Our parents do all they can for us, but it
Speaker 1: was all on us from the beginning. However, even with
Speaker 1: all the hardships, there has been a bit of a
Speaker 1: kind of a migration over the last decade or so
Speaker 1: black entrepreneurs coming down South and bringing their ideas down here.
Speaker 1: Report by Black tech Week stated that the top three
Speaker 1: cities where black owned businesses found success were Memphis, Montgomery,
Speaker 1: and Atlanta, all in the South. Now, the factors contributing
Speaker 1: to this where low cost of living compared to places
Speaker 1: like New York and San Francisco. I can attest to that.
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons that are brothers down here.
Speaker 1: There's also been an increase in business incubators in southern
Speaker 1: metro cities, so destinations like Atlanta have had a surge
Speaker 1: of tech incubators to foster rising black owned businesses that
Speaker 1: are all in the same field. In the South still
Speaker 1: has one of the largest pockets of African American population
Speaker 1: in the country, so and they also have a long
Speaker 1: history of supporting black owned businesses. So it's just more
Speaker 1: of an inviting situation. And I guess and with that,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be bringing down our guests for the day,
Speaker 1: who herself is a black small business owner who has
Speaker 1: migrated to the South to get her business popping. You know,
Speaker 1: before we even started rolling, she she said she's going
Speaker 1: to handle the introduction duties because it's quite avouthful to
Speaker 1: to say the whole title. Absolutely, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Um again, I'm LB LM, and I'm the owner and
Speaker 1: founder of the Culturist Union, which is the first of
Speaker 1: its kind and only black owned coffee house and artists
Speaker 1: in marketplace in Savannah, Georgia. That's what's up. So how
Speaker 1: when did you go about, you know, moving to Savannah
Speaker 1: to open it? So this is my second time around
Speaker 1: in Savannah. The first time I was a SCAT student UM,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't performing arts. And then I transferred to
Speaker 1: Howard h U you know, okay, how I used to
Speaker 1: go toward. I used to go to Howard and so
Speaker 1: I was up in Irah Audredge, you know, hanging out
Speaker 1: of the theater doing the thing. I was in theater
Speaker 1: management and then I did some d I work and
Speaker 1: traveled around and then I got this idea to create
Speaker 1: a gathering space. UM. But I didn't want it to
Speaker 1: be kind of like a coworking space. I wanted it
Speaker 1: to be a place that was a little bit more relaxed. UM.
Speaker 1: I remember being a student at scared and feeling like
Speaker 1: there was nowhere to go UM as a black artist,
Speaker 1: as a black creative, there wasn't a space for me
Speaker 1: to go on a Tuesday and just really be centered
Speaker 1: and feel, you know, like I have full autonomy over
Speaker 1: myself and all of these things. And so I decided
Speaker 1: that I was gonna come here and create that space.
Speaker 1: And so about two and a half years ago I
Speaker 1: quit UH a job that was very lucrative and and
Speaker 1: in Minnesota and and UM started on this journey. And
Speaker 1: here we are today. So where are you from? Originally?
Speaker 1: I know you said that you were RB brat, But
Speaker 1: do you have like kind of a central lies place.
Speaker 1: So I'm from Pantiac, Michigan. Um. Right, my granny's house
Speaker 1: is right behind the Silver Doll, so I'm right there.
Speaker 1: And then UM, when I was six years old, my
Speaker 1: mother married UM, an army man, and he adopted me,
Speaker 1: and so that's my stepdad. And when we traveled all around.
Speaker 1: And when I was seventeen, I joined the Air Force
Speaker 1: and did that for almost ten years. So then what
Speaker 1: made you pick Savannah to open up your business? Time?
Speaker 1: Like I said, just the connection from going to scab
Speaker 1: then you being in town, you know. So I didn't
Speaker 1: even know Scott existed. My parents UM retired in Richmond Hill,
Speaker 1: which is a little town right outside of Savannah. And
Speaker 1: when I was getting out of the Air Force, I
Speaker 1: wanted to be closer to family. So I moved to Savannah,
Speaker 1: and I didn't have a plan. I was just out
Speaker 1: here just trying to figure it out and going to
Speaker 1: coffee shops. I love coffee shops. I'm going to coffee shops,
Speaker 1: just kind of doodling, drawing, just wasting my day. We're
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what's next in my life. And
Speaker 1: there was a SCAT tour and one of the you know,
Speaker 1: tour guds just like you can just hop on. It's easy.
Speaker 1: You know, this is pre COVID, you know, and you
Speaker 1: just dish it. So hopped on the tour, Go to
Speaker 1: the Performing Arts, go to Cride Hall, which is where
Speaker 1: the performing arts department is, and I didn't even know
Speaker 1: they had a performing arts department. Go to Pride's Hall,
Speaker 1: audition on the spot, and then I got in. And
Speaker 1: so I went to SCAT because I got in. And
Speaker 1: then that was kind of like falling in love with
Speaker 1: Savannah at that point, or yeah, it was, and it
Speaker 1: was it was this, It was this thing because SCAT
Speaker 1: opened me up to all these possibilities, all of these
Speaker 1: things that I had no idea even existed or was
Speaker 1: even possible in my life. And meeting all these people,
Speaker 1: but I still didn't feel like there was a space
Speaker 1: for me. I still didn't feel like I was connected.
Speaker 1: And when I went to Howard, I felt like I
Speaker 1: was at home. I felt like I was like I
Speaker 1: felt like I got both of those things. So Scab
Speaker 1: was the catalyst. But Howard, Howard pulled it all in
Speaker 1: it and it made it possible, and it made me think.
Speaker 1: It gave me an example of other black people, black women,
Speaker 1: particularly who is doing the thing. And I said, okay,
Speaker 1: well these people can do the thing that I can
Speaker 1: think too. So then just to get to the bottom
Speaker 1: of it. So then what made Savannah that spot on
Speaker 1: the map that you wanted to start this adventure in. Well,
Speaker 1: so I read this book called The Purple Cow um
Speaker 1: years ago, like when I'm still in the military, so
Speaker 1: this has to be six and eight years ago. And
Speaker 1: in that book it says that you always need to
Speaker 1: be first or um the only. And I recognized that.
Speaker 1: In d C. You know, there's multiple black owned establishments,
Speaker 1: gathering places, coffee houses where you could go. You know,
Speaker 1: it's called Chocolate City. I mean it's gentrified now, but
Speaker 1: it's called Tropic City. In Minneapolis where I was at,
Speaker 1: where I was working, Excuse me, it was the same thing.
Speaker 1: And so Savannah just felt like a space for me
Speaker 1: to start. And I knew that it was going to
Speaker 1: take a while to start, and I knew that I
Speaker 1: had to cultivate change in the South. But I also
Speaker 1: knew that if I was able to pull it off
Speaker 1: here where there where there is no example, then the
Speaker 1: sky is the living. So it was kind of like
Speaker 1: a personal challenge for it. Well, I mean, since you've
Speaker 1: taken up that challenge, what has it been like so far?
Speaker 1: Because you know, I've had several I've had several friends
Speaker 1: who have tried to open up businesses in this town
Speaker 1: who were white and had difficulty doing it. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean that, I've had friends who have been
Speaker 1: black who have had difficulty doing it. So what is
Speaker 1: it like in a post COVID world trying to do that?
Speaker 1: So so before COVID, when I was first starting, it
Speaker 1: was it was it was a tough It was a
Speaker 1: tough heal. Right, it was a tough heal because not
Speaker 1: only am I saying that I'm hoping up a creative
Speaker 1: space for creatives, people get that. People didn't understand coworking
Speaker 1: spaces at the time. People didn't understand social enterprises at
Speaker 1: the time down here, because these weren't conversations that we
Speaker 1: were having in the South. No one's talking about taking
Speaker 1: up space and diversity and equity in the South yet. Right,
Speaker 1: So I'm you know, are you a separatist? Are you?
Speaker 1: Why are you? Why are you doing reverse racism things? What?
Speaker 1: What is a coworking space? What are you doing? I
Speaker 1: don't understand the concept. But then, um, there was a
Speaker 1: shift when George Floyd, when when we went to COVID,
Speaker 1: George Floyd happened. All of these things kind of created
Speaker 1: this opportunity for conversation. And so I started having information
Speaker 1: sessions where I started giving Diversity Equity UM a platform,
Speaker 1: and I started creating these things called roundtable discussions, and
Speaker 1: I started gathering people and they and it was funny
Speaker 1: because I wasn't doing anything different than what I was
Speaker 1: doing the year before for some reason before listening, right,
Speaker 1: and then, UM, I just kept doing I just kept
Speaker 1: doing this. You know, I knew that I didn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of capital. I knew that I didn't have UM,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of financial backing or cloud or
Speaker 1: you know, the network connections. But I also knew that
Speaker 1: I just needed to make sure that everybody knew of
Speaker 1: my idea and that it was mine and that eventually
Speaker 1: something I was gonna network my way into my net worth,
Speaker 1: something was gonna click. So I was proud funding. I'm
Speaker 1: hosting these pop ups, I'm hosting these events, I'm giving
Speaker 1: these information sessions, I'm connecting to people, and I'm just
Speaker 1: honing in on my message, honing it on my message,
Speaker 1: you know, a space for black creative space for black creators.
Speaker 1: And then it just kind of took on a life
Speaker 1: of its own. And then I got a phone call
Speaker 1: from uh, the American Express reps to UM to back
Speaker 1: you know, my idea, that I got a phone call
Speaker 1: from T Mobile to back my idea, that I got
Speaker 1: a phone call from Essence to do a spread on
Speaker 1: this concept. Then America, you know, then Savannah Morning News.
Speaker 1: So all of these things just started to happen, and
Speaker 1: I think it's just because I was just kind of
Speaker 1: putting in the work and just putting one foot in
Speaker 1: front of another. And so UM we were able to
Speaker 1: get the funding. We were able to work with Carver
Speaker 1: State Bank, which is a black owned bank, to help
Speaker 1: with UM with the small business loan funding and and
Speaker 1: now we're in construction. So just for our listeners, can
Speaker 1: you uh kind of go into detail explaining what is
Speaker 1: a coworkerspect? So a coworking space UM is a space
Speaker 1: where you can work from home. So think of it
Speaker 1: as UM a you know, a private space kind of
Speaker 1: similar to a coffeehouse or kind of similar to you know,
Speaker 1: your regular office space where other people who may work
Speaker 1: from home or who may have small businesses can kind
Speaker 1: of gather and and work and create UM. And so
Speaker 1: what we're doing is we're taking the coworking space concept
Speaker 1: and we're taking the coffeehouse concept and the marketplace concept
Speaker 1: and fusing them together. So TC was more than a coffeehouse.
Speaker 1: We serve coffee and we have that aspect, but then
Speaker 1: we have forums and discussions and UM creative services and
Speaker 1: you know, space for artists and then we UM and
Speaker 1: then we also sell artists products, so black artisans, local
Speaker 1: products you can buy in our store. So is UM
Speaker 1: is is it open yet? Is not open? We're in
Speaker 1: the middle of construction, so we're not opening yet. So
Speaker 1: then what are some of the like how is COVID
Speaker 1: popping up again affecting a decisions that you're making. So
Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked that question, because COVID has it's
Speaker 1: slowed down our trajectory. We were supposed to open June Team.
Speaker 1: Um because of COVID it have been sorry, you know,
Speaker 1: but we were supposed to open June Team. Because of
Speaker 1: COVID marketing, our material prices have skyrocket. What is three
Speaker 1: times the amount of UM that it used to be
Speaker 1: um UM, the materials cost is more UM. Workers are
Speaker 1: you know, we're filling a worker shortage in all industries,
Speaker 1: even in construction, even in the trades, and so people
Speaker 1: who would have readily been available to work are no
Speaker 1: longer here to work. Um. You know, coffee sleeves kind
Speaker 1: of did a toilet paper thing and they just disappeared.
Speaker 1: And what I could find coffee sleeps. And so if
Speaker 1: you walk into your coffee shopping, you don't and they
Speaker 1: don't put a sleeve on because they ain't got one,
Speaker 1: you know. And so because of all that, we you know, COVID,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a shutdown, that there was a
Speaker 1: scare with Delta and all of these things. We're you know,
Speaker 1: we're navigating do we make our workers get vaccinated? Do
Speaker 1: we do. We only hire people who are vaccinated. You
Speaker 1: know what is those things? You know we're having these conversations,
Speaker 1: but honestly, COVID, it's just it's slowing things down. It's
Speaker 1: raising the prices on everything. And if you already know,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't have the same um financial backing
Speaker 1: or the same you know, social economic status as my
Speaker 1: white counterparts. So it's hitting me harder. You know, when
Speaker 1: when I have to go and crawdfund. You know, I
Speaker 1: could have a friend and I'm just gonna use this collocalism.
Speaker 1: But Sarah could crowd fund and probably raise you know,
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars in ninety days, I'll be hard
Speaker 1: pressed to get tent in those same many days. And
Speaker 1: it's just because our social um so social circle of
Speaker 1: influence doesn't have that same amount to give. No one
Speaker 1: has a thousand, five thousand dollars to give to invest
Speaker 1: in someone's dream when we're all trying to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're pairing our bills and making sure, you know,
Speaker 1: our life is good for ourselves. So it's difficult, but
Speaker 1: it's you know, we're still on the journey, we're still
Speaker 1: figuring it out. So I mean I'm sure you guys
Speaker 1: are going to figure it out. I mean, it looks
Speaker 1: like guys are on the right half with everything. So
Speaker 1: I mean, does it ever, like does it frustrate you
Speaker 1: kind of that It's like you're hearing you guys are
Speaker 1: starting to have all of these serious conversations about how
Speaker 1: you guys are going to navigate through COVID and to
Speaker 1: keep not only your employees safe, but you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, potential people who come to you safe as well.
Speaker 1: Does it like frustrate you to live in a state
Speaker 1: where it seems like from a government level, you know
Speaker 1: that it's that's not really a concern, or at least
Speaker 1: they're fighting against federal moves that are being made to
Speaker 1: stop the spread of COVID or just to get things
Speaker 1: back to normal, you know whatever normal is. Yes and no.
Speaker 1: So yes, because it's counterintuitive. Um, you know, you say
Speaker 1: you want to stop the you want to stop the virus.
Speaker 1: You want to get workers back to work, you want
Speaker 1: to you know, you want to support small businesses, small
Speaker 1: businesses on the background, we want to, we want to
Speaker 1: support these things. But then you're not creating an atmosphere
Speaker 1: where people can move forward. You know, you have a
Speaker 1: kind of instagnation that we wear mask we that were
Speaker 1: massive were allowed to do this, and we're not allowed
Speaker 1: to do this. And it's like whose rights are you protecting?
Speaker 1: Who are who are you disenfranchising at this point. So
Speaker 1: it's confusing and it's frustrating. On the other hand, UM
Speaker 1: I do believe that. Um I do believe that certain
Speaker 1: people I've created this fear propaganda because it didn't suit them.
Speaker 1: And now everybody's trying to backtrack. Right, so you you
Speaker 1: created this hysteria. Oh the vaccs are COVID isn't real.
Speaker 1: Covid isn't real. These this vaccine took to you know,
Speaker 1: it was it happened too soon. I need to do
Speaker 1: my research. And they're they're trying to, you know, take
Speaker 1: our soul away there, you know, all these right, all
Speaker 1: of these things. Um and now you're like, oh, well
Speaker 1: you should get the vaccine but not so it's it's
Speaker 1: it's counterintuitive, and it's it's frustrating. Yeah, I guess you know,
Speaker 1: it's I don't know, it's it's the worst, it really is,
Speaker 1: and you know it. And it's like, as a business owner,
Speaker 1: do I make the decision to make people get vaccinated,
Speaker 1: Well what happens if they can't get vaccinator or what
Speaker 1: happens if they morally don't want to get vaccinating? Like
Speaker 1: what do I do as a as an owner? How
Speaker 1: do I? How do I navigate that? Do I let
Speaker 1: people who are not vaccinated into the space? Do I?
Speaker 1: You know? Do I'm then wear masks? And if you know,
Speaker 1: I had a friend of mine who owns a business
Speaker 1: and she has this mask role where you have to
Speaker 1: wear a mask. And a guy walks into her business
Speaker 1: and takes a bottle of pop from the north, so
Speaker 1: we called blah Blah shakes it up and sprays her
Speaker 1: entire space because he's upset he had to wear a
Speaker 1: mask in her space. And it's like, is this what
Speaker 1: life is gonna look like for me when we open?
Speaker 1: You know? Like how do we navigate? So I mean
Speaker 1: like that is those are the sort of things that
Speaker 1: you're considering when you know, trying to make those decisions
Speaker 1: absolutely and you know and and so uh for right now,
Speaker 1: obviously we're telling people you're gonna have to wear a
Speaker 1: mask unless you're seated in your space, and and you know,
Speaker 1: we're hot. We're highly encouraging people to be vaccinated, and
Speaker 1: we're taking that into consideration where we're doing our hiring.
Speaker 1: But it's it's it's a tough place to be in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: why don't you tell everybody where they can find you? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: so you can check us out at the Culturist Union. So, um,
Speaker 1: it's c U l T you r I s T
Speaker 1: the Culturalist Union dot com on social media, The Culturist
Speaker 1: Union Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Um, and hit me and my
Speaker 1: team up. We're here and we're ready. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: located on MLK Street. So if you ride down, okay,
Speaker 1: you'll see our big will go and it says future
Speaker 1: home of the Culturalist Union. So open. It's coming struct
Speaker 1: but it will be here before the end of the year.
Speaker 1: I can promise you that. Um. And so when we come,
Speaker 1: we just help you, you know, take up some space whatever.
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, of course, of course. Yeah. Well I'll be
Speaker 1: thank you for dropping on the show, and I will
Speaker 1: be right back after we take a little break. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you said, you know we can talk about
Speaker 1: we can talk about hip hop politics. Alright, alright, well,
Speaker 1: then this is gonna be the second week in a
Speaker 1: row where the guests have wanted to drive in on
Speaker 1: the hip hop discussion of the day. I really wanted
Speaker 1: to tell you a story and kind of kind of
Speaker 1: hear your perspective of it. Okay, So I had a
Speaker 1: woman and I do a lot of diversity equity work.
Speaker 1: Obviously my space is all about you know, inclusion and
Speaker 1: equity and things like that. And so there was a
Speaker 1: Facebook post that a woman made and on the Facebook
Speaker 1: post she quoted um or she hear a phrased Earth
Speaker 1: the Kit and she says, you know, um, um, I
Speaker 1: don't see black, I don't see white, I don't see pink,
Speaker 1: I don't see green. All I see as a woman
Speaker 1: and um. There was this huge debate on whether or
Speaker 1: not she should have said that, and I said, um,
Speaker 1: I said, well, it's really funny that she chose Earth
Speaker 1: the Kid to quote because the Kit with the Kanye
Speaker 1: of her top. And I wanted to know, what do
Speaker 1: you think about these um people who quote actors and
Speaker 1: musicians as keystones or cornerstones of black culture to justify
Speaker 1: their point. Well, I mean, I think it's it's I
Speaker 1: think it might be rooted in like having some sort
Speaker 1: of like personal cover, especially nowadays, because I find that
Speaker 1: the discourse that I find that discourse is like a
Speaker 1: regular thing with hip hop now between you know, the
Speaker 1: different races of fans where you know, just keeping it real,
Speaker 1: like if a white person says something about like a
Speaker 1: particular rapper artist that's like unfavorable, then it almost seems
Speaker 1: like as a reflex, then the discussion turns into, well,
Speaker 1: what do you call how you qualified to judge black music?
Speaker 1: You know? I mean, but when they're packing the stadiums
Speaker 1: and everybody's singing the N word, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like like nobody's thinking about anybody's qualifications to like listen
Speaker 1: to the music and stuff like that. I think if
Speaker 1: you're going to have that energy, that you should be
Speaker 1: consistent with it. But I don't think somebody is saying
Speaker 1: that they didn't like track twelve of your album is
Speaker 1: like when you start bringing up you know, like that's
Speaker 1: just me. That's that's just my opinion on it. Um
Speaker 1: As far as why people do it, I think it's
Speaker 1: precisely for that. You know, It's like the it's it's
Speaker 1: the same same thought process as being used with like,
Speaker 1: oh but my friends black. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It's like I'm making this point let me quote this
Speaker 1: black person who said this thing, and I'm justified, Like,
Speaker 1: for example, she knew or whoever posted it knew that
Speaker 1: there was going to be of a vocal group of
Speaker 1: people that had an issue with it. But the cover
Speaker 1: is yo, I'm not like quoting Sally Field or something
Speaker 1: like that. It's another black person. Now they're assuming that
Speaker 1: people are going in not knowing who earth the kid
Speaker 1: was the assuming you're just gonna see that's a black person.
Speaker 1: It was like, oh, okay, I guess, I guess right,
Speaker 1: it is. It's funny to me. It's it's funny to me,
Speaker 1: how you know. And so in that regards do you
Speaker 1: judge Do you judge an artist in their work by
Speaker 1: by their personal morals or do you with Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean with hip hop, it's it's it might be kind
Speaker 1: of different because I'm just such a fan of like
Speaker 1: the craft itself, you know what I mean, Like as
Speaker 1: as like a practice and activity rhyming rhythmically overbeats. I'm
Speaker 1: just like fascinated with that craft that to a certain extent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like I can I can disconnect, Like I can
Speaker 1: even listen to rappers and I don't even particularly like
Speaker 1: just to hear people rap, because I like hearing rapping,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But when it comes to
Speaker 1: who I'm a fan of and stuff like that, that's
Speaker 1: much more of a personal thing. And that's where like
Speaker 1: the my like admiration of technicality and stuff like that
Speaker 1: kind of goes by the wayside. That if I think
Speaker 1: you're whack as a person, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: then it makes it a lot harder for me to
Speaker 1: enjoy your music or to say that I'm a fan.
Speaker 1: It's funny that you brought up Kanye because he's a
Speaker 1: recurring a recurring theme on this particular show. I was
Speaker 1: never particularly a big fan, but my co host was
Speaker 1: a fan, and she she, you know, has lost a
Speaker 1: lot of her fandom with his flirtation with fascism that having,
Speaker 1: you know, just like a few months ago that everyone
Speaker 1: seems to have forgotten about it. Don't we don't we
Speaker 1: just forget like we just I mean we have we
Speaker 1: have am like celebrity amnesias like oh that it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter anymore, It's right, Yeah, it's funny. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I like I like artists that make me
Speaker 1: do work like they make me think and I have
Speaker 1: to go and research what they're saying, you know, like
Speaker 1: like Kendrick Lamar's latest single, I'm over here, like what
Speaker 1: it is? Megatron? What is this? You know? I'm just
Speaker 1: like I'm googling. I like that, I'm what is this?
Speaker 1: And I feel, you know, important and smart. When I
Speaker 1: figured out it's like, that's like the ship that got
Speaker 1: me into hip hop in the first place. It was
Speaker 1: like trading cards, you know what I mean, Like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this this ripper, you know, he he uses better for
Speaker 1: us like this, Oh man Wu Tang. You can't even
Speaker 1: understand what they're saying unless you got like an encyclopedia
Speaker 1: next year. So I think that element definitely is missing
Speaker 1: from things like these days. I mean, I guess I
Speaker 1: gotta take that back a little. There's there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people that are doing real dope stuff, but it
Speaker 1: just I never downplay how important it is to have
Speaker 1: mainstream exposure when it comes to stuff like that. You know,
Speaker 1: It's like it's gonna be hard for a kid to
Speaker 1: see somebody who's wrapping the way that you're describing and
Speaker 1: then aspire to do that if the ship is never
Speaker 1: like in front of him. But that definitely could just
Speaker 1: be some old guy talk for I mean, I'm, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm, I'm I guess I'm you know, I'm the
Speaker 1: middle aged millennial. I think I'm I'm not geriatric, but
Speaker 1: I'm I'm getting up there. I'm in my mid thirties.
Speaker 1: And my son, he's eleven, and he's like listening to stuff,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, that is what the hell is this?
Speaker 1: This is not small? That is the thing, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, oh man, this is this, But I mean
Speaker 1: that's the thing is like, it doesn't Maybe I'm just
Speaker 1: remembering stuff the wrong way. And I'm totally been to
Speaker 1: like everyone having their blinders and their filters and biases
Speaker 1: and stuff. But it's just like hip hop, even in
Speaker 1: its most hedonistic form when I was a kid, wasn't
Speaker 1: about being dumb, you know, Like that wasn't like that
Speaker 1: wasn't a thing, you know what I'm saying. Even like
Speaker 1: the most gangster gangster I'm gonna kill a gangster wasn't like, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm an idiot or ada. And I'm like, and I
Speaker 1: think about my dad, Like my dad he's he's a
Speaker 1: younger dad. He's in his fifties now, so you know
Speaker 1: he had me pretty young. But like listening to rock him,
Speaker 1: listening to jay Z, listening to the nas, you know
Speaker 1: all I need this one. M I remember those songs
Speaker 1: in the car and I'm listening to him now and
Speaker 1: SLA you're talking about like old school cats. You could
Speaker 1: go back. Look if Nellie was the worst thing that
Speaker 1: we had to listen to, how much better would be
Speaker 1: if if if the worst, if the worst rapper that
Speaker 1: you heard when you listen to the radio right now
Speaker 1: was Nellie or like like we would be good, We
Speaker 1: would be good. And it's funny because I remember being
Speaker 1: in high school and like clowning, Um, who was it?
Speaker 1: Who did I keep the computers coputing? Yeah? And I
Speaker 1: remember being like computer and now you compare computers, compare
Speaker 1: computers like he was out here. Nellie is rock him
Speaker 1: compared to these new dudes, you know, like straight up
Speaker 1: and that is that is so not an exaggeration. Do
Speaker 1: you remember when like the like if you were to say,
Speaker 1: what is an example of a whack rapper like Vanilla
Speaker 1: Ice and like mc hammers, like the default, if you
Speaker 1: that is the exam of what a whack rapper? Right, Well,
Speaker 1: I've been rapping for eighteen years. Vanilla ice wraps better
Speaker 1: than a lot of a lot of the So what
Speaker 1: is a bad rapper? Then? You know? I don't. I
Speaker 1: listened to it and I said, I said, how do
Speaker 1: you how do you listen to this every day all day?
Speaker 1: And he's like, well, I mean it's cool. You listen
Speaker 1: to the bet, you don't listen to the words. Don't
Speaker 1: what you said? Your son's eleven. He's eleven. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's you know, and that's and I
Speaker 1: have you know, cousins and nephews that are you know, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,
Speaker 1: and they're listening to this and I can't even understand
Speaker 1: them at this point. There's no dictation, there's no enunciation.
Speaker 1: It's just mush. It's like I'm like, no, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like I guess so that we don't
Speaker 1: go so this doesn't turn it into a geriatric millennial rant,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that. It's like I would never argue
Speaker 1: with an eleven year old or like a thirteen year
Speaker 1: old on why they like the stupid things that they like,
Speaker 1: because they're third team, they're supposed to like stupid stuff.
Speaker 1: And the thing that gets to me is when I
Speaker 1: see grown men and women. Definitely we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: have you back in continue this hip hop discussion. Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1: I'm glad I was able to keep up. I'm more
Speaker 1: of Anita Baker thing I can get. I can get
Speaker 1: real dirty with my hip hop. I apologize. No, this
Speaker 1: is great, Well, thank you for coming. Let's close it
Speaker 1: off the way that we always do. Y know, my
Speaker 1: homie Joel give a brother beat. Oh I love this one,
Speaker 1: hot yo yo straight and see poor crazy little rapper
Speaker 1: name mc knife dropped out of college because my money
Speaker 1: didn't act right. I'm down to do this freestyle ship
Speaker 1: every damn night. You flow in the post. You must
Speaker 1: be smoking the crack pipe. Heartless representators. Built Design want
Speaker 1: to hang, but they can't match Build Design killed with rhymes.
Speaker 1: I'm sort of like a lethal weapon when I jump
Speaker 1: into a cipher, I don't even need protection. Who you liking?
Speaker 1: Who you checking? This ship is kindepressing, But tune in
Speaker 1: next week and I'll give you all the lesson. Yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're waiting. We wait in our reparation. I'm dope Knife
Speaker 1: and you are listening to waiting on reparations to see
Speaker 1: you next week, waiting on reparations the production of I
Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, check
Speaker 1: out the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.