Speaker 1: What's up? Family? Is your girl to Mika D Mallory is.
Speaker 2: Your boy, my son general.
Speaker 1: And we are your host of street politicians, the place.
Speaker 2: Where the streets and politics.
Speaker 1: Means my son Leonard I.
Speaker 3: Because of our scheduling today, we have our guests coming
Speaker 3: on a little earlier than we thought, so we're gonna.
Speaker 1: Have to cut some things.
Speaker 3: And that's okay with me because I have one thing
Speaker 3: in my thought of the day that I would like
Speaker 3: to talk about today on this year show.
Speaker 2: Well, are you trying to get straight to the nitty
Speaker 2: gritty going to.
Speaker 3: Make some people upset? I believe in holistic wellness.
Speaker 1: I was a kid growing up.
Speaker 3: My parents rarely gave us medication because they believe wholeheartedly
Speaker 3: in holistic wellness. Right now, when we travel to Africa,
Speaker 3: we learn that in the garden they grow different types
Speaker 3: of medicines that are currently being used for things that
Speaker 3: we use in terms of actual medicine, not just holistically today.
Speaker 4: Well, the ingredients pretty much the ingredients medicine.
Speaker 1: So anesthesia is growing in.
Speaker 3: The gardens of Africa, specifically in Ghana. And you know
Speaker 3: that if you go to get a leg arm amputated,
Speaker 3: you two quo whatever baby have a not a baby.
Speaker 3: But certainly if you have termination of pregnancy, if you
Speaker 3: have any type of search be that requires you to
Speaker 3: go under, you have to use anesthesia in order to
Speaker 3: be able to do that. And the sesia can be
Speaker 3: very dangerous too, which is why when we were in
Speaker 3: in the botanical gardens in Ghana, the gentleman said, you
Speaker 3: can't touch it, play with it tasted nothing right until
Speaker 3: and I asked the dumb question, well, how do you
Speaker 3: just have it out here? What if someone puts it
Speaker 3: in their mouth? And he's like, well, why would anybody.
Speaker 1: Be eating trees?
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh, okay, see again, those are
Speaker 3: negative or stereotypes that get into your head about Africans.
Speaker 3: And it came out of me right there in the
Speaker 3: park in the garden. But if you're gonna get something
Speaker 3: serious surgery done, you need your anesthesia so that you
Speaker 3: can not die from pain. I think there are people
Speaker 3: in our society that need to take their medicine, or
Speaker 3: if they don't know that they need a medicine, they
Speaker 3: need to get it. And if there is a holistic
Speaker 3: way to approach their conditions, then they need to go
Speaker 3: heavy into that as well. And sometimes holistically we might
Speaker 3: not have the right formulas.
Speaker 1: Or whatever, but you need your medicine.
Speaker 3: People need their insulin right once they have diabetes that
Speaker 3: gets to a certain level, they have to be able
Speaker 3: to take their insulin. Yes, you could clean your body.
Speaker 3: My mother definitely with her diabetes. Her and my father
Speaker 3: got on an extreme workout schedule.
Speaker 1: Seven miles a day, walking in the morning.
Speaker 3: They ate better, They did all the things you could
Speaker 3: think of, and they were able to change ther trajectory
Speaker 3: of her diabetic situation very much so. But she still
Speaker 3: needed her medication to help with some of the other challenges.
Speaker 3: She was seeing things on her hand, you know, she
Speaker 3: was feeling like when she was cooking, it was worms
Speaker 3: and different things because she was having hallucinations because of
Speaker 3: the diabetes. So I'm saying today that there are people
Speaker 3: out here that need to take their medicine. And I'm
Speaker 3: not talking about will Wile Willie who's running up and
Speaker 3: down the street, because you know, we often will say, okay,
Speaker 3: people need to take their medicine, and we assume were
Speaker 3: associated with somebody who's just you know, out of control.
Speaker 3: They look like they tripping, and we say they need
Speaker 3: to take medicine. There are people who are high functioning, depressed,
Speaker 3: they have anxiety, they are.
Speaker 1: Dealing with mental health issues.
Speaker 3: They're high functioning, they look wonderful, they look perfect, got
Speaker 3: it going on, dressed nice and all of that, but
Speaker 3: they're nasty, nasty attitudes, miserable, negative, damn there, ready to
Speaker 3: die by suicide, eating disorders. There's a lot of signs
Speaker 3: that people are dealing with mental health challenges that are
Speaker 3: not getting addressed. People do not have the right formula,
Speaker 3: and as a result, we are dealing with a lot
Speaker 3: of crazy things. And I of course can't tell the
Speaker 3: story of right now or at all of what it
Speaker 3: is that I experience that made me feel this way,
Speaker 3: but it really is on me that we have to
Speaker 3: start encouraging people to seek professional help for a variety
Speaker 3: of issues that you may be dealing with and get
Speaker 3: the type of help necessary now. At one point, I
Speaker 3: had a doctor that wanted to put me on riddily
Speaker 3: when I was really depressed, and.
Speaker 1: I chose not to do that.
Speaker 3: But we found something else, and I take that medicine
Speaker 3: and it is very helpful to me to keep me
Speaker 3: balanced so that my anxiety does not take over to
Speaker 3: where I'm aggravating you, aggravating everybody, lending everybody around. I
Speaker 3: got an attitude. I'm snappy, I'm not feeling good. I
Speaker 3: can't rest. People need to take their medicine.
Speaker 4: I mean, I agree, I agree, you know, I also
Speaker 4: agree that a lot of shit is mind state.
Speaker 2: Right. There are a lot of different individuals. There's some
Speaker 2: individuals that they required that they're not going to be
Speaker 2: able to fix it theirselves. Right, They're not going to
Speaker 2: be able a dollar back. Right. There are some people
Speaker 2: that need to go to or rehab. Right. There are
Speaker 2: some people that don't need to go to rehab.
Speaker 4: Some people say I'm gonna kick this ship by myself
Speaker 4: and then completely stop doing it. Some people are sick
Speaker 4: that you they've been diagnosed with sickness and they've been
Speaker 4: able to holistically change their their trajectory. Other people can't
Speaker 4: do it. So I think it's it's individual based, right.
Speaker 4: I think you have to know you. I think you
Speaker 4: you you have to be able to make proper assessments
Speaker 4: of yourself like and then and then if you, if
Speaker 4: you have the right doctor, then they'll be able to
Speaker 4: make that assessment. Right, They'll be able to make an
Speaker 4: assessment and say, wow, you've been doing what I don't.
Speaker 2: Maybe you don't need this medication. You know, maybe they'll
Speaker 2: be those.
Speaker 1: Pharmaceutical companies are not inclined.
Speaker 2: To tell you nothing. Now I'm not talking what the pharma.
Speaker 1: Doctors work for. The pharmaceutical companies.
Speaker 4: Depends on the doctor that you have, right if if
Speaker 4: you if you have somebody that you you believe in
Speaker 4: that's properly invested in you.
Speaker 2: I've I've had doctors that have said, don't take that medication.
Speaker 2: You know, doctors that have said, oh, they said, give
Speaker 2: the kids, don't give them that ship. No, we not prescribe,
Speaker 2: I mean you none of that.
Speaker 4: Just let that baby do this and take the baby
Speaker 4: home and give them this and make sure they eat
Speaker 4: this way. So there are doctors who are personally invested
Speaker 4: in your safety over then just selling medication.
Speaker 2: So like you know, like you said, there are people
Speaker 2: who need it.
Speaker 4: There are people who are not going to be at
Speaker 4: a function with all medication because it's the.
Speaker 2: Way that they're wired.
Speaker 4: I'm myself, I'm a person that's very rarely had medication,
Speaker 4: Like with the exception of me having a toothache, Like
Speaker 4: the toothache was probably the only thing that I've ever
Speaker 4: said to myself, I got to take some painkillers for
Speaker 4: because the shit was dramatically or allergies, with the exception
Speaker 4: of me taking xytext because the shit is just my
Speaker 4: eyes is watering to the point and there's no way,
Speaker 4: no shit I could do they issue to the point.
Speaker 4: With the exception of those two things, there's very rarely
Speaker 4: a time that medication was something that I was into.
Speaker 3: Well maybe, and that's okay, suggesting everybody needs medication, and
Speaker 3: I'm not suggesting that they are not again holistic ways
Speaker 3: to deal with your issues, because there certainly can be,
Speaker 3: because I you know, one thing I know for sure
Speaker 3: is that when dealing with my son typer activity when
Speaker 3: he was young, the main thing the doctors kept saying
Speaker 3: to me is, if you don't want to put him
Speaker 3: on medication, you have to stop the sugar intake. You
Speaker 3: can't let him have a bowl of cereal at home
Speaker 3: or a French toast with syrup and then send him
Speaker 3: to school, because when he gets to school, he's going
Speaker 3: to be high and then low, and there's all types
Speaker 3: of agitation that goes on in between it.
Speaker 1: So you gotta do vegetables.
Speaker 3: You got to start out with an egg sausage, you know,
Speaker 3: cup of milk, whatever it is that helps them to
Speaker 3: feel better and not be you know, feel full, but
Speaker 3: not be so.
Speaker 1: Rouled up.
Speaker 3: So I understand that. I'm just saying that there are
Speaker 3: some people who have not even because you made a
Speaker 3: powerful point, made an assessment of what's wrong with them.
Speaker 3: They don't even understand the issue, but they just go
Speaker 3: out in the world making other people's lives miserable. And
Speaker 3: I just think, you know, it's just got to be
Speaker 3: it's just got to be a better way. So I'm
Speaker 3: just suggesting that people find out what you mean. Right
Speaker 3: if you and your family members saying wow, like you're
Speaker 3: so mean, or you're in the workplace and you feel
Speaker 3: like people don't really want to deal with you for
Speaker 3: some reason, or you find yourself feeling like you're always alone,
Speaker 3: like in your you know, you're always like at odds
Speaker 3: with the people around you who you should have positive
Speaker 3: for the most part, relationships with, or you know, you
Speaker 3: find yourself constantly hearing from people that you offended them,
Speaker 3: or you upset them or whatever. You try to find
Speaker 3: out is there something going on with maybe I'm dealing
Speaker 3: with depression and therefore it makes me negative. Maybe I
Speaker 3: think negatively all the time. That's actually an issue. I'm
Speaker 3: not going to say it's a mental health crisis, but
Speaker 3: it's an issue. You automatically come from a negative place
Speaker 3: when you respond. That's not healthy, right, And a lot
Speaker 3: of people don't even know because we've never been taught
Speaker 3: about the signs of mental health challenges. We've never been
Speaker 3: taught about anxiety. Like white folks know that is a thing. Okay,
Speaker 3: they get medicated for anxiety, they get therapy for anxiety.
Speaker 3: Black folks have been dealing with anxiety for eons and
Speaker 3: we've never been taught that. We never knew what it
Speaker 3: meant to have hypertension issues as a child.
Speaker 1: We never knew.
Speaker 3: And we really do need to try to get to
Speaker 3: the core of some of the issues we have. And
Speaker 3: if you need medication, take it. And if your medication
Speaker 3: makes you feel funny, because some people when they take
Speaker 3: medicine it makes them feel tired or not themselves, they
Speaker 3: can change it, but you have to be committed to
Speaker 3: who trying different things and figuring out what is the
Speaker 3: right formula for me. You can't take one medicine and
Speaker 3: be like that's.
Speaker 1: Why I'm not gonna do that anymore.
Speaker 3: And you have to do your research, but you got
Speaker 3: to be committed to your well being and your men's.
Speaker 1: Wealth for real.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: Well on that note.
Speaker 3: Our guest is already here, so let's bring them in
Speaker 3: and introduce them. Okay, family, So speaking of our friends,
Speaker 3: you know, you hear us all the time with our
Speaker 3: inside outside joke that so many of our friends are
Speaker 3: doing powerful things across this nation, and we bring them
Speaker 3: on as our guests.
Speaker 1: Why not.
Speaker 3: It's our show, So we do it how we want,
Speaker 3: and we invite our friends to come and talk about
Speaker 3: the work they're doing. And you know, we have an
Speaker 3: incredible change maker who's joining us today who is a
Speaker 3: friend to us personally as well as a friend to
Speaker 3: the community in New Jersey abroad, the entire New Jersey,
Speaker 3: but of course in Newark. And that's Counselman Do Pray Kelly,
Speaker 3: who is better known to most of us as Do
Speaker 3: It All. So we're gonna get into some special things
Speaker 3: about what this gentleman has been able to do going
Speaker 3: from being a platinum selling artist to the first the
Speaker 3: first person to go from being an artist at that
Speaker 3: level to being elected to a political office in the
Speaker 3: city of Newark, New Jersey, and so, as I said,
Speaker 3: he's making waves across the country, certainly across the state
Speaker 3: of New Jersey, but specifically focusing on his activism which
Speaker 3: has turned into his political career in the city of Newark,
Speaker 3: New Jersey.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Counselman for joining us today.
Speaker 5: Thank you Samika, Thank you Mice for having me.
Speaker 6: I really appreciate all the work that you guys have
Speaker 6: been doing over the years. You know, it's very special
Speaker 6: as needed. So I salute you guys as well and
Speaker 6: say thank you. And before we even begin, man, I
Speaker 6: just want to say, we just got some bad news
Speaker 6: here in New York, New Jersey. I just want to
Speaker 6: say rest in peace to our Lieutenant governor. You know,
Speaker 6: Oliver passed away today. I'm sure you both of you
Speaker 6: probably met, yeah, you know. And I think she you know,
Speaker 6: she's all about that woman empowerment and having our black
Speaker 6: sisters do their things.
Speaker 5: So I know she was a big fan of yours, speaker.
Speaker 6: That's why I just wanted to say rest in peace
Speaker 6: today to her and her family and condolences to her family.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's so sad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, go out to her and who whole state in
Speaker 2: New York City. York, Man, it's.
Speaker 1: Crazy New Jersey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, so let's get all into it. I mean,
Speaker 3: I know that folks are going to want to know
Speaker 3: about some of the specific work you're doing there in Newark,
Speaker 3: But I really want to hear first of all as do.
Speaker 1: It or I want to hear from Do It All.
Speaker 3: I'm about that transition, and it was their transitional. It's
Speaker 3: just another stage and level in your life. And you
Speaker 3: still feel extremely connected to the culture, to the music,
Speaker 3: which I believe that you do. But what it feels
Speaker 3: like to be the first to go from being a
Speaker 3: platinum selling artist to now being an elected official. What
Speaker 3: are the great things about it? And what are some
Speaker 3: of the areas that you feel are a little difficult
Speaker 3: and challenging.
Speaker 6: You know, first of all, I'm never going to stop
Speaker 6: being hip hop ever, you know, I tell people that
Speaker 6: I am with hip hop looks like growing up, you know,
Speaker 6: I get to govern in the same.
Speaker 5: Blocks that I grew up on. I mean, born and
Speaker 5: raised in these areas.
Speaker 6: I get to governose streets where I jumped gates and
Speaker 6: ran from police and was involved in mischief and also
Speaker 6: those same blocks where I learned how to galvanize people
Speaker 6: and you know, pass out community events and get involved
Speaker 6: in community events.
Speaker 5: And it's the same.
Speaker 6: Area that myself and Red Men set on my porch
Speaker 6: and we talked about when we were ten years old.
Speaker 5: We talked about the changes we were going to bring
Speaker 5: to our community.
Speaker 6: That's why manifestation and words are powerful because we talked
Speaker 6: about that. And it's only really powerful to me just
Speaker 6: because in hindsight of actually living it and doing it now.
Speaker 6: So it's just an amazing thing that I get to
Speaker 6: I get to allow of. You know, I've done some
Speaker 6: things that made my mother have a you know, disgusting
Speaker 6: a face when I was younger and I was able
Speaker 6: to see that, I guess the the you know, lack
Speaker 6: of better word, see that frown turn upside down, you know.
Speaker 6: And and through my work in the community, through my
Speaker 6: work as a hip hop artist. I have to give
Speaker 6: a lot of props to my first manager, Hot Feast
Speaker 6: for Reid, who managed Laws of the Underground Muslim brother.
Speaker 5: You know, when you think about Laws of the Underground,
Speaker 5: we didn't really curse too much in our records. We
Speaker 5: never really called women the B word.
Speaker 6: And you know, which was good when I started the
Speaker 6: campaign because they didn't have anything negative to reflect on
Speaker 6: from my hip hop career.
Speaker 5: And he really he really kept us on point.
Speaker 6: You know, here he has three three black males, three
Speaker 6: black men who come from single mother homes, who didn't have.
Speaker 5: Fathers in the house. He became our dad on the road.
Speaker 5: And then you know, we got money early.
Speaker 6: So you know, especially when you get money, it doesn't
Speaker 6: come with instructions, especially when you never had any money.
Speaker 6: So he was that guy that kind of kept us grounded.
Speaker 6: And he would say stuff like this. You know, if
Speaker 6: I said something with a B word in a song,
Speaker 6: he would say, oh, that's dope.
Speaker 5: Who are you talking about your mother? Your grandmother? And
Speaker 5: I would get defensive, like you me and my grandmother.
Speaker 6: He said, well, see just the way that you just
Speaker 6: swoll up when I when I asked, was that about
Speaker 6: your mother?
Speaker 5: People are gonna if.
Speaker 6: You disrespect women, that's how they're gonna feel when they
Speaker 6: hit that word or so he challenged us. But he
Speaker 6: never told us to change anything, you know, he just
Speaker 6: challenged us to be better, to think differently, to change
Speaker 6: the mindset. And one time, you know, in this documented
Speaker 6: I've been wearing NORK on my power and clothes for
Speaker 6: you know, since I was nineteen.
Speaker 5: I'm fifty two now, you know. So it was just like, uh,
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, it was you know.
Speaker 6: So one day he asked me in the studio, he said,
Speaker 6: what have you done for nork Lady got defensive again.
Speaker 7: I'm like, oh, I wear NOWK on my hast. I
Speaker 7: got it on my clothes. I always represent on every
Speaker 7: television show. He was like, no, I didn't ask you
Speaker 7: about representing. I asked you, what have you done for
Speaker 7: the city of North Lady.
Speaker 6: And I really didn't have an answer, you know, And
Speaker 6: it hit me like, wow, here it is. I'm bragging
Speaker 6: about my city and I'm pulling and taking away from
Speaker 6: my city, but I'm not pouring it back into my city,
Speaker 6: you know. And I started to take my hip hop money,
Speaker 6: you know, and try everything right, everything from community you know,
Speaker 6: the book back drive, the Turkey giveaways, all of the
Speaker 6: low hanging fruit stuff, which is important, but in the
Speaker 6: community world, it's really the low hanging fruit stuff.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: And I just started to do that, and by doing that,
Speaker 6: it started putting me at the doorsteps of the residents
Speaker 6: and my friends and my family again, and they started
Speaker 6: to see that I was serious, and they asked me
Speaker 6: to be the voice. Just asked me to be the
Speaker 6: voice through hip hop, you know, talk for them and
Speaker 6: use hip hop to get the message across in the
Speaker 6: you know, in the community.
Speaker 5: And that's what we did, just just through hip hop. Man.
Speaker 6: So the neighborhood that I'm from, you know, Rod Diggers
Speaker 6: from there, Queen Latif was from there, Redman's from there,
Speaker 6: the artifacts, it's just so many people. So like I say,
Speaker 6: it's you know, this is what hip hop looks like
Speaker 6: growing up. It was just a natural transition. And on
Speaker 6: the other hand, you know, people love you until they don't.
Speaker 6: You know, everybody wants you to win, and you guys
Speaker 6: know about it. People when you're doing great things, you
Speaker 6: assume that, oh, we're doing great things, everybody's.
Speaker 5: Going to be happy.
Speaker 6: And then when you get into it and the other one,
Speaker 6: then you start to understand and respectfully, how Malcolm X
Speaker 6: was killed, Howard Martin was killed, because you would think, like,
Speaker 6: why would somebody want to hurt somebody that's doing something good?
Speaker 6: You know, But you know, you have your opposers, and
Speaker 6: people with your opposition and people with different you know,
Speaker 6: mindsets and different views and ideas that just don't match
Speaker 6: up with yours. So I think, you know, for me,
Speaker 6: going from hip hop to community, that's cool. That was
Speaker 6: that's that's easy in the sense I did realize that
Speaker 6: community has a ceiling to it.
Speaker 5: When you're doing community things.
Speaker 6: And when it comes to fostering change and then governance,
Speaker 6: I had to find my footing, you know. To be honest,
Speaker 6: it's been a little over a year. I had to
Speaker 6: find my footing and I'm still learning, you know, I'm
Speaker 6: still learning. But the politics is the part that is
Speaker 6: I'm not really happy with it. And I know my
Speaker 6: team always tell me stop saying that you don't like
Speaker 6: politics in politics now, which is true. But I still
Speaker 6: don't like the movement of it at times, you know,
Speaker 6: because I don't. I don't come from the politics, but
Speaker 6: the politics is in all of those things. So it's
Speaker 6: a it's a it's not an easy task, but it's
Speaker 6: a worthy task.
Speaker 5: It's worth it, you know, I tell people all the time.
Speaker 6: You know, my partners, my DJ he lives in a
Speaker 6: beautiful mansion in Miami. My other rap partner, he has
Speaker 6: a beautiful home in northern California. I live in one
Speaker 6: of my buildings on right in the hood, right in
Speaker 6: Central Avenue in Newark, New Jersey, and I'm right in
Speaker 6: the mix.
Speaker 4: How is that? How does that like? How does that
Speaker 4: feel like? Being amongst the people?
Speaker 2: Is that is?
Speaker 4: Do you feel like they receive you better? Do you
Speaker 4: feel like, like, how do you feel living amongst the people?
Speaker 5: I love it. You know, I don't have to be here.
Speaker 5: I have to be here.
Speaker 1: And you said it's your own building, so.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm in partnership with you know. I
Speaker 6: don't even tell everybody some of the things that I'm
Speaker 6: in partnership with the.
Speaker 5: City because we got a lot of haters.
Speaker 6: But you know, yes, yes, you know it's our properties,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean. So we're working, man, it's
Speaker 6: us being part of our own community. And to answer
Speaker 6: your question might sound like I love it because I'm
Speaker 6: right there with the people. And it can be difficult
Speaker 6: at times because this you're so accessible and you have
Speaker 6: to be careful, you know, because you can't think that
Speaker 6: everything is good, because history has showed that your own
Speaker 6: people would be the ones.
Speaker 5: That to get you up out of there.
Speaker 6: And I mean, like I said, It goes from all
Speaker 6: of our people that we love, our advocates, the people
Speaker 6: who fought for us, down to Nipsey Hustle, you know,
Speaker 6: who was writing his own neighborhood and you would think, oh,
Speaker 6: you're safe in your own neighborhood.
Speaker 5: So I'm always aware.
Speaker 6: And the way that I interact with them is firm,
Speaker 6: it's fair.
Speaker 5: And they know me, but don't.
Speaker 6: I don't take anything for granted, you know, because anything
Speaker 6: is possible. I don't have twenty security guards rolling with me.
Speaker 6: I don't have one security guard role.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 6: I got a couple of my dudes who when we
Speaker 6: go to certain things that make sure that I'm good.
Speaker 5: The neighborhood makes sure that I'm good, but I make
Speaker 5: sure that I'm not in.
Speaker 6: Those places unless I have to be in those places
Speaker 6: as well.
Speaker 4: You know, what do you think it's been your biggest challenge,
Speaker 4: the biggest challenge making that trend? What is your biggest
Speaker 4: challenge you feel, and then what is the thing that
Speaker 4: you that you enjoy most.
Speaker 5: That's a great question.
Speaker 6: My big My biggest challenge is navigating through the politics
Speaker 6: my sign and Tamika Mallory has a different opinion than
Speaker 6: me on one thing. That doesn't mean I don't like
Speaker 6: them or like they're there, what they're doing. We just
Speaker 6: disagree on maybe one thing.
Speaker 5: But if that thing is goes against the team.
Speaker 6: Of whatever team I'm associated with, and I take a
Speaker 6: picture with you guys, it's like, well, why do you
Speaker 6: want to picture with me?
Speaker 1: Game?
Speaker 5: My son? You know what I don't I don't like that,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like that's a real thing.
Speaker 1: That's a real thing that you're saying.
Speaker 6: It's a real thing, you know, And it's just kind
Speaker 6: of learning how to maneuver through the politics of it all.
Speaker 6: That's that's that's my biggest task, you know, when people
Speaker 6: are I never had so many people scream at me
Speaker 6: or you know, I've had people not like a record.
Speaker 6: We still giving each other a pound, We keep it moving.
Speaker 6: They might still buy the record or still come to
Speaker 6: the show. I have people say, you know, I ain't
Speaker 6: really feel the record, but when I saw you on stage, man,
Speaker 6: it's not that way. In politics, they just you know,
Speaker 6: I was in office for a month and they were
Speaker 6: just hating me, you know what I mean, like some
Speaker 6: people and then you got to realize that those are
Speaker 6: five people, or those are people who don't even vote,
Speaker 6: or those are people who don't even do anything themselves.
Speaker 6: So you got to learn how to quiet out the noise.
Speaker 6: And I had to learn, you know, I used to
Speaker 6: be in council meetings responding everything, well it's that, and
Speaker 6: then they you know, I had to learn that I'm
Speaker 6: just fueling them to continue their instead of just not
Speaker 6: you know, just kind of blocking out the white noise
Speaker 6: and keeping the receipts for the work that I do
Speaker 6: and showing up and being present, you know, because you
Speaker 6: can say you don't like something, but you can't tell
Speaker 6: me that it's not my truth.
Speaker 5: You can't tell me that I'm not president.
Speaker 6: You can't tell me that I'm not putting in the work,
Speaker 6: whether it we you know, produces a great result, a
Speaker 6: minimum result, a small result. You can't tell me that
Speaker 6: I'm not doing things to push it forward. And as
Speaker 6: long as I keep the receipts, you know, I'm cool.
Speaker 6: And the thing that I do like.
Speaker 5: Mice is that.
Speaker 2: To see the smile, to see the.
Speaker 5: Difference that I make when I do the work.
Speaker 6: And I'm talking about from the smallest thing to autism
Speaker 6: signs to getting the bus stop moved for miss Williams
Speaker 6: because she's elderly and she has to walk in from
Speaker 6: three blocks, but getting it moved to the middle of
Speaker 6: her block just makes it comfort for her to put
Speaker 6: stop signs on a block where a lady in the
Speaker 6: motorized wheelchairs is moving along, to actually creating ordnesses that
Speaker 6: help our residents fight against greedy.
Speaker 5: Landlords and things of that nature.
Speaker 6: So it's so many different things that on the municipal
Speaker 6: level that I love. I really think that the local
Speaker 6: politics actually trickle up, you know, because I think that
Speaker 6: the things that we do here makes the state react.
Speaker 5: The things that we do here makes the county react.
Speaker 6: The things that we do here ultimately makes the federal
Speaker 6: government react.
Speaker 3: I think that's one hundred one is well, you can
Speaker 3: answer that.
Speaker 2: Second.
Speaker 3: The first question is how how does having a mayor
Speaker 3: who supports your vision. I'm sure maybe not all the time,
Speaker 3: but he ultimately has an empowerment agenda and he comes
Speaker 3: from activism himself.
Speaker 1: How does that help you or how does.
Speaker 3: That make you feel when you're out trying to do
Speaker 3: your work that you're not in opposition to the leader
Speaker 3: of your city. Because there are many council members who
Speaker 3: are fighting to get things done to change, as you said,
Speaker 3: the city ordinances, the bus stop, all the things you
Speaker 3: talked about, which.
Speaker 1: Seems perfectly.
Speaker 3: Common sense, right, Like, it's just common sense these things
Speaker 3: should happen.
Speaker 1: And then you're up against a mayor.
Speaker 3: Who does not have the city's best interests at heart
Speaker 3: from your perspective.
Speaker 1: So tell me one about that, and then I'll ask
Speaker 1: my second question.
Speaker 6: I want to say, man, salute, double salute to the
Speaker 6: honorable Mayor j Barako. I was out with Raz, fighting.
Speaker 5: With him when we were just young lords of the underground.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: He would call on me to have social media like
Speaker 6: that back then, so he would call on me, he
Speaker 6: would call on red Man, he would call on us
Speaker 6: to galvanize the people. Yo, I'm shutting down the street.
Speaker 6: He was just a young activist. I'm shutting down this street.
Speaker 6: We're gonna be talking about this. I'm making a list
Speaker 6: of demands. What are some of your demands in your community?
Speaker 6: Because we're giving this to the administration, you know, So
Speaker 6: to see him go from that a list of demands
Speaker 6: to actually putting the people in place and feeling check
Speaker 6: doing check check marks, checking off some of those things
Speaker 6: that were on that those demands is amazing to me.
Speaker 6: To have an ally and not an OP as they
Speaker 6: say out here, is beautiful. It's a lot of reasons
Speaker 6: why I ran, but I knew that I can add
Speaker 6: value to the administration of who team Baraka is.
Speaker 5: You know who they are, and he knows that.
Speaker 6: Even when I lost in twenty eighteen, that wasn't before
Speaker 6: a meeting with him and he was like, dude, I'm
Speaker 6: you know, politically, my list is already filled up, My
Speaker 6: team is already filled. But you will make a great
Speaker 6: council councilman in this city and I will back you.
Speaker 6: You know, he's always been supportive when he was an activist,
Speaker 6: He's been supportive when he was a mayor. He was
Speaker 6: supportive of my nonprofit organization, and when he asked me
Speaker 6: to be on his team ultimately he was He's supportive.
Speaker 6: I just I literally just came out of a meeting
Speaker 6: with him and him being supportive, me talking to some
Speaker 6: personnel here in the city hall about things that we
Speaker 6: need in our community and me having more tension with
Speaker 6: them or go and not bad at tension, just about
Speaker 6: the process of getting those things done.
Speaker 5: And this guy is fighting for me.
Speaker 6: This mayor he's fighting for me, like, no, we need
Speaker 6: to get this to happen.
Speaker 5: And he's one that stood alongside me.
Speaker 6: And fought for a rapper to become an elected official.
Speaker 6: Like he's forward thinking and you're right to me. I
Speaker 6: might not agree with everything with him, but we have
Speaker 6: conversations about it too.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: I'll give you an instance, because I think it was
Speaker 6: blown out of proportion.
Speaker 5: There's George Floyd.
Speaker 6: There's a George Floyd statue on the steps of our
Speaker 6: city hall. I am for the George Floyd movement one thousand.
Speaker 5: Percent right, and I stand with it and fight with it.
Speaker 6: I just had a different ideology about where the statue
Speaker 6: should be because of the impact. So I said, maybe
Speaker 6: we should have and maybe I should have did it
Speaker 6: a little more privately, you know, but like I'm learning,
Speaker 6: But I said, maybe we should put it on our
Speaker 6: new police academy, so when all of those new police
Speaker 6: officers come in there, they see that as a reminder
Speaker 6: of what not to do and what to be a
Speaker 6: part of. And he came back and said, I respect that, dude,
Speaker 6: but I put it on the steps of our of
Speaker 6: our city for a reminder of the people who has
Speaker 6: the power in this city and and and I was
Speaker 6: just like, wow, okay, I knew what he was talking about,
Speaker 6: you know, and I was and I respected what he
Speaker 6: what he said. I didn't agree initially aware the placement,
Speaker 6: but in reality we both agreed when it comes to
Speaker 6: George Floyd, you know what I mean, things like that
Speaker 6: man and.
Speaker 4: Crazy because I was I was literally in the off
Speaker 4: in city city Hall having a meeting with MIDI when
Speaker 4: you when that happened here sending him text.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh my god, what happened with you?
Speaker 5: And I'm like, what happens? Yeah.
Speaker 4: He's like, oh man, they don't want he don't They say,
Speaker 4: he don't want George Floyd.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, I don't think. I can't believe. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you.
Speaker 1: Talked about that.
Speaker 3: You also said something else that I think is powerful,
Speaker 3: and I don't think that we can, you know, sort
Speaker 3: of blossover that there are also people from the state
Speaker 3: of New Jersey who have unfortunately experienced abuse, murder at
Speaker 3: the hands of police and e me placement as well.
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't disagree with that. I think
Speaker 1: that's also true.
Speaker 3: And so perhaps the meeting of the minds is to
Speaker 3: create some type of memorial outside of the Academy that
Speaker 3: has the names of local New Jersey residents who have
Speaker 3: also experienced the same type, maybe not exactly as George Floyd.
Speaker 3: We know that George Floyd is bigger than George Floyd.
Speaker 3: I mean, he represents that moment, represents a.
Speaker 1: Moment in history where the.
Speaker 3: Entire world has had to acknowledge the racial discrimination, the oppression,
Speaker 3: the abuse, you know, state sanctioned violence, all of those
Speaker 3: things at once. But there are other people who need
Speaker 3: their voices lifted as well. And I think that your
Speaker 3: idea is something that in the next council you should
Speaker 3: be pushing some type of memorial outside of the Academy
Speaker 3: that that you know, really looks at some of those
Speaker 3: other individuals and their stories.
Speaker 1: I think the point is that we should.
Speaker 3: And one of the things about politics that I think
Speaker 3: upsets a lot of people, makes them feel that they
Speaker 3: don't want to participate, is one that compromise is very
Speaker 3: difficult for people in their regular lives, in their regular
Speaker 3: And I know that you know, one of the things
Speaker 3: I was gonna say to you earlier, but you were saying,
Speaker 3: you know, you were speaking it was so good that
Speaker 3: I didn't want to cut you off. But you know,
Speaker 3: I know that that even though y'all didn't say a
Speaker 3: lot of Curtis words and whatever, you definitely were not
Speaker 3: people that need to be played with.
Speaker 1: Right. So now when you're trying.
Speaker 3: To talk to people and they talking crazy to you,
Speaker 3: you kind of like, yo, like like I don't know
Speaker 3: where I'm gonna go with this, Like I'm trying to
Speaker 3: be the counsel person, but but you're trying to take
Speaker 3: me to an old thing that I'm trying to get
Speaker 3: away from. So that's an issue because in compromise, you know,
Speaker 3: sometimes it's difficult for people to hear one another, to
Speaker 3: respect one another, and compromise, and then what happens is
Speaker 3: the whole system shuts down, and the voters, the frustrated
Speaker 3: voters of our society see the shutdown and they are like,
Speaker 3: to hell with it. You shut down, and I'm going
Speaker 3: to shut down too. So everybody has a shutdown. So
Speaker 3: the thing I think about Ross or mayor Baraka that
Speaker 3: we appreciate is that he is very good at navigating tension.
Speaker 2: Yes he is.
Speaker 3: He is people moving despite the fact that there may
Speaker 3: be difference of opinions and a lot of different issues
Speaker 3: because he's dealing with a lot of people coming from
Speaker 3: the most radical to the most conservative side of the spectrum,
Speaker 3: all all of them trying to come together, and he's
Speaker 3: really good at navigating that.
Speaker 1: So I think.
Speaker 3: You're in a great city to be your first year
Speaker 3: as a councilman, you know what I'm saying. I think
Speaker 3: because there's a lot of other places. If you were
Speaker 3: here in New York under Mayor Bloomberg, you might have
Speaker 3: been in jail.
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah definitely.
Speaker 6: And you know, I just want to I just like,
Speaker 6: once again, I want to thank them because I don't
Speaker 6: I don't walk like them, I don't talk like them.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't even dress like them.
Speaker 6: But I can see my inspiration and my influence starting
Speaker 6: to influence the entire city Hall. And that's just it's
Speaker 6: not just me, it's the culture that we come from,
Speaker 6: that hip hop culture.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: I got wearing sneakers with suits with from Russell Simmons go,
Speaker 6: you know, and I just did it. I didn't make
Speaker 6: it up, but I tell you this, My mayor now
Speaker 6: does it. Everybody in this building does it. And that's
Speaker 6: just to say that the power of who we are
Speaker 6: as people, who we are in the community, and my
Speaker 6: my my governance now me as an elected official, I
Speaker 6: just pray that that not only to the people in
Speaker 6: city Hall, but to the people who are outside of
Speaker 6: city Hall, the people who are in the neighborhoods. Because
Speaker 6: I think when you change your mindset, you change your viewpoint,
Speaker 6: you change advantage point of different things. And I just
Speaker 6: believe like when you can change that into love, When
Speaker 6: you love something, you treat it differently, right, you know,
Speaker 6: when you love your city, you can change it. That's
Speaker 6: what I believe. But a lot of people don't love themselves.
Speaker 6: And sometimes when you don't understand something, you push it away,
Speaker 6: you know, you shun it, like, oh no I don't
Speaker 6: I don't, I don't eat that, but you never taste it.
Speaker 6: Oh I don't want to go there, but you've never
Speaker 6: been there. I don't want to, you know, So it's
Speaker 6: we push it away. And I think that a lot
Speaker 6: of people, they really don't understand the process of politics
Speaker 6: in our city.
Speaker 5: So you know, you'll get people coming to the council
Speaker 5: meetings and they're.
Speaker 8: Loud but wrong, you know, But I mean they're very loud,
Speaker 8: and the people like yeah, and I'm like, yeah, but
Speaker 8: Google is.
Speaker 2: It's not just it's just your city. It's politics, period.
Speaker 4: Rights people don't understand politics. They just think we want
Speaker 4: this to go this way, and it should just be
Speaker 4: you be able to snap a finger.
Speaker 2: We voted you in and you need to just be
Speaker 2: able to do this right.
Speaker 4: And I used to be one of those people, right
Speaker 4: until I started having friends like yourself, having friends like
Speaker 4: Jimiani Williams, who is the Public Advocate of New York,
Speaker 4: Natasha Williams who's also city council in Queens, and just a.
Speaker 2: Plethora of other individuals who work in government.
Speaker 4: I started to understand that the things that we wanted
Speaker 4: weren't as simple as we thought they were. You know,
Speaker 4: it's not just you snap a finger. We vote you
Speaker 4: and you should be able to do whatever you want.
Speaker 4: And when you start understanding that reality, you start looking
Speaker 4: at things different. So I've had those conversations with people,
Speaker 4: you know, and I've had it and then they be like, nah,
Speaker 4: you don't and I'm like, no, you don't understand.
Speaker 2: Is the process that it goes through.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we have to continue to push our elected officials
Speaker 4: and make sure that they advocate on our side and
Speaker 4: make sure that they're doing what they said. But it's
Speaker 4: not I'm always up to them the ship that you
Speaker 4: think supposed to.
Speaker 2: So you can't just put all the blame on them.
Speaker 4: But people don't want to hear that when when you're
Speaker 4: living in the community, whe people are frustrated, people are hungry,
Speaker 4: they pour it's a lot of things going on me
Speaker 4: and to me just having this conversation yesterday, that it's a.
Speaker 2: Lot going on with people.
Speaker 4: People are in so many different it's so many like
Speaker 4: we get calls, DMS, emails, so many different people that's
Speaker 4: dealing with so much different trauma and stress, and you
Speaker 4: know things are not going right and they looking for
Speaker 4: somebody to blame.
Speaker 5: You know what.
Speaker 4: A lot of times we get to blame account hold accountability,
Speaker 4: just want accountability. But there's also some people that just
Speaker 4: want to blame people too, So there's a there's a
Speaker 4: balance between both of them. Like we get we get
Speaker 4: thrown under the bust of shit that we got nothing
Speaker 4: to do with. Like if I if I advocate for
Speaker 4: one person because I know their story, and it was like, oh,
Speaker 4: you're phony because you ain't talk about Jojo who got
Speaker 4: shot here but you're gonna talk. I'm like, well, I
Speaker 4: didn't even know Joe. I didn't even know Jojo got shot.
Speaker 4: How you hold it me accountable? I don't know nothing
Speaker 4: that got to do with Jojo. But but this is
Speaker 4: how people start putting things in their mind. So I've
Speaker 4: never wanted to do politics based on that because I
Speaker 4: watch what you actually have to deal with, and I
Speaker 4: want to be able to say and do what I
Speaker 4: want when I want.
Speaker 5: I hear you.
Speaker 4: I love I love the fact I've actually evolved, right,
Speaker 4: but I still want to be able to say, look, yeah,
Speaker 4: but I still want to be able to say, you
Speaker 4: can't talk to me crazy, I'm gonna take you around
Speaker 4: the corner and we're gonna have to get fired. I
Speaker 4: want to be able to do that. That's the reason
Speaker 4: why I want to go into the phone to go off.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: But I think you are an example, though, of why
Speaker 3: more black men should consider running for office to make
Speaker 3: the change that they're looking for in their local communities. Right,
Speaker 3: you think about a Congressman Jamal Bowman in New York.
Speaker 3: This man is a teacher, principal turned now a congressman,
Speaker 3: and he's.
Speaker 1: Going to go further. I know he is right, and I.
Speaker 3: Think and of course there's a side of me that
Speaker 3: is in that that that has to push back even
Speaker 3: on what I said, because black women certainly need to
Speaker 3: run for office more, but the support that's necessary for
Speaker 3: a black woman to win is very challenging and then
Speaker 3: for her to stay in position because the system so
Speaker 3: easily comes up against black women, and you know, just
Speaker 3: kind of like, oh well, I mean if you think
Speaker 3: about the list of black women from Kim Fox who's
Speaker 3: the state's attorney in Wiskim in Chicago, to Maryland Moseley
Speaker 3: in marriag Carland, and the list goes on and on,
Speaker 3: and how they are being ripped to shreds, literally ripped
Speaker 3: to shreds. It makes other black women run. But I
Speaker 3: think you, counselmen Kelly, are an example of why people
Speaker 3: should run. They need to. But you can't just run
Speaker 3: for your one seat. You got to look at the
Speaker 3: entire city because now when counsel will at the time,
Speaker 3: when do it all helps ros Baraka become mayor. Right,
Speaker 3: then you run for counsel and you have other friends
Speaker 3: that run for assembly. You start the corner off your
Speaker 3: community and be able to make the type of change
Speaker 3: that you're looking to do. So I think more black
Speaker 3: men should certainly gather with that thought process in mind.
Speaker 6: No, that's an amazing example you just did too to
Speaker 6: make because that's really what it is. We helped Rise
Speaker 6: become mayor, and in turn, he helped me become counselmen,
Speaker 6: you know. And I think that with us going back
Speaker 6: and grabbing each other, and we have a.
Speaker 5: Woman council president and Lamonica mcguyver, and he was her
Speaker 5: fifth grade teacher when she was in the fifth grade,
Speaker 5: Ras was her teacher. Now she's the president of the
Speaker 5: council and part of his team.
Speaker 6: I think that people are not really looking at the succession.
Speaker 5: And we have to prepare for that too, right. You know,
Speaker 5: we have nine council.
Speaker 6: Members on here in Jersey and some people, you know,
Speaker 6: in different states, different cities, there's a different body of
Speaker 6: municipal council. But here in north we have five, one
Speaker 6: that represents each ward. We have five wards, and then
Speaker 6: we have.
Speaker 5: Four at largest.
Speaker 6: So I represent the ward that I grew up in,
Speaker 6: which is about seventy thousand residents. You know, in some places,
Speaker 6: seventy thousand residents is the whole entire city.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: So I really have a mini city that I have
Speaker 5: to govern over.
Speaker 6: And one thing I can really say is that Mayor
Speaker 6: Baraka allows me.
Speaker 5: To govern over that city, over those residents and all
Speaker 5: of us.
Speaker 6: So when it comes to talking about bringing people along,
Speaker 6: we have to set up a farm system.
Speaker 5: You know. One of the reasons that I am counseling.
Speaker 1: In farm system A farm system.
Speaker 5: Farm system, yeah, farm system, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: So the reason one.
Speaker 6: Of the reasons that I am counseling is because of
Speaker 6: a conversation that I had with Tupacs your corps back
Speaker 6: in nineteen ninety two in a motel in Orlando, Florida,
Speaker 6: while on tour.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 5: And it's crazy because that conversation.
Speaker 6: I'm on POC Laws of the Underground and Tupac was
Speaker 6: sharing a sixteen passenger van. We wasn't even on tour
Speaker 6: buses yet, you know, and we was in a motel
Speaker 6: where you had to go in the room outside not inside,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean. But just to fast forward
Speaker 6: the story, Pot came to my room, and you know,
Speaker 6: we had an altercation before that day. He came to
Speaker 6: my room first of all, like a man to squash it.
Speaker 5: You know what I mean.
Speaker 6: So he came to my room and through that conversation.
Speaker 6: Through that we got into this conversation. He said, dude,
Speaker 6: we have to turn millions of record biers into millions
Speaker 6: of voters. And then once we do that, and he
Speaker 6: started naming all of the rappers that was popular back
Speaker 6: in ninety two. You know, he would say, Common has
Speaker 6: to do it in Chicago, you entrench you and red
Speaker 6: Man need to do it in New it Tresh needs
Speaker 6: to do it in East starch Ice q to do
Speaker 6: it in Central Los Angeles.
Speaker 5: I'll do it in Baltimore and Oakland.
Speaker 6: And he just started naming all of these people and
Speaker 6: he started to talk like a twenty twenty one year
Speaker 6: old and I've never heard talk like that before, you know,
Speaker 6: and saying that we have to be accountable and start
Speaker 6: youth organizations and youth groups and.
Speaker 5: Protect our women and protect our senyers. I mean, he
Speaker 5: was blowing my mind.
Speaker 6: And then he said, you know, we have to do
Speaker 6: something that we might not want to do because you know,
Speaker 6: all rappers were against politicians. He said, we we might
Speaker 6: have to become legislators. Almost didn't know he was talking
Speaker 6: about it. I was legislators man we rappers. He was like, yeah,
Speaker 6: but if we don't.
Speaker 9: Make the laws for us, or if we're not at
Speaker 9: the table making laws or nos and colds for us,
Speaker 9: then they will make it for us, and it won't
Speaker 9: be for us.
Speaker 1: Before us, you know, and talk to you for the
Speaker 1: rest of the son.
Speaker 4: But we could definitely stay and told to you tonight.
Speaker 4: But I just want I just want to show what
Speaker 4: hip hop is. It's so big and the culture of it,
Speaker 4: Like just looking at the connection of you and Ross.
Speaker 4: People don't know that Ross is so loves hip hop
Speaker 4: and he actually has a hip hop album that you
Speaker 4: guys could be that I've watched you know, see what
Speaker 4: I'm saying and listening to his little You know that
Speaker 4: he's so influenced by the culture. And now it's time
Speaker 4: for the culture that influences this world to dictate and
Speaker 4: govern this world.
Speaker 2: And that's what it is showing. It's showing like and
Speaker 2: it's not just that it's just government.
Speaker 4: When you look at Newer, it is a model for
Speaker 4: governments all around this world. Like the way that you
Speaker 4: guys deal with violence and the way that you deal
Speaker 4: with community is a model for the world to look at.
Speaker 4: I'm not just saying it shows the culture. When you
Speaker 4: are culturally competent and you have respect in your community,
Speaker 4: when you take community leaders in community credible messages and
Speaker 4: you connect those back to the communities that they're governing,
Speaker 4: you will see the change. So that's something that inspires
Speaker 4: me when I watch you guys. It inspires me to
Speaker 4: do the work that I do because I know the
Speaker 4: work that I do. Even if I'm not one of
Speaker 4: those government officials, I'm inspiring someone.
Speaker 2: Who's going to be in the next who's going to.
Speaker 4: Be there, They're gonna say, Okay, I've seen what my
Speaker 4: song does in this community. I want to take that
Speaker 4: and I want to put it in these political offices,
Speaker 4: even if it's not what I do.
Speaker 2: So I just want to say, what you do.
Speaker 4: And where you come from is so motivational, inspirational for
Speaker 4: a lot of us.
Speaker 2: Man. So continue, you know, continue to do what to
Speaker 2: work you do. We salute you. You know you my brother.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be my brother with you all the time,
Speaker 4: working with you all the time. I just want you
Speaker 4: to give us, you know, one last word that you
Speaker 4: would give us before you leave.
Speaker 6: Before I leave, I just want to add on to
Speaker 6: what you're saying. I know you guys gotta go. But
Speaker 6: just talking about Nork being a model and having a
Speaker 6: leader like rash Jay Baraka in the seat who does
Speaker 6: things that really push our city forward. Today, we just
Speaker 6: in our pre counsul tomorrow we'll vote on it. But
Speaker 6: he bought the Temple of Hip Hop to North New
Speaker 6: Jersey and gave it a home. Hart One is now
Speaker 6: opening the school of the Temple of hip Hop. And
Speaker 6: I've seen him try to open this in Harlem. I
Speaker 6: seen him try to open it in the Bronx. Rasbarakas
Speaker 6: gave this guy a building. The Temple of hip Hop
Speaker 6: is now located in North New Jersey southward.
Speaker 5: That amazing to me. We got the teacher here.
Speaker 6: That's gonna be running programming out of our city. That's
Speaker 6: an international hub now in New Jersey. That's like, that's
Speaker 6: just for me. That's just like bringing Prudential or Mars
Speaker 6: or you go to the building one of those corporations.
Speaker 6: He just bought a solidified value to our city and
Speaker 6: the teacher with Karas One in the Temple of hip
Speaker 6: Hop that are gonna do.
Speaker 5: Many great things.
Speaker 6: So man, Noork is definitely becoming a model for a
Speaker 6: certain man, you know. And one last thing too, mice,
Speaker 6: when you talk about our men in our communities. I
Speaker 6: just started this thing called Men Talk Sundays, where we
Speaker 6: go into the parks and I grab all of the men,
Speaker 6: all of those and I guess that's why I still
Speaker 6: have certain relationships with them. I go to these communities
Speaker 6: and I tell them, I need you to come talk.
Speaker 5: I need you to what. It was inspired by one
Speaker 5: of the big gang banger.
Speaker 6: Here who I have a relationship, was mad at me
Speaker 6: because I wasn't returning his phone calls.
Speaker 5: But he don't understand. I'm just really busy. So anytime
Speaker 5: somebody has an issue, I go right to him. So
Speaker 5: I went right to him. What's up? What's the problem
Speaker 5: with Nah, dude, I don't want you to get no
Speaker 5: big head but being no, it's not that.
Speaker 6: But look, I want you to come with me for
Speaker 6: the day now. I want you to work with me.
Speaker 6: I want you to build with me and see what
Speaker 6: I do. And he came with me. We went to lunch,
Speaker 6: yet we had an amazing conversation. But with that conversation
Speaker 6: showed me was that we need each other. I learned
Speaker 6: something through that conversation by him point into me. I'm
Speaker 6: pouring into him, and it inspired me to grab all
Speaker 6: of the dudes from the neighborhood put.
Speaker 5: Them in the park. I have Red Man as my.
Speaker 6: Keynote speaker talking about facing your fears. And when I
Speaker 6: said this man did amazing people like you have Red
Speaker 6: Man as your keynote speaker. Yes, yes, he has experiences
Speaker 6: about facing fears. Anybody you know can't tell another man
Speaker 6: about his experiences.
Speaker 5: So I put Man when I tell you he inspired
Speaker 5: these brothers.
Speaker 6: Man, and I say that because August twenty seventh is
Speaker 6: our next men talk Sundays in the Park and a mice.
Speaker 5: I would love you.
Speaker 6: To be my keynote speaker for that day. If you available, Man,
Speaker 6: August twenty seven and we can talk definite.
Speaker 2: We're gonna try.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna try because August August, either August twenty sixth
Speaker 4: or twenty seventh.
Speaker 2: I do my annual day in my in.
Speaker 4: The Bronx, so it's Merriam day I usually do my
Speaker 4: annual days.
Speaker 2: I had to push it back.
Speaker 4: To either the twenty six or the twenty seventh, so
Speaker 4: I'm gonna decide if I do it on the twenty six.
Speaker 2: What happened and I ain't available that day?
Speaker 5: She looked right, say a thing.
Speaker 1: I just, I just.
Speaker 2: It might not work.
Speaker 5: So I don't even get one day if that don't go.
Speaker 4: Definitely, definitely, because I'm actually doing the men's Talk inside
Speaker 4: in September. I'm gonna do it a big I want
Speaker 4: to hold about five hundred men where I'm sitting down
Speaker 4: with five hundred minute We're.
Speaker 2: Gonna we're gonna iron out.
Speaker 4: And we're gonna decide how we're gonna govern our communities,
Speaker 4: how we're gonna take back our communities, how we're gonna.
Speaker 2: Love on our young kings, how we're gonna raise that.
Speaker 4: How we're gonna show them with real right to passages,
Speaker 4: what manhood manhood really is. So it is a line.
Speaker 4: You know, the work we do is definitely in a line.
Speaker 4: So we're gonna figure it out. We'll figure it out, definitely.
Speaker 5: Man, Thank you so.
Speaker 3: Much for being with us today. You know we just
Speaker 3: need to go. We got to go to Nework and
Speaker 3: sit down and talk.
Speaker 1: As we have in the past, do.
Speaker 3: It again because there's so much to be said, and
Speaker 3: I think, you know, I'm having prophecy moments here I
Speaker 3: think you really do need to be doing videos and
Speaker 3: things encouraging people to run for office and telling them
Speaker 3: your story, right like short clips of videos. This is
Speaker 3: what I did first, second, third, this is how I
Speaker 3: did it. This is what you need to be involved
Speaker 3: with in your community prior to running. Because there are
Speaker 3: people who ask me all the time I want, but
Speaker 3: I just don't know what to do and how to
Speaker 3: do it. And I think coming from you, because you know,
Speaker 3: people are attracted to success, So coming from you, who
Speaker 3: is successful at selling music, I think you will also
Speaker 3: be successful as selling getting our people nationally to be
Speaker 3: more involved in.
Speaker 5: And before you go, I have been doing that.
Speaker 6: So I started my election tour last week and I
Speaker 6: started in Charleston, West Virginia.
Speaker 5: An election tour.
Speaker 6: Talks about how arts and entertainment can foster change in
Speaker 6: community through policy and politics, you know.
Speaker 5: And I started in Charleston.
Speaker 6: I have Tampa, Orlando, Milwaukee, Winston, Salem, and Charlotte coming
Speaker 6: up next.
Speaker 3: We're doing that's what we need and we want to
Speaker 3: help you promote it.
Speaker 1: We got to go because we've got to end this show.
Speaker 3: We would never end if we let you continue to stay.
Speaker 1: Gyms. Thank you counselmaning Man Real.
Speaker 5: I'm definitely a supporter.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Counselman. Do pray Kelly who is better known
Speaker 1: as do it.
Speaker 5: All all right and Mike As we're gonna be all
Speaker 5: we're gonna talk about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely we can get you all right all right,
Speaker 2: kn't peace Man.
Speaker 4: Shout out to my brother duprey do it oh. Kelly
Speaker 4: Man one of the realist dudes. Man one of my
Speaker 4: favorite hip hop artists. If you don't know Lords of
Speaker 4: the Undergrounds, a lot of y'all young dudes probably don't know,
Speaker 4: but go look it up.
Speaker 2: You know, they got some of the dopest music.
Speaker 4: He's one of the dopest artists man, And just watching
Speaker 4: his evolution is inspirational to me, you know, with the
Speaker 4: work he's doing, you know, not only just the work
Speaker 4: he's doing, the way he's doing the work. He's doing
Speaker 4: it in his authentic self. And a lot of people
Speaker 4: don't understand that. A lot of people think that you
Speaker 4: have to look a certain way, sound a certain way,
Speaker 4: you know, you have to capitulate to a certain narrative
Speaker 4: in order to do the work.
Speaker 2: And he's not.
Speaker 4: He's not that individual like he says, he walks in
Speaker 4: there with suits and sneakers.
Speaker 2: He got his newer cat on.
Speaker 4: He comes, he brings the culture of hip hop with
Speaker 4: him into you know, the Councilman's So he's motivational to
Speaker 4: me because I always want to be authentic in myself.
Speaker 4: I always want to bring the streets of the New
Speaker 4: York City and the Bronx and and bring the real
Speaker 4: voices of my community into any space. And I don't
Speaker 4: want people to think that you have to sound or
Speaker 4: look a certain way. So he's motivational to me. So
Speaker 4: shout out to him for the work he's doing. You know,
Speaker 4: we we we had a good interview. So I don't
Speaker 4: really I don't really have a I don't Maybe you don't.
Speaker 3: I have plenty of I don't get it, but we
Speaker 3: can save one.
Speaker 2: I mean I do have a I don't get.
Speaker 4: I just don't get how they had a fight that
Speaker 4: was heralded as the biggest fight in the century.
Speaker 2: One of the boxes looked like he was an amateur.
Speaker 4: And there's no no disrespect because I'm an aerospence fan
Speaker 4: and I think he's a dope boxer. But I'm just
Speaker 4: trying to say I don't know, I do not get
Speaker 4: what happened. Like there's been a lot of things I said.
Speaker 4: If you look at my Instagram page, I said, I
Speaker 4: think he was.
Speaker 2: High because he looked high.
Speaker 3: I was heard what you was talking about, you know,
Speaker 3: my challenges.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just like, man, he just looked high
Speaker 2: to me.
Speaker 4: And then somebody, one of my friends who's also an
Speaker 4: aerospince fan, sent me something that said that, you know,
Speaker 4: he was hit by he was thrown.
Speaker 2: Out of a moving car at one hundred miles an.
Speaker 4: Hour, so he was he was he had he was
Speaker 4: in serious injury, and he boy, he came back to fight,
Speaker 4: and you know he's and he's had a few fights since.
Speaker 2: But they're saying that he's.
Speaker 4: Dealing with neurological you know, injury, and they can tell
Speaker 4: based off that. So this was what some quote unquote
Speaker 4: neurologists were saying on the incident. I don't know, but
Speaker 4: I just don't get. Like I've been watching boxing my
Speaker 4: whole life. My father used to have me sitting in
Speaker 4: front of the TV watching boxing matches my whole life,
Speaker 4: and I've never seen someone who was that top tier
Speaker 4: of a fighter lose that bad. I just never and
Speaker 4: and it's not taking nothing away from Budd Crawt, because
Speaker 4: I have already said that I felt Bud was the
Speaker 4: better fighter. I thought Budd was gonna win the fight.
Speaker 4: But the way that Erospence fought or didn't fight, to
Speaker 4: me was just mind boggley.
Speaker 2: So I don't get it. Maybe people can whatever it is,
Speaker 2: he's either high, he was either dealing with some neurological
Speaker 2: or he really just needs to retire. But a lot
Speaker 2: of people talking about, oh a rematch.
Speaker 4: I do not want to see that Erospence that walk
Speaker 4: into that that ring fight again ever, So.
Speaker 2: I'm not interested in seeing that.
Speaker 4: I want that man to because if he goes in
Speaker 4: there with that level of fighting again, he might really
Speaker 4: really because he was his face was really he was
Speaker 4: really beat up bad. If he goes in there and
Speaker 4: fighting like that again, he can really tell with some
Speaker 4: real brain damage or something. So I don't even want
Speaker 4: to see him fight like that again. I don't want
Speaker 4: to diminish his legacy with him.
Speaker 3: That's powerful just to say I don't because I thought
Speaker 3: you were gonna say you don't want to diminish the
Speaker 3: value of boxing.
Speaker 4: No, his legacy. He's too good a boxer he's too good.
Speaker 4: I've watched some box and I've seen him. He's one
Speaker 4: of the most aggressive, punishing, like the way he fights
Speaker 4: to fight like that, it diminished because people was mad
Speaker 4: at me because I put my top fight five boxers
Speaker 4: right now and I didn't put him in people's like
Speaker 4: and I was like, because the way that he fought,
Speaker 4: it took him completely right until he does something else,
Speaker 4: like if I never seen him happen, you know, I'm saying,
Speaker 4: that's what happens, Like you lose. That fight was the
Speaker 4: worst fight I ever seen any top tier fighter ever have.
Speaker 4: Like I've seen top tier fighters lose that wasn't supposed
Speaker 4: to lose, that got upset. I've seen Mike lose. I've
Speaker 4: seen you know what I'm saying, Wilder lose. I've seen it.
Speaker 2: But they was all in the fight, like even when
Speaker 2: they were lost, they was fighting.
Speaker 4: Like you could tell some of them got a little slower,
Speaker 4: they got older, but they didn't.
Speaker 2: Get beat beat beat feet like that.
Speaker 4: I've never seen something like that where the man probably
Speaker 4: landed maybe three punches of significance, like nah, not an
Speaker 4: eight round.
Speaker 1: How many rounds did they fight?
Speaker 2: They fore eight rounds?
Speaker 4: He got knocked down three times and then in they
Speaker 4: four nine rounds, they four nine rounds, he got knocked
Speaker 4: down three times and then the knife round they stopped
Speaker 4: the fight.
Speaker 3: It's pretty sad. I mean, you know, I didn't watch it,
Speaker 3: but I saw it. Sure the it was a lot
Speaker 3: of chatter about it on the internet. But I do
Speaker 3: appreciate that you said, you want the man's legacy to good.
Speaker 3: He's and some of our leaders. There's a similar conversation
Speaker 3: that happens as you see. You know, look at now
Speaker 3: what has happened with Reverend Jesse Jackson, who's now passed
Speaker 3: the baton to uh the to reverend doctor Freddie Haynes,
Speaker 3: who is my dear other, our friend and Freddie, and
Speaker 3: let me say that said that again. Now, you know,
Speaker 3: we talk about making sure you preserve your legacy. You see,
Speaker 3: even in this moment where Reverend Jesse Jackson has passed
Speaker 3: the baton leadership of Rainbow Push Coalition, which is his organization,
Speaker 3: to our friend and brother, doctor Freddie Haynes, the third
Speaker 3: out of Dallas, Texas. And we know it's very clear
Speaker 3: that Reverend Jackson is dealing with severe illness. He's not
Speaker 3: the same as he was when he was younger, or
Speaker 3: even just five years ago. He's changed, you know, because
Speaker 3: of his condition. And I think it was important because
Speaker 3: he's talked about passing the baton in the past, and
Speaker 3: we all have that, we all, every single one of
Speaker 3: us who has ever led something, whether it be a company,
Speaker 3: even your toy that you had when you were young,
Speaker 3: a shirt that you love, you hold it so dear,
Speaker 3: but you look crazy now the you've grown to a
Speaker 3: big woman's size and you still trying to wear this
Speaker 3: same shirt that used to do it for you at
Speaker 3: the club when you was young, and now you outside
Speaker 3: with your stomach hanging over and people looking at you,
Speaker 3: and you're embarrassing yourself. So you have to learn how
Speaker 3: to pass things on to the next person that's gonna
Speaker 3: take care of it and love it and treat it
Speaker 3: the same way that you had to preserve your own legacy,
Speaker 3: even more so than theirs. But it's to make sure
Speaker 3: that you don't have yourself out here looking crazy because
Speaker 3: you still trying to keep up with the old you,
Speaker 3: and the old you is not the new you. And
Speaker 3: I think, listen to what you said, I know nothing
Speaker 3: about the boxer you spoke of but I think that
Speaker 3: what's most important is your health. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I think we have started putting our health first and
Speaker 3: not taking opportunity first, and then trying to figure out
Speaker 3: how to back into the health. And I know I'm
Speaker 3: speaking as a person who doesn't always listen to that,
Speaker 3: but I think this is an example of that type
Speaker 3: of situation pretty much.
Speaker 2: And with that said, thank you for coming out.
Speaker 4: We love you brings us to the end of another episode.
Speaker 4: Thank y'all for being with us. We love you brings
Speaker 4: us to the end of another powerful episode. The Street
Speaker 4: Politician shout out to do pray do it all, Kelly Counselman,
Speaker 4: do pray do it all, Kelly my guy for coming here,
Speaker 4: dropping some gems, giving us a lot to just ponder on. Man,
Speaker 4: it was a dope episode. Hit us up at Street
Speaker 4: Politicians Pod. Let us know what you like, let us
Speaker 4: know what you don't like, tell us you love us.
Speaker 4: Continue to make us the number one podcast in the world.
Speaker 4: Because I'm not gonna always be right, Tamika d Married
Speaker 4: is not gonna always be wrong, but we will both
Speaker 4: always and I mean always, always, always be authentic.
Speaker 3: Peez, listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network
Speaker 3: on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: And catch us every single Wednesday for the video version
Speaker 2: the Street Politicians and for I Women dot TV.
Speaker 1: That's how we