Speaker 1: I'm still on LA time. It's so difficult for me.
Speaker 2: Here we go morning.
Speaker 3: Everybody is DJ Envy, Charlamagne, the Guy. We are the
Speaker 3: breakfast club. We got a special guest in the building,
Speaker 3: the goddess Janelle Monnet.
Speaker 2: Hi, welcome.
Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 2: The first thing you said is this is the Age
Speaker 2: of Pleasure.
Speaker 4: How's she doing first?
Speaker 2: But that's the first thing she said, How are you listen?
Speaker 1: Phenomenal? I'm so excited. Album comes out tomorrow today today.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, album comes out to day. Here you go
Speaker 1: like this is I have been waiting, waiting, waiting. I've
Speaker 1: been living with this record, living with this soundtrack to
Speaker 1: my lifestyle, and to finally have it out, it just
Speaker 1: means it's like I'm excited. I'm super excited.
Speaker 2: The Age of pleasure.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's what we're in babies.
Speaker 2: So why did you call it the Age of pleasure?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I've had my age of anxiety. I've
Speaker 1: had my age of depression, I had my age of confusion,
Speaker 1: of imbalance, and you know, just realizing that we'll never
Speaker 1: live in a world where you know, something heavy won't
Speaker 1: be happening. You know, always problems will have to solve
Speaker 1: and even in the midst of that, you have to
Speaker 1: find your joy. You have to actively find your pleasure.
Speaker 1: And in the words of Maurice's White from Earth, Wind
Speaker 1: and Fire, if there ain't no beauty, make some beauty.
Speaker 5: First of all, I want to congratulate you on having
Speaker 5: a phenomenal body of work. And everything you just said
Speaker 5: is exactly what I felt when I.
Speaker 4: Was listening to the album.
Speaker 5: It's almost like the mentality is like Hakuna Matada, like
Speaker 5: stress over things, no need to have worries. Let's just
Speaker 5: live in an age of pleasure. How did you get there?
Speaker 2: Though?
Speaker 1: Ooh? How did I get there? I mean, I think life,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm still you know, still on a
Speaker 1: journey as we all are. But I think I got
Speaker 1: locked in with me, you know. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of times we look at it, especially as artists,
Speaker 1: and things come to us and sometimes don't, and we
Speaker 1: look at things as like, oh we failed, or we
Speaker 1: should be working much harder. Our happiness is dependent on
Speaker 1: things that come to us, you know, good things, great things.
Speaker 1: But internally I had to get locked in with me.
Speaker 1: I had to get really locked in with me and
Speaker 1: reprogramming my mind and exercising them muscle to be Yeah,
Speaker 1: to get to a point where my inner voice, what
Speaker 1: I was telling myself, all those things, the affirmations, all
Speaker 1: of it just rewired. I'm rewired right now. I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm on my third life right now.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: Now you mentioned, you know, you had the age of depression,
Speaker 3: the age of anxiety, the age of all those things.
Speaker 3: You know, what got you out of those places? Was
Speaker 3: it therapy? Was it just taking a break? Was it friends?
Speaker 3: Was it meditating? Was it you know whatever it may
Speaker 3: be writing your book at the time. What got you
Speaker 3: out of that anxiety and depression and some of those
Speaker 3: negative places that you said.
Speaker 1: Yeah, having to go back to the root, the root
Speaker 1: of trauma. You know what. Usually when you're triggered by something,
Speaker 1: it's deeper, you know. And I kind of feel I
Speaker 1: feel like everybody should have free therapy, Like it should
Speaker 1: be free for everybody. We should be paying therapists more.
Speaker 1: We should be paying teachers more, nurses. We can go
Speaker 1: on and on and on, but I think when it
Speaker 1: comes to mental health, being able to understand why we're
Speaker 1: sort of going through life feeling sick mentally or feeling
Speaker 1: like we're in a loop. I just remember being in
Speaker 1: a loop a lot and making the same stories up
Speaker 1: in my mind about things. And I got an emotional
Speaker 1: support coach who is a friend and who also like
Speaker 1: does amazing work, and she said, you're dealing with some
Speaker 1: abandonment rejects and issues. I want you to write down
Speaker 1: when you were little Janelle the first time, if somebody
Speaker 1: didn't show up for you, the first time, you felt
Speaker 1: let down, like, write all these things down. And I
Speaker 1: had to go back. And I think also, you know,
Speaker 1: being in the pandemic, a lot of things got canceled
Speaker 1: for me, so I had no choice but to sort of,
Speaker 1: you know, stay home. And I had a unique opportunity
Speaker 1: to go inward and to heal those things and have
Speaker 1: and do all the work, the dark stuff by myself, right,
Speaker 1: you know. So I think it's a combination of that
Speaker 1: and then friends too, you know. I just remember being
Speaker 1: out with friends, and so much of my life, I
Speaker 1: was always thinking about the future. I was like, what's next,
Speaker 1: you know, just like when you had when you're a
Speaker 1: what do you call an entrepreneur? You know, I started
Speaker 1: out as an indie artist, so I always had to
Speaker 1: sort of be the leader, you know. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: can't afford to mess up, you know, and when I
Speaker 1: would be our friends, I wouldn't be present. And so
Speaker 1: I also had an opportunity to reconnect with my friends
Speaker 1: and have them hold me accountable, like, yo, we here,
Speaker 1: we here, we're here, like stay here with us, we
Speaker 1: love you, like everything is gonna be good, you can relax.
Speaker 1: And I felt safe there. I found a safe space.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a question. I just want to
Speaker 2: ask one thing about you said abandonment issues, right, m h.
Speaker 3: How did you feel or what made you feel that way?
Speaker 3: And the reason I asked is right, I have six
Speaker 3: kids that have four daughters, right, and one of my
Speaker 3: biggest fears is not to show up but something that
Speaker 3: I might think is small that might mean the world
Speaker 3: to them, you know, because you know, we are in
Speaker 3: the industry where we do travel, we are on the road,
Speaker 3: so you know, I'm just what bothered you so much
Speaker 3: about abandonment? Was it something big, like, you know, something
Speaker 3: not happening on Christmas? Or was it something like I
Speaker 3: have my talent show and this person didn't come and
Speaker 3: and made me feel a way.
Speaker 2: So what was the abandonment issue?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it and I've spoken about
Speaker 1: this a lot, but so if you are watching right
Speaker 1: now and you know me, but my father was an addict,
Speaker 1: So him being sort of inconsistent in my life and
Speaker 1: having to sort of navigate. And if you've had family
Speaker 1: close to you or a parent and as an addict,
Speaker 1: then you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: That our relationship what a lot of times was like
Speaker 1: where I felt most abandoned and thank god, like he's clean,
Speaker 1: he's sober. Now, we're best friends, he's written a book,
Speaker 1: he's like amazing. But I think that inconsistency. And I
Speaker 1: didn't know that because I was like, I have my mom,
Speaker 1: I have all my aunties, I have so much love
Speaker 1: around me. But just those moments of just like you're
Speaker 1: showing you're not here, you're here now, you're in prison,
Speaker 1: You're not like okay, all right, really inconsistent And that
Speaker 1: was like one of the first things I think that
Speaker 1: when I started to write down things that that bothered,
Speaker 1: that affected me more than I knew.
Speaker 5: Yeah, when you talk about the abandonment and rejecting issues,
Speaker 5: that have to be an incredible obstacle when you're an artist, right,
Speaker 5: And I actually like the label not supporting you the
Speaker 5: way they should, or maybe early on people not coming
Speaker 5: to your shows, or maybe people were not recept it
Speaker 5: to the music. Like how what kind of obstacles does
Speaker 5: that cause when you're an artist.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think this business is designed to make
Speaker 1: us feel, you know, like we have to be competitive,
Speaker 1: or that we're not good enough, you know, or if
Speaker 1: an opportunity goes to another person, that that person is
Speaker 1: better than you. But I mean, as I've you know,
Speaker 1: been in this industry for a little bit, and I
Speaker 1: always I just remembered moments where I thought something was
Speaker 1: for me and then you know, another artist got that
Speaker 1: opportunity or didn't work out, and then fast forward and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm in an even better place and even better
Speaker 1: opportunity has happened. So I've learned that the universe, you know,
Speaker 1: me and my emotional support coach, we talked about this
Speaker 1: a lot, the universe is not trying to do me
Speaker 1: any harm. Sometimes you got to work with the universe.
Speaker 1: You got to get out the way, like get out
Speaker 1: the way. You never know, you know what what is
Speaker 1: being set up for you, And here you are thinking
Speaker 1: you're in control of the situation and you're actually you're
Speaker 1: making matters worse. Just let it, let it flow.
Speaker 5: I call it divine misdirection m you know, because like
Speaker 5: that because in your mind you think you should be
Speaker 5: going this way, but God is like, no, no, this
Speaker 5: is gonna happen, and you're gonna go this way.
Speaker 4: But you're really really end up on the path you're
Speaker 4: supposed to be.
Speaker 1: On right exactly, and you just have to trust that
Speaker 1: and and move with it. I think I'm definitely floating
Speaker 1: a lot more and being more like water, you know,
Speaker 1: just allowing allowing myself to to have to have a
Speaker 1: moment of just drifting in the way, in the way
Speaker 1: that I think about, you know, what I can do,
Speaker 1: who I can be.
Speaker 3: You seem like you're in a happier place now, just
Speaker 3: pleasure in a sad place, but just watching you now,
Speaker 3: watching you perform, watching your videos, watching you around, you
Speaker 3: seem like you're in a place of happiness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I am. I am. And sometimes, like I
Speaker 1: was saying, we were not always there, you know, because
Speaker 1: you have life life life. Depending on where you are,
Speaker 1: we're always going to be trying to problem solve and
Speaker 1: some things are great, but at the same time, everything's happening.
Speaker 1: I say when everything everywhere all at once, like you
Speaker 1: guys have seen that movie and sometimes that that definitely
Speaker 1: has been where I've been, and I know people will
Speaker 1: feel me when I say that, but I'm actively here.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I got an
Speaker 1: opportunity to do during the during the pandemic was my
Speaker 1: friends own this party collective everyday people. I don't know
Speaker 1: if y'all heard of everything. Yeah, it started here in
Speaker 1: New York and they've been doing it for over a decade,
Speaker 1: but they're international global.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I saw them in Ghana over New.
Speaker 1: Year exactly, so you know those sort of parts. It's
Speaker 1: like the most beautiful brown and black people together from Ghana, Nigeria,
Speaker 1: South Africa, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Atlanta, New York, like super
Speaker 1: Pan African, the diaspora, together in a safe space, dancing
Speaker 1: free from feeling like police are gonna come in and
Speaker 1: you know, shut us down or stop all the black
Speaker 1: joy that is happening, free from gun violence. It's just like,
Speaker 1: it's what you fight for, it's what you fight to protect,
Speaker 1: what I've always tried to fight to protect that safe
Speaker 1: space for us, and so seeing that gave me so
Speaker 1: much joy. It gave me something to write about. It
Speaker 1: gave me a soundtrack. Is what I like to call
Speaker 1: this album is a soundtrack to our lifestyle. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: that has been a beautiful saving grace because when you
Speaker 1: have community that also is super helpful. That keeps you
Speaker 1: happy because it's like, oh, you get me. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of times you feel like you're living in
Speaker 1: systems that were never designed for you, that were never
Speaker 1: built for us to actually benefit or have the American dream.
Speaker 1: But when you're around your people and we are together,
Speaker 1: it was like reconnecting with like, this is what it's about.
Speaker 1: This is this is what it's always been about, and
Speaker 1: we have to we have to fight to preserve it.
Speaker 5: Why did you Why did you purposely and purposely make
Speaker 5: the album so short? But I like it though, because
Speaker 5: I was, you know, I was riding riding on the
Speaker 5: way this morning.
Speaker 4: I'm like, it's a vibe, a great vibe. It sounds
Speaker 4: like you're out of contract because the music never stops, Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it feels like you're on the island with the
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 4: If it made me feel like I was in Ghana for.
Speaker 1: New Years, Yeah, exactly, I love hearing y'all say this,
Speaker 1: because that that was important. I said, I want. What
Speaker 1: I did was we would have those parties together and
Speaker 1: I would I would say, if we have the party
Speaker 1: on Friday or Saturday, we're going to the studio Monday Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna make three songs. And if these songs
Speaker 1: can't work at our party. Because I was very specific
Speaker 1: about this, I said, I want my friends to fuck
Speaker 1: with it. I was like, if we love it, that's it.
Speaker 1: Like that's that's all. So I made this with friends
Speaker 1: for friends, and I would tell my DJ DJ NNA
Speaker 1: Quad and I was like, listen, play it. Do not
Speaker 1: say is me. If they're not shazamin, it's not going
Speaker 1: to the album. If they sit down, it's not going
Speaker 1: on the album. So I would literally be in a
Speaker 1: corner with a drink like, oh my god, I got oh,
Speaker 1: I got oh, I got what are they thinking? And
Speaker 1: I tested all the songs like that, and I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just a beautiful thing for people to be
Speaker 1: like float I did like that Champagne ship, I did lipstick.
Speaker 1: Everything got like sort of tested with the people I
Speaker 1: intended for it to be for, and that was enough.
Speaker 1: I wanted to keep it short enough where you wanted
Speaker 1: to keep playing it over and over again if you
Speaker 1: couldn't take a vacation. I wanted you to put this
Speaker 1: on and and feel like, oh, I'm there, I'm in Jamaica,
Speaker 1: I'm in Ghana, and when you're on vacation with friends,
Speaker 1: you want to play it. You know that that brings me.
Speaker 1: Creating and giving people an experience is my purpose. Like
Speaker 1: I love I love doing that.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: You also sit on the album, especially in Float that
Speaker 3: you said sometimes you feel like you're your own worst enemy.
Speaker 2: Why do you feel that way?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I said, I used to be my own enemy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you know, I think we we live within this matrix, right,
Speaker 1: and even within this matrix is a matrix in our
Speaker 1: mind what we have based on our set of experiences,
Speaker 1: based on our upbringing, our programming. We tell ourselves stories
Speaker 1: and narratives, and you know, some things I'm not proud
Speaker 1: about what I would tell myself. So I was just
Speaker 1: super hard on myself for a very long time. Super
Speaker 1: Perfectionists wanted things to be. If it wasn't exactly how
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be, in my mind, it was trash.
Speaker 1: I couldn't see the beauty even in the flaws or
Speaker 1: the misdirections, the improvisation of life. I couldn't see that,
Speaker 1: and that keeps you in sort of a prison. And
Speaker 1: even in terms of just like yeah, that's it. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like what I think of me will determine my
Speaker 1: quality of life. You know, it's not what you think
Speaker 1: of me or what you think of me, it's what
Speaker 1: the fuck I think.
Speaker 3: But you do know that the fact that you are
Speaker 3: a perfectionist and makes you who you are, Like, that's
Speaker 3: what separates you.
Speaker 2: From another artist out there.
Speaker 3: Like I agree, we can tell that when you put
Speaker 3: energy into something, whether it's a performance, whether it's a
Speaker 3: video like We're gonna get Ganail money today top like
Speaker 3: the ain't gonna be no half assed just roll out
Speaker 3: of bed like we're.
Speaker 2: Gonna get This is something planned, This is something that.
Speaker 3: You've thought of for years, That that that you know
Speaker 3: you're putting into fruition.
Speaker 5: But I wonder what makes what makes you? I wonder
Speaker 5: what you think makes you the best version of yourself?
Speaker 5: Is it perfection or happiness? Because I feel like you're
Speaker 5: super happy on this out It's like.
Speaker 1: It's at Yeah, I think I mean, I think you're right.
Speaker 1: I think it's balanced. You gotta have balance. I think
Speaker 1: when it's when it when you start obsessing over when
Speaker 1: the process is in fun, I don't love it. I
Speaker 1: think I think how you get there is also important,
Speaker 1: you know, I think sometimes and it's not all the time,
Speaker 1: but there are moments where we get the end result
Speaker 1: and when you guys see it, it's like it feels,
Speaker 1: you know, remarkable or intentional. But how I how we
Speaker 1: get there too is important. Like I redesigned just in
Speaker 1: terms of how you even do business now, I'm like,
Speaker 1: we don't just because this is the way that it's
Speaker 1: supposed to be dying gonna know. We need to make
Speaker 1: it fun, you label boy? Yeah no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we need how do we make this fun? How do
Speaker 1: we make this fun? How do we what? What?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 1: What is not making us want to even meet? Like
Speaker 1: how do we have meetings and they don't feel so heavy?
Speaker 1: They don't feel so long and drawn out? Like we
Speaker 1: got to get to a point where we're redesigning how
Speaker 1: we're how we're creating it. And even with this project,
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not I'm not forcing anything. I'm
Speaker 1: going off feel how do I feel? How is this
Speaker 1: making you feel? You know?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what did you get to the point where?
Speaker 3: And maybe you you've always been there where it seems
Speaker 3: like you're so free with your sexuality. And I mean
Speaker 3: we've seen you perform, you know, with your top off,
Speaker 3: We've seen you swimming between legs, we've seen you coming
Speaker 3: out of the water. It just seems like you're so
Speaker 3: free and happy. When did you get to that point?
Speaker 1: It's the age of pleasure? Baby, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: it's a movement. It's not just me like you, you
Speaker 1: feel people wanting to And I just gave myself permission,
Speaker 1: you know, I just divested in certain systems and programming
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know it's like why not, you know,
Speaker 1: why why would I waste my earth experience? Scared to jump,
Speaker 1: scared scared to exercise my freedom? You know why? Why? Who?
Speaker 1: What am I concerned about? And once you deal with
Speaker 1: that and you release, you know, your concerns and you
Speaker 1: give yourself permission, it's a different world.
Speaker 3: And you never were nervous that people are going to
Speaker 3: be too judgmental, or the label was going to feel
Speaker 3: this way, or how my fans might look, or if
Speaker 3: there's young like you never.
Speaker 2: Felt that way. To church people that followed me, you
Speaker 2: never felt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I am my label. I'm signed to
Speaker 1: my own label since since the beginning. Wonderland Records shout out.
Speaker 1: But yeah, of course I have a partnership and all
Speaker 1: those things. But I mean, at this point, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm very thankful for the career that I've had. Like
Speaker 1: I started off selling CDs out of my trunk and
Speaker 1: living in a boarding house with six other girls, Like
Speaker 1: I know how to hustle, I know how to work,
Speaker 1: and you know, I have big ideas and I know
Speaker 1: I have a great team. I have a great creative team.
Speaker 1: I have a safe space, and that's important. I will
Speaker 1: be lying if I told you I always felt this free.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I did not feel safe to be this
Speaker 1: version of myself for a very long time. And I
Speaker 1: had to sort of forgive myself for that too, because
Speaker 1: you think about so many years that you lived concerned
Speaker 1: about Oh well, now I'm Janelle mon A, so I
Speaker 1: have to whatever I've I've given them. You know, I've
Speaker 1: had success because of this, you know, this this sort
Speaker 1: of part of me that I've I've shown them what
Speaker 1: happens if I, you know, become the glitch, glitch in
Speaker 1: that you know, glitch in my in that matrix, And
Speaker 1: what happens, what happens if I if I decide that
Speaker 1: I want to be all of me, and I think
Speaker 1: what you're seeing now is me being all of me.
Speaker 1: I think people don't realize how much, you know, as
Speaker 1: much as we love our families and the way we
Speaker 1: grew up and we grew up in these in church
Speaker 1: and and all these like sort of systems and ways
Speaker 1: of life, how much that how much we carry that
Speaker 1: with us when we're when we are evolving, and there's
Speaker 1: this constant struggle of honoring that side of you, that
Speaker 1: that tribe that has shown up for you, and also
Speaker 1: honoring where you are now and who you've become. And
Speaker 1: I think even just in terms of yeah, just in
Speaker 1: terms of safety, like I was always taught cover up,
Speaker 1: you know, you you don't want to draw too much
Speaker 1: attention to you. You could be raped if you're going
Speaker 1: down the street at midnight in a short mini skirt,
Speaker 1: you know, or when you're in church. For me, it
Speaker 1: was skirt to the floor. Yeah. And then and then
Speaker 1: you see how they talk about other people, Oh look
Speaker 1: at her, Oh she fast, Oh she look a look
Speaker 1: at her skirt, And don't show your cleavage, don't show
Speaker 1: your breast because people will not pay attention to your message.
Speaker 1: These are things that I was programmed with, like don't
Speaker 1: don't you're not if you show your skin or you
Speaker 1: you know, show too much skin, you could not be
Speaker 1: taking seriously as an artist. And the slut shaming, you know,
Speaker 1: even in high school for girls who were having sex.
Speaker 1: It was just like, you know, and I'm non binary,
Speaker 1: but growing up as a girl, these things were were
Speaker 1: always implanted me. And then let's not even talk about
Speaker 1: the reverse side. Sorry, yeah, now y'all got me talking
Speaker 1: of when I decide. You know, I love wearing suits.
Speaker 1: I love wearing tuxedos. I love Yeah, I feel sexy,
Speaker 1: fly love. I have my reason for it. I like it.
Speaker 1: It makes me feel good. The amount of times I
Speaker 1: couldn't tell you that people would say, why are you
Speaker 1: wearing that suit? You know, you got a nice body.
Speaker 1: Why you want to show you more of your skin?
Speaker 1: Just wear a dress, be more feminine, you know, like
Speaker 1: take off that Monopoly man.
Speaker 4: Suit, Peanut Man. Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, people would say that, and I laugh, you know,
Speaker 1: ha ha ha. But I don't think it's funny at all.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's funny. I don't think it's funny
Speaker 1: to again try to police and already in a patriarchal,
Speaker 1: massogynistic conservative the country that we live in, where we
Speaker 1: already don't have freedoms to criticize anybody or respect them
Speaker 1: or don't respect them based off how they dress. I've
Speaker 1: never loved that. I never loved the respectability politics of it.
Speaker 1: So from every angle, I never felt like safe enough.
Speaker 1: And I'm just so happy. I always felt like I
Speaker 1: had to also defend, defend why I wore a suit
Speaker 1: for ten plus years. I always felt like I had
Speaker 1: to defend it. I always felt like, you know, in
Speaker 1: the midst of me trying to bring something something new
Speaker 1: and saying, hey, it's not about the clothes, it's not
Speaker 1: about the lack of or whatever whatever. It's me. It's
Speaker 1: my soul. It's bigger than that. But yeah, just thinking
Speaker 1: back on all of where I was a little bit,
Speaker 1: I would be lying, I'm saying. I say, I'd be
Speaker 1: lying if I didn't say that some of those some
Speaker 1: of those things didn't get to me. But I'm so happy.
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not in that space.
Speaker 4: I always though to Fly.
Speaker 3: I thought that's what made people love you because it
Speaker 3: was so different. It was not the norm, it was
Speaker 3: not what everybody else did, and it was still fly cool.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Do you feel the need to defend the turn though,
Speaker 5: because I saw people getting at you, saying you was
Speaker 5: being a hypocrite, You was contradicting yourself because back then
Speaker 5: you say people women shouldn't have to show so much again,
Speaker 5: or they shouldn't show so much again.
Speaker 1: But then when did I say that.
Speaker 4: I don't know. I just saw it on social I
Speaker 4: don't know if you actually said that.
Speaker 1: I never, No, I never, I never. I never said
Speaker 1: that I said that if I if I ever said anything,
Speaker 1: I mean, we should just pull it up because I've
Speaker 1: never look.
Speaker 4: For it, but I try.
Speaker 1: You will never see anything. I said that showing my
Speaker 1: skin is not what makes me sexy, even right now,
Speaker 1: like it's in me. I have the sex cells, literally,
Speaker 1: like I've never never what I ever try to tell
Speaker 1: somebody what they shouldn't wear. I'm saying for me, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think that was probably at a time where
Speaker 1: I felt like I had to defend another reporter, you know,
Speaker 1: defend myself from another reporter asking me when I'm basically winter,
Speaker 1: So why do you keep wearing that suit?
Speaker 5: Yess exactly what you said essence essence interview, and you said,
Speaker 5: people don't ask jay Z to take his shirt off
Speaker 5: when he rhymes. My skin is not what makes me sexy.
Speaker 5: It was up to me to show people and young
Speaker 5: girls there was another way.
Speaker 1: That's not all I said. They omitted that it says
Speaker 1: I'll like skirts and dresses just like everyone else. That
Speaker 1: ain't even the whole quote. Oh that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: It's so interesting. Yeah, no, I said I like skirts
Speaker 1: and dresses just like everybody else. I wanted to show
Speaker 1: another way, another way of being sexy. That's it, and
Speaker 1: it's not one way. It's not the way, and that's
Speaker 1: the whole point. Nobody should be should feel like made
Speaker 1: to feel like they are, they have to like. It's
Speaker 1: about bodily autonomy. I guess that's the thing. Like, whether
Speaker 1: you're clothed or you're not clothed, you should People should
Speaker 1: should respect you period and not treat you differently based
Speaker 1: on your appearance. It's like if you're sagging your pants
Speaker 1: and he has on a suit. He shouldn't get the guy,
Speaker 1: and the suit shouldn't get the job over you. Police
Speaker 1: shouldn't stop you because they see you would a gold
Speaker 1: chain around your neck.
Speaker 5: Like.
Speaker 1: We got to get to a point where you know,
Speaker 1: we're respecting all types. Everybody can be their authentic selves
Speaker 1: and and feel safe. That's what it's about. Sagging as way,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I used to think so because
Speaker 1: that's how I was programmed. Sagging is bringing down the
Speaker 1: black community. Pull your pants up.
Speaker 4: I just think it's whack.
Speaker 5: Why, especially when you're a certain age old with your pants,
Speaker 5: your pants hanging off your ass.
Speaker 4: My pants are fine.
Speaker 2: It's expression if I want to, if I want to
Speaker 2: express myself.
Speaker 1: Like I just I'm not I'm not into I've never
Speaker 1: been into respectability politics. And I think that there were
Speaker 1: people who tried to use my image And we talked
Speaker 1: about this on the show last time when I was here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they tried to use my image to defein the nounce,
Speaker 1: to talk down on on on on on the on
Speaker 1: other women who were expressing themselves, showing their skin, like
Speaker 1: we all want autonomy. I wanted to. I wanted a
Speaker 1: time of me to wear my suit for teeny years
Speaker 1: without y'all telling me I look like the peanut Man.
Speaker 1: And I did that, and I ain't put my titties
Speaker 1: up because did y'all ask DiAngelo to put his titt's
Speaker 1: up when he did untitled Did y'all do y'all ask
Speaker 1: Rick Ross?
Speaker 4: Put? Like?
Speaker 1: Come on, now, I can name so many album covers
Speaker 1: and things like the double standards that we have to Like,
Speaker 1: let's not even get into how in some states I
Speaker 1: could go to jail and if you go in a
Speaker 1: gym with your shirt off and I go to gym
Speaker 1: with my shirt off, I could go to jail and
Speaker 1: you could just keep pumping iron, you know, like we
Speaker 1: have to get to We gotta get to that. That's
Speaker 1: the thing we need to be talking about.
Speaker 5: You know when I feel like when you did that,
Speaker 5: that was a big fuck you to everybody.
Speaker 4: Let me show you how much I don't give a fuck.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the other thing is, as much as people
Speaker 1: are getting to understand me a little more and you're
Speaker 1: seeing all of me, I'm understanding people more. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Missagyny is jumping out in this country. The double standards,
Speaker 1: the cis heat patriarchal conservative conservatives like y'all are. We
Speaker 1: gotta divest from that system. It is holding us back.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing that right now, while we have
Speaker 1: bills in place, let's talk about the trans community, let's
Speaker 1: talk about drag, let's talk about the LGBTQI plus communities,
Speaker 1: and how many laws right now are put in place
Speaker 1: simply saying that you could go to jail if you
Speaker 1: were dressed in drag my suit. If I was somewhere
Speaker 1: and I was doing the drags, I could go to
Speaker 1: jail for wearing that suit. You know, like there's no
Speaker 1: protection for us. They're saying, we can't even talk about
Speaker 1: being queer or being trans in school. We can't even
Speaker 1: talk about being black. Black history, critical race theory is
Speaker 1: being a race. There's an erasure that is happening, happening,
Speaker 1: and all of this is connected. The same people that
Speaker 1: criticize me for being black, queer, pan sexual, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: having bodily autonomy are the same people making these laws.
Speaker 1: It's all connected. And I think until we again divest
Speaker 1: from those systems and understand that the same oppressions that
Speaker 1: are trying to oppress me are also the ones that
Speaker 1: are gonna coming from you. We're not. We're I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think we will see the sort of liberation
Speaker 1: that we that we want.
Speaker 3: Does it bother you when you see things like you know,
Speaker 3: like the article Charlamagne read and they omitted some things
Speaker 3: for clickbait? Or whenever you talk about something everybody's so
Speaker 3: into your relationship, right, like you say non binary and
Speaker 3: people are like, well, what does that mean?
Speaker 2: Is she with this? Does that bother you? Does that
Speaker 2: stick on you? Or is it like go after yourselves?
Speaker 1: You know what? No, And I'm gonna, actually, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, yes, give me some policanta. Yes, let's like it.
Speaker 1: Let's let's walk around, Let's walk around. Let's let's let's
Speaker 1: let's do it.
Speaker 2: Because all right, all right, come on, said, walk around.
Speaker 1: Let's right. I'm sorry, you know, I'm saying this because
Speaker 1: I just want to know. I want you guys to
Speaker 1: know this.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want you guys to know. The freedom is
Speaker 1: waiting on you. It's right there. Don't be scared. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna hold your hands. I come in love, I come
Speaker 1: in peace. And of course you know there are things
Speaker 1: clickbaitable things and all of that, but in this age
Speaker 1: of pleasure, we don't even we understand that not everybody
Speaker 1: is as evolved as we are. And I've had to
Speaker 1: understand that. Don't get frustrated by it. I don't know
Speaker 1: what people when. I don't know what happened in everybody's
Speaker 1: lives or your life or my life, or you don't
Speaker 1: know what happened in my life to make me get
Speaker 1: to the point that I'm at. So we just we
Speaker 1: have to just give each other grace and give ourselves,
Speaker 1: give each other grace. I don't get upset. Like again,
Speaker 1: it's what I think about It's what I think about
Speaker 1: me that determines my quality of life. And I know
Speaker 1: that I want to live the best Earth experience that
Speaker 1: I possibly can, and with the people I love, and
Speaker 1: with the people who get that, and with the safe space.
Speaker 1: And my prayer and my hope is that people have
Speaker 1: safe spaces where they can. I'll say this freedom, our
Speaker 1: level of freedom will always trigger somebody who has not
Speaker 1: decided that they are ready to get free. I'll always
Speaker 1: trigger that establishment. I'll always trigger proved conservatives or people
Speaker 1: who are respectability politicians or who are anti lgbt QI
Speaker 1: plus communities who are anti black. I will always do
Speaker 1: that as a non binary person, I will always trigger
Speaker 1: that for them. So you have to know that, don't
Speaker 1: get frustrated with it. Hopefully they'll come around. They'll come around.
Speaker 5: You know, you said someone I thought was dope said
Speaker 5: someone album you said, I forgot what song it was
Speaker 5: when you said you no longer lead with ego, and
Speaker 5: I wanted to ask you, what do you think the
Speaker 5: difference between ego and confidences?
Speaker 2: What song was that? By the way, you said what
Speaker 2: I said, what song was that?
Speaker 1: That was? Eyes for two? Oh? This is good? This
Speaker 1: is strong? What does this mean? When it's like strong,
Speaker 1: that means the energy that I've.
Speaker 4: Never seen a flame that bit. I've never seen the
Speaker 4: flame that big.
Speaker 1: Listen, I'm from the future. I keep trying to tell you.
Speaker 1: I am from the future. I have told you all this.
Speaker 1: I've told you all this since I came out, you know,
Speaker 1: being an android. I'm just I'm ahead, and I've been ahead,
Speaker 1: and I've been trying to get It's like I'm I'm
Speaker 1: actually back having fun because I'm too far ahead. I'm
Speaker 1: not even playing. I'm too far ahead. So this is
Speaker 1: my little moment to have fun. We're going to go
Speaker 1: into election season next year. Everybody should be definitely focused
Speaker 1: on that and this summer though, we're in an age
Speaker 1: of pleasure. We are we we we we are creating
Speaker 1: safe spaces for our people. And ego versus confidence. I
Speaker 1: think I think, yeah, I think ego. Oh hmm. I
Speaker 1: just believe in balancing all things. And I think that
Speaker 1: there's an unhealthy version of ego that like, it doesn't
Speaker 1: allow you to have that vulnerability. It doesn't allow you
Speaker 1: to really really connect like on a on a on
Speaker 1: a vulnerable level that is powerful, Like if you're sharing
Speaker 1: your feelings and it blocks that. It blocks you from
Speaker 1: really sharing your feelings and saying, hey, I'm hurt or
Speaker 1: I need help or or or I was wrong. It
Speaker 1: stops us from apologizing, It stops us from being held accountable. Uh,
Speaker 1: it blocks our growth. You know if it's unhealthy. I
Speaker 1: think being confident, I mean it's balancing all things. You
Speaker 1: can be confident, overly confident about being a beginner. I
Speaker 1: always say this, like, don't be afraid to be a beginner.
Speaker 1: I think that the conflict happens when you think you
Speaker 1: know more than you do and you're in fact, a
Speaker 1: beginner and you're you sold yourself that dream that I
Speaker 1: know what I'm doing, I got it together, and in fact,
Speaker 1: you don't.
Speaker 3: When you say beginning, is it you meaning starting over
Speaker 3: or trying something new.
Speaker 2: To try.
Speaker 1: Or yeah, yeah yeah, like and not even just acting
Speaker 1: or something like that. But like what can I say? Like, uh,
Speaker 1: if you ain't studied, you may not ace the tests,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, being confident without doing
Speaker 1: the work is not it? Like you can be confident
Speaker 1: though if I know I practiced, I show I've shown
Speaker 1: I've done the work to get my perform ormans together,
Speaker 1: Like I know I'm gonna go on this stage and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna kill it like that, Like that's a different
Speaker 1: level thing because you've done the work. But when you
Speaker 1: actually don't even have the experience and you're confident for
Speaker 1: no reason, I mean, sometimes it can work. You can
Speaker 1: pull So I don't know, I need you know what.
Speaker 1: I think I'm prematurely answering this question. This is a
Speaker 1: really good question. I'll think about it. I'll think a
Speaker 1: little bit more about it. I don't know.
Speaker 5: I can't wait to hear an answer. I only have
Speaker 5: eyes for two is a very system. I think destroying record.
Speaker 5: Like I feel like you, you know.
Speaker 1: It's what destroying record?
Speaker 4: People? Awa, you should only have eyes for one.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's right. Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 4: I want people to hear it.
Speaker 1: I can't wait.
Speaker 4: Sounding joint like it's the second and last.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. It's so pretty. I remember when
Speaker 1: I was recording it and just wanting wanting people to
Speaker 1: I imagine everybody like whine whining to it and you
Speaker 1: meeting somebody that night at the party. That's the that's
Speaker 1: the part of the party where two complete, three complete
Speaker 1: strangers are just like super open.
Speaker 4: I love the record.
Speaker 5: I don't know if I can love it so much
Speaker 5: in front of my wife. I want to see what
Speaker 5: she was going to say about it.
Speaker 4: That's all.
Speaker 1: Oh did she listen to it?
Speaker 4: Not yet? Because I got it, Okay, I'm.
Speaker 1: So happy I listened to the album. That makes me.
Speaker 1: I was like, I was wondering because sometimes you do
Speaker 1: interviews and people just don't listen to the work, and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, I want to just talk about the
Speaker 1: art the music. I mean, can we get into these collaborations?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Doci, who is just phenomenal. We have a song called
Speaker 1: phenomenal together. I love her. I'm a ray on the
Speaker 1: rush Nia Long who has always been my crush. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons why what I got confident though, and
Speaker 1: in just being like, I'm about to free free the
Speaker 1: nipples because Along told me I had pretty titty.
Speaker 2: That's the reason why.
Speaker 1: So that's it, that's it, Like Along tells you, what
Speaker 1: are you going to say? Like, that's the confidence I needed.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I was like, Oh, that's it, that's it.
Speaker 1: Because she came to the house and we were recording
Speaker 1: our song, The Rush Together, and I showed her some
Speaker 1: of the press photos and she was like, oh, no,
Speaker 1: you need to go with that photo. She was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's it. You got some pretty titties. Go ahead, and.
Speaker 5: That's not even watching an interview and I want to
Speaker 5: rewind you.
Speaker 1: I don't need any more affirmation. And then Grace Jones,
Speaker 1: who also was on the project, came over. This is
Speaker 1: who I was hanging out with when I was making
Speaker 1: the record. I showed her stuff. She was like, go, baby,
Speaker 1: do it, do it? Do it? Do it? Like that?
Speaker 1: That is the level of just that's the affirmation that
Speaker 1: I need. Like she's been a free ass motherfucker. You know,
Speaker 1: like she she's done this, you know, in her own way.
Speaker 1: So she's been an inspiration for me. And I'm so
Speaker 1: happy she's on the project. C K, who's also like dope.
Speaker 1: His his his music is so good. He's on the
Speaker 1: project with me, shay Son and Egypt eighty We have
Speaker 1: yep with also got Horns unlimited. They did all the
Speaker 1: outcast hornso delicious, all that they're on the project. Who
Speaker 1: am I missing?
Speaker 5: By the way, we didn't send none of those features.
Speaker 5: Only the only feature that's listed is Sean. I listened
Speaker 5: to that this morning. I didn't know what was because.
Speaker 1: It was Nancy is on their sister Nancy Yep, she's
Speaker 1: on there, like obviously you can't go anywhere without hearing bombbomb.
Speaker 1: So she did some original stuff on there and and yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna do some remix stuff with some more features.
Speaker 1: People didn't get a chance to get on this on
Speaker 1: this version, but stay tuned. This is a this is
Speaker 1: this is like this moment as you can see, like,
Speaker 1: I love what's going on and hip hop? How are
Speaker 1: you feeling about all the girls?
Speaker 2: Like yeah, man?
Speaker 5: Define And then when as I said, when I listened
Speaker 5: to your project one. I thought more of that. I
Speaker 5: was like, I don't know what's going on in the universe.
Speaker 5: I don't know what the universe trying to tell us. Yes,
Speaker 5: but it's like, yeah, you really, like women are really
Speaker 5: leading in a real way right now.
Speaker 1: I mean being non binary and still being able to
Speaker 1: like see myself and everything that that black women are doing.
Speaker 1: I mean they are killing it. I was listening to
Speaker 1: a Spotify playlist when I was working on my album
Speaker 1: called Feeling Myself, and that's all like women rapping, and
Speaker 1: I think, what y'are? Y'all? Y'all, you guys are experiencing
Speaker 1: a revolution right now of and and and also like
Speaker 1: a resistance against division, like we are not being divided
Speaker 1: the same people that would try to divide the Janelle
Speaker 1: Monnet in the suit up against you know, another artist.
Speaker 4: A Cardi or a Meigh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and those and those are all women that I
Speaker 1: love and I respect and appreciate. But you have to
Speaker 1: understand for years, like even it's the whole conversation of
Speaker 1: Lauryn Hill versus Little Kim. I'm sure you guys were out.
Speaker 1: I love them both, but and I think they were strong.
Speaker 1: They were strong in all their ways, but it was
Speaker 1: there were definitely times where I felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: people would would not understand that they were strong within
Speaker 1: their own rights, and they would use Lauren's image to
Speaker 1: the great Little Kim's image, and I never liked that.
Speaker 1: Growing up, I saw that and I was like, that's
Speaker 1: not cool. Like, I love both of them. I think
Speaker 1: they're both strong. They're using you know, they're using their
Speaker 1: power in different ways, but they're saying the same thing.
Speaker 4: It's all different expressions of.
Speaker 1: And that's what we are. We are in And I
Speaker 1: also it made me feel like, oh, this is my
Speaker 1: time to feel safe now you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: because I'll just say again, there were just moments looking
Speaker 1: in the music industry, I didn't feel safe. I didn't
Speaker 1: feel safe walking in a room like this, even in
Speaker 1: a thing, you know, because you you just didn't. You
Speaker 1: just didn't feel safe. So now we are, now that
Speaker 1: everybody knows that we are not going to even play
Speaker 1: into the division. It's not gonna work. Get used to it.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 2: Well, let's let's get into a joint off that you.
Speaker 1: Want to hear what y'all want to hear.
Speaker 5: Okay, I like phenomenal. I like No Better, I like
Speaker 5: only Eyes for Two.
Speaker 2: I like only Eyes for two, I like Lipstick Lover,
Speaker 2: and I like float.
Speaker 1: Ooh, seemed like y'all like the album. Basically, Okay, let's
Speaker 1: do what's good.
Speaker 4: Ooh, phenomenal.
Speaker 1: We can do phenomenal. I love yeah single. We can
Speaker 1: do listick glover. Excuse me, we do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then we do phenomenon. All right, Well, we
Speaker 3: appreciate you for joining us. Anytime you in town, you
Speaker 3: know you can come on up beautiful and yes, this
Speaker 3: is a safe space for you, so whatever you want
Speaker 3: to come, we love you and appreciate.
Speaker 1: I appreciate y'all. Thank you so much, and happy pride,
Speaker 1: I must say. And let me ask you a question.
Speaker 1: How are you guys showing up for you know, as
Speaker 1: allies for the l g B t Q plus community.
Speaker 5: If you listen to this show every day, you would
Speaker 5: know what they call us husband's husband.
Speaker 2: I love every day. That's good.
Speaker 1: I love it. Gusbands, that's really cute. I love it.
Speaker 4: Tell us we're pushing an agenda all the time what
Speaker 4: they tell us.
Speaker 1: Yes, wow, okay, that's.
Speaker 4: What I guess. That's what it's called. When you just
Speaker 4: embrace it everything.
Speaker 1: It's so interesting how people think like being gay or
Speaker 1: being trends or being non binary, being queer, like it's
Speaker 1: on some new ship, like we just made up within,
Speaker 1: Like that's the thing. You just got to be patient. People.
Speaker 1: They have to they have to educate themselves, and there's
Speaker 1: so much information out here. Get educated. Like this is
Speaker 1: nothing new. We have We have been here, We've been queer,
Speaker 1: We've been you know, we we we have been living
Speaker 1: outside of the cis head patriarchal conservative lifestyle. And I
Speaker 1: just want to just say happy pride and whatever our
Speaker 1: allies in those communities or not in those communities can
Speaker 1: do to stay with us and be with us. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of really really evil people trying to on
Speaker 1: a human and human level stop us from existing.
Speaker 5: All I want to answer you a question too, because
Speaker 5: you know, I feel like what we describe to do
Speaker 5: here is create safe spaces for all black voices. And
Speaker 5: what I realized is regardless of who comes up here,
Speaker 5: like it can be you know, Jason Lee, be Scott Flame,
Speaker 5: when Roll Laverne, whoever it is, if they're from the
Speaker 5: l g B t q I a community, somebody's going
Speaker 5: to have criticism, you know, and.
Speaker 4: So that's just what it is. And I think that
Speaker 4: you have to know that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody, everybody has to know it. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think, but on a human and human level,
Speaker 1: and we're in when we're in conversations with people who
Speaker 1: hold those world views. My hope is that because all
Speaker 1: those conversations lead to is Okay, well, we don't have
Speaker 1: to care about trans people anymore. We don't. As we know,
Speaker 1: a lot of our trans siblings are being murdered every
Speaker 1: single day just for existing. And I think the language,
Speaker 1: whether we oppose it right then and there, when somebody
Speaker 1: says something transphobic or homophobic or not, that language travels,
Speaker 1: and it travels on a policy level, it travels on
Speaker 1: a like, oh, we don't need to care about them,
Speaker 1: in the same way that white people would think, oh,
Speaker 1: we didn't need to care about black people, you know,
Speaker 1: and white it's up to white people to talk to
Speaker 1: their people. So those of us who are more privileged
Speaker 1: in this country, if you're listening right now, we need you.
Speaker 1: We need you to just stand up, say something, speak out, support, vote,
Speaker 1: do the right thing.
Speaker 3: You privileged to come back prejudice absolutely well, it's Janelle.
Speaker 1: Right now, and I'm not shaving my under arms. I've
Speaker 1: seen the comments. They will not be shaved. You will
Speaker 1: get into it. I don't know. I just felt like
Speaker 1: saying that.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, it's a breakfast club.
Speaker 4: Go morning.
Speaker 2: Holdo, we just got to do read for BT on
Speaker 2: the show.
Speaker 1: This is great. I love that. All right.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we got more with Jenail monations.
Speaker 4: Don't move.
Speaker 3: It's the breakfast club on BT. But lock, we got
Speaker 3: more with Jail Money. It's the breakfast club on BT.
Speaker 2: We're back.
Speaker 3: Let's get into our interview with Janelle Money. It's the
Speaker 3: breakfast club on BT.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Yes, y'all better be professionals, gonna take Okay,
Speaker 1: let's do it.
Speaker 4: Chris Ball, you will last night. Yeah, that's what you said.
Speaker 2: All right, first right, here we go one, two three,
Speaker 2: all right, more right, gotta change your two three.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: One more please?
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, it's my.
Speaker 6: H so much, thank you, thank you love.
Speaker 2: Uh wras moo, we got it?
Speaker 4: Who used him?
Speaker 3: He so