Speaker 1: You are listening to waiting on reparations and production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Hey, what's happening. I'm linga franca, I'm
Speaker 1: dope knife, and we are waiting on reparations. You know,
Speaker 1: we we've been messing up on that for like the
Speaker 1: last like four weeks. Fantastic. We used to have it
Speaker 1: like in sync where we would come out like both
Speaker 1: at the same time. Anyway, hurry out, motherfucker. How you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm doing good. I'm doing good. How about you? I'm good,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm staying staying healthy, staying working, staying busy. Fantastic.
Speaker 1: I imagine you're staying busy. I mean, I'm just imagined.
Speaker 1: Und Yeah, we're voting on the We're voting on the
Speaker 1: city budget. By the time you will have will be
Speaker 1: hearing this episode, we will have improved our three hundred
Speaker 1: something million dollars city budget improved. So yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: pretty caught. Feel like I got the votes for what
Speaker 1: I want to do. It's not everything, but it is
Speaker 1: still pretty transformative. We're like trying to raise the We
Speaker 1: are going to raise the minimum wage for city employees
Speaker 1: fifteen an hour, fund a non police crisis response agency
Speaker 1: UM and like increase our homeless services, like funding by
Speaker 1: like a lot of really dope stuff. Yeah, not everything
Speaker 1: I wanted, but pretty close. Yeah, I'm looking at you.
Speaker 1: You see you don't seem like as enthusiastic as I
Speaker 1: would imagine, you know, Yeah, I mean you always went
Speaker 1: bigger and better, like obviously I would, I would, I
Speaker 1: mean the other would love to. Just I often speak
Speaker 1: as if like, well, if I was the czar of Athens, Georgia,
Speaker 1: this is what we would do. But I am not.
Speaker 1: I am subject to the laws of the state and
Speaker 1: the federal government. Um, and so there's some things we
Speaker 1: can't do. Like you know, we can't raise the city
Speaker 1: wide minimum wage, but we can't raise it for our
Speaker 1: you know, our employees, which is gonna affect a couple
Speaker 1: hundred people, so like something that is pretty cool, but
Speaker 1: like but still there's so many people living in poverty,
Speaker 1: you know, like we can do that a little bit
Speaker 1: that's within our control, whether it's like still so many
Speaker 1: issues left and resolved. So I if I don't sound
Speaker 1: more stoked about it, that's why, you know, just for
Speaker 1: your personal health, you know, just like you know, you
Speaker 1: know that there's a larger battle but enjoy the joy
Speaker 1: the win. You know what I'm saying, like, like take
Speaker 1: some time because like there's a lot of hard work.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I went into that. Oh my god, Yes,
Speaker 1: it's been it's been a nightmare. But it's almost over.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, and then you were me and you
Speaker 1: were going to catch up in Savannah. We got coming up.
Speaker 1: We got a big show coming up in Savannah at
Speaker 1: a El Roco. That's part of the Half a Half
Speaker 1: a half. So there's there's a there's a there's a
Speaker 1: half marathon and Athens called the ath Half and so
Speaker 1: they're having a music festival. Bar owner who's from Athens,
Speaker 1: who recently relocated to Savannah to open a bar down there.
Speaker 1: It's having a m civil predominantly Athens artists. Um. That
Speaker 1: is a play on the name of this half marathon
Speaker 1: that's here. It's it's pretty silly, but the lineup is
Speaker 1: pretty great. We'll be playing at El Roco Lounge on Saturday,
Speaker 1: June UM, so you should come through. Should really fun
Speaker 1: if you are in the Georgia area or far other field.
Speaker 1: I've talked to folks from Hartford, Connecticut, Birmingham, Alabama, Athens,
Speaker 1: Ohio who are coming down for I think people are
Speaker 1: like thirsty for music after a year and a half,
Speaker 1: So people are coming in from all over to catch
Speaker 1: this show. And I hope you will as well. If
Speaker 1: you're listening to this, I will be a very stoked
Speaker 1: to see you. Oh yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: But um, next week is also the Democratic primary for
Speaker 1: the New York City mayor's race. In New York being
Speaker 1: the birthplace of hip hop, we thought we'd take a
Speaker 1: look at some of the front running candidates, some of
Speaker 1: their controversies, their stances, and why why all of this
Speaker 1: matters for us for you know, the spectators farther afield
Speaker 1: than Gotham City. UM. I don't really watch sports, but
Speaker 1: for me, New York politics is kind of my spectator sport. UM.
Speaker 1: I think just given its outsized um, just place in
Speaker 1: the public imagination. Like, you know, New York is so
Speaker 1: dominant in our media. So many media corporations centered themselves.
Speaker 1: They're like physically their offices, um, and so a lot
Speaker 1: of their narratives end up getting amplified in the national
Speaker 1: media as well. UM. It's just something that kind of happened.
Speaker 1: It's like happenstance like, oh, you just get our awash
Speaker 1: in news about New York. But I think to a
Speaker 1: broader extent, it also feels like a sense of uh,
Speaker 1: like for telling, what is possible for someone you know,
Speaker 1: located in the South, um looking at a place like
Speaker 1: New York, Like what could we what what could we achieve?
Speaker 1: What could the gamut? What that can be run in
Speaker 1: terms of like uh, public policy? Um, what does like
Speaker 1: a really progressive place look like? Uh? Stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And so that's to me why I kind of get
Speaker 1: into New York politics too. I can't really say that
Speaker 1: coming up that I was, you know, had all that
Speaker 1: big of an interest in New York City politics. It's
Speaker 1: been one of those kind of things that you know,
Speaker 1: usually it comes up in the peripherals, you know, where
Speaker 1: it's like it's going on, and I'm aware of it.
Speaker 1: Who rarely have ever been into the minutia of any
Speaker 1: of that stuff. I mean there's the you know, stuff
Speaker 1: that got national coverage that I remember, like I remember
Speaker 1: when Giuliani one, I remember when Hillary Clinton was running
Speaker 1: for Senate, you know, like I remember when the Blasio one,
Speaker 1: I remember a sc winning. Just stuff that would get
Speaker 1: the attention of somebody who's otherwise not really following it
Speaker 1: like that. Uh, this past one, just this seems to
Speaker 1: have been, you know it, you know, from my perspective,
Speaker 1: the one of the more nationally publicized New York races.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's because of the involvement of
Speaker 1: you know, candidates like Andrew Yang or Miah Wiley who
Speaker 1: have like media exposure, but yeah, it's like, I'm this
Speaker 1: this one kind of seems way more in my face
Speaker 1: than New York races of the past, Although in the
Speaker 1: last month or so, I think it's kind of cooled
Speaker 1: off a little bit. I don't know, I mean, at
Speaker 1: least it doesn't seem like it's not that big of
Speaker 1: a national story. Do you think it's Do they have
Speaker 1: to do with like the increased politicization of like just
Speaker 1: mainstream discourse, Like over the course of the pandemic, I
Speaker 1: feel like people have just been paying attention to politics more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know you have always made attention to politics, but
Speaker 1: like I never like, you know, I've become increasingly involved
Speaker 1: in policy, even as an elected official, paying attention to
Speaker 1: policy in other places a lot more throughout the pandemic,
Speaker 1: both from the stance of being like help captive, but
Speaker 1: I don't have fucking ship elsewhere to go or do
Speaker 1: you know? And also just like caring more because I've
Speaker 1: seen like, oh shit, PIC policy is failing us in
Speaker 1: a huge way. Maybe I should start learning about what
Speaker 1: other municipalities are doing about it or how are how
Speaker 1: they're failing so we can avoid the same pipas. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I mean I agree. I think that's it, like totally.
Speaker 1: I think people have a general I have generally have
Speaker 1: like more of an interest in politics, and then you
Speaker 1: know that not not even to like state it like
Speaker 1: it's any sort of like conspiracy and nefarious thing, but
Speaker 1: I think like the media ecosystem recognizing that people have
Speaker 1: that increased interest, it's like you're looking for that. You're
Speaker 1: always looking for the next story to present, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, the next narrative of the next thing.
Speaker 1: So it's like in in the in the in the
Speaker 1: conversation of political theater, it's like this race is like
Speaker 1: an interesting show to watch, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I think it's it's one of those it's one
Speaker 1: of those series that's up there, the New York The
Speaker 1: New York Race it's something that they can fill up,
Speaker 1: you know, time with on MSNBC or CNN or whatever.
Speaker 1: So thus it's kind of in my face more than usual.
Speaker 1: It's like, God, damn, I I know, you know, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get put on to some of the things
Speaker 1: that are going on in this episode, just like anybody
Speaker 1: who's listening who's not up to speed. But I do
Speaker 1: know more about this race than I have other New
Speaker 1: York races in the past. So for sure, for sure
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to all of that and more after
Speaker 1: the jump. So um in combent mayor of New York
Speaker 1: City built to Blasio. Um, it's not running again, not
Speaker 1: because I mean he can, We just can't because of
Speaker 1: tourn limits. But this has opened the field wide prospective
Speaker 1: candidates to fill his soon vacant seat. Um. This race
Speaker 1: differs in most municipal elections in that from two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: voters decide offer to allow rank choice voting, which empowers
Speaker 1: them to rank up to five candidates. If a voter's
Speaker 1: first choice doesn't get traction because are her votes transferred
Speaker 1: to the second choice, and that process of redistribution continues
Speaker 1: until one candidate has more the votes so you don't
Speaker 1: like that. I mean, you know, I mean, I'm sure
Speaker 1: somebody could like completely articulate to me why, like maybe
Speaker 1: mathematically or whatever that makes sense. But I just think
Speaker 1: when you're adding in like this, this extra layers of
Speaker 1: it instead of it just being simple, I just it's
Speaker 1: not even that I think, oh, something's gonna go wrong
Speaker 1: or whatever. It's just like I feel, if if something
Speaker 1: happens and somebody doesn't get enough votes, give people a
Speaker 1: choice to vote again. That's what I would say, as
Speaker 1: as opposed to like having something already built in there too,
Speaker 1: you know, some mechanization to transfer a Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: my understanding is that from a fiscal perspective, it's cheaper
Speaker 1: than holding a whole another election boy for the Board
Speaker 1: of Election Optics, and then like you know, Canada's themselves,
Speaker 1: it's just like automatic runoff. And then also there's less
Speaker 1: there's less lesser than two evilism. So it's like, let's say,
Speaker 1: let's say like in the let's say the presidential election,
Speaker 1: there was ranked choice voting and for some and somehow
Speaker 1: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders were both up there. So
Speaker 1: as it stands, people might choose, Oh, well, I don't
Speaker 1: want to split the Democratic vote, so I have to
Speaker 1: vote for Biden to make sure that he beats Trump
Speaker 1: or something like that. But if it were a ranked
Speaker 1: choice voiding voting situation, you could rank, you know, you
Speaker 1: could just go by your heart, like, oh, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: rank Bernie first. Let's say, and rank Joe Biden second,
Speaker 1: and then not rank Trump at all. And if Bernie loses,
Speaker 1: then your vote still goes to Biden. So it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I I don't feel it threatened by like ohn, throw
Speaker 1: my vote away, or oh, like I have to vote
Speaker 1: for the Canada that's more likely to win. You gonna
Speaker 1: vote your conscience a little bit like more directly. But
Speaker 1: I guess the is the is a logic behind ranks fighting.
Speaker 1: But I mean, do you think that it's more of
Speaker 1: a do you think it's more of a fiscal consideration
Speaker 1: or do you think it's more of that? Um? I
Speaker 1: think UM people outside of a two party system favorite
Speaker 1: because it gives more opportunity for people to vote their
Speaker 1: conscious with regards to third party candidates, Libertarian, screen Party, PSL,
Speaker 1: whoever you wanna name, independence, UM, so you can you
Speaker 1: can rank them and then if you want to rank
Speaker 1: Democrats will farther down. It's like, oh, I would prefer
Speaker 1: these over these other guys, like your preference in that regard,
Speaker 1: it's still counted to a degree rather than it not
Speaker 1: mattering at all. It's either you vote for this guy
Speaker 1: or that guy at the period done. Um, I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, I think I'm with it. Yeah yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I think that particularly with uh partisan elections, because
Speaker 1: this is the we're both talking about the Democratic Party
Speaker 1: primary today. But but with partisan a latins Um, you
Speaker 1: don't you're not as bound by partisans partisanship. So it's
Speaker 1: like if you really don't talk with the Democrats, but
Speaker 1: like you funk with them more than the Republicans, you
Speaker 1: can like you can like register those degrees of like
Speaker 1: fun wood ability on your valid Like I really you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna vote like Green Party or Working Family Party
Speaker 1: or like whatever. Um, but I really don't want these
Speaker 1: other motherfucker's, so like so I can put I can
Speaker 1: put Biden on there somewhere to like, you know, I
Speaker 1: would wouldn't mind him so much, whereas right now there's
Speaker 1: no shades of gray one or the other. Do yeah,
Speaker 1: do you want? Yeah? So oh you, Oh so your
Speaker 1: Jill sign voters, So what do you want? You gave
Speaker 1: us Trump like that all that ship is like one.
Speaker 1: So I mean I'm not as I'm not as like
Speaker 1: super well versed in like the deep policy considerations behind
Speaker 1: the wire rings voting rocks. That is, to the extent
Speaker 1: to which I know that it's it's better than what
Speaker 1: we currently have, and so it's kind of cool they
Speaker 1: have it, do you know. I mean again, it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't you know, it's just it makes me. It
Speaker 1: made me shake my head upon hearing it, because it's
Speaker 1: like just initially anything that adds an extra step in
Speaker 1: a complication to it, I'm like, but it also takes
Speaker 1: a step back and vote again in a runoff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, that's true. That's true. As of late made,
Speaker 1: thirteen candidates had qualified for the Democratic Party of primary
Speaker 1: and two of the Republican Party primary. Though in the
Speaker 1: Democratic stronghold like New York, it's basically a given that
Speaker 1: the winner of the Democratic primary will become the next mayor.
Speaker 1: Similar thing that we had in the what was that
Speaker 1: last episode that we had, same sort of situation. So
Speaker 1: the major Democratic candidates include former state senator and current
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Borough president, Eric Adams, former commissioner of the NYC
Speaker 1: Department of Sanitation, Katherine Garcia, former City Group executive, Raymond McGuire,
Speaker 1: former Social services nonprofit CEO, Diane Morales, Guardian Angels founder,
Speaker 1: Curtis Sila, n Y Comptroller Scott Stringer, former council to
Speaker 1: Bill de Blasio, Maya Wiley, who many people might recognize
Speaker 1: from MSNBC, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, as well
Speaker 1: as previous guest on the show rapper Paper Boy Friends,
Speaker 1: Paper Paper, Paper, Much Love to Pay My Friends. So
Speaker 1: Yang came up the gate as the clear front runner
Speaker 1: in but has since slipped in the polls, with which
Speaker 1: rank choice voting is kind of fickle predictors anyway, making
Speaker 1: room for centrist candidates like Eric Adams and Captain Garcia
Speaker 1: to shine, particularly in the aftermath of Garcia's endorsement by
Speaker 1: The New York Times. I'm honestly super stoked about this.
Speaker 1: I was very worried for a while that Andrew Yang
Speaker 1: was the front runner in this race. It seemed that
Speaker 1: way because it's just like, I mean, I like, I
Speaker 1: give him props for popularizing the idea of universal basic
Speaker 1: income UM but like it's literally like he read a
Speaker 1: one sheet on what that is one time and blew
Speaker 1: up because he popularized it, and he never read a
Speaker 1: single fucking thing about any other piece of policy ever again.
Speaker 1: And it's just like I'm a very entitled tech bro,
Speaker 1: like I deserve power and just just just just god,
Speaker 1: just suck it sucks, man. I get the sense from
Speaker 1: Andrew Yang. I mean, my my feelings, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not I've definitely I'm not Yang Gang or nothing. My
Speaker 1: feelings aren't as like strong in the negative about him.
Speaker 1: But I get the sense that he's doing what he
Speaker 1: feels he needs to do to rise in the ranks
Speaker 1: politically in the Democratic Party, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I just get that sense from him, and I get that,
Speaker 1: you know it, should he come out and win this
Speaker 1: or whatever other office than he seeks, I have a
Speaker 1: feeling that whatever it is that his the way he
Speaker 1: governs will be different from what he's presenting. That's how
Speaker 1: I feel, whether that is him becoming like a bloomberg
Speaker 1: as sort of figure that's like, you know, a Republican
Speaker 1: but you know it has a DNX of its name,
Speaker 1: or something that maybe is more progressive than he's putting on.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I get that sense that we're
Speaker 1: not seeing the real Yang. Yeah. I mean I guess
Speaker 1: without like a strong like policy track record as a
Speaker 1: political outsider, to an extent, it's hard to tell like
Speaker 1: how strong a backbone he has to like truly enact
Speaker 1: the policies that he like preaches, because to me, he
Speaker 1: seems like a wet noodle who will just be controlled
Speaker 1: by capital and like whatever the policy experts around him
Speaker 1: tell him to do, and he is surrounding himselves with
Speaker 1: like very procarceole pro like capital like fucker's so yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's just like, well, yeah, like I don't know
Speaker 1: how like are you gonna do what you're gonna say
Speaker 1: you're gonna do, You're gonna do what everyone around he
Speaker 1: tells you to do, and like you're just surrounding yourself
Speaker 1: with like neoliberal shows. See, I get the opposite you
Speaker 1: know sounds from him. I I have a feeling that
Speaker 1: he's gonna do what he wants to do. It's just
Speaker 1: a matter of what is that that he wants to do,
Speaker 1: Like dott clear exactly, I really know what you're trying
Speaker 1: to do here, bro. Yeah, and then you have. And
Speaker 1: then I mean, well before we move on, and then
Speaker 1: there's like the fact that his family left New York
Speaker 1: City during the pandemic, and like he's just very out
Speaker 1: of touch with the Olympic experience of a lot of
Speaker 1: New Yorkers. That's a very wealthy person and all the
Speaker 1: other just yeah, and he got dunked, and he got
Speaker 1: apparently got dunked on by paper like literally dunked on
Speaker 1: into basketball tournament by paper Boy prints recently, which I love. Um,
Speaker 1: And you know, just where is where is entrying from? Again?
Speaker 1: I don't know where. Let's hold him, Let's let's do this.
Speaker 1: Andrew Yange, where are you from? Andrew Yane? Where are
Speaker 1: you from? Oh? He was born and he was born
Speaker 1: in Schenectady, New York. So he's from New York. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I guess, um, I don't know why I could
Speaker 1: associate him with being like a New York Well, I
Speaker 1: think it's well, well, he gives off a very like
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley vibe, yeah, which I mean probably has ties
Speaker 1: to them or we're you know, out there. But yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's a certain like unmoored thing about being so
Speaker 1: that wealthy where it's like are you from anywhere when
Speaker 1: you can be anywhere that you want to be at
Speaker 1: any point. I definitely felt when I did hear that
Speaker 1: he was running. I do remember I feel like, can
Speaker 1: you just run for do you just run for whatever?
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to just do this? Yeah? Nah? He
Speaker 1: uh yeah. Apparently he's from New York, um or like
Speaker 1: New York State, So all right, I'll give him that,
Speaker 1: give him that. But then, um, there's Eric Adams, who
Speaker 1: was a former cop of twenty two years and who
Speaker 1: has received the backing of the New York State Troopers
Speaker 1: Union as well. Um, just just general, I mean, it
Speaker 1: just seems like very status quo dude. I's previously claimed
Speaker 1: that the movement and to found the police is led
Speaker 1: by affluent white people, which I think it might be
Speaker 1: got the true to the very degrees depending on where
Speaker 1: you are. I mean, like as someone that like ascribes
Speaker 1: that movement and like I follow like a lot of
Speaker 1: like black feminist leaders who have been doing that work
Speaker 1: for many, many years. But I also live in a
Speaker 1: predominantly white town where predominantly white people were calling for
Speaker 1: that in our particular like geographical context. So there's you know,
Speaker 1: but he's recently He's recially come under fire for allegedly
Speaker 1: living in New Jersey, which then led to a very
Speaker 1: awkward photo shoot at his supposed New York home, in
Speaker 1: which he was shown sweating profusely surrounded by furniture that
Speaker 1: totally wasn't directing the place by frantic campaign staffers or anything,
Speaker 1: and also claim being in a recent forum that online
Speaker 1: education or in the pandemic has proven teachers are capable
Speaker 1: of handling a four hundred to one students teacher ratio, dude,
Speaker 1: garnering human pushback from Congress folks like Jamal bobman Ac
Speaker 1: and deservedly, So, what the hell is even that four hundreds?
Speaker 1: Or like, literally do you even have you ever Like
Speaker 1: it's not even like do you have children? Like? Literally,
Speaker 1: have you ever met a child? Yeah? I mean have
Speaker 1: you ever been a school like I like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: like fucking blade Runner class in the future where there's
Speaker 1: only one teacher for every four hundred child. I don't
Speaker 1: know when we were taught. When you were mentioning the
Speaker 1: fund the police thing, I'm sorry, it's just it really
Speaker 1: gets me upset that the Democrats play into the Republican
Speaker 1: hands of like making such a big deal about the
Speaker 1: defund the police thing. I mean, whether you agree with
Speaker 1: it or not, or that's your stance or not. There
Speaker 1: is no establishment democrat who's got a platform and to
Speaker 1: fund the police, like with which one who It's all
Speaker 1: the people you'd expect, I mean like Corey Bush. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's like, yeah, it's the ones that you
Speaker 1: would explain. It's like if that's not you, that's not you.
Speaker 1: But like to complain about what activists are doing, like
Speaker 1: if you're not for it, then don't be for it,
Speaker 1: you know, but but don't try to stop other people
Speaker 1: from being what they're for. Erasing your own people when
Speaker 1: it's like okay, you can claim that, but then like
Speaker 1: they're like, oh we lost because of you know, fund
Speaker 1: the police or whatever. Put it's led by affluent white people. Put.
Speaker 1: The only people talking about in a Democratic party are
Speaker 1: like Cory Bush exactly, Corey Corey Bush. She's right, like, no,
Speaker 1: this is you know, does not come remember sparks fly
Speaker 1: It's anyway, I'm sorry I have to go off on that.
Speaker 1: It's been bugging me for the last few days and
Speaker 1: I I ever since talking to Matt a couple episodes
Speaker 1: back about neoliberalism, like Eric Adams perfectly encompasses that in
Speaker 1: these few facts that we have spoken on him, that like,
Speaker 1: oh we can have four one teachers student ratio, like
Speaker 1: to fund the schools, but like make sure you support
Speaker 1: the cops. It's like shrinking social services everywhere else except
Speaker 1: in the way that you can control people and incarcerate
Speaker 1: them and make their lives. So it's like they expected
Speaker 1: ship it's that and then and then, and he is
Speaker 1: running as a Democrat like this is yeah, like yeah,
Speaker 1: well that's New York politics. I know that much. Now
Speaker 1: on the progressive side of things, the field has been
Speaker 1: pretty split. So you got Scott Stringer, Diane Morales, and
Speaker 1: Maya Wiley, who one by one have effectively blundered themselves
Speaker 1: out of the running, leading progressives to line up behind
Speaker 1: Maya Wally. Though once ranked number one and number two
Speaker 1: by Working Families Party, Scott Stringer has tumbled in support
Speaker 1: among progressives after two women came four words with decades
Speaker 1: old allegations inappropriate sexual advances. Dianarells, who was running slashing
Speaker 1: the police budget in half and guaranteeing housing for all,
Speaker 1: has seen the bottom collapse out of her campaign after
Speaker 1: allegedly firing dozens of staffers who attempted to unionize, leaving Wiley,
Speaker 1: who is a civil rights lawyer, formally w fps number
Speaker 1: three choice, but now seemingly their first. Yeah. So I
Speaker 1: was really talked about Diane Morellis for a while, just
Speaker 1: because she seemed like very I don't know, maybe I
Speaker 1: fell for like the jargon of like social I'll be
Speaker 1: really honest, it loves like just like social justice, grassroots
Speaker 1: movement stuff. She seemed to surround herself with like a
Speaker 1: lot of really badass women of color that had been
Speaker 1: organizing for a long time and you know, speaking to
Speaker 1: prioritized to center the concerns of working class New Yorkers,
Speaker 1: And so I was like, oh, this seemed pretty tight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and like, I don't know, running for the mayor mayoralty
Speaker 1: of the biggest city in the country on like, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut the police budget of New York City
Speaker 1: by three billion dollars regt regarless, whether that's viable. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's sucking bold. That's hard to come out and say,
Speaker 1: so like prosper you for that. But then yeah, the
Speaker 1: news came out about the attempted unionization and then she
Speaker 1: fired a bunch of people. And then I read this
Speaker 1: letter that was actually published by a fifteen year old
Speaker 1: volunteer of hers that she was um like appointed like
Speaker 1: the field field captain for the Queen's Borough area, fifteen
Speaker 1: years old, working like forty hours a week for Diane
Speaker 1: Morales promised, yeah, like canvassing until like late at night
Speaker 1: in like dangerous areas by herself. Asked her to like
Speaker 1: become salary, Like, hey, well you hire me onto the campaign.
Speaker 1: I'm working my ass off for you after I get
Speaker 1: out of high school in the afternoons. And Diane Morales
Speaker 1: was like, nah, like what she should do it for
Speaker 1: the movement. Do it for the movement, you know what.
Speaker 1: I was just like, damn, that's yeah, that's like I'll labor.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot to be said when it gets
Speaker 1: into like or like electoral organizing specifically an exploitation of
Speaker 1: young people, Like I've seen it half a lot of time.
Speaker 1: I've had a lot of friends, I've worked in campaigns myself,
Speaker 1: and I know how grilling they are, and like, I
Speaker 1: think a loggery conversation needs to be had about like
Speaker 1: respecting the dignity, like if we are we're gonna be
Speaker 1: like work pro worker people, candidates, elected, officials, etcetera, like
Speaker 1: also extending those rights and uh, those dignities to people
Speaker 1: who get us elected. Just because we're working, because we're
Speaker 1: working in a movement to change society, doesn't mean like
Speaker 1: you you bleed and cry blood over this campaign. You
Speaker 1: like you deserve to get paid, You deserved like protections,
Speaker 1: you deserve benefits just like anyone else. Um. And so
Speaker 1: I think this is a really sad example of that
Speaker 1: where it's like people believe in something so much, they
Speaker 1: believe in a candidate so much they're willing to do anything,
Speaker 1: and then and then they get exploited. And I'm really
Speaker 1: we're honestly proud for her staff or stepping up and
Speaker 1: be like, you know what, No, we want to see
Speaker 1: her on this campaign the way that you claim you're
Speaker 1: gonna run to run the city. And just because we
Speaker 1: believe in your vision does not mean we're willing to
Speaker 1: like prostrate ourselves before you like slaves to make that happen.
Speaker 1: So then with like with all that, you know, who
Speaker 1: who is your favorite candidates? Since you follows stuff, I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess people are lining up behind Maya Wiley again,
Speaker 1: I don't really have a dog, and it's fine just
Speaker 1: chewing popcorn, watching from the backs some the sidelines on
Speaker 1: Twitter and personally, I mean, like, I have seen a
Speaker 1: lot of former UM Morales staffers have like joined Wiley's campaign. UM.
Speaker 1: She's been endorsed by Lens with Warren by Jamanni Williams. Uh,
Speaker 1: the public Advocate for New York City, a very popular
Speaker 1: elected official in the city. Um YO C has has
Speaker 1: also come out in support of Wiley. UM In terms
Speaker 1: of her platform, I mean the thing about a lot
Speaker 1: of these candidates and I just like, and I've seen
Speaker 1: I mean like and just working in politics and just
Speaker 1: a lot it's just so jargony and just like using
Speaker 1: whatever buzzwords are cool that like what the fund do?
Speaker 1: You really mean most of the time, but like, you know,
Speaker 1: she wants to do a you know, a new deal
Speaker 1: for New York, universal community care, so like making sure
Speaker 1: they're creating good jobs for people and doing childcare and
Speaker 1: elder care, which is important. You know, she was thinking
Speaker 1: about community centered gun violence prevention plan, which I think
Speaker 1: that makes sense, universal health coverage, UM talking about UM
Speaker 1: the transforming policing. I don't know what the funk. That
Speaker 1: means like I've heard cops like talking about what we're
Speaker 1: going to reimagine public saying no, you're fucking not, you know,
Speaker 1: like it's just it's at least it's been co opted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but there's certain elements of her platform. I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I can get behind that, and I understand
Speaker 1: the political pressure into like not state outright, like certain
Speaker 1: things like if if by transforming policing, you mean like
Speaker 1: the less cops like you know you it's hard to
Speaker 1: say that. Um in her plan, she just talked about
Speaker 1: um having like a civilian oversight of the NYPD, I'm
Speaker 1: developing alternatives to policing things like that. So mere, I
Speaker 1: think it does kind of bode well at least for
Speaker 1: my personal politics, where I'm like, all right, I guess
Speaker 1: that's cool. But again, I mean just what I'm just
Speaker 1: watching just I'm just you know, I'm just it's like
Speaker 1: it's like a soap opera to me. Yeah, okay. Last thing,
Speaker 1: the Strokes held an in person concerted Irving Plaza for
Speaker 1: my Wali last Saturday. I mean that's pretty cool. So
Speaker 1: my actual personal favorite candidate, however, gotta be Paperboy previous
Speaker 1: guests in the podcast. You was a former andrean paper
Speaker 1: shout out. He gave us a little retweet you know
Speaker 1: when we talked to that, I posted about the show recently,
Speaker 1: it's like good guy, good person. Um He's now they sorry,
Speaker 1: are now running against their hero Um Andrew Yang, on
Speaker 1: a platform of canceling rent, abolishing the police, and legalizing psychedelics,
Speaker 1: as well as establishing love centers throughout the city where
Speaker 1: New Yorkers can make friends, receive relationship mental health counseling,
Speaker 1: get childcare, and job training. And He's also opened recently
Speaker 1: I'm Sorry. They have also recently been famed for their
Speaker 1: mutual aid and food distribution efforts. They joined protesters for
Speaker 1: getting their asses kicked by cops in Washington Square Park
Speaker 1: to reclaim their space and distribute hundreds of pounds of
Speaker 1: foods and protests of the police curfew, which was ultimately lifted.
Speaker 1: So these they are out there in the streets with
Speaker 1: the people giving out food, paper kicking Andrew Yang's assid
Speaker 1: in basketball. So in Rolling Stone's profile on paper Boy,
Speaker 1: I feel like they have the nail on the head
Speaker 1: about what's special about them as a candidate, writing Prince
Speaker 1: is a shimmering, kaleidoscopic example of what could be if
Speaker 1: the fear of mockery didn't prevent us all from thinking
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger, which like that, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: like that's what's what paper really brings to the conversation,
Speaker 1: is like they are on apologetically who they are in
Speaker 1: terms of fashion, in terms of just like just being
Speaker 1: a person of the people, and like, oh, it's oh,
Speaker 1: it's like hilarious because they're not like, oh, a City
Speaker 1: Group executive and like you know, the three suit But
Speaker 1: it's like, let's just like but they allow you to
Speaker 1: think a little bit bigger about like the possibilities, you know,
Speaker 1: And I really really appreciate that about them. Well, that's
Speaker 1: a good transition to get into the hip hop side
Speaker 1: of things, because we got Diddy, jay Z and NAS
Speaker 1: have all endorsed the former City Group executive Ray McGuire,
Speaker 1: speaking of stuff suits. The video announcing his campaign was
Speaker 1: directed by Spike Lee, who also endorsed them, and the
Speaker 1: entertainers praise McGuire and the video that was posted on YouTube.
Speaker 1: People come all over the world and say, if I
Speaker 1: can make it here, I can make it anywhere. That's
Speaker 1: the idea We're trying to protect That's what Sean jay
Speaker 1: Z Carter said. Sean, the thing about that fucking line, though,
Speaker 1: is like, but what if you can't make it here,
Speaker 1: what about those people? There are millions, probably millions of
Speaker 1: people in New York that are struggling and not making it.
Speaker 1: What about them? And then it doesn't isn't if you
Speaker 1: can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Kind
Speaker 1: of like saying like everybody can be rich. Isn't the
Speaker 1: same spirit of like it is? Yes, yeah, but it's
Speaker 1: like very rarely like yeah, like jay Z and and
Speaker 1: Diddy are like held up as icons because they did
Speaker 1: make it. Because if anyone could make it and everyone did,
Speaker 1: no one would give a shit about who jay Z was,
Speaker 1: and it's just another person that made it. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you can make it in Afghanistan, you can make it anywhere.
Speaker 1: If you yeah, if you can make it in Syria,
Speaker 1: you can make it anywhere. Let's let's get really really
Speaker 1: real with the ship. Yeah yeah, yeah was yeah. So
Speaker 1: Sean P. Diddy Combs said that over the last thirty years,
Speaker 1: mcguires was always talking about the people. What does that
Speaker 1: even mean? I mean Trump was always talking about the people,
Speaker 1: about how they're from ship whole countries and how he
Speaker 1: wants to grab them by the pussy. I don't really
Speaker 1: know what you're trying to say. That that's okay. McGuire's
Speaker 1: platform claims to push transformation again of the city's approach
Speaker 1: to public safety and implement a form of policing that's
Speaker 1: is that is respectful, accountable, and proportionate, and a comprehensive
Speaker 1: citywide plan to create affordable housing and collaboration with each
Speaker 1: community that creates jobs, respects neighborhoods and process and protects
Speaker 1: residents from gentrification. So buzzworthy type ship right right? No gentrification? Oh,
Speaker 1: accountable policing, transform public safety? Like okay, what is uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you know it's not I'm not necessarily expect them.
Speaker 1: Did he and jay Z to like endorsed paper paper Boy,
Speaker 1: But that would be sick. I mean he just would expect,
Speaker 1: you know, it would Yeah, of course they endorse I
Speaker 1: mean like they're black capitalists, so they endorsed, endorsed the
Speaker 1: capitalists and the biggest capitals in the race, the banker
Speaker 1: in the race. I mean, it makes sense class that
Speaker 1: you're silligning that. Guess, you know, can't even be blamed.
Speaker 1: Let's be real. I can't even but that's fine, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But yeah, honestly, all these all these platforms, it's really
Speaker 1: hard to differentiate UM just because it's just technocratic jargon
Speaker 1: UM a lot of times, and you have to you
Speaker 1: have to go with UM, like what what their backgrounds say?
Speaker 1: Like what what have they been doing this whole time?
Speaker 1: And so you're a banker, so I don't trust you
Speaker 1: know something. So here we are. We're two cats that
Speaker 1: live in Georgia, and you're an elected Georgia you know, official.
Speaker 1: So why is something like the New York City election?
Speaker 1: So why is it something that's that that people should
Speaker 1: be interested in? Even if it's well, I mean even
Speaker 1: down to beyond the public policies touted by these candidates,
Speaker 1: even the structure of the elections is somewhat of a
Speaker 1: preview of what maybe to come for a state like
Speaker 1: ours that's you know, becoming more progressive but lagging behind significantly.
Speaker 1: So like, what what what are the implications of ran
Speaker 1: choice voting for the way our election shakes out? Does
Speaker 1: it progressive? Make it through because people are able to
Speaker 1: vote their conscience? Does it still you know, favor ultimately
Speaker 1: the central status quo UM. Things like that UM and
Speaker 1: how and how the people have been respond to it,
Speaker 1: and having that expanded menu of options that comes with that. UM.
Speaker 1: I think in terms of messaging what people feel emboldened
Speaker 1: to say in a place that is more progressive. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, in deeply democratic places like this, it often
Speaker 1: means that there is a All it means is there's
Speaker 1: a more deeply entrenched UM political machine. And so seeing
Speaker 1: how like those forces of like the grassroots versus like
Speaker 1: the moneyed special interests, etcetera, like play out against each other. UM,
Speaker 1: I think there's I think there's powerful lessons there for
Speaker 1: people in a place that is becoming more progressive. But
Speaker 1: maybe we can avoid some of the same pitfalls we
Speaker 1: see in a place that where there is that entrenched
Speaker 1: political machine, etcetera. UM. And Plus it's like sports, I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, like it's so funny. So here's the example.
Speaker 1: So I went to a Hawks game recently in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and before I understood I don't watch sports, So before
Speaker 1: I really understood what I was getting myself into, I
Speaker 1: kept telling people I was going to see the Knicks
Speaker 1: game because the Knicks are from New York and I
Speaker 1: had heard of the Knicks because they're from New York.
Speaker 1: Even though I lived close to Atlanta, I had never
Speaker 1: really heard of the Hawks before. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a similar thing I was talking about, like the just
Speaker 1: the outside presence of the me and the public imaginations
Speaker 1: and the New York City holds where it's like, before
Speaker 1: I even know about a basketball team from my own backyard,
Speaker 1: I know about the Knicks, And so before I even
Speaker 1: know about like, oh, what's going on with the Democratic
Speaker 1: primary if for a secretary of state in Georgia, I
Speaker 1: heard that Andrew Yang is saying some dumb shit about
Speaker 1: Palestine or something. So I mean to to to an extent,
Speaker 1: it's just like forced upon you. Um, outside of the
Speaker 1: lessons it holds, it's also just like it's just interesting theater.
Speaker 1: Let's be real. And that's a lot of like, you know,
Speaker 1: so a lot of what we talked about the show
Speaker 1: is just like political theater and what it means. Well,
Speaker 1: after the little break, we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: some New York rapidy rap songs. Are you excited for that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it, all right, We'll be right back, Okay.
Speaker 1: So in the music discussion today. What we have is
Speaker 1: we have to when I think are con trasting rap
Speaker 1: songs that are on similar topics. So on one hand,
Speaker 1: we have the jay Z song Empire State of Mind,
Speaker 1: and on the other hand we have the NAS song
Speaker 1: New York State of Mind, massively contrasting visions or um
Speaker 1: impressions of New York City. So starting with Nas, we've
Speaker 1: got New York State of Mind. This song was recorded
Speaker 1: in on the album Illmatic and it was produced by
Speaker 1: legendary DJ Premier. Let's check this out. The trick is
Speaker 1: bringing face to the name and tools without rutting stick.
Speaker 1: He was going. So, I mean, like, I think you
Speaker 1: have to also put these songs in their temporal contexts,
Speaker 1: like all time record high and violent crime um. Three
Speaker 1: years that followed were like the most homicide plagued like
Speaker 1: years in the city, these last five decades UM. And
Speaker 1: I think I think he's speaking to that, you know,
Speaker 1: definitely you have to consider like at the time that
Speaker 1: Nas wrote this, he was like sixteen seventeen eighteen, you know,
Speaker 1: in that range and that age range. So I mean
Speaker 1: this is like straight up observation of like environmental observation,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like he was like in
Speaker 1: the you know, not necessarily doing what's being talked about
Speaker 1: in the song, but he was living in those projects
Speaker 1: at the time and seeing the cats that that we're
Speaker 1: doing that, you know. I mean he was seeing the
Speaker 1: police rating and ship like that. He was seeing task
Speaker 1: force breaking down people's doors and bass heads, you know.
Speaker 1: Like so having been a witnessed to that, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like a you know, street level depiction of New
Speaker 1: York City, you know what I'm saying. It's like almost
Speaker 1: purposely wiping away the shine in the Polish and it's
Speaker 1: it's one of those sort of like expos is, like
Speaker 1: not this is how it really is. Yeah. And then
Speaker 1: also on top of that, I mean I gotta say
Speaker 1: there's like three three joints. I feel a Nazis catalog
Speaker 1: that are, you know, his his best work lyrically, and like, dude,
Speaker 1: the verses on New York State of Mine, Ye should
Speaker 1: go check that out. I mean, he was snapping whatever
Speaker 1: day he wrote that ship, he was snapping in those verses. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then I think it's interesting to note that like
Speaker 1: by the time that Atenants ended, the city was bringing
Speaker 1: like seven million more tourists a year the city's population
Speaker 1: started to grow for the first time in decades, and
Speaker 1: that then sets us up for the context in which
Speaker 1: jay Z wrote Empire State of Mind, which came out
Speaker 1: in two thousand nine. Let's check this out featuring Alicia
Speaker 1: Keyes Yankee I made the Yankee head my famous in
Speaker 1: a Yankee a Lot. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.
Speaker 1: When it came out two nine, I was in college,
Speaker 1: like I think it was in like a Master Carter
Speaker 1: American Express commercials probably all boats probably yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: he's talking about like, oh, the movie scenes and sipping
Speaker 1: my ties. I mean there's there's there's brief nods to
Speaker 1: like in reality, it's of like, okay, on the corner
Speaker 1: selling rock. You know, there's uh, there's sirens are loud,
Speaker 1: talking about um uh no curfew things like that. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: ultimately if it comes into like a sight seeing like
Speaker 1: tourists recap of like, right, this is clearly this is
Speaker 1: clearly like you're cruising through the city and you're like
Speaker 1: the double decker bus, yeah, looking around and all the
Speaker 1: things like oh, there's somebody selling crack out there. Wow, Maureen,
Speaker 1: I'm not even saying this with any sort of like
Speaker 1: quality or moral judgment at all. I'm just staying this
Speaker 1: as like the facts as I see them of how
Speaker 1: the song makes me feel. And that's a good good
Speaker 1: point aesthetically in terms of like what the beat inspire,
Speaker 1: really sha Keys Hooks inspired, It's like optimism and you
Speaker 1: feel like you're standing in the middle of Times Square,
Speaker 1: which is the most touristy, like like fake representation of
Speaker 1: like the lived experience of New Yorkers that you could
Speaker 1: imagine the lights and everything. You know, that's what let's
Speaker 1: try to make you feel, even if even if he's
Speaker 1: telling a more he is painting a more complex picture
Speaker 1: lyrically than that. It's like, for those who are old
Speaker 1: enough to remember, you know, two thousand nine, when the
Speaker 1: song came out, pretty much everything that happened with the song,
Speaker 1: because it was a huge song when it came out,
Speaker 1: everything that happened with this song, I feel like that
Speaker 1: was the intent of the song, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It feels like they were like, let's make something that's
Speaker 1: gonna get played at the Yankee Games for the next
Speaker 1: thirty years, you know what I mean. Let's make something
Speaker 1: that's going to be in an American Express commercial. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Yeah, they're going to get that
Speaker 1: paper down exactly. It's very you know, and again not
Speaker 1: a judgment call, but it's a very commercial song, whereas, uh,
Speaker 1: New York State of Mind by NAS really does sound
Speaker 1: like some plucked poetry and put over a beat. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, doesn't it doesn't. It sounds very
Speaker 1: agenda less, whereas New York State or Empire State of
Speaker 1: Mind sounds very very agenda driven. And that agenda is
Speaker 1: you know that that paper But there's nothing wrong with that,
Speaker 1: but it definitely is like, uh, you know, come to
Speaker 1: New York. It's a great place to visit. Surts authority
Speaker 1: probably like kicked him like some box exactly. Well, that
Speaker 1: is it for today's episode. We are going to be
Speaker 1: back next week as we always are, but we are
Speaker 1: going to end it like we always do. Hey, Joel
Speaker 1: my man, can you please drop it instrumental for us? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: some fuel of birds, some flash signs from the Yang
Speaker 1: Gang on the dope one spitting romes is my main thing.
Speaker 1: To call me knife and stick this dope up in
Speaker 1: your main vein. I wrapped, get a nose bleed like
Speaker 1: Strange things like number eleven one on one, and I
Speaker 1: did them open shows like this because I gotta wrap
Speaker 1: when they let him. Mariah said, Yo, we can't do
Speaker 1: a politics rap show if we don't go and talk
Speaker 1: about the big Apple. Now we got a rocket lesson
Speaker 1: to go cover another motherfucking election. To my taxicare drippings,
Speaker 1: my dog walkers on the hawkers of the hot dogs
Speaker 1: on my other Knew Yorkers. You might never heard to me.
Speaker 1: My name is miss Parker. I've been watching the Options Office.
Speaker 1: You gotta parts through, stop yourself, a banker, somebody rapping
Speaker 1: their yanket, a whole lot of moderates, a couple of
Speaker 1: left flankers, some volks to their other son like an ankor.
Speaker 1: But however you want to rank them as choice to make.
Speaker 1: But I'm waiting into the debating. Here's my only statement.
Speaker 1: Cancel n spread love shows, some love for paper. How
Speaker 1: goes New York, then so goes the Nation's here's a
Speaker 1: little conversation about your race for maya ha ha, dope
Speaker 1: knife Franca and we are waiting on reparation. See you
Speaker 1: next week. Listen to Waiting on Reparations on the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts,