Only One Mic Podcast

Inside The Reckoning: Diddy, 50 Cent, And the Cost of Culture

• One Mic • Season 16 • Episode 1

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 What happens when power goes unchecked—on the world stage and online? In this episode, we break down Netflix’s The Reckoning, the explosive docuseries on Sean “Diddy” Combs, produced by 50 Cent, and what its allegations reveal about fame, protection, and the real cost of culture. Then we shift to Adin Ross and his recent use—and defense—of the N-word, unpacking how viral creators turn controversy into content and how fandom gets twisted into a pass for harmful language. Two stories, one theme: power without guardrails. 

SPEAKER_01:

You know, this documentary is about people being able to tell their truth or tell their version of the story. And the only thing I'm you know, I wish we were able to have Diddy be in the document. So we could have said some things that make people understand why people say these things about.

SPEAKER_02:

But couldn't he really make you understand? I mean, we've heard a lot, a lot of things we didn't want to hear. You're now tuned to the only one mic podcast, mic drop show. I'm your host, Car Gerard, and we've got two stories right now that's shaking the culture from two completely different worlds. We got one from hip hop royalty and one from the wild west of the live stream influence. Both raise serious questions about power, accountability, and where we draw the line as a culture. So let's take this ride, y'all. We're gonna get into it. The first one, Sean Comp. Count Diddy. His documentary, or the documentary I should say about him, the reckoning is on Netflix. Dropped a whole bum about this guy, man. And this is the uh four-part docuseries that I'm quite sure everybody for the past week has had somebody come up to them and say, Yo, did you watch it? Uh, what's your thoughts about it? So if you haven't watched it, so I suggest you prepare yourself for this one because it's not just a documentary. This is like a cultural earthquake. So let me talk to y'all for a minute. Have you ever watched something and you felt like the weight of it in your chest? That's this documentary right here. It takes you from Diddy's rise to his power to the allegations that a lot of people either ignored or justified or was just too scared to speak on. So we're talking former employees, childhood friends, industry insiders, and victims telling their stories that are honestly, you know, kind of hard to sit through. But uh a lot of the victims were telling, as 50 Cent said in this intro here, their version of what happened. So, you know, I'm not here to say that he did this or this person might be lying here. I don't know. I don't know. Again, this is their version of you know what accounts took place when dealing with um with Diddy. So 50 Cent is at the center of this thing, right? So he's not just like commenting from the sidelines, but the executive produced this documentary, and a lot of people have been like kind of asking, you know, do you think 50 made this documentary because the truth needed to come out? Or was he just, you know, being king petty on this one, you know what I mean, and putting a gotcha, pushing that gotcha button on uh Diddy. So hit me in the comments on that one, y'all. Or email me because that's a whole debate by itself, you know, to see where you know what 50 intentions was when putting this documentary out. But here's what the doc lays out. You get, you know, I want to say accounts, I'm gonna use the word accounts from such people as Aubrey O'Day, from I think it was Danity Kane was the group, Capricorn Clark, who was you know Diddy's first assistant, Kurt Burroughs, who actually co-founded Bad Boy Rackets with him, and they all had different accounts of what it was like dealing with with with Puff, you know what I mean? So Kurt Burroughs, and he's saying this is a quote from the documentary, guys, not a quote from me. It says, in regards to uh Biggie's funeral, which was a big funeral that took place in uh, you know, his hometown of Best Sti. And you know, if you all see, if you don't know, for the younger viewers out there who wasn't around when this actually happened, you can pull up the footage on YouTube where they took the carriage all through the neighborhood. One last ride for Biggie, you know, and the hood that shaped him. It says in our quote from Puff, it says, We're gonna do the biggest funeral, but Biggie's gonna have to pay for this funeral. Now, they're saying these aren't rumors, and these are the people who were there. Again, this show was not there. So, this is what Kurt Burroughs' account of what happened. And they said, you know, like the stories that they told were real heavy and you know, physically, emotionally, psychologically heavy on people. And the bigger question I want to ask you guys is uh, you know, as the listener, does this documentary change the way you see Bad Boy's Legacy? Now, I've had this discussion with a few people, and you know, the same situation that happened kind of with Bill Cosby is that you know, do you discount because of their personal things, do you discount the um what's the what's the best word I could say, folks? The contribution that they have given to their their craft, you know. Bad boy pretty much shaped a lot of the music that you know you listen to from you know the 90s era all the way up until now. Um Puff was at the forefront of a lot of this stuff. Um he was the man that kind of marketed things. He knew exactly what it took to sell music, and you know, even as a businessman, you know, to move from different, you know, different areas of the entertainment industry, whether it be from music to movies to television shows to owning television stations, doing, you know, deals with liquor brands, whatever, you know, um clothing, the big thing with clothing, fashion and all, do you kind of disc you know discredit the uh contributions that he's made? And you know, everybody's gonna have opinions on it, and it's just a question I'm throwing out there for you guys to, you know, go back and forth in the comments about, you know, and and see where everybody's opinion is opinion on that is, you know. And you know, even the same thing with the music, like do you separate the music from the man? Because again, if his name is stamped on a lot of the music that a lot of us grew up listening to, and some people still listening to today, can you listen to that in the same light? The same thing that you would probably say about R. Kelly, you know, do you listen to his music in the same way now than you would prior to everything that has happened? So, you know, we gotta be honest. He wasn't an artist, he was a system, some say a gatekeeper. He was someone people couldn't afford to say no to, I guess. Um, and the doc forces everybody to confront what happens when that person gets too much power and no one checks him. And that's what happened in this particular situation, and as a culture, that's something we got to talk about. Um, when I say it was hard to watch that documentary, again, as we've said on this show several times, I'm from New York, born and raised uh from Brooklyn, not too far from where Biggie, you know, we all was in the same kind of uh vicinity. And I gotta say, like a lot of stuff these guys like Little Rod and everybody is saying that he had them doing, I'm like, folks, I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm I'm of a different headspace these days as I get older and you know, a little bit wiser. But back then, I gotta be honest, man, I probably would have swung on Puff. I know I probably wouldn't have walked out of that room in one piece, but we're gonna establish one thing, you know, like you dealing with a man on this one. Um certain things when I listened a lot, you know, to Little Rod's accounts and you know, some of the stuff that we already knew, you know, as people who grew up with this, you know, already heard these accounts and everything. It's just that now it's on Netflix is you know, it's it's public, the whole, you know, public is getting the knowledge, you know, the knowledge that a lot of people might have had back then, or I should say knowledge, that's a bad choice of uh words. But a lot of the things that we may have heard um about Puff and his practices, listen, I you can't want something that much, folks, that you're willing to allow someone to humiliate you to get it. And a lot of the stuff from the making a band situation back in the day and all making people walk for cheesecake and you know, constantly, you know, critiquing somebody's looks and things like that, you can't want something that much where you allow somebody to basically step all over you to get it. And this is a you know, this is a prime example of that. Um in terms of the you know, Capricorn Clark and everybody, and I'm not even gonna get into that because, like I said, all of that is these people accounts, but um, according to her, you know, in a fit of rage, um he kidnapped her, allegedly, you know, drove her fifth drove her 15 minutes and said they're gonna go kill Kid Cuddy. This is their words, folks, not the one Mike podcast words. You can watch the documentary yourself. Aubrey O'Day gives her account of uh you know sexual assault. And you know, it's it's a it's a lot of heavy stuff that's in that particular documentary. But again, you watch it. If you have not, then we can kind of have this discussion on line on the comments. Also, guys, I wanted to touch on this because I'm not too familiar with this kid. Um, I don't I'm not on Twitch and all that stuff, gamer stuff. I'm not a gamer. Uh haven't owned a gaming system in years. I think I the last time I had a gaming system, I can't even remember what I played. It might have been Batman or something, I'm not sure. But um it's this young guy by the name of Aiden Ross, right? And if you haven't, you know, heard what what's been going on with Aiden Ross, it's you know, him using the N-word, him admitting to using the N-word, and him trying to justify you using the N-word, all right? So this is we dancing right now in the realm of accountability, y'all. And on the influence side of the world, he he I guess he has some type of influence and uh, you know, numbers and all, and he's up here with these rappers and things like that. And I believe that this kid got into a space of comfortability that they shouldn't allow him to go in. You know what I mean? I had I had put up a video during my diligence on this kid, and um he was in concert with Chief Keefe. This might have been about two years ago, and Chief Keefe invited him on stage to rap alongside of him, and he's you know, allowing him to say the N-word, and this is why do we allow this to even go on? So again, it goes by accountability and how comfortable you allow people to, you know, disrespect you, disrespect the culture, disrespect the people. And then, you know, it goes on to the I didn't mean it, and everybody says it privately, garbage that everybody, you know, I'm I'm just being honest and all that. I want y'all to hear from this kid's own mouth exactly what he said and how he's trying to justify his usage of the N-word guys. Check this out.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm using it in a way where I rap to my favorite raps rapper's music. I'm not using it in a way to offend you. I would I would never do that to you.

SPEAKER_02:

Alright, so come on, y'all. Are we gonna really accept that as a um excuse for you to say this thing with impunity and nobody says nothing, nobody checks him. So, you know, he's 24 years old, he has a massive platform, he has millions of followers. Um he's he was on Twitch. I believe he was banned off of Twitch. He collaborated with several rappers, NBA players, viral celebrities. He lives off attention. But the problem is he's doing this without any restraints. Like, for all the the people I name for you guys that he's dealing with, nobody's checking him. Now, if they are checking them, folks, and again, I don't keep up with Twitch and all this stuff like that. Let me know in the comments if you do, you know, have a few people that or know of a few people that might have checked them and everybody because I've I and again in my diligence I've heard people who say they know people who know him that says he does this all the time. He's not the only one. It was a kid, and guys, you can again you can hit me in the comments with this guy's name that was on the Breakfast Club. Pull this up when Just Hilarious was taking him to task over that. You know what I mean? And I think that these, you know, little Twitch kids and whatnot, they get on here and they get a little bit too comfortable, all right? We had a conversation uh some time ago, and you can pull up an old episode uh with Dr. Rob Eichmann uh who wrote the book. Um it's called When the Hood Comes Off, is uh confronting racism in the digital age. And funny enough, we discussed this topic. Oh my gosh, it was about a year ago, maybe about a year or so ago. We discussed this very same topic, guys. I want y'all to check out what he had to say on the subject. Dr. Rob Eichmann.

SPEAKER_05:

Man, that that so there are two things in there, right? So one is comfort level using the N-word. And I do, I do think so. I think that some white folks feel ownership of the word because of the music that they love. Um, you know, I once checked somebody for using the N-word when he was referencing Jay-Z, and he was like, I would never, I would never censor myself and disrespect Jay-Z like that. Are you joking? Right? And so it's like, yes, I do think that the people feel a license to do that. And that's something I I I I talk about Kendrick and Vince Staples uh later on in chapter six, where I'm going into uh a regular telling a story of seeing Kendrick concerts for everybody relic. Right? And he says it four or five times in ten seconds, and just thousands of people in the crowd saying it with him and feeling like they have ownership of that term and like where what is so I'm gonna stop it right there.

SPEAKER_02:

So that that's the problem, feeling like you have ownership of that term. Now, Shannon Sharp um had a you know the uh conversations he normally has with Chad Johnson, and he spoke on this, but I'm gonna give you guys some context because I'm not gonna play the whole thing. But Shannon Sharp was going off on this particular subject, and he was saying that it's funny how you know nobody has a problem with dropping the N-word, but it's he actually pointed out two groups of people that people will not, you know, uh say anything derogatory about without any backlash. So we have people who feel comfortable, you know, basically openly disrespecting black people, but there's two groups, you know, uh one being the alphabet community, to be honest with you, and the other being this.

SPEAKER_04:

There's another country that has a white and blue flag with a star on it. No, it's not, it is not even close. Oh, they own every damn thing. Exactly. Yeah, well, I bet why don't you say something about derogatory about that? Why you don't wrap that? Oh, you want to create content. You told me your content creator creates a protein.

SPEAKER_03:

They own they own everything, bro. You hear me? Behind it, behind everything, but if you was to peel back the layers, yeah, man. I mean I mean leave that alone.

SPEAKER_04:

That's all I'm saying. See, people ain't got people don't have no problem saying that.

SPEAKER_02:

But boy, you and I guess what Shannon is saying, and again, folks who are listening to this, this is Shannon Sharp saying it's not the only one my podcast. So I guess what Shannon Sharp is saying is that, and you tell me in the comments, do you agree? Are we the only people, only race, group of people who nobody has a problem disrespecting? And we just pretty much take it. You know what I mean? So even when you have this, it's like we kind of let these guys hand wave these situations away by saying stuff like, you know, uh, you know, I my friends say it, my favorite rapper says it. You know, I'm gonna be I'm gonna stand up and admit that I'm I I said it. And, you know, does admitting it make it better, or does it admitting it just prove you feel entitled to say it? So it's like, where do you go from there? Like everybody kind of gives this hand wave of apology on live or something like that, and people keep it pushing. And you know, you had, you know, in his this kid's situation, you got millions of kids that watch you, I guess. You know, kids that copy you, I guess. And that word wasn't just like a slip-up, it was a message. Let's call it what it is. And then when you are, you know, put the live stream apology and the usual I take accountability, you know, stuff like that. I mean, does it make it better? Does it make it better? Now, because of what Shannon Sharp just said about these set of people here, now the internet is going crazy saying, oh, he's about to get canceled. I guess to the point where I was informed that he took that post down since then. I haven't personally seen it. But if if you see something different, folks, let me know in the comments that he took the post down. Look, what goes one way goes the other. I mean, so do we allow this kid to keep operating the way that he's operating? And even just a message to all you rappers and everybody that he's running with, he's talking about you. I mean, we kind of don't do the service by kind of putting it in the music and things like that and allowing people to just sing along with it, like you know, like we sing and it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood or something. But the accountability also falls on the fact that if this is something that you want to do for your culture, then you can't allow people to feel comfortable, you know, just getting up here and just saying whatever. You know, and so um this is just like following the whole, as you see, not just with this kid, but with a lot of these influencers, that formula of, you know, you mess up, you go viral, you apologize, then you repeat. And the bigger issue is influencers thrive off that shock value. That's what they do. And saying the wildest thing and doing the most out-of-pocket stuff they can possibly do equals controversy, and controversy equals clicks and views. So the real question for all of us is are we enabling this? Are we part of the cycle that keeps these guys relevant, or should the influencers with giant platforms be held to the same standards that Shannon Sharp will be held to for the comments that he just made here, or anybody who, you know, steps out of that realm and says certain things about certain individuals and you know, end up losing their platforms and things like that. So let me know what you think. I want to hear from you, the audience, on this one. All right. You know, the whole puff thing about you know, 50 doing this was a service. Uh 50 said on MS Now, like basically, if he did not. Do this. It wasn't like something, you know, petty or anything like that. Is that if he don't do this, that pays basically people will think this is acceptable in the culture. So, what do you think about that? Like, you know, do you think that he's kind of doing the right thing by shifting us away from the culture, saying, like, yeah, we don't accept this? Also, with this kid, um, you know, this Aiden kid, do you think that you know he should be held to that same standard? Should his platforms be canceled? And keep your eye on the Shannon Sharp thing, because I want to see if he's going to get a backlash or if he's going to have to go in and and tap in and do the apology tour on his um on his platform as well. All right, y'all. So these are the two stories. These are the two worlds. Boy, boils down to one thing: accountability, what we allow, what we excuse. What we pass down to the next generation as normal is not normal, guys. The only one mic podcast is available on every major platform you stream your podcast on. Hit that subscribe, rate the show, and don't forget to check out the YouTube channel for past and current episodes. Follow us on Instagram and X at the Only One Mike P1, Facebook and LinkedIn at the Only One Mike Podcast. Email us at the only one mic zero zero at gmail.com or call or text us at 302-367-7219. Your comments might make it on the show. We appreciate you, as always, guys. As always, we do. And we encourage you to speak your truth quietly and clearly. And listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant, because they too have their story to tell. So until next time, please keep in mind that if you've never had to run from the Klu Klutz clan, then you shouldn't have to run from a black man. Peace.